Music Venue of the Year - The Cookbook Cafe
Music used to be an afterthought in Irish restaurants, an add-on that nobody paid much attention to. But if you go to Glasthule in south Dublin, and sit down in the Cookbook Café, you get two great experiences. First, Audrey McDonald's food is simply sublime. Second, Tom Dunne’s sounds on the Sunday Vinyl Brunch are beyond good. Pristine vinyl, played on a Technics deck, and sounding so sweet you can’t believe your ears. If music be the food of love, in the Cookbook Café you get the food, the music, and the love of both. cookbookcafe.ie
Influencer of the Year - Keith Bohanna and Real Bread Ireland
Keith Bohanna is a campaigner and, in the Real Bread Ireland group, Mr Bohanna has found the perfect vehicle with which to advance his ideal world of healthy, happy, honest bread. All the great bakers are in here, all the up-and-coming guys firing out sourdoughs and ficelles, all the hard-working guys and girls who are making bread that keeps us healthy. Mr Bohanna is their guardian angel. realbreadireland.org
Dish of the Year - Fermented Potato Bread from Forest & Marcy
Ciaran Sweeney’s fermented potato bread, served as one of his small dishes along with bacon and cabbage in Forest & Marcy, on Dublin’s Leeson Street, is an invention of sheer genius. The bread somehow fuses Northern Ireland soda bread, Leitrim boxty and Donegal fadge (potato bread) into one amazing treat. In creating it, Mr Sweeney turns bacon and cabbage and spuds upside down. forestandmarcy.ie
