2019 Award Winners RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2019

The Strawberry Tree, BrookLodge & Macreddin Village, Co Wicklow

At a time when new restaurants are stealing the limelight every month it’s reassuring to know that some of the long-established gems are as delightful, and (at least) as relevant, as the day they first opened.

The value of wild, organic and sustainable seasonal food is at last gaining mainstream recognition, but it was a very different story in 1988 – the year when Evan Doyle opened Ireland's first certified organic restaurant, The Strawberry Tree, in Killarney, Co Kerry. It was a brave move at the time, and in a seasonal holiday destination at that, but Evan’s genius for creating charmingly rustic surroundings gave it great appeal to visitors - who were especially fascinated by the turf fire and chimney crane, where he was sometimes known to demonstrate baking bread in a cast-iron bastible cooking pot. And the food was delicious of course, so it thrived and moved with Evan to County Wicklow in 1999, when he and his brothers, Eoin and Bernard, opened what is now the wonderful BrookLodge and Macreddin Village.

Today Evan has a fantastic team - headed up at The Strawberry Tree by Chef James Kavanagh - all promoting Irish SeaFoods, Irish FarmFoods and Irish WildFoods to a world that is at last beginning to listen. As Evan states with pride: “each and every menu served at The Strawberry Tree Restaurant has paid homage to the Farmer, the Producer & the Supplier of our Organic Foods.” Simply inspired - a 30th anniversary well worth celebrating.