Megabytes Awards

Chef of the Year: Aiden Byrne of The Commons Restaurant, Dublin

Mike Fitzgerald's Commons group has been in expansive mood - opening not just the Commons Café in the NCH but also the new Citron in the Fitzwilliam Hotel - but the powerhouse behind this organisation has been Aiden Byrne's dazzling and gob-smackingly wonderful cooking in The Commons Restaurant itself. Here is a chef who combines icon technique with passionate instinct and a towering ambition, a trio of qualities that produce food which is a sheer riot: rhubarb mousse with steamed foie gras; deep-fried oysters with crisp asparagus and smoked eel; risotto of morels with roasted loin of rabbit. Save up, then treat yourself to the culinary thrill that is the menu gourmand.