The 2007 Bridgestone 100 Best Guides and www.bridgestoneguides.com

Whatever way you look at it, the 2007 Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland is all about… Dublin. The capital has grabbed back the culinary mantle from Cork and Belfast, and has done so in a big way. The quality of new openings in the city and its environs has been explosive, as explosive as the savvy professionalism that is the hallmark of the new places, whether you are talking about Itsa4 or The Winding Stair.

What is interesting about many of the new entrants is that they are the ventures of folk with a good grounding in the business, whether it's Venu or ShaRoe down in Carlow, a restaurant where you already have to book several weeks in advance just to get a weekend table.

This professionalism means that the new places have hit the ground running, but it also shows that the capital is building a culinary culture that has real depth, and that is before we talk about brand new places such as Oliver Dunne in Malahide (see above) or Winenot (see above) or the excellent Saba on Clarendon Street.
But aside from the new places, the 2007 book also reveals those people who are moving onto higher plateaus - eating today in The MacNean or Good Things Café or Chapter One or The Strawberry Tree means encountering truly exciting, dynamic, Irish cooking.

There has been almost as much going on in the 2007 Bridgestone 100 Best Places to Stay. Galway has had a great year for new openings, and we have found bright new jewels in Sligo, Mayo, Clare, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, West Cork, Belfast and Kerry. The country may well be awash with shiny new hotels built by property developers, but the confidence amongst the best people in the hospitality business has never been greater.

We have also been busy adding to our website, www.bridgestoneguides.com, trying to provide an even better resource for Ireland's food and hospitality cultures, so please take some time to browse and plan something fun for 2007, and you can buy the new 2007 Bridgestone Guides online also.

The 2007 Bridgestone Guides cost €10 each. Buy Online with 20% Discount €8