The Megabytes Awards for 2007

Newcomer of the Year: Seomra So & Bialann Inis Meain

Ruari and Marie-Therese de Blacam's outrageous new restaurant with suites is going to be the hottest ticket of 2008, and in 2007 it hit the ground running with superb cooking in a great room in an unbelieveable location. Book the ferry or the flight now.

Restaurant of the Year: Ely HQ

Tom Doyle's cooking and ace service make Ely3 as hot as the capital can get, creating a quintessentially metropolitan restaurant that augurs well for the new quay.

Destination of the Year: Park Inn Mulranny, Mayo

Amazing cooking from Seamus Commons and terrific staff orchestrated by manager Stephen have taken Mulranny right to the top.

Shop of the Year: Ardkeen Food Stores

A brilliant food fair brought the year to a triumphant close for Colin Jephson's pioneering food store in Waterford, a benchmark destination in the South-East for the finest foods from all over Ireland.

Producer of the Year: Miriam Flores

Ms Flores can, seemingly, make everything, from the most exotic Asian specialities to Mexican products to superbly crafted Mediterranean exotica. A true epicurean.

Artisan of the Year: Frank and Gudrun Shinnick

Just one taste of the mighty Cais Rua will convince you that Frank and Gudrun's Fermoy Natural Cheeses are up there with the Cheese Gods. Dreamy, creamy, rich and runny, Cais Rua is a star, but it is only one of a quartet of cheeses that are utterly distinctive, and wickedly fine.

Crew of the Year: Nash 19

Cork's solid-sender of superb food got even better this year as Claire Nash simplified and synchronized her weekly menus, producing food that is underscored by sheer deliciousness and rampant creativity. But that food would mean little without the staff of Nash 19, who are in a league all of their own own it come to working the room, and charmng the punters. A true Cork star.

Designer of the Year: Freddy McMurray, Gregan's Castle

Simon Hayden and his wife, Freddy, have turned Gregan's into a tone poem of perfectly pitched design, creating one of the most magical country houses. Everything here on Corkscrew Hill in The Burren is as good as it can possibly be.

The Megabytes Award: Olivia Goodwillie, Lavistown Cheese

After 25 years of producing Ireland's most unique farmhouse cheese, Lavistown, Olivia is passing on the reins to Helen Finnegan of Knockdrinna cheeses. Her creation of Lavistown, and her sustaining of the cheese through a quarter century of production, deserves honorary degrees from the N.U.I and the freedom of Kilkenny city.