Irish chef of the year drops fine-dining formality

Wade Murphy, chef-owner of 1826 Adare in County Limerick, is the Irish chef of the year at the 2026 Georgina Campbell Awards.

Campbell announced the title, along with 53 other winners, on September 22 at Dublin's InterContinental Hotel. The award closes out Ireland's longest-running independent hospitality guide, now in its fourth decade. Judges book anonymously and pay their own bills before any name goes on the list.

Irish chef of the year skips the fuss

A generosity in Murphy's cooking, where refinement never comes at the expense of pleasure.

Murphy runs 1826 Adare from a thatched cottage on Main Street, a building that gives the restaurant its name: Lord Dunraven put it up in 1826. He opened the room with his wife, Elaine, in 2013, after nine years training in London kitchens, then stints in Chicago and at Ashford Castle.

The format stays deliberately informal. No tablecloths, no polished silver. Murphy calls it "a broadly gastropub style, but without being a pub." The menu names its suppliers: Doughmore Bay crab, Dooncastle oysters, pasture-reared poultry.

Campbell credits exactly that shift. She points to "a generosity in Murphy's cooking, where refinement never comes at the expense of pleasure," and traces it to his earlier years in formal fine dining, a track record this year's Irish chef of the year chose to leave behind.

Murphy also serves as Commissioner General of Euro-Toques Ireland, the body that lobbies for small producers. The 1826 Adare kitchen already picked up Bord Bia's Just Ask Restaurant of the Year in 2017, nine years before this new title.

Fifty-four winners across Ireland

The same ceremony named Ómós, in Abbeyleix, Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year. Owner Cúán Greene opened it in July 2026; Campbell called the menu "deeply nostalgic" and the dishes "exceptionally skilful." Paul and Marie Flynn of The Tannery in Dungarvan took the Hospitality Hero award, and chef Mark Moriarty won for innovation.

Campbell used the platform to flag a wider worry: "Warm human interaction is being replaced by cold digital transactions," she said, pointing at self-service kiosks and app-only bookings spreading through Irish hotels and restaurants.

1826 Adare keeps its usual hours through the autumn, open Thursday to Sunday, closed for a stretch between November and February, much as it has been most years since 2013. Ireland names its next Irish chef of the year in September 2027.

Read more: Dublin's Glovers Alley also just reopened under a returning chef.