Kerry restaurant frogleaps Michelin eatery to earn top award in Ireland

A Kerry restaurant has earned the top spot as Ireland’s best fine dining restaurant, as voted for by contributors to Tripadvisor.

Rozzers Restaurant, a hotel dining room in Kerry, has replaced the current number one on the list which was previously occupied by the Michelin-starred Dublin restaurant Chapter One.

The annual Travellers’ Choice awards were announced by Trip Advisor in London and saw the Kerry restaurant jump from fifth place last year to first place this year in the ‘Best of the Best’ Restaurants awards.

Rozzers is part of the family-run Killeen House Hotel, a 23-bedroom country house hotel in Aghadoe and the restaurant is run by Head Chef Paul O’Gorman and his team.

Paul O’Gorman, a Dublin native who found love with a Kerry woman, also worked in Michelin Star Cafe Royal in London as well as two of Kerry’s top hotels, Kenmare Park Hotel and Hotel Europe.

The restaurant serves up signature dishes including open ravioli of seared scallops and prawns and a roast rack of Kerry lamb, as it combines modern Irish and classical French culinary styles.

Second place in the awards stayed down in the Kingdom with votes coming in for Mulcahy’s Bar and Restaurant in Kenmare, while third place was given to Dennis Cotter’s vegetarian restaurant Paradiso, in Cork.

Fourth place brought the award back to Kerry with The Chart House, in Dingle while Dax Restaurant, in Dublin finished off the top five for the awards.

Sole Seafood and Grill, Mulberry Garden and Chapter One in Dublin took the sixth to eighth spots.

While An Port Mór in Westport and Campagne in Kilkenny complete the Irish top 10.

The Travellers’ Choice awards are based mainly on ‘the quality and quantity of traveller reviews and ratings for restaurants on Tripadvisor’, as well as what the organisers describe as ‘an additional editorial process’.

The data was collected from 1 January 2020 – 30 April 2021, so, despite restrictions, the restaurants were still able to qualify with the times they were open.

As well as this wonderful Kerry restaurant check out the rest of the Travellers’ Choice awards here for some inspiration of where to book next.