Castle Hotel in Macroom and The Elm Tree in Cork have been crowned Ireland’s best hotel and pub carvery venues in the ‘Great Carvery of the Year’ competition.
Now in its fifth year, the competition continues to grow and this year saw the addition of a ‘one-day-only’ category – a venue that serves its carvery offering only one day a week.
Open to pubs and hotels across the whole island, all venues had to get through what was a difficult public vote, followed by a mystery shopping stage, to progress to the final shortlist.
Castle Hotel (right) and The Elm Tree (left) came up trumps in the end, with the renowned Harvey’s Point in Donegal nabbing the one-day-only award. Launched in 2010 by Unilever Food Solutions, Great Carvery of the Year is an all-island search for Ireland’s best pub and hotel carvery.
Head judge and business development chef at Unilever Food Solutions, Mark McCarthy said: “This year, the standard of entry to the competition was phenomenal. The bar has been set very high in what has become a very competitive space. All of the finalists in the competition proved to be of an exceptionally high standard in terms of food quality and service.
"A carvery, when done right, is something special and unique to this country and I would like to thank Castle Hotel in Macroom and The Elm Tree in Cork for their excellence in offering the best carveries on the island of Ireland.” For more details, see www.greatcarvery.com.
Provincial winners in the Hotel of the Year category: Bracken Court Hotel, Balbriggan (Leinster); Castle Hotel, Macroom (Munster); Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill (Connacht) and the Silver Tassie Hotel, Letterkenny (Ulster).
Provincial winners in the Public House of the Year category: Dinn Rí, Carlow (Leinster); The Elm Tree, Cork (Munster); Henry’s Bar and Restaurant, Sligo (Connacht) and The Fiddlers, Carrickmacross (Ulster).
