Which Northern Ireland resort has been crowned the ‘Best Hotel and Guesthouse Restaurant’ at all-Ireland awards?

Lough Erne Resort’s executive chef, Stephen Holland has praised his culinary team following yet another major accolade for the Resort’s Catalina Restaurant.

The Catalina took top prize in the Ulster category of the ‘Best Hotel and Guesthouse Restaurant’ at the Irish Restaurant Awards.

Over 1,200 leading lights from the hospitality sector across Ireland gathered in the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road in Dublin for the glittering awards ceremony, which recognises the sector’s elite talent.

This award follows hot on the heels of the recent ‘3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence for 2023-2024’, for the Catalina Restaurant - an accolade awarded by some of the top food critics in Ireland and Great Britain.

At the end of last year, the highly renowned Holland took the reigns as executive head chef at the Fermanagh Resort. He said: “This is truly an honour to be recognised with this award.

“We have an amazing team here at Lough Erne Resort, delivering culinary excellence across our three eateries available on site. It is their dedication which contributes to these respected awards’ successes.

“To be named ‘Best Hotel and Guesthouse Restaurant’ at the Irish Restaurant Awards is a true testament to everyone here at the Resort, and the team at the Catalina restaurant who continue to deliver an amazing fine dining experience for our guests.“We are committed to serving the highest quality food, using local produce fused with an international flair to create exceptional dishes for our guests. And this award recognises the true excellence of what we offer.”

Celebrating its 15th year, hospitality businesses from across the country were selected to represent their county at the Ulster Regional Awards last month before heading to the all-Ireland final, with over 160,000 public nominations for restaurants, cafés and other food services establishments across the country in 2024, the highest number to date.