Lavish Laois hotel wins first Michelin Star
The restaurant at Ballyfin Demesne has won its first Michelin Star
A LUXURIOUS Laois hotel has been awarded a coveted Michelin Star for the first time.
The restaurant at Ballyfin Demesne, where an eight-course tasting menu costs €145, is one of only three Irish locations added to the new list of Michelin-starred venues.
The exclusive five-star hotel, once a boys’ boarding school, was selected when the Michelin Guide to Great Britain & Ireland unveiled its 2025 awards on 10 February. The new additions bring Ireland’s Michelin-starred count to only 23, including two in Northern Ireland.
The Michelin Star comes less than two years since Richard Picard-Edwards took over as executive chef at Ballyfin, where he is renowned for his focus on seasonal produce grown on the magnificent 614-acre estate.
The multiple award-winning chef said that he and his staff team were “absolutely thrilled” to achieve the prestigious Michelin Star.
Speaking just after the awards were announced, he said: “This is a wonderful accolade to receive and I’m very proud of our hard work at Ballyfin and the team’s dedication. We are inspired each day by the extraordinary 19th century eight-acre walled garden that is any chef’s dream to pick produce from.”
Picard-Edwards received his first Michelin Star in 2014, as well as three AA rosettes, at Lords of the Manor, Upper Slaughter in The Cotswolds. Before joining Ballyfin in April 2023, he was head chef at Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa, another Michelin-starred hotel restaurant and was previously executive head chef at Lartington Hall, Barnard Castle, Durham.
Congratulating Richard and his team, Ballyfin’s managing director Seamus Crotty said: “To be awarded a Michelin Star for the restaurant, so soon after the hotel received three Michelin Keys for the hotel, is a huge achievement. I am immensely proud of the entire Ballyfin team for their dedication and commitment to excellence.”
Since opening in 2011 following an extensive restoration, the lavish regency mansion at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains has become world-famous and has won numerous national and international awards.
