{"id":652605,"date":"2026-10-12T16:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/652605\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T16:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:52:11","slug":"jack-rice-of-comet-restaurant-named-young-chef-of-the-year-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/652605\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Rice of Comet restaurant named young chef of the year \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack Rice of Dublin\u2019s Comet restaurant<\/a> was named young chef of the year on Sunday at the Euro-toques Ireland annual gala dinner. <\/p>\n

Rice, who is originally from Limerick<\/a>, previously worked at Michelin<\/a>-starred Galway restaurant Lignum<\/a> and was winner of the WorldSkills Ireland cookery competition in 2022.<\/p>\n

Rice was crowned young chef of the year after a final in which six chefs were challenged to design two original dishes: a main course and either a starter or dessert. <\/p>\n

The other five finalists included fellow Comet chef \u00c1ine Budds; Shannon Caulfield of Ashford Castle<\/a>; Aymeric Decourval who represented Lady Helen at Mount Juliet<\/a>; Chapter One\u2019s Sam Nourse and Simone Tamilio of Bar Pez.<\/p>\n

The brief asked the six chefs to use a centre-cut of Dexter beef sirloin on the bone from Brave Herders in Co Cork, alongside organic rye, spelt and wholemeal flours from Dunany Flour in Co Louth, and butter and yoghurt from Saltrock Dairy in Gorey, Co Wexford.<\/p>\n

The ingredients were selected as part of the competition\u2019s 40th anniversary theme Community at the Table, and Rice\u2019s main course, The Past and Present of Beef in Ireland, followed by his Mum\u2019s Apple Tart, bagged the top prize.<\/p>\n

As winner Rice takes home a Kenwood Chef Titanium XL; a one-day knife course with Sam Gleeson; a voucher for sharpening knives; a bottle of Two Shores Superior Irish Rum as well as a chef\u2019s stage at one of the judges kitchens: either Da Terra restaurant in London with chef Rafael Cagali or Restaurante Maca de Castro under Macarena de Castro Mart\u00edn in Mallorca. <\/p>\n

\"JackJack Rice’s main dish: The Past and Present of Beef in Ireland \"JackJack Rice’s winning dessert: Mum’s Apple Tart <\/p>\n

As well as competing in the final, the six chefs also received mentorship as part of the programme, visiting the kitchens of Keelan Higgs\u2019 at Variety Jones in Dublin<\/a>, Rafael Calgari\u2019s two Michelin-starred Da Terra in London and Nomos alumni Cu\u00e1n Greene\u2019s<\/a> recently opened venture \u00d3m\u00f3s<\/a> in Abbeyleix, Co Laois. The young chefs also visited Dunany Flour and Carlingford Oyster Company over the six-month mentorship period. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s judging panel included Michelin-starred chef Lewis Barker of Terre at Castlemartyr Resort in Co Cork, fellow Michelin-star holder Keelan Higgs of Variety Jones, and Domini Kemp of Lottie\u2019s in Rathmines, Dublin. <\/p>\n

The ceremony also announced Aengus Moloney of Aniar in Galway as rising pastry chef of the year, who won the honour ahead of four other finalists: Aoife Comerford of Liath in Dublin; The Merrion Hotel\u2019s Alena Pazitna; Ashford Castle\u2019s Francesca Kearns; and Masha Campbell of Carrick-on-Shannon\u2019s My Kitchen by Sham Hanifa.<\/p>\n

The pastry category\u2019s judging panel included Lali Gonz\u00e1lez of the recently opened Glover\u2019s Alley in Dublin; Lady Helen at Mount Juliet\u2019s Tom Phelan; and Orna Larkin who represented the InterContinental in Dublin. <\/p>\n

Moloney\u2019s prize includes a trip to visit specialist food decorator PCB Creation in Strasbourg, France, a stage with one of the category\u2019s judges, a Kenwood Chef Titanium XL and a bottle of Two Shores Superior Irish Rum. <\/p>\n

Young chef of the year 2026: The dishes (As presented in the competition)Aine Budds \u2013 CometMain dish: BBQ Dexter beef, mole poblano, golden beet rye tarte fine with Marmite black garlic glaze, herb salad, brown butter beef sauce.Dessert: Compressed choux eclair, Saltrock butter mousseline, blood plum jam, white chocolate crumb, white chocolate mirror glaze.Shannon Caulfield \u2013 Ashford CastleMain dish: Brave Herders Dexter sirloin, Saltrock dairy pomme pur\u00e9e, Ashford Estate artichoke pur\u00e9e, garden kale, sauce bordelaise.Dessert: Plum and hazelnut frangipane tart.Aymeric Decourval \u2013 Lady Helen at Mount JulietMain dish: Dexter Sirloin cooked on the bone, girolles, pommes Anna.Dessert: Highbank Orchards apple, Dunany flour sabl\u00e9 Breton, Saltrock dairy yoghurt sorbet.Sam Nourse \u2013 Chapter One by Mickael ViljanenMain dish: Elevated Sunday Roast Dexter beef, onion, \u201cmushroom\u201d, black pudding, pear and horseradish.Dessert: Pancino, black currant, Killahora apple ice wine caramel, \u201csoft serve\u201d mascarpone and parsley.Jack Rice \u2013 CometMain dish: The Past and Present of Beef in Ireland.Dessert: Mum\u2019s Apple Tart.Simone Tamilio \u2013 Bar PezMain dish: Dexter beef strip on the bone, smoked Saltrock brown butter jus gras.Side plate: Poached and barbecue celeriac, Saltrock labneh, pine nut praline, cavolo nero and basil pur\u00e9e, Dexter liver meatball, crispy cavolo nero, Dunany spelt flour milk bread.Dessert: Upside down fig cake, whipped Saltrock yoghurt mousse, flamb\u00e9 of Cointreau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Rice of Dublin\u2019s Comet restaurant was named young chef of the year on Sunday at the Euro-toques…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45739,93,61,60,46885,151323,5861],"class_list":["post-652605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ashford-castle","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-michelin","tag-mount-juliet","tag-restaurant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}