This 200-year-old cottage in the middle of nowhere has been given a Michelin star quickswap exchange
A year and a half ago, chef Robbie McCauley left behind the swanky kitchens of some of the UK and Ireland’s best restaurants to cook in a remote Irish cottage on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic.
The low, whitewashed, flagstone-roofed building surrounded by empty green fields, miles from the nearest town, looks the very definition of rural Ireland.
Close by are the Cliffs of Moher. This dramatic, windswept landscape carved by wild oceans stands on the westernmost edge of Europe and has made numerous movie appearances. To the north is Doolin, a village known for its traditional music scene.
Though popular with tourists, the far-flung setting and the cottage’s rustic appearance are a far cry from the white-linen-tableclothed world of fine dining. Expense-account diners and fashionistas are nowhere to be seen.
And yet, within months of McCauley and his wife Sophie opening Homestead Cottage in County Clare, the Michelin Guide gave it a star, while others have hailed it the best restaurant in Ireland — strong praise in a country known for culinary excellence.
The bucolic setting hasn’t done the restaurant any harm, with Michelin calling it “surely the most rural” of their newest winners, while noting the “wonderful Irish produce” at the heart of its menu.
It’s an achievement all the more remarkable given the precariousness of the restaurant industry in Ireland and many other countries in recent years, with the fate of many hanging on a metaphorical cliff edge just as vertiginous as the landscape on which Homestead Cottage is perched.