Diarmuid O'Callaghan

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He's the Limerick Leader, is Diarmuid O'Callaghan, gracing everywhere he has worked in the city – The Green Onion Café, The Market Square Brasserie, and lately his own River Bistro – with a calm, logical and unpretentious style of food.

He learnt how to do it from good guys – the mighty Jean-Georges Vongerichten, along with Louis Outier and Leonard Loiseau, are on the CV – and his travels in both France and the USA give an underlying confidence to his work, along with a cosmopolitan savvy. Limerick is lucky that he has come back, for the city has had too few chefs with a significant personal style over the last four decades, so O'Callaghan is out on his own, a confident cook. A great skill with the textures of food in his dishes is probably the most significant element of his work, but equally important is the fact that he is customer-focused, and that he knows his customers, as you would expect of a guy educated at St Munchin's College. The local boy was always going to make it.

The River Bistro, 4 George's Quay, Limerick, County Limerick
061 400990
http://www.theriverbistro.ie