This article is from page 34 of the 2007-10-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 34 JPG
A FAMILY friendly approach, cul- tivated through their own love of eating out as a family, has seen the Stonecutters Kitchen in Doolin carve out a special niche for itself in the north Clare restaurant market.
Proprietors Karen Courtney and Myles Duffy were in Dublin’s Shel- bourne Hotel last week to collect a Gold Medal Award in the Cafés and Coffee Shop section of the Irish Ho- tel and Catering Review awards.
The award, which was sponsored by Kenco Coffee, recognises and re- wards excellence within the Irish ho- tel and catering industry in 2007.
The Stonecutter was joined in the list of finalist by Lahinch’s Moy House who narrowly lost out to the Rathsallagh House Hotel and Golf Club in Wicklow in the country house category of the awards.
“We decided right from the start that we wanted a spot in the market that wasn’t being looked after at the time. We had a small child so we were aware how hard it was to find somewhere which was family friend- ly,” said Karen.
“We were amazed and blown away by winning it. It’s our very first award, it was a long time coming but well worth the wait.
“It’s really great to get the recog-
nition. You can get very subjective about your own work. You believe that you are doing a good job but I think you do sometimes need some- one from outside to come in and say it as well. It’s great for yourself but it’s even better for the staff, and there’s no way we could have done this without the staff.
More than 200 hotels, country hous- es and restaurants entered this year’s awards with some 120 businesses making the shortlist. The short-listed businesses were visited incognito by the nine members of the Gold Medal Jury throughout the summer and as- sessed for their quality.
The judges are all highly respected
experts in hospitality with proven track records and can proudly stand over the exemplary impartiality and fairness of these awards.
“We moved down from Dublin in 1992 with my husbands redundancy. We decided that we would get a hell of a lot more going down the country that we would up in Dublin. My sis- ter is the potter down here, she has been down here more than 30 years, so we knew the area.
“We came down here and bought a site, a mobile home and a hot-dog wagon. Myles worked the hot-dog wagon for about eight years. We bought the restaurant in 2000 and it open then in 2001.”