Using Great British Menu as a Guide to Northern Ireland's Top Restaurants

Where are the chefs who competed for Northern Ireland based and where can you try their food?

It is no secret we adore competitive cookery TV shows, we write about them on here frequently. With Finals week taking place this week on the 20th season of one of our favourite shows, Great British Menu, it got us thinking about the various different competitors who have vied to represent Northern Ireland in the last 10-15 years of the show.

In a shock to no one, we’re always a little more invested in the Northern Ireland heat than the other regions. The chefs are more familiar, the restaurants more to mind and the produce championed stokes our patriotism a little when we can pinpoint the exact producer being celebrated in a particular dish.

The thing is, winning is great and all but it definitely isn’t everything.

✔️Getting to finals week as the sole chef representing a region to compete against the best of the best is a boon.

✔️ Winning a course and cooking it at a prestigious one-time banquet is an honour.

✔️ Being awarded ‘Champion of Champions’ is undoubtedly the ultimate.

However, GBM is more an outlet and opportunity than anything else, a chance to gain incredible TV exposure as a chef, particularly for Northern Ireland’s chefs, and gain wider visibility not only for yourself as a chef but for where you cook, and not only locally in NI but across the wider UK and Republic of Ireland, too.

If you ever thought to yourself “remember when that chef competed in GBM? I wonder where are they now?” we have you covered, below.

Alex Greene | The Buck’s Head, Dundrum

Alex Greene made his name leading Michelin-starred EIPIC, part of Michael Deane’s stable in Belfast, taking the mantle from Danni Barry in late 2017. He competed at GBM in 2019, finishing second in the region behind Chris McClurg, and the very next year, 2020, returned to win the heat, won both the starter and dessert dish to cook at the banquet and, if you ask us, was robbed of that year’s Champion of Champions title, if you ask us). Now, he has gone into partnership with Bronagh McCormick, former manager of EIPIC, reimagining restaurant with rooms The Buck’s Head in Dundrum, Co. Down.

Phelim O’Hagan | Artis, Derry

A regional winner on his first attempt, Derry-born Phelim O’Hagan stormed to victory in 2021, though didn’t get a dish to the banquet. With a Michelin pedigree he opened his debut restaurant Artis, within Derry’s craft village, alongside wife Serena Macari, who runs the floor. You can read our review in the Sunday Times Ireland (from 2023) here.

Chris McClurg | TBC but pop-ups for now…

One of the most successful NI competitors in the show’s history, twice Chris McClurg has won the NI heat of GBM. First, in 2019 he pipped Alex Greene and Glen Wheeler to the post and in finals week finished within the top four for every single course - runner-up on both fish and main - but didn’t manage to reach the banquet. In 2022 he returned with gusto, winning the region again and won the dessert course, bringing his Derry Girls-inspired trifle dessert to the banquet, while once again finishing within the top four on every single course, including runner-up on main.

As Paul Ainsworth’s right hand man as Chef Patron of Michelin-starred No6 in Padstow, McClurg recently departed the team after 13 years. He and partner Alice Stewart - also from the Ainsworth stable - relocated back to Northern Ireland and open their own farm to fork restaurant. Nothing in stone yet but the pair are currently testing the waters with pop-ups and events in Belfast and wider NI while their plan is a more rural location for their restaurant. Keep an eye on Chris’ socials to stay in the loop.

Gemma Austin | Mamo Patisserie, Belfast & Era, Lisburn

A three-time competitor three years in a row, Gemma Austin from Carryduff in Down first competed in 2021, then 2022, finishing runner-up both times before returning to clinch regional victory in 2023. Austin ran her debut restaurant A Peculiar Tea, for three years, until it sadly closed in October 2024 due to operational factors including rent, rates and associated costs. A pretty townhouse restaurant set on Belfast’s University Road, it was a popular spot remarked for skilful yet playful plates with storybook inspirations served in eclectically styled surrounds.

The brand will still live on in pop-up format we believe but for now Gemma is found running two new food ventures: Era, the restaurant within Hinch Distillery just outside her hometown, which opened last year and is a somewhat reimagining of A Peculiar Tea but stripped of the concept and back to basics with Jean Fox (a former MasterChef The Professionals contestant) running the kitchen as Head Chef; and Mamó Patisserie at St George’s Market, which is not a surprise since Austin was once the pastry chef at the 5* Fitzwilliam Hotel.

Danni Barry | Ballynahinch Castle, Connemara

A one-time competitor and though Danni didn’t win the NI heat in 2015 she won so much more: a Michelin star for EIPIC, where she was head chef, the same year — the first female chef to earn the accolade in Northern Ireland. She departed in 2017 and held a number of different roles, from Cleneghens in Moira to The Wicklow Escape down south. Now she is based at Ballynahinch Castle in Connemara, one of Ireland’s most breathtaking castle hotels. She leads as Executive Chef, a role she has held since late 2022, overseeing both the fine dining Owenmore restaurant and the more casual but seriously food-focused Fisherman’s Pub and Ranji Room. We ate in both on a glorious press trip last year and have nothing but superlatives to say about both. An indelible gem.

Glen Wheeler | 28 at the Hollow, Enniskillen

Glen competed once in 2019 alongside Chris McClurg and Alex Greene but was eliminated mid-week. The Fermanagh native trained under Neven Maguire in neighbouring Cavan before gaining experience internationally at the likes of Alinea in Chicago, Noma in Copenhagen and under Gordon Ramsay in London. He opened 28 Darling Street in Enniskillen alongside wife Zara in 2018 which moved in mid-2021 to where it is now: part of the historic and enduring local pub Blake’s Of The Hollow, renamed 28 At The Hollow and elegantly elevating the gastropub experience. We haven’t eaten here since late 2021 so are overdue a return but it was fantastic back then.

Chris McGowan | Wine & Brine, Moira

Chris competed and won the regional heat in 2014 and came close to getting both his main and dessert to the banquet but just fell short. He returned the following two years but didn’t win the heat, losing to Ben Arnold of Home in Belfast (at the time, now departed) in 2015 and Mark Abbott of two Michelin-starred Midsummer House in Cambridge.

Having spent 20 years in London under the likes of Gary Rhodes and Richard Corrigan, Chris returned to his native Northern Ireland and opened Wine & Brine in 2015 alongside wife Davina, who runs the floor. 2025 marks their 10th year in business and they are celebrating year-long. It remains one of our favourite restaurants on the entirety of the island of Ireland. You can read our review from the Sunday Times Ireland (mid-2023) here.

Lottie Noren | EDŌ, Belfast

Lottie competed in 2024 and was runner-up to Melissa McCabe. Originally from the Lake District, she has called Belfast home for over a decade and is Chef Patron of EDŌ, a modern European dining room which opened on Upper Queen Street in Belfast city centre in late 2017 and won a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2023.

Marty McAdam | The Street Kitchen, Enniskillen

A two-time entrant, viewers of this year’s 20th anniversary season will recognise Marty who made it to the judges chamber but just missed out on the regional title. He first appeared on the series in 2022 where he was first-eliminated. He opened his first restaurant The Street Kitchen on Paget Lane in Enniskillen in September 2021.

Niall McKenna MBE | Waterman house, Belfast

One of the modern titans of the Belfast dining scene, first-timer Niall McKenna won the Northern Ireland heat in 2010 and immediately got a dish to the banquet, winning the dessert course with his poached rhubarb and strawberry jelly with yellow man and lavender ice-cream. He returned in 2012 but was eliminated earlier in the week. Having owned, operated and run various different restaurants in the city, including much-missed Hadski’s and James Street South, he now runs Waterman House, a Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded bistro on Hill Street in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. The industrial space, once the Bushmills bonded warehouse and head office, also comprises his own cookery school and various events spaces.

Chris Fearon | Michael Deane (group), Belfast

Another first-timer to win the region, Chris Fearon stormed to victory back in the sixth season in 2011 and immediately got a dish to the banquet, his starter which was a twist on coronation chicken. He cooked that banquet alongside heavyweight veterans we now see regularly on the show, like Tom Kerridge, Aktar Islam and Paul Ainsworth.

He returned the following year to defend his title and succeeded but missed out on having any of his dishes at the Olympic-themed banquet celebrating the upcoming London 2012 Games. He took a third punt at getting to finals the next year (2013) but finished runner-up to Ray McArdle in the regional heat. He has been a long-standing figure in Michael Deane’s stable and is the Executive Chef for the group, which includes mrDEanes, our Sunday Times Ireland review for that from 2024 here.

Melissa McCabe | Feast, Rostrevor

In 2023 Camlough-born chef Melissa McCabe stormed to victory with her inventive takes on Irish produce to fit the brief of the Olympic and Paralympic games. At the time of competing she had been running her food truck Feast, popping up around the Newry and Mourne region for a year or so but in late last year she put the wagon on bricks and opened her first restaurant in Rostrevor, with the same name, Feast, going into partnership with another food trucker Roisin McCaffrey. You can read our Sunday Times Ireland review from a few months ago here.

Stevie McCarry | Lír, Coleraine

The region’s current reigning, the self-taught chef who specialises in whole fish and seafood cookery runs Lír in Coleraine alongside wife Rebecca. As a first-time entrant in 2025 viewers watched as he battled his blood sugar levels - he’s a Type 1 Diabetic - to win the region.