Our team-up with Cully & Sully, and Cassie Stokes took place this last month, where we travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to find the perfect soul-in-a-bowl that is Irish Chowder.
So, what is The State of the Chowder in 2026?
Our national dish is in rude good health, with each of our finalists showing true verve and personality with every bowl. Each finalist took the template of Ireland’s national dish and weaved their very own magic on their bowl.
It’s this ability to improvise and personalise that makes chowder such a fascinating dish: good to eat, but also very good to think. There is eatin’, drinkin’ and thinkin’ in a great bowl of chowder!
The standard this year was simply exceptional: bowl after bowl of brilliance.
It goes without saying that we had a wonderful time visiting the finalists, and it goes without saying that choosing one overall winner was an agonising process.
Behind our quartet of judges was the crew who make it all happen: All-Ireland medal-winner Laura Hayes and Julie Bradley from Cully & Sully, and photographer and video editor Joleen Cronin whose films and photography are such an important part of the whole panjandrum.
We would like to thank everyone who voted for the entrants, the engine that fires up the enterprise. This year we received nearly 20,000 votes. Just goes to show how much we all love chowder in Ireland.
Here are the winners:
(All Photos by Joleen Cronin)
WINNER SOUPerb Atmosphere
O’Sullivan’s of Crookhaven
Lynda Kennedy and Dermot O’Sullivan
It’s a long haul down the Mizen Peninsula to get to O’Sullivan’s, because this is the most southerly pub on the mainland of Ireland.
Dermot’s Grandmother started serving food in the bar in the 1960s. His mother first introduced the chowder with a French recipe that uses a tomato-based broth. It’s a recipe that has been served for 50 years in the pub, using local fish and shellfish. We visited on an average Tuesday, and the place was simply rockin’ with a crazy mix of visitors from far and near.
WINNER SOUPerb for Sustainability
The Roadside Tavern, Lisdoonvarna
Peter Jackson
There are no fewer than four stages to the Roadside Tavern chowder. In the first stage Peter uses all the fish trim from the local fish from Doonbeg and Ennis to create the fish stock, and makes sure there is no waste.
In the second stage, the stock is finished with infused cream, then vegetables and fish are added, and finally the bowl is garnished with smoked salmon from the adjacent Burren Smokehouse, just up the road. Peter always uses naturally smoked fish, and makes great use of local seaweed. “If you can eat it here, you can also visit it” is his catch phrase, thanks to using ingredients from Ailwee Cave, the Smokehouse and the Flaggy Shore.
Peter draws inspiration from his time cooking in Scotland and compares his chowder to the Scottish classic of Cullen Skink. He also likes to joke that: “I used to be a customer of this pub before I bought it!”
Voter’s Favourite and WINNER SOUPerb Hidden Gem
McLaughlin’s of Mulranny
Neville and Joey
Neville and Joey are two secondary school best friends who run McLaughlin’s pub and its 6 rooms upstairs, all enjoying a stupendous view of Clew Bay and Mulranny Beach.
They love the short supply chain and the quality of life which working in County Mayo gifts to them. “Each day we have multiple visits from all our suppliers. We use local seafood as well as local butchers. Joey has a fishing background, and most of our fish is sourced from Clew Bay. The trawler men come in for their few pints in the bar.”
“Consistency” is most important thing in serving a good chowder. The team create a bone broth and a proper mirepoix, before adding celeriac, samphire, and dilisk salt.
They cleverly add local prawns which are sautéed at the last minute with samphire - as a garnish. This means that the prawns don’t overcook, and the samphire doesn’t overpower the dish.
And get this chowder fans: Neville likes chowder with chips! We did too!
Voter’s Favourite and WINNER SOUPerb Innovation
Pat Cohan’s, Cong
Jason Henning and Yashraj Jooree
Yash left Mauritius aged 17, working as a chef in Ireland and on cruises in Dubai, where he learned classic French techniques. It’s that Indian Ocean crossed with European culinary heritage that has shaped his cooking.
For Yash, chowder is all about developing the flavour: “It’s important to get the full flavour of the fish in the base - you wouldn’t use salmon for example. To get the flavour it has to be cod or white fish.” With Jason running the dining rooms, Pat Cohan’s is a humungously busy destination, helped by the fact that so many visitors associate it with the film The Quiet Man.
Our bowl was stunningly garnished with salmon roe and crayfish and edible flowers from Ballina. The bread is made with Guinness and molasses with a mound of butter garnished with seaweed.
WINNER SOUPerb Sense of Place
Stoop Your Head, Skerries
Audrey May and Nicola Weaver
Stoop Your Head was almost certainly the first gastropub in Ireland because, as long ago as 1959, Colette May was offering chicken cooked on a spit, and Dublin Bay Prawns. Today, the May family and their team epitomise the great community spirit of Skerries, a town which has been described as the ideal place to live.
Sous chef Nicola Seaver begins her chowder with a roux, which is then flavoured with white wine, and Nicola uses cod, potatoes and a bit of salmon. Each bowl is garnished with 1 Dublin Bay prawn, 1 juicy crab claw, and some mussels.
And do you have to stoop your head when in the pub? Indeed you do, just another part of the charm that makes Stoops – that’s what everyone calls it – a benchmark local tavern and hostelry.
And the winner is….
The Roadside Tavern, Lisdoonvarna
Everyone of these chowders deserved to be the ultimate winner, but after much deliberation we awarded the overall Prize of Best Chowder in Ireland 2026 to The Roadside Tavern, Lisdoonvarna. The sheer complexity of the dish, with layer upon layer of flavour, as well as the inspiring use of on-the-doorstep local ingredients, served in one of the most atmospheric pubs in Ireland, led to Peter Jackson’s chowder winning the All-Ireland prize. See y’all next year and don’t forget to vote for YOUR favourite.
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