The Chef Sessions – a Michelin-inspired festival lands in Dublin this February

If January is for rest and recuperation, then February is for getting back out into the world and what better way to do that than with great food?

The Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland Awards arrive in Dublin on Monday, February 9, in partnership with La Rousse Foods, and Ireland’s hospitality industry is rolling out its green carpet to welcome some of the best culinary minds on both sides of the Irish Sea. 

Alongside the awards ceremony at the Convention Centre, Dublin will be a buzz with a walkable programme of pop-ups and collaborations in the form of The Chef Sessions, a series of one-off events, collaborations and late-night gatherings across the city centre. From chicken in a basket and hot dogs to breakfast muffins, toasties, spice bags and discoed Chinese, this is paying homage to the current contemporary food scene. 

Taking place from Saturday night through to Monday evening, all of the venues are within easy reach of one another, meaning there won’t be a chance for you to go hungry. 

Here’s what’s confirmed so far. 

Marcus O’ Laoire x Thom Lawson at Rei Momo, Drury Street

From the 60s until 2000, Irish venues seeking late-night licences were required to serve a ‘substantial meal.’ The resulting menus were often bleak: curry you could wear home, sausages for tight budgets, or chicken in a basket. Venues were also meant to turn off the music and turn up the lights, a rule thankfully ignored. So, kicking off the Michelin weekender on Saturday night, the substantial meal, created in partnership with his brother in music and food, Thom Lawson at Rei Momo, is a Bistro Brazil take on chicken in a basket – dende and urucum half chicken, malagueta chimichurri and chips in that classic red plastic basket.

Saturday, February 7, 6 pm til late, €20 per basket.

Barry Sun x Hang Dai, Hang Dai, Camden Street

Barry Sun of Blackrock’s beloved Volpe Nera brings his light, elegant touch to the city centre, hosted by Will and the Hang Dai team. Swapping mid-Med for Northern Chinese flavours, Barry joins the Hang Dai chefs for a buzzy, casual, family-style supper. Expect two relaxed sittings with small plates – oysters, dumplings in broth, char siu tart, chicken siu mei – plus sharing platters of crispy pork, black bean sea bass, typhoon cabbage and aubergine mapo. Green Sichuan pepper ice cream finishes things off, before cocktails, DJs and champagne upstairs in the Gold Bar.

Sunday, February 8, 2 sittings (4-5pm/7.15-8.30pm), €80 pp.

Cúán Greene and team Ómós x Frank’s, Camden Street

Cúán Greene, chef-owner of upcoming Ómós, cut his teeth in two of the world’s most demanding kitchens: Noma and Geranium in Copenhagen. Anyone who’s lived there knows some of the city’s best food is about as un-Nordic as it gets, and often the only thing a young chef can afford: hot dogs. On Sunday night, Cúán teams up with the crew at Frank’s for his take on the form: two dogs, one classic pølse, the other seasonal and a little more left-field. Frank’s dogs are €10, served from 5 pm until they’re gone, first come, first served, walk-ins only, and best paired with that other modern Danish staple: natural wine from Frank’s deep list.

Sunday, February 8, from 5pm, €10 per hot dog.

Mark Moriarty x Egan’s x Bar 1661, Aungier Street

Egan’s on Aungier Street will see a top-shelf collab between chef, author and TV host Mark Moriarty, cocktail institution Bar 1661 and Midleton Rare. Mark’s take on a certain Golden Arches breakfast icon – a “M*rkMuffin” – sees double sausage and egg muffins with Rick Higgins’ pork patties, melted lardo, Irish cheddar and spicy dill-pickled mayo. Dave Mulligan (Bar 1661) will be pouring Belfast Coffees and Bloody Monks, Oisín at Egan’s pulling pints, and the muffins will be served until sold out. €25 pp gets you a muffin and a choice of Belfast Coffee, Bloody Monk or a Midleton Very Rare Irish Coffee, with the 2024 Midleton vintage also available to taste neat.

Monday, February 8, 10.30am to 1.30pm

Rob Krawczyk x Row Wines, Coppinger Row

Rob Krawczyk didn’t lick it off the stones. His father, Frank, a Polish-by–West Cork Gandalf of charcuterie, made sure cured meats ran in the family. In a pivot from the quiet precision of Ballydehob’s Restaurant Chestnut, Rob teams up with the crew at Row on a toastie: kassler with sour cabbage and mature Gubbeen on sourdough. To mark Michelin’s arrival in Dublin, Row are opening early, serving toasties from 1–3pm, and pairing them with a glass of wine for only a fiver. You’d get that nowhere.

Monday, February 9, 1pm to 3pm €12 toastie, €5 glass of wine.

The Sisters of Smithfield, Queen St

Chef Chun Li and DJ Sally Cinnamon are adding extra swank to The Chef Sessions weekend at Sister 7, pairing luxe spice bags with top-tier tunes. The gloriously indulgent Swanky Swanky Spice Bag (€22) features Irish lobster, confit duck, master stock–braised short ribs, mini edamame spring rolls and parmesan potato puffs. Soundtrack duties fall to the legendary Sally Cinnamon, a scholar of sound who’s been helming Ireland’s best dance floors for over 25 years.

Monday, February 9, 8pm to 12am, Swanky Swanky Spice Bags €22.

Each venue will be managing their own ticketing and booking, to book see their individual websites, bios, and socials for details.