A year and a half ago, the chef ROBBIE MCCAULEY changed the sophisticated kitchens of some of the best restaurants in United Kingdom and from Ireland by a small Casebre on the edge of a cliff facing the Atlantic Ocean.
The rustic construction of pounded walls and stone roof is surrounded by green fields, away from any city. It is the essence of the Irish rural landscape.
Nearby Moher’s cliffs an imposing and suction cup scenario, carved by the revolt, which marks the west of Europe and has appeared in several films. To the north is Doolin, a village famous for its musical tradition.
Despite attracting tourists, the remote place and the rustic look of the Casebre are light years of the refinement of fine restaurants, with their flawed linen towels. There, there are no pregnant customers or celebrities parading fashion looks.
Still, a few months after McCauley and his wife, Sophie, opened the Homestead Cottage In Clare County, the restaurant won a Michelin star. And not only that: there are those who say it is The best of Ireland – A heavy compliment in a country with such a strong gastronomic scene.
The bucolic environment only helped reinforce the restaurant’s charm. The Michelin guide described it as “probably the most rural” among its new winners, highlighting the excellence of local ingredients that define the menu.
The feat is further impressed by considering the crisis the sector faces in Ireland and so many other countries in recent years, with many closing restaurants – precariously as dizzying as the cliff where Homestead Cottage balances.
New challenge

The Scottish McCauley And his French wife, a restaurant owner, seem more interested in exploring the unique flavors in western Ireland than in collecting awards.
“Our philosophy is simple: local, seasonal and the best quality ingredients,” says the chef CNN TRAVEL .
He has lived in the region since 2013, but does not like to be seen as a stranger. His mother was born there, and her grandfather was a dairy producer in the region. “I always felt a call to Clare,” he says.
After forming at the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in London, and working at starry restaurants such as Number One in Edinburgh and Campagne in Kilkenny, he ended up at Gregan’s Castle Hotel in Burren, Clare County. It turned out to be the main chef – and it was there that he met Sophie, his future wife.
In 2023, he felt it was time for a new challenge. It was then that a local businessman offered him the Rent of an old mason hub, with 200 years of history on the outskirts of Doolin, close to the cliffs of Moher. McCauley did not put much faith in the idea, but Sophie, eight months pregnant, was straightforward: “Why not try?”
Meteoric success
The couple saw potential in space. “I think that somehow made sense in my head,” recalls McCauley.
They had six weeks to prepare everything. And two weeks before the inauguration, Sophie gave birth to little Iris. “It was crazy!” Says McCauley, laughing.
The first days, in July 2023, were quiet. But then came an enthusiastic criticism of the *Irish Times *, and everything changed. “After that, it was an avalanche,” says the chef. In February 2024, the restaurant already had its star Michelin.
“It never crossed our head, much less so fast,” admits McCauley.

The Homestead Cottage works with a tasting menu, with no La Carte option. This means less waste and more freedom for McCauley, who prefers to adapt the dishes as available, without being attached to a fixed menu.
This can mean collecting garlic, beans and kohlrabi from the garden. This will be the fourth year by cultivating asparagus, and they are eager to finally harvest the first large crop.
“The difference in flavor is stark. And so we can really cook with the stations, ”says McCauley.
For him, the Irish kitchen is not only defined by the dishes, but by the ingredients.
The chef is a great Irish dairy enthusiast, who considers “a worldwide product”, and believes that the country should value its beef and sheep more. “Here, animals are not fed grains, as in many countries. Ninety percent of cattle is created exclusively the pasture. ”
The connection with the earth

The dishes of Homestead Cottage take names of local places, emphasizing the strong connection between the territory and its ingredients: Oysters of Flaggy Shore, MORHER CRAZY, Connemara Vieiras, Aran Islands, Burren beef.
The Burren region, where the restaurant is located, is a unique scenario: a vast landscape of limestone formed 330 million years ago, full of rare flora and recognized as a global geopark of UNESCO.
McCauley admires both the differentiated taste of Burren’s flesh that believes it should have protected geographical indication status, as with galega from Spain, and the VITELO LIMOUSIN from France.
Despite the recognition for his talent, the chef insists that much of the merit goes to local producers .
“Horticulture takes almost six months to deliver us vegetables. Lamb creators, six to eight months. In the end, we just cook. You can’t do a miracle with a bad raw material, ”he says.
One of these suppliers is the Haugh family . Fiona and her father, Sean, run Market Hall, a winning butcher and delicatessen in the small town of Ennistymon, about 13 kilometers from Homestead Cottage.
Sean has a farm on the Kilkee cliffs trail and closely follows each stage of the process, from creation to meat cutting.

Fiona says she has known McCauley for years and remembers the first times he entered the store asking “random things like lamb bread.”
“Robbie is of another level,” she says. “I never tasted anything like his food.”
Sometimes she even lets him enter the butcher’s counter.
“He arrives asking, ‘Can you cut this way? Can you do it like this? ‘ He’s very detailed, ”laughs Fiona. “You know exactly what you want, from muzzle to tail. So I let him move, because he understands more than me! ”
McCauley acknowledges that the industry situation is not easy: “Especially now, with everything so hard for restaurants. We have no investors. We are just both of us. ”
The challenges of the sector
The chef is not surprised by the closure of so many restaurants. For him, the villains are the high prices of ingredients and electricity bill, as well as increasing employee costs and taxes on food and drink.
Another factor is people drinking less. Hotels, which can compensate for hosting costs, take advantage of independent restaurants.
He believes that the Irish government needs to act . “Tourism and gastronomy generate jobs across the country, especially in rural areas. If we lose this, there is no replacement with fast food networks. ”
McCauley defends more incentives for gastronomy courses and learning programs, especially in the interior.
At Homestead Cottage, the furniture has history: the tables were made with tablets of an old mill, backed by Singer sewing machines. In winter, a fireplace warms the environment. The floor is of local stones.
“The concept of haute cuisine is still very associated with the formality of white towels,” says McCauley. “But those who understand, understand.”
Now, He and Sophie come to the end of the first year with a Michelin star . In February, they will know if they managed to keep it.
“I think we’re cooking well and I hope Michelin will continue to recognize it. But we are not obsessed, ”says the chef.
“At the end of the day, we need a full restaurant to pay the bills and staff. The star’s prestige does not pay anyone . ”
Instead, McCauley is already dreaming of the 2025 dishes. “We must have beautiful large language in February, when the water is still cold,” he comments.
“And in summer, I always get excited about amazing tomatoes, crab, lobster.”
But if I had to bet on the trio of ingredients that will mark the year, he already has the answer at the tip of his tongue: “Lamb, wild garlic and asparagus.”
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The post on the edge of a cliff, a 200 -year hut wins star Michelin Appeared First on CNN Brazil V & G.
Source: CNN Brasil

Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.