Danni Barry is a chef. She was the head chef of Eipic restaurant in Northern Ireland and executive chef in Balloo House. She is now executive chef in Ballynahinch Castle, Connemara, Galway. She was the second female Irish chef to hold a

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

. In 2016, she was named Irish Chef of the Year.

Career

Barry began working in a professional kitchen at the age of 14, as a

kitchen porter The kitchen brigade (, ) is a system of hierarchy found in restaurants and hotels employing extensive staff, commonly referred to as "kitchen staff" in English-speaking countries. The concept was developed by Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935). Th ...

. She began to work as a chef after attending a catering college in

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

, Northern Ireland. She was mentored by chef Michael Deane, and started to work his restaurant Deanes in 2003. Barry travelled around the world to gain experience as a chef, including at

Simon Rogan L'Enclume (, French for "the anvil") is a Modern British restaurant opened in 2002 in Cartmel, Cumbria, England, run by the chef Simon Rogan and his partner, Penny Tapsell. L'Enclume received a rating of 10 out of 10 five times in ''The Good Fo ...

L'Enclume L'Enclume (, French for "the anvil") is a Modern British restaurant opened in 2002 in Cartmel, Cumbria, England, run by the chef Simon Rogan and his partner, Penny Tapsell. L'Enclume received a rating of 10 out of 10 five times in '' The Good F ...

restaurant. She moved on to work as

sous chef A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...

under Raymond McCardle at Restaurant 23, before becoming head chef for Rogan at his

Cartmel Cartmel is a village in Furness (traditionally "Lancashire-over-the-Sands" (and in the ceremonial county of Cumbria), England, northwest of Grange-over-Sands close to the River Eea. The village takes its name from the Cartmel Peninsula, a ...

based restaurant Cartmel & Co in 2012. In 2014, she left to return to Northern Ireland where she opened restaurant Eipic as head chef under Deane, who owns the restaurant. Barry gained a

within 18 months, becoming the only female chef in Ireland to hold the award, and only the second ever. In addition to cooking, she also forages herbs and

wild garlic Plant species in the genus ''Allium ''Allium'' is a large genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants with around 1000 accepted species, making ''Allium'' the largest genus in the family Amaryllidaceae and among the largest plant genera in the wo ...

several times a week. Barry has appeared on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

cooking competition

Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...

in 2015, where she competed for Northern Ireland against Ben Arnold and Chris McGowan. In 2016, she was named Irish Chef of the Year at the ninth Irish Restaurant Awards, while the restaurant was named Ulster Restaurant of the Year and owner Deanes won Entrepreneur of the Year. The same year, Barry was named one of 17 chefs to watch by ''

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

'' magazine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Danni Living people People from Mayobridge Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants British women chefs British chefs Year of birth missing (living people)