Mayo restaurant celebrates winning top award
IRELAND’S gold standard food and hospitality champions were celebrated as the winners of the Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards 2026 were announced at a gala celebration, with Westport’s An Port Mór winning a key award.
Established by food and hospitality writer Georgina Campbell, the awards recognise excellence across the country, with winners selected through independent, year-round assessments by a team of experts who book anonymously and pay their bills like any other guest. Businesses cannot enter themselves, ensuring the awards remain focused on genuine quality and hospitality.
An Port Mór picked up the Happy Place Award in the Memorable Moments category.
The citation read: Some restaurants make you admire the cooking; the happiest make you want to come back before you have even left. Frankie Mallon’s An Port Mór in Westport has that quality in abundance. Compact, lively and full of personality, it combines serious food with the sense that everyone involved is enjoying what they do.
A Euro-Toques chef, Frankie has built a national reputation on creative but resolutely no-nonsense cooking. Mayo lamb, excellent Irish beef and fresh local produce all have their place, but seafood is a particular strength, reflecting Westport’s proximity to Clew Bay. Sauces are accomplished, flavours are generous and dishes have enough polish for a special occasion without ever becoming self-important.
The room itself contributes to the pleasure. With just a few dozen seats, service feels personal and the atmosphere quickly becomes convivial. This is a restaurant with loyal local customers as well as visitors who plan Westport trips around a booking.
A Happy Place is not necessarily the grandest or most fashionable room. It is somewhere that lifts the spirits through warmth, flavour and human connection. An Port Mór has been doing that consistently for years.
Frankie Mallon and his team richly deserve this affectionate recognition - and, interestingly, the experience is equally happy when the man himself is not present for some reason, and that is a great compliment.
Speaking at the awards, Georgina Campbell warned that the personal connection traditionally associated with Irish hospitality is under pressure as businesses increasingly turn to technology, automation and digital transactions.
“In many places we visited we could see how warm human interaction is being replaced by cold digital transactions,” she said. “The very qualities that once defined good hospitality such as knowing a guest’s name, offering a cup of tea, or simply taking the time to have a conversation are becoming less common.”
Campbell recognised the enormous benefits that technology has brought to the industry, making businesses more efficient and helping staff manage information and operations, but stressed that there is a fundamental difference between efficiency and hospitality.
“Technology can make a business more efficient, but can it make a guest feel at home? Can an automated check-in desk make someone feel genuinely welcome? The answer, surely, is no,” she said, adding added that the 2026 awards celebrate something that cannot be automated - the human touch.
“The timeless art of hospitality has never been more valuable, or more urgently needed,” she said. “Exceptional hospitality is about creating a connection and an experience that guests will remember and, importantly, tell others about.”
She said the businesses recognised in this year’s awards demonstrate the value of putting people first, with owners and managers who remain visible and engaged, and long-serving staff who remember names, preferences and the small details that make a stay or meal personal.