Restaurant in Duncannon, Ireland
Michelin value, hyper-local seafood, book ahead.
Aldridge Lodge holds back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmand awards (2024–2025) and a 4.9 Google rating, making it the clearest value decision in Co. Wexford dining. Chef Billy Whitty's menu leans on crab and lobster fished off Hook Head by his father and vegetables grown in the surrounding gardens. At the €€ price point, the sourcing quality is genuinely hard to match.
A 4.9 Google rating across 237 reviews is the single most telling number here, and it tells you almost everything: Aldridge Lodge is doing something right, consistently, in a corner of Wexford that most visitors drive past without stopping. Two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand awards (2024 and 2025) confirm it. At the €€ price point, this is one of the more direct value decisions in rural Irish dining. Book it.
Aldridge Lodge sits inside an attractive country house down a small lane outside Duncannon, with surrounding gardens that supply vegetables directly to the kitchen. That detail matters more than it sounds: when produce travels metres rather than kilometres to the plate, the cooking has a different quality of immediacy. Chef Billy Whitty builds the menu around what the land and sea provide, and in this part of Wexford, the sea provides a great deal. His father fishes off Hook Head, which means the crab and lobster arriving at your table have a provenance chain short enough to be genuinely meaningful rather than merely promotional.
This is country cooking in the most literal sense of the phrase. It is not rustic-by-affectation, the kind of staged simplicity that costs €€€€ in Dublin. The sourcing is real, the relationships are familial, and the kitchen's job is to stay out of the way of ingredients that don't need improving. For the food-focused traveller who wants to understand what a place actually tastes like, this approach delivers more signal than a tasting menu built around technique.
The atmosphere inside runs warm and unpretentious. The owners' energy comes through in the room: this is a place run by people who want you to be there, and that quality is harder to manufacture than a well-trained front-of-house team. Expect the kind of ambient feel you associate with a well-loved rural restaurant rather than a polished hotel dining room. Noise levels are conversational, the pace unhurried. If you are travelling down from Dublin or across from Kilkenny, the setting and mood alone justify treating this as a proper destination rather than a detour.
Homely bedrooms are available, with hot water bottles and home-baked cookies included. If you are travelling in autumn or early winter, when the surrounding gardens are winding down and Hook Head fishing is at its most productive for certain species, staying overnight shifts the experience considerably. You get the evening service, the morning after, and the quieter county without the rush back to a motorway.
The Bib Gourmand is specifically awarded for good cooking at a moderate price. Michelin's two consecutive recognitions here point at something consistent, not a single exceptional year. The menu leaning on crab and lobster sourced directly from a family fisherman off Hook Head is the kind of supply chain that most restaurants at this price tier cannot replicate. Hook Head is one of the more productive fishing grounds on the southeast Irish coast, and the proximity means the kitchen is working with genuinely fresh shellfish rather than product that has spent time in a distribution chain. For the explorer-type traveller, understanding this context makes the meal more interesting, not less: you are eating the geography.
The kitchen garden adds a second layer to the same argument. Vegetables grown on site arrive at the kitchen at peak quality and are used as the season dictates. In the current season, that means the menu will reflect what is actually available locally, which tends to produce more cohesive and honest cooking than kitchens working from a static supplier list. This is not a year-round menu frozen in amber. It shifts with what is there.
Reservations: Book in advance; with a consistent Michelin recognition and a loyal local following, tables fill faster than the rural location might suggest. Easy to book relative to urban peers, but don't assume walk-in availability, particularly on weekends. Booking difficulty: Easy, but plan ahead. Dress: No stated dress code; smart casual is appropriate for the setting. Budget: €€, making this one of the more accessible Bib Gourmand holders in Ireland. Accommodation: Rooms available on site; the most efficient option if you want an unhurried evening. Getting there: Duncannon is in Co. Wexford; allow time from Dublin (roughly 2 hours) or Kilkenny (under an hour). Chef: Billy Whitty. Contact: No phone or website listed in current data; check directly with the venue for current booking details.
See the full comparison section below.
For more on eating and staying in this part of Wexford, see our full Duncannon restaurants guide, our full Duncannon hotels guide, our full Duncannon bars guide, and our full Duncannon experiences guide. For comparable country cooking elsewhere in Ireland, Homestead Cottage in Doolin and Chestnut in Ballydehob operate in a similar register of locally grounded, produce-led cooking at accessible price points. If you want to build a broader Wexford and southeast Ireland itinerary, Lady Helen in Thomastown and Campagne in Kilkenny are the natural step up in formality and price. For the full picture of Michelin-recognised Irish cooking across the country, see also Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen in Dublin, Liath in Blackrock, Aniar in Galway, Bastion in Kinsale, dede in Baltimore, Terre in Castlemartyr, and House in Ardmore. Country cooking in comparable rural European settings is explored at 21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba and Andrea Monesi - Locanda di Orta in Orta San Giulio.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Aldridge Lodge | €€ | — |
| Patrick Guilbaud | €€€€ | — |
| Aniar | €€€€ | — |
| Bastion | €€€€ | — |
| LIGИUM | €€€€ | — |
| Host | €€ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Aldridge Lodge and alternatives.
Book at least two to three weeks ahead, more for weekends and summer months. Two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmands have put Aldridge Lodge on the radar well beyond the local area, and the room is small enough that a loyal repeat clientele fills it quickly. Don't assume the rural Duncannon location means easy walk-in access.
It's a country house down a small lane outside Duncannon, not a high-street restaurant, so plan your route. The menu leans heavily on seafood — crab and lobster are a particular feature — sourced directly from chef Billy Whitty's father, who fishes off Hook Head. Vegetables come from the surrounding gardens. The €€ price range and Bib Gourmand recognition together tell you the format: serious, ingredient-led cooking without the fine-dining price tag.
The menu is built around what's available from the garden and the sea, so it's naturally produce-driven rather than structured around dietary categories. check the venue's official channels before booking to confirm what can be accommodated — the seafood-forward format means pescatarians are well served, but specific allergy or dietary needs should be confirmed in advance.
Yes, clearly. The Michelin Bib Gourmand exists specifically to flag good cooking at a moderate price, and Aldridge Lodge has earned it two consecutive years (2024 and 2025). At €€, with produce sourced from an on-site kitchen garden and directly from a local fisherman, the value-to-quality ratio is one of the stronger cases in the southeast of Ireland.
It works well for a low-key special occasion where the food does the talking rather than a formal setting. The house has a warm, owner-run atmosphere rather than a ceremonial dining room, so it suits couples or small groups who want quality cooking and a relaxed evening over something more theatrical. Overnight stays are available, which makes it a practical choice for a full night away in Wexford.
Aldridge Lodge is the clear anchor for serious eating in the immediate Duncannon area. For broader Wexford dining, the options scale up significantly in Wexford town. If you're weighing a longer drive for a comparable value-focused experience elsewhere in Ireland, Aniar in Galway operates in a similar hyper-local sourcing register but at a higher price point and with a more formal format.
The venue data does not confirm whether a tasting menu is currently offered, so this isn't something to assume before booking. What is confirmed is a seafood-leaning menu built around Hook Head produce and kitchen garden vegetables, at €€ pricing with Bib Gourmand-level cooking. Contact Aldridge Lodge directly to confirm current menu formats before you book.
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