Committed chefs are a daring lot. A recent Facebook link told how one chef in Newfoundland is counfounding his customers to the max! He declares his brand new restaurant will not serve the humdrum standard dishes of other premises, majoring instead on lesser used ingredients like offal from meat and fish. He says his menu will be written up on the blackboard with a note to customers saying ‘this is what we have today and hopefully you will like it,  but if you don’t,  we don’t mind if you go elsewhere…’ It got us thinking. This attitude is all about the best and the seasonal and it’s a very brave move to make. We like to think our Good Food Ireland chefs are just as pertinent when it comes to offering customers what they believe is absolutely the best of ingredients on the day. Kevin Aherne at Sage Restaurant in Midleton won our Food Innovation award for 2013-2014 for his total commitment to only serving what comes from within a 12 mile radius of his restaurant. At Mulberry Garden in Donnybrook, the menu constitutes two choices for starters or main, and one total vegetarian menu. This means customers get what the chef thinks is absolutely the most seasonal choices he can source. Unlike the chef in Newfoundland, cod tripe has not made its appearance in any of our Good Food Ireland kitchens quite yet – as far as we know!  But we did spot Jess Murphy of Kai Cafe and Restaurant in Galway,  sporting a very large whole conger eel about to be cooked,  in a photograph on Facebook! It’s good to see this more unusual produce being  introduced to the public on restaurant menus, without fear  that customers will turn elsewhere only to get the same old same old at a different venue. Bring it on for 2014 – individuality is on the up!