Troy assumes barrista duties, getting behind the bar to produce excellent coffees for everyone.

It's clear the chefs are all unnerved by their ignorance of Ger . . . where is his restaurant? How come none of them knows about it, nor how many covers he's turning over, nor where he sources his porcini? There's an amount of relief when it transpires Ger is in fact there to inspect the fire extinguishers and that the fifth of the young turk chefs to be photographed . . . Oliver Dunne of Bon Appetit in Malahide . . . has had to pull out at the last minute because he's only just home after a night spent at the hospital with a sick child and a bad dose of tonsilitis. (He's now fully recovered. ) Ask anyone with an interest in food to list the top Irish chefs and you'll hear the names of Myrtle Allen (Ballymaloe), Derry Clarke (L'Ecrivain), Ross Lewis (Chapter One), Kevin Thornton (Thornton's) and Paul Flynn (The Tannery).

Chefs who do television . . . Richard Corrigan, Neven Maguire, Kevin Dundon and Noel McMeel amongst them . . . have their own following. The chefs featured here are the new guard, snapping at the heels of those who have gone before, committed to an excellence in their work that is already bringing accolades from critics and diners alike . . . and may bring stars to some of them before long.

Dunne is the only one of the five who's not single, the only one with children. The restaurant business is notoriously tough on relationships and perceived by many . . . both on the inside and outside of the industry . . . as incompatible with family life. Dunne says it's a regular topic of conversation in the kitchen . . . and that the received wisdom is that it's only by marrying someone who works in the business themselves, or has experience of it, that a relationship stands a chance.

This is very much a lifestyle business and it's apparent from eavesdropping on their banter that the young chefs featured here live, sleep and breathe food. They're obsessed.

And that leaves little time for a life outside the kitchen.

There's a sense that, for some of them at least, their private lives are on hold until their careers have got to where they want them.

For most, even when they're not working, they're out eating at other people's restaurants, or travelling the world to sit at the tables of the greats, or cooking at home for their family and friends, or trying to poach good staff from one another.

Any foodie worth their (Maldon) salt would do well to check out each one of their establishments.

TEMPLE GARNER, TOWN BAR & GRILL, SOUTH BAR & RESTAURANT, BRIDGE BAR & GRILL
FAVOURITE DUBLIN RESTAURANTS: GRUEL, L'ECRIVAIN, MINT TEMPLE

Garner and his business partner, Ronan Ryan, are on a bit of a roll. There's a sense that nothing can stop them, as success follows success. "There's a ray of light shining on our corner of the world these days, " says Garner, "a feeling that we can do anything that we want to. We're limited only by our imagination and the marketplace. It's a good time for us."

Town Bar & Grill on Kildare Street has been the hottest restaurant and most sought after table in the city for the past three years. It's where le tout Dublin goes to see and be seen, and serves as something of a canteen for property developers.

South, which opened earlier this year in the South Quarter of Sandyford, near the Beacon hotel and hospital, has hit its stride and is the busiest restaurant on the southside.

And Bridge . . . which opens in mid-November in what was Franks, under the railway arches on Grand Canal Street, with Geoff Nordell, formerly of Town, as head chef . . . is designed to be the neighbourhood restaurant of your dreams, a casual place for everyday use.

Garner tours between the three establishments on his motorbike . . . cooking less now (and being slagged accordingly by the other chefs for not wearing an apron any more) but working on quality control, menu planning and buying. He's particularly excited about the fantastic vegetables they bring in from Padua that, he says, aren't organic but look and taste as if they are.

For a boy who was thrown out of Leixlip Community School at 15, it's been an impressive career trajectory. Garner started out as a kitchen porter in London but was quickly promoted to making salads.

"Anyone who shows initiative can work their way up; kitchens are democratic in terms of opportunity." Back in Dublin, he spent 10 years at The Mermaid and is proud of the fact that some of his influence remains there in the shape of Paul McNerney, who came from Town to be head chef.

Garner's cooking is in the Californian/Italian tradition and he has always looked to America rather than France for inspiration. "We're not after stars . . . that's not our bag. I'll leave that kind of thing to Dylan [McGrath, of Mint]. He's driven by stars. We want to provide a decent restaurant experience that's value for money.

The food we cook is simple, with a huge amount of integrity. The taste is the most important thing."

As for critics, he acknowledges the importance of reviews for business but reckons many of the Irish critics just don't get that it's horses for courses. "AA Gill's the man. There isn't anyone here who comes within a mile of him. The real critics are the people in the seats, that's why I look at www. menupages. ie every day . . . the democratisation of restaurant criticism is a wonderful thing."

Garner, who's single, works all the time and never cooks at home, says "I've been spoilt . . . I can only cook on industrial equipment." .

TROY MAGUIRE, LOCKS
FAVOURITE DUBLIN RESTAURANT: GRUEL

AT the new Locks, opened by Troy Maguire and his business partners Kelvin Rynhart and Teresa Carr in May of this year, the owners are aiming "for the values of an old-school Italian family restaurant".

"Making people happy, " says Maguire "is more important than ticking Michelin boxes. We want it to be an amazing restaurant on our own terms. And I'm more interested in getting one place really nice, in making it special, than in spreading myself too thin over several."

After Cathal Brugha Street, Maguire trained mainly in Ireland, putting in stints at McGrattan's, Peacock Alley, The Commons, Bang and La Stampa, as well as a year or so in Australia, before winding up at l'Gueuleton, which is when people really began to sit up and take notice of the talented young chef.

L'Gueuleton . . . or 'that unpronounceable place on Fade Street', as it is better known to many Dubliners . . . was a revolution in Dublin dining: exceptional French regional food at reasonable prices.

No wonder it was, and continues to be, packed out every night. It was voted the best restaurant in Dublin by readers of The Dubliner last year.

For Maguire, though, the prospect of upping the ante and refining what he had begun at L'Gueuleton was too tempting to resist . . . hence the move to Locks, in its beautiful canal-side location, long a Dublin institution in the hands of Claire and the late Richard Douglas. The premises were given a serious makeover . . . it's all Gustavian panelling and art deco furniture now, the red drapes and antiques of its previous incarnation superceded by something far cooler.

Maguire may demur that stars are not his motivation but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise as you peruse the menu at Locks. Fresh mackerel with smoked eel, apple, fennel and horseradish, and slow-roast pork belly with morel boudin, confit cabbage and Borlotti beans are just two of the dishes on offer.

Asked about reviewers, he says he's more interested in punters than critics . . . if they're happy, he's happy.

Maguire is still at the stage where he is working every night the restaurant is open but, he says, he was happy to write off a year of his life in order to get everything right in the kitchen.

Currently single, he says he has no intention of being a tired and cranky "five splits martyr" like so many in the industry . . . he's determined to have a life outside Locks.

"I'm looking for a happy balance, " he says. He is only now starting to go out again since the restaurant opened. His big night out is Tuesday and on Sunday evenings you'll find him hanging out in the South William, along with the staff of every other restaurant in the city, trying, he says, not to get into trouble.

OLIVER DUNNE, BON APPETIT
FAVOURITE RESTAURANT: ANTHONY DEMETRE'S ARBUTUS IN LONDON

OLIVER Dunne started work at Korky's Shoe Store on Henry Street just as Ronan Keating was leaving to join Boyzone. He spent two mind-numbing years there and by the end, he says, he would have taken a job as a bin man to get out. Luckily he didn't have to . . . the people who were opening the Gotham Cafe on South Anne Street, and for whose Independent Pizza Company in Drumcondra he'd worked when he was in school (they remembered him as "making a nice pizza") approached the 18-year-old Dunne to offer him a position as a commis chef in their new restaurant.

From there he went on to Conrad Gallagher's Michelin-starred Peacock Alley . . . his first experience of the finer side of cooking (and from where his father hauled him out when he hadn't been paid for three months). Stints in QV2 and Roly's Bistro followed, before Dunne made the move to London and two years in the kitchen of City Rhodes in London, where he saw Gary Rhodes no more than once a month but learned plenty from his head chef, Michael Bedford.

"When I left Ireland, I thought I was the best chef in the country. But my ignorance was huge. On my first day, there were sweetbreads on the pass. I took a look at them and asked how they made them . . . with bread and a bit of sugar?"

Next, he joined Gordon Ramsay at his three-star restaurant on Royal Hospital Road, which at that time was the fledgling superstar's only restaurant. Progression there was too slow for the ambitious Dunne.

"Gordon wanted everyone to spend two years in each section. I started in the larder and then moved to pastry. But every young chef wants to be on meat and fish and sauces . . . that's the pinnacle in any kitchen. I could see that it was going to take me eight years to get there."

Dunne returned to Ireland with Ramsay's words ringing in his ears . . . "No good chefs come out of Ireland".

He spent some time at the Clarence as sous-chef . . . that's the number two . . . under British two-star chef Anthony Ely but was back in the UK after a year, this time with Anthony Demetre at Putney Bridge (one star) and then Shane Osborne at Pied a Terre (one when he arrived and two when he left). "Shane was an absolute perfectionist.

No life, but the best chef I've ever worked with." Ah yes, that old work-life balance thing. How does Dunne cope, as a family man with a partner . . . Sabine, whom he met at the Clarence where she worked front of house . . . and a two-and-a-half-year-old son . . . Evan, he of the tonsils?

"Evan was born when I was at Mint [now home to Dylan McGrath] and I was working from 7am until midnight. I had enough of that. Now I work Tuesday to Saturday . . . we only do lunch on Friday . . . and I mind Evan at least three mornings a week while Sabine does the books and the wages. We have two days off a week to spend as a family. I'm determined to have it all."

Last year, Dunne took the plunge and left Mint when he purchased Bon Appetit in Malahide with his business partner. He's been open for a year now, with a brasserie, piano bar and a fine-dining restaurant all housed in an elegant Georgian terrace.

Andy Turner cooks in Cafe Bon Brasserie and Dunne is hands-on in Bon Appetit.

Guests can expect dishes such as roast breast of quail with confit legs, red onion puree, chorizo foam and dried ventreche, or seared king scallops with carrot and anise puree, cep gnocchi, red wine and hibiscus emulsion.

Star food? Dunne says no . . . now that he's paying the bills himself he says he'd rather have a full restaurant and happy customers than any number of stars. Hmmm. Watch this space.

DYLAN McGRATH, MINT CHEF HERO: THIERRY MARX OF CHATEAU CORDEILLAN-BAGES NEAR BORDEAUX

MCGRATH has been at Mint for a yearand-a-half and is hotly tipped to be the next chef in Dublin to gain a coveted Michelin star. Word is, the inspectors have paid the Ranelagh restaurant four visits already this year. McGrath, shavenheaded and single, with a reputation for being a bit of a lad around town, claims the speculation is a diversion.

"Stars are important for business, and I'm not saying that a star wouldn't be nice, " he says, "but they're not the reason I get up in the morning. Other people make more of a big deal about them than I do. What's more important is that the restaurant is full of people eating food that is exciting and different, original, intriguing, beautiful to look at . . . food that tastes wonderful and is loved on the plate."

Current dishes include such delights as poached lobster with apple puree; pork belly, Habugo ham and warm apple jelly; young Irish crab claws, poached in carrot juice with bronze fennel salad, fennel cream dressing; and blanquette of rabbit with toasted brioche, peppered ventreche bacon, pickled girolles and rabbit consomme . . . food that, to my mind, is clearly aimed at securing stars. You're unlikely to get out of Mint for much less than 150 a head, although canny foodies can experience McGrath's cooking at lunch on Fridays . . . a bargain at 35 for two courses.

Born in Dublin and raised between here and Belfast, McGrath has worked in high-end establishments since the age of 19 . . . the kind of restaurants where producing Michelin-starred food is a way of life. His CV includes stints at Roscoff and Peacock Alley, and with British superchefs John Burton-Race and Tom Aikens.

"I realised that I was good quite early on and I've gathered information and knowledge from all the people that I've worked with. In the end though, it's down to yourself, to keep pushing yourself to develop as a chef."

Mint's location outside of the city centre makes it a destination restaurant, one that attracts visiting celebrities (I spotted Sienna Miller and Rhys Ifans on a recent visit and can confirm that they are definitely not "just good friends"! ) and locals in pursuit of a fine-dining experience that is unique in Ireland, something acknowledged by the award of a gold medal in the fine-dining category of the recent Hotel & Catering Review Awards.

After years of working the antisocial hours that are the norm in the restaurant industry in London, McGrath finds the pace and way of life back in Ireland less stressful. "I've slowed down to the pace in Dublin a bit now. I still work hard but I have good staff in the kitchen and my team is strong. For years I was cut off; I never used to go out. But I'll let go and have a beer now. I think I've got a bit more perspective."

For the future, one could expect that he'd like to move Mint to a more central location, and to a better room, and he confirms he is interested in opening more restaurants, in applying what he knows to the other end of the market.

"I don't cook much at home, but when I do cook for family and friends, I cook very simple food . . . that's what I really like to eat myself."

ANITA THOMA, IL PRIMO
FAVOURITE DUBLIN RESTAURANTS: SHANAHANS, MINT, THE MERMAID

ANITA Thoma's Swiss father came to Ireland in 1947 with a brigade of chefs (yes, that really is the collective noun) sent over to impart some continental sophistication to our hotels and restaurants, and ended up meeting and marrying Anita's mother, who was a waitress in one of the establishments in which he worked. He died a few years ago but remains her greatest inspiration.

Thoma trained at Cathal Brugha Street and then worked in Zermatt and Paris before returning to Ireland in the early '90s. She was in the kitchen at La Stampa during May Frisby's reign and then moved to Il Primo where she became head chef eight years ago. She and her business partner, John Farrell, have owned the restaurant for the past two years and they also have a wine-importing business. They plan to open other restaurants in the future . . . "a logical progression", says Thoma. "It's a business after all."

Il Primo has an intensely loyal clientele, with diners returning time and time again to Montague Street for simple Mediterranean-influenced food (the best risotto in Dublin, bar none) and excellent service in an informal atmosphere. "I'm very conscious of pricing, of not squeezing it out of people, " says Anita. I don't want to rip people off." A plate of homemade pasta with an oxtail ragu goes for 18.

Thoma had eaten in the Ritz Carlton the night before we met, with Gordon Ramsey himself in the kitchen. She rhapsodised over venison with chocolate gnocchi. "I've eaten his food before . . . it's always very exciting. It's an annoyance that he's a celebrity because I think it takes away from the food. At the end of the day, we chefs are all just doing a job."

Single, Thoma says the lifestyle can be punishing. "It's hard to feel fresh when you're working 60 or 70 hours a week. In the restaurant business, you make your money when everyone else is off. In December, chefs are the only people who never have hangovers! It's important to look after yourself and to stay fit and not be wrecked all the time. I've made two of my chefs join a gym . . . they wouldn't be able to hack the pace unless they did."

When she's not working, Thoma travels to eat . . . "It reminds you what it's all about" . . . and goes to restaurants with friends. In Dublin she likes Shanahans, The Mermaid and Mint ("I had my best meal of the year there a few weeks ago"), and in London rates The Square and Mirabelle. She cooks for herself at home "all the time . . . usually something very simple like roast chicken and salad".

Tom Doorley, restaurant critic of the Irish Times and the most influential reviewer in the country, visited Il Primo recently. Anita talked to him outside after he'd eaten and he was friendly without giving anything away. She then spent a nervous 10 days wondering if it was going to be like one of those Michael Winner reviews for the Sunday Times where there's a smiling photo of the critic with his arm around the shoulders of the poor suckers whose restaurant it is under the caption . . . "Is this the worst restaurant in England?"

She had no cause for concern. Doorley's review was a rave. TM