When Michelle Dela Cruz of 2 Taps Winebar competed in a live cooking competition at the Balmoral Hotel as part of the famous not-for-profit culinary competition, she amazed the judges, who included Irish celebrity and Michelin-starred head chef Dylan McGrath.

To win the championship, she faced up against Rio Rissky from the Radisson Blu St. Helen's Hotel in Dublin and Nathan Cox from The Artisan Cookhouse in Downpatrick.

Ms. Dela Cruz will now begin a mentoring at a two-star Michelin restaurant of their choosing, such as Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen in Dublin or Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London.

The judges, who included Kerry Roper, a participant on the 2023 Great British Menu, and Joris Minne, a judge on BBC's Farm to Feast and restaurant critic for the Belfast Telegraph, were astonished by Michelle Dela Cruz's three-course menu with a Filipino influence.

The goal of the 2023 Ireland's Next Top Chef competition, which was organised by the Balmoral Hotel, was to find and develop the country's future generation of culinary talent. It was open to both home cooks and professional chefs.