In February 2026, John Wyer received notification that Forest Avenue had earned its first Michelin star. The announcement was, in some ways, a long time coming. For nearly a decade, Wyer and his wife Sandy had built their restaurant in Ranelagh — a neighbourhood that sits comfortably in Dublin's southwest, neither as visible nor as historically literary as Parnell Square, but all the better for that anonymity. The star, when it came, felt less like a sudden elevation than a confirmation of something the regular diners already knew.
The kitchen's philosophy is restraint. Wyer's approach to modern Irish cuisine does not announce itself through technique or decoration. Instead, it operates on a principle that might be called "get out of the way." Take an ingredient—say, a piece of wild sea trout from the Irish coast—and do only what is necessary to make it extraordinary. This is not minimalism performed for effect. It is minimalism as discipline: the discipline of understanding an ingredient well enough to know that it does not need you.
The dining room itself reinforces this aesthetic. Glass-fronted and filled with natural light during the day (and later, candlelit), the space is decorated with minimalist casual elegance. There are no ornate details, no baroque gilt, no trompe-l'oeil walls. The room is airy and spare. The cosiest tables—the ones where guests feel most at ease—are positioned in front of the open kitchen, where the mechanics of the evening's service become visible. The counter seating offers an omakase-style experience: you sit above the cooking, you watch the hands moving with practiced precision, you see the moment each plate is finished and begins its journey to the dining room. For solo diners particularly, this arrangement transforms a solitary meal into a form of engagement, a dialogue between counter and kitchen.
The menu changes seasonally and operates on a tasting-menu structure. Dinner service on Friday and Saturday operates as a tasting menu only, typically running to six or seven courses at 95 euros. Wednesday and Thursday evenings offer a more flexible three-course option at 78 euros. This pricing—accessible by fine dining standards, particularly for a Michelin-starred establishment—reflects the Wyer's commitment to the neighbourhood and to the idea that exceptional cooking should not be confined to the wealthy. The menu draws on exceptional Irish produce: grains from heritage varieties, vegetables from small growers in counties Wicklow and Wexford, proteins from fishing communities along the coast, dairy from boutique producers. Nothing is precious. Everything is necessary.
Forêt, the sister restaurant also run by the Wyers, holds a Bib Gourmand designation—a distinction that recognises exceptional cooking at a modest price. It serves as a kind of proof of concept: that the Wyer's philosophy is not about exclusivity or gatekeeping, but about the craft of cooking at its most honest. Forest Avenue, with its Michelin star, simply extends that philosophy upward into the territory of the tasting menu and the seasonal showcase.
Reservations should be made at least four to six weeks ahead. The restaurant fills reliably among Dublin's dining cognoscenti. Book through their website at forestavenuerestaurant.ie. The dress code is smart casual—no requirement for black-tie formality, but an expectation of thoughtfulness in how you present yourself. This, too, aligns with the restaurant's philosophy: dress well because you respect the occasion, not because the restaurant demands deference.