Chef Richie Castillo and Creative Alex O’Neill celebrate a landmark moment for Ireland’s first Irish Filipino restaurant.

January 2026: Kaldero, the Irish Filipino restaurant on South King Street, Dublin 2, is honoured to announce the official listing of the restaurant in The Michelin Guide to Great Britain and Ireland. The recognition marks an important milestone for Chef Richie Castillo and his partner and Creative Alex O’Neill, who together assumed sole culinary and creative leadership of Kaldero in July 2025, earning widespread acclaim for a modern, culturally rooted and responsible approach to gastronomy.

The listing comes at the end of an exceptional year for the team and reflects the restaurant’s rapid rise as one of Ireland’s most exciting new culinary destinations. 

At the 2025 Food and Wine Awards in early November, Chef Richie Castillo was named Young Chef of the Year Runner-Up / Highly Commended, while Kaldero received a nomination for Best Newcomer 2025.

National recognition continued, with Kaldero named Top Newcomer in The Irish Times Best 100 Restaurants and listed among Hot Press Best 150 Restaurants of 2025.

Alex O’Neill also achieved two significant honours at The Irish Food Writing Awards 2025: Best Writing on International Cuisine, judged by Romy Gill MBE, and the major overall award, Emerging Food Writer of the Year 2025.

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About Kaldero

Kaldero is an Irish Filipino restaurant operated by Eclective Hospitality Group, led by Chef Richie Castillo and Creative Alex O’Neill. The restaurant has received widespread critical acclaim since their take-over in July 2025, recognised for its celebration of Filipino food heritage through modern technique, responsible sourcing and a deeply rooted cultural ethos.

Richie and Alex are among Ireland’s most distinctive contemporary voices in food culture, known for their work with Bahay, festival residencies, cookbook projects, and regular contributions to Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch. Their work has been featured in Condé Nast Traveller, National Geographic, The Observer, The Guardian and the South China Morning Post.

Kaldero’s sustainability approach is anchored in cultural responsibility, seasonality, ethical sourcing and intentional menu design. Weekly-changing menus draw from small Irish farms and responsible fisheries, with Filipino staples produced in-house where possible to reduce imports.

Waste-reduction protocols, in-house ferments, fire-cooking traditions using sustainable materials, and an AI-powered inventory system contribute to efficient and responsible operations. A commitment to team wellbeing, shaped by Chef Richie’s humanistic psychotherapy training, ensures a supportive and sustainable working environment.

Wednesday to Friday: 5.00pm – 9.00pm

Bookings and Enquiries: book@kaldero.ie Walk-ins welcome.

Kaldero, South King Street, Dublin 2

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