‘I have dreamed of getting a Michelin star since I was 14’

In 2022, renowned food writer Marie Claire Digby wrote about Lignum Restaurant, calling it “the Galway restaurant most hotly tipped for a Michelin star”.

But Lignum (located in Ballaun, Co Galway) did not win a star that year – nor did it win one in the two years that followed, much to the dismay of the Irish food community.

When the 2025 Michelin Guide awards were announced for the United Kingdom and Ireland just a few weeks ago and Danny and Molly Africano (who own and operate the restaurant) were finally awarded their long-awaited star, the elation was palpable.

“It has just been mad,” Danny says. “We were in Glasgow [for the Michelin awards] and when we came back, there was a surprise party organised for us by our close friends, family members, ex-staff members – it was wonderful. Then it was straight back into work on Thursday.”

National acclaim

Since opening in 2019, Lignum has earned national acclaim for its inventive menus featuring wood-fired cooking (using a domed pizza oven made in Naples) and their skilled use of local and Italian ingredients.

The restaurant itself features warming wood tones and floor-to-ceiling windows in the building where Danny’s parents once operated the restaurant Slateford House.

“My father is Italian; I was born in Pompeii and my mom is from Loughrea,” Danny explains. “I lived in Italy until my parents decided to move back to Ireland in 1998. My parents found this old house with stables and renovated it. My father wanted a Tuscan-style restaurant with wooden ceiling beams, which we still have today [in Lignum].”

While Slateford House was in operation, a number of talented Italian chefs made their way to Co Galway to cook there. As a pre-teen, Danny would watch and learn as the chefs worked. At the age of 14, he spent a transformative summer in Italy working under revered chef, Danilo di Vuolo, who previously worked at Slateford House before going on to achieve his own Michelin star.

“From then on, I dreamed of someday getting a Michelin Star. I was 14 then, and I’m 32 now – so I guess dreams do come true,” Danny says.

Danny attended culinary school at the (then) Dublin Institute of Technology and spent the next few years working in high-end Italian kitchens before moving to Australia with Molly. In late 2017, the pair decided to move back to Ireland to create something of their own.

“I always had ambitions to come home and create a restaurant where people could experience something new – that’s why we decided to start working with fire,” Danny explains.

We get a lot of compliments on our dining room, and the surroundings outside in the summertime – the garden here is really beautiful

Cooking elaborately-executed dishes over wood fire is no mean feat – in fact, it requires a great amount of skill and control – but this methodology not only adds to the flavour of the menu; it speaks to Lignum’s wider environment and adds to its pastoral ambiance.

“Since we started using fire, none of us in the kitchen see ourselves going back to cooking more conventionally,” Danny says. “If the produce is at a high level [of quality], the flavour you get from cooking over wood fire is incredible.”

Bringing the outside in is what Danny and Molly hope to continue to do, and this coming year they plan to bring an even greater focus to home-grown produce. They have hired a gardener with whom they plan to work with closely.

“We get a lot of compliments on our dining room, and the surroundings outside in the summertime – the garden here is really beautiful,” Danny says. “This is what we want to continue to offer – great food, comfortable furniture and a unique experience.”

Challenges

While Lignum has achieved great success in a relatively short amount of time, Danny and Molly have also had to overcome a number of challenges.

Staff shortages have affected restaurants throughout the country, but in rural areas this problem is even more compounded for high-end hospitality.

“In Ireland, hospitality is often only considered a part-time job as opposed to a career,” Danny remarks. “In Italy or France, hospitality is a life-time career and, in Italy, if you’re a chef, people think that’s incredible. The way Irish people talk about the weather, that’s how Italians talk about food.

“People might be sick of hearing this, but running a restaurant [in this economic climate] has been a serious struggle,” he adds. “Lowering the VAT rate will not solve our long-term issues. Being rurally located, it’s extra-tough to attract skilled staff – you need to provide incentives.”

The incentives Danny refers to, at Lignum, include things like staff accommodation, transport, a competitive salary and a four-day work week (the restaurant is open from Thursday to Sunday each week).

Danny feels these are the things which have created a dynamic restaurant team so they continue to attract the talent he and Molly want to work with.

“In 2019, I decided to make a financial investment – and that was in our staff,” he explains. “I am really happy to have done this because our team is amazing. That said, we have 12 staff members and if we have a slow week, we still pay the same amount.

“Our staff need to get paid each week, and that is the most important thing for us,” he adds. “We’re a family business and we know what the struggles are. That’s why this Michelin star means so much; it was hard won for us.”

Despite the daily challenges of running an independent restaurant in rural Ireland, there remains much to celebrate as plans for the future of Lignum continue to unfold. Danny and Molly are determined to keep working to set the standard of fine dining in rural Ireland.

“I feel proud of us,” Danny says. “This is my home; we’re not here to win a star and then walk away. This is where I grew up and where I hope to raise a family of my own someday.”

See lignum.ie

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