Corinna Hardgrave, restaurant critic of The Irish Times, dies

Corinna Hardgrave, restaurant critic at The Irish Times, has died after an illness. She was 64. Corinna Hardgrave had worked with The Irish Times for six years, having previously been a wine columnist for the Irish Independent, a food writer with The Sunday Times and restaurant critic and wine writer with Irish Tatler.She was widely admired and respected for her authoritative and skilled food writing. She won numerous awards, most recently the Restaurant Critic Award at last year’s Irish Food Writing Awards. She also wrote lively and knowledgeable travel articles for The Irish Times, combining her critic’s eye for the best destinations at home and abroad with her expert knowledge of both food and wine.Speaking on Monday, her husband Steve Hardgrave described his wife’s role as restaurant critic at The Irish Times as “her dream job” and “the culmination of all her writing and eating”.Irish Times editor Ruadhán Mac Cormaic said: “Corinna Hardgrave joined The Irish Times in the midst of the Covid pandemic, that period of food boxes, social distancing and outdoor dining. Already a noted restaurant critic, she quickly became an expert on the byzantine rules and etiquette of dining in those strange days.READ MORE“Corinna had an easy and personable writing style, always wrapping her deep knowledge of the Irish food scene in entertaining prose.“Fairness and credibility were hallmarks of her journalism during her six years as restaurant critic. She never set out to skewer a business; nor was she afraid to call out poor service, too-high prices or bad food. She bestowed praise, but only on places that deserved it, and she knew that her first duty as a critic was to the reader.“Corinna’s untimely death is a deep loss to The Irish Times and its readers.”Chef and co-owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Chapter One, Ross Lewis, said: “Corinna will be a great loss to us all, because she understood our industry and always told it as she saw it. She also had an amazing ability to champion new Irish restaurants and food producers. “Her praise meant something, and her passion inspired those in hospitality. Her words changed how we saw and consumed food just as much as anyone on our side of the pass.”Corinna Hardgrave’s extensive body of work also displayed her talent as an interviewer, with her renowned chef subjects over the years including Ferran and Albert Adriá, Michel Roux, Yotam Ottolenghi, Madhur Jaffrey and Clare Smyth.She was born in Co Carlow and grew up in Dublin. Her first job was with Guinness, which she joined from school. She subsequently worked in the Middle East, initially as a flight attendant and subsequently in promotion and public relations. This brought her to England, while her food writing career began after they moved back to Ireland when their first daughter was born. Corinna Hardgrave is survived by her husband Steve and their two daughters, Katherine and Isabelle.