Two-Michelin-starred chef Kevin Thornton laid the foundation for his formidable culinary skills early on working in the vegetable gardens of the Cashel Palace Hotel and at an abattoir, learning everything he could about meat. He later graduated from Galway Regional Technical College in fine cooking and after a stint of travelling in Europe, landed at the renowned Restaurant Paul Bocuse in Lyons, France. While he garnered rave reviews for his first restaurant The Wine Epergne, it was at Thornton's, which he opened in 1995, where he was awarded his first and subsequently his second Michelin star.