Photo courtesy of The Strawberry Tree, Courtesy image
Editorial Review
The Strawberry Tree
The Atmosphere
“Ireland's only Organic Trust certified restaurant, in a Wicklow valley, with a menu that changes daily and a full-time forager.”
The Strawberry Tree sits at the centre of Macreddin Village, the valley the Doyle family built around Brooklodge, and it is the only restaurant in Ireland certified by the Organic Trust. That certification is the whole character of the room: the menu changes daily according to what the organic farms nearby cut that morning and what the kitchen's forager found in the lanes and woods around the valley. The dining room is dark, mirrored and candlelit, which sounds theatrical and reads as calm. Nothing on the plate is out of season, because it cannot be.
The long version
The only Organic Trust certified restaurant in Ireland, in a built village in a Wicklow valley, with a forager on the payroll.
Macreddin was an abandoned village when the Doyle family started building here, and the Strawberry Tree sits at the centre of what they built. The dining room is dark and mirrored and lit by candles, which sounds like a set and reads as calm once you are sitting in it.
The certification is the character of the place rather than a badge on the door. Everything served is organic or wild, the menu is written each day around what the organic farms nearby cut that morning and what the kitchen's full-time forager brought in from the lanes, and nothing arrives out of season because nothing can.
“Nothing arrives out of season, because under the certification it cannot.”
What that means on the plate
Vegetables and herbs you will not have met in this combination, wild leaves and flowers used as ingredients rather than decoration, and meat and fish from named producers within a manageable distance. In April the menu is lean and green; in October it is dense and brown. That swing is the honest consequence of the rule.
It is not a laboratory. The cooking is warm and generous, and the dessert course is where the kitchen shows off.
Eating in a valley you can walk
The whole point of Macreddin is that the bakery, the brewpub, the smokehouse and the spa are all within a few minutes' walk of your room, so dinner here involves no car and no unlit Wicklow lane afterwards.
Mickey Finn's, a few minutes' drive at Redcross, is the looser alternative if the party wants a pub with a fire instead of a dining room.
How to time it
Book it for the first night of a Wicklow stay while you still have appetite for a long dinner. On a second night the brewpub in the same valley does the job with less commitment.
Ask whether the village food market is running when you choose your dates. It changes the character of the weekend.
What we would not pretend
A daily menu built on what was cut and foraged that morning means you do not get to choose much, and a lean spring week is genuinely leaner. Guests who want a steak and chips should walk to the brewpub instead.
How we would use it
First night at Brooklodge, booked with the room, with the brewpub kept for the second evening.
Public guest perspective
What guests consistently notice
Guests notice the candlelit atmosphere, unusually committed sourcing, and a menu that makes the Wicklow landscape feel present.
The honest caveat
The daily menu offers less choice than a conventional restaurant, and the long format is not right for every hotel night.
Guests return for
- Organic and foraged ingredients
- A distinctive romantic room
- Knowledgeable explanations
How to order
Let the kitchen's current produce lead. Understand the meal as a sequence, not a search for a fixed signature.
Before you book
Book the first night, state dietary requirements early, and keep the casual pub for another evening.
Rooms Worth Requesting
What it actually feels like.
The valley also has a brewpub and a bakery. Do the Strawberry Tree on the first night while you are still hungry for a long dinner.
Why we recommend it
A space that justifies the journey.
It is a genuinely singular restaurant, and it is a walk from your room, which means a Wicklow evening with no drive and no compromise.