Dining out? These 4 places in Kildare have made a list of Ireland's top 100 restaurants

Four Kildare restaurants have made it into the top 100 establishments for eating out in Ireland in the latest Irish Times rankings of the best restaurant and cafes in the country. The list is compiled by food experts Catherine Cleary and Aoife McElwain, both of whom are critics for the newspaper, and they have scoured the country to locate the best of the best and divide them into different categories. Canteen in Celbridge fell under the heading of 'special occasion' dining, while Two Cooks in Sallins was recommended as an ideal place for casual dining. The Ballymore Inn was given the nod of approval in the 'meat masters' category for their specialty in meat cooking, while the Green Barn at Burtown House in Athy was listed among the 'destination places' category. Here's what the experts had to say on each restaurant. Canteen, Celbridge James Sheridan and Soizic Humbert made the move to a bigger room in Celbridge and passed on their tiny canteen in Blackrock Market to the lads behind Heron & Grey. Canteen Celbridge is pleasing their new bigger crowd with inventive, heart-felt cooking. Their spring menu includes hogget and wild brill.  Close your eyes when you’re eating the apple tart tatin and you’re in a Normandy oak-beamed inn surrounded by an orchard. Two Cooks, Sallins There’s no broth spoiling going on in Two Cooks in Sallins where husband and wife team Nicola Curran and Josef Zammit are the cooks. Nicola looks after the front of house. And the desserts are designed by her. Diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant with their second child, she devised lighter dessert recipes with less refined sugar in them. The cooking in Two Cooks is sophisticated but not fussy. House sourdough and soused mackerel were highlights when I visited, and the ham hock with bacon cream. The Ballymore Inn, Ballymore Eustace Another great family-friendly venue, the Ballymore Inn takes its meat as seriously as the rest of its menu. Georgina and Barry O’Sullivan serve West Cork dry aged beef which is worth the trip to the sticks. Their chicken liver pâté is a classic rendition of this simple but luxurious way of using up all the edible bits of the bird. Even after celebrating 20 years on the road, this is an Inn that shows no signs of dumbing things down or taking the shortcuts so often associated with pub food. The Green Barn, Athy A family runs The Green Barn at Burtown House outside Athy and it’s a lovely spot to bring the kids. I would be overstating my parenting success to say they wolf down their greens when they have a view of the spectacular kitchen garden where some (or all of them) grew, but it does help. And the grown ups get to taste the place in a restaurant where the food clocks up minutes from soil to plate rather than miles. Beet and goat’s cheese is a boring restaurant staple in other places, but here it was a rediscovery of why some food clichés just work.