Domini Kemp

Domini is an award-winning chef, food writer, and entrepreneur. She is MD of Valence Hospitality – a new hospitality group including Nancy Hands Bar and Restaurant on Parkgate Street and Lottie’s in Rathmines, which was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide for 2024 and 2025 and featured in the Irish Times 100 Best Restaurants for the last two years. Previously, she was MD of ITSA and a former winner of Image Businesswoman of the Year and EY Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist.

She regularly contributes to TV and radio and consults on various restaurant and food projects, including the new Vhi Food lab in Carrickmines, an entirely new café concept focusing on culinary medicine.

 Her academic achievements include an MA in Gastronomy and Food Studies, which she was awarded in 2019. Her five cookbooks and tenure as the Irish Times food writer from 2008-2016 have solidified her status as a respected food-writer.

 She has completed the Chartered Director Diploma in the IoD and is currently studying for a Diploma in Culinary Medicine. Her Pg Dip in Positive Health at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, focused on integrated and lifestyle medicine. As a patient advocate, she has presented to healthcare professionals in Ireland and Switzerland, championing the use of food as medicine.

 She was appointed to the Board of Eurotoques in February 2024 and remains involved judging the Young Chef of the Year competition. She has hosted the Young Chef awards since 2014 and has also been MC for Bord Bia’s annual Foodservice conference for the last three years.

 Domini was a former show-jumper before training as a chef at Leith's in London in 1996, and then returning to Ireland to co-write New Irish Cooking and work in the Michelin-starred Peacock Alley, Dublin.

In 1999, the Kemp sisters opened the first itsa bagel on Abbey Street. Since then, the company has created and developed many unique and award-winning brands, including Joe’s, Alchemy Juice Co., Hatch & Sons and Feast Catering & Events. They have also run many cafes and restaurants in some of Dublin’s most prestigious venues, including the National Gallery, Brown Thomas and MoLi. They have two production kitchens that currently produce all the food for Feast Catering & Events, the exclusive caterer for Powerscourt House & Gardens in Enniskerry and the Royal College of Physicians. They also operate the Food Lab cafe in Vhi in Carrickmines.

Domini was the main food-writer for The Irish Times Saturday Magazine from 2008-2016. Over the years, she has contributed to many publications, served as a columnist for both Image, The Dubliner Magazine and Food & Wine. She regularly appears on TV and radio.

The sisters won the IMAGE “Businesswoman of the Year” award in November 2009 and were nominated as one of the finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2011.

After her breast cancer diagnosis in 2013, Domini drastically changed her eating habits to low-carb and followed an integrated lifestyle. This was the catalyst for Domini's fifth cookbook, "The Ketogenic Kitchen" - released in Spring 2016, and a best-seller both here in Ireland and the US. Since then, Domini completed an MA in Gastronomy & Food Studies in TUD in 2018 and a Prof. Dip in Positive Health in the Royal College of Surgeons in 2021. She has presented to many healthcare professionals on the topics of “Food & Cancer” and “Food as Medicine”. She was a speaker at Food on the Edge in 2017 and the Keto Live Medical Conference in Bergün, Switzerland in 2019. Domini completed the Diploma in Company Direction in the IoD and is also studying for a Diploma in Culinary Medicine (UK).

Since 2016, Domini has worked with prisoners, helping them develop their potential by teaching them to set up their own businesses upon release - as part of prisoner rehabilitation within the Irish Prison Service (IPS). In February 2020, the 4-part documentary “Prison Breaks” premiered on Virgin Media Television.