Kristin Reagon and the Lasair kitchen

Lasair is the restaurant at Finn Lough, on the shore of Lough Erne in Fermanagh. Its kitchen is led by Head Chef Kristin Reagon, and it's an all-female team.

Kristin was on her way to a chemical engineering degree when a college cooking competition changed her mind. A scholarship to the Sense of Taste Chef School in Cape Town followed, then kitchens including The Pot Luck Club and The Greenhouse.

She moved to Fermanagh in 2021 and has built Lasair's food from the ground up since.

Kristin grew up around the braai, South Africa's way of cooking over live fire, and you can taste it in the food.

The rest comes from whatever is ready that week in Andy's polytunnel and kitchen garden, a short walk from the pass, and from Fermanagh farms and the Donegal coast. The plates are small and made for sharing. Order a few, pass them round, order a few more.

In 2026 Kristin represented Northern Ireland on BBC Two's Great British Menu. Her menu was inspired by women in the region's film industry, a subject she researched from scratch, since she didn't grow up here.

She didn't take the regional title. She cooked her own food, her way, on national television. It's the same food that comes out of the Lasair kitchen every night.

Kristin gives the women in her kitchen room to lead: to develop their own dishes and bring their own influences to the pass. That's the thinking behind Lasair, and it's on the plate every night.