The Kai Cookbook
A Love Letter to the West of Ireland
The Kai Cookbook is the long-awaited collection of 100 of the Galway restaurant’s best-loved dishes, from the legendary Kai fish fingers that they can’t take off the menu to showstopper cakes from the irresistible daily line-up on the bar.
Kai is the Māori word for food, and Jess and Dave Murphy opened the door to their award-winning restaurant in 2011 with a simple formula: high-quality produce, sourced locally and cooked intelligently. What’s in season will be on your plate.
Part cookbook, part love letter to Jess’s adopted home in the West of Ireland, these recipes and recollections, all told in Jess’s distinctive voice, will capture your heart, just like this little restaurant has done to all who have eaten there.
Jess Murphy
iBAM! 2025 Culinary Arts Awardee
Jess Murphy is the award-winning chef and co-owner of the iconic Kai Restaurant, located in the heart of Galway City. Coming from Wairoa, New Zealand, Jess moved to Ireland in 2003 and has since made Galway her home. She opened Kai in 2011 with her husband, Dave Murphy.
With a clear emphasis on community and sustainability, Jess has made it her mission to provide sustenance through food as well as friendship. With the only Michelin Green Star in Ireland, Kai is celebrated for their environmentally focused menu, working closely with over 300 local producers and farmers.
When Jess isn’t feeding or minding people, she is quietly fighting for an underdog somewhere here or abroad. She has been a formal High-Profile Supporter of the UNHCR since 2017. Everything that Jess does has a vitality, immediacy and generosity based on relationships and respect.
Join Jess for a Cooking Demo
on Sunday, November 23, at 3 pm in the Erin Room