Mickael Viljanen was born in  Stockholm, Sweden but was raised in Finland. After some time spent in the UK, he moved to Ireland in 2000. In Ireland he has worked with Paul Flynn at The Tannery and spent 5 years in Gregan’s Castle where he won ‘Chef of the Year’ and ‘Restaurant of the Year’ from Food & Wine Magazine, and also won RAI ‘Chef of the Year’.

From there he moved on to open The Greenhouse restaurant in Dublin in 2012 – where has gone on to win Food & Wine magazine ‘Chef of The Year’ twice – most recently in 2019. He also won ‘Restaurant of the Year’ in Georgina Cambell guide in 2012 and Georgina Cambell guide ‘Chef of the Year’ in 2019.

September 16th in 2015 saw Mickael entering the Michelin guide with his first Michelin star, and on October 7th in 2019 the restaurant got promoted to 2 stars under his leadership – making it one of only 2 restaurants in Dublin with this accolade and the first one since 2000.

2021 saw Mickael moving on to the role of Chef Patron of the restaurant Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen which will be opening on July 8th 2021.

‘Opinionated about Dining top 100’ (OAD top 100) placed Mickael and the restaurant team on 26th place in Europe for classical dining.

Mickael has travelled extensively over the years and his work has seen him travel to Hong Kong, Scandinavia, the UK and beyond.

He has also appeared in Masterchef Ireland as a guest judge in 2012 and judged San Pellegrino ‘World Young Chef’ final in London, 2018. Mickael is also a Chef Ambassador for the prestigious Krug Champagne House.

Mickael currently resides in Dublin, Ireland with his wife and children.