Nicola Hughes has seen her profile sky-rocket in the last year; namely since she found love with Made In Chelsea bad-boy Alex Mytton.

​She's gone on to star in the E4 reality TV show herself, and is also currently appearing on RTE's Exiles. 

But the 25-year-old was in Kildare this morning to help launch Cathedral bar's asador grill, which will open in two weeks' time.

And there, she proudly held aloft a lobster for waiting photographers, and also had a go – seemingly anyway – at running across hot coals. 

"I’m commuting between London and Dublin at the moment," Nicola explained, "but being a real home bird, I’m so delighted to discover this amazing new venue."

She added: "And after sampling the menu, I can safely say that the food is definitely of a divine nature!"

Head chef Austin Byrne, who arrives at Cathedral from Trocadero in Dublin and has trained under Marco Pierre White, went on to explain: “Our asador grill and smokehouse BBQs are unique in Ireland.

"They will allow us to cook a wide variety of meats with incredibly distinctive wood-smoked flavours from our two kitchens.”

The Cathedral bar was originally a ballroom, hotel and coach house dating back to 1777. It stretches to 2,800sq metres and when completed next month, will be a massive multi-level restaurant and bar complex.

The tropical garden outdoor space even comes complete with a waterfall.

Last month, Nicola spoke exclusively to SHEmazing! revealing that she is already lining up her plan B for when Made In Chelsea wraps up. She also gave a glimpse of what domestic life is like with boyfriend Alex.

"We laze around like slobs!" she laughed when we asked her about the glamorous London social scene. "It’s just so hectic all the time that if we have an evening off we want to stay in."