1 Was it always your plan to be a chef?
No, not at all. I played semi-professional rugby for a while. I was on the young Munster team but, unfortunately, I kept getting injured. So I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I hadn’t tried that hard in school.
On a bit of a whim, I put down cooking as one of my options on the CAO form, and the year I did the Leaving Cert, the course dropped by 70 points. So I got in on pure luck, really. I went to MTU [Munster Technological University] Cork, although we still call it CIT, and I started cooking in The Titanic restaurant in Cobh. That’s how it all kicked off.
2 Growing up, who inspired you to cook?
That would definitely be my nan, Ann. My grandparents lived next door to me when I was growing up, so I used go in and out all time. Nan was an excellent home cook; she would make everything from scratch. And all her sauces, her baking; so much of it was made from memory, with no recipe. It all tasted amazing, so she really got me interested in food from a young age.
3 From Hayfield Manor, Bastian, Liss Ard and Sage, you have some of the best restaurant names in Cork on your CV. What’s the most valuable lesson you learned while working in those kitchens?
“Work for people, not places” – that’s the number one lesson I have learned. Alex Petit, head chef of the Trigon Group [whose hotels include The Metropole] is someone I have learned a lot from in the kitchen. I first met him when I was working in the Celtic Ross in Rosscarbery, so I must have been about 18. Even though I was young [at that time], I could see he had things figured out.
He was really good at what he did – calm, hyper-organised and really efficient, but he also had good work-life balance. He’s a good family man and present at home, while still managing to do those intense kitchen hours. I later moved to Bastion in Kinsale, but when I went to Liss Ard, I worked there again with Alex.
I was really taken by his emphasis on ingredient provenance, and the importance of pairing them, which is something I didn’t know much about until I met him. He’s super proud to support farmers, and has a really good relationship with local producers. These are all things I took on board.
4 How daunting was it, stepping into the head chef role in Sage?
Daunting! I mean, it’s got such a good name and it was my first head chef role. So yes, it was daunting and hard, at times, but I loved it. We had a great team and I’m really proud of what we accomplished. It was an interesting time to be there. Sage already had a big name when I joined, but Kevin [Aherne] was really keen to get back to where they started; the original ethos and a return to form. It was a really cool, exciting time to be there.
Unfortunately, the floods [in 2023] put a damper on things but they [Kevin and Reidín] closed the chapter at Sage on a good note.
5 Tell us about exploring the world of fine dining as head chef of The Cove.
For me, fine dining is fun and really gives me a chance to be creative. With à la carte, you have that set format of starters, main course and dessert to follow.
With fine dining, every dish can have elements of each – there are no set rules, which makes it really interesting both for the chef and the diner. When I became head chef at The Cove, my main focus was figuring out our style and how that would be achieved in every dish.
Plating McCarthy’s beef fillet with white asparagus, mushroom and madeira.
6 So, what is your fine dining style?
I love working with local ingredients and suppliers, but I want a blend of everything. You know, we have incredible producers here in east Cork, but it’s exciting to fuse them with flavours from further afield. I build a dish, and then I pick the best ingredients I can find, and if it’s local, that’s a bonus.
7 Has fine dining had its time in the spotlight?
It’s definitely uncertain at times. What is important to me, with fine dining, is that people can afford to engage with and enjoy it. It should be accessible to everyone. For example, we have a five-course tasting menu for €75, which is very good value for the experience. It’s not as long and less intimidating.
Service is also key and Amelia McGrath in our dining room really puts our diners at ease.
So I think it’s just really important to get people in at a fair price, get them well-fed and give them a really enjoyable dining experience.
Chocolate mousse with praline yuzu and strawberry dessert.
8 Talk us through how you
created one of the stand-out courses on the tasting menu – the grilled Garryhinch maitake where the mushrooms are topped with a Korean BBQ glaze, kimchi and button mushrooms.
I was researching ways to cook mushrooms and I came across this method in which you braise them and then press them heavily so the outside gets really caramelised while, inside, it poaches. The Garryhinch mushrooms work perfectly for this – they are meaty and nearly beef-like.
I had made a load of kimchi and I knew that it would pair well. I felt a foam would be a nice, delicate touch. Prior to creating the recipe, we had been getting a lot of button mushrooms in and we always had that little bit more than we needed at the end of the week. So I started dehydrating them, and I built up a stock of powder.
To make the foam, I cooked shallots, low and slow, until they were heavily carmelised. Then I mixed in the mushroom powder and mushroom stock, cooking until everything was completely soft. After adding cream and reducing it, we developed the most delicious foam which adds a real elegance to the dish. It is quite moreish.
9 What producer has stood the test of time for you?
I’ve been dealing with William and Avril Allshire from Caherbeg Free-Range Pork in Rosscabery for as long as I can remember. The quality of their products is absolutely superb. I really think their free-range pork is the best in Ireland. It’s not just the quality, although obviously that is really important – they are really reliable, will never leave us in a bind, and will always help us out if we’re in a pinch. Nothing is ever too much trouble.
We work hard to create a consistently great dining experience for our visitors and reliable food producers, both in terms of quality and their delivery, are key to making that happen.
1 Was it always your plan to be a chef?
No, not at all. I played semi-professional rugby for a while. I was on the young Munster team but, unfortunately, I kept getting injured. So I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I hadn’t tried that hard in school.
On a bit of a whim, I put down cooking as one of my options on the CAO form, and the year I did the Leaving Cert, the course dropped by 70 points. So I got in on pure luck, really. I went to MTU [Munster Technological University] Cork, although we still call it CIT, and I started cooking in The Titanic restaurant in Cobh. That’s how it all kicked off.
2 Growing up, who inspired you to cook?
That would definitely be my nan, Ann. My grandparents lived next door to me when I was growing up, so I used go in and out all time. Nan was an excellent home cook; she would make everything from scratch. And all her sauces, her baking; so much of it was made from memory, with no recipe. It all tasted amazing, so she really got me interested in food from a young age.
3 From Hayfield Manor, Bastian, Liss Ard and Sage, you have some of the best restaurant names in Cork on your CV. What’s the most valuable lesson you learned while working in those kitchens?
“Work for people, not places” – that’s the number one lesson I have learned. Alex Petit, head chef of the Trigon Group [whose hotels include The Metropole] is someone I have learned a lot from in the kitchen. I first met him when I was working in the Celtic Ross in Rosscarbery, so I must have been about 18. Even though I was young [at that time], I could see he had things figured out.
He was really good at what he did – calm, hyper-organised and really efficient, but he also had good work-life balance. He’s a good family man and present at home, while still managing to do those intense kitchen hours. I later moved to Bastion in Kinsale, but when I went to Liss Ard, I worked there again with Alex.
I was really taken by his emphasis on ingredient provenance, and the importance of pairing them, which is something I didn’t know much about until I met him. He’s super proud to support farmers, and has a really good relationship with local producers. These are all things I took on board.
4 How daunting was it, stepping into the head chef role in Sage?
Daunting! I mean, it’s got such a good name and it was my first head chef role. So yes, it was daunting and hard, at times, but I loved it. We had a great team and I’m really proud of what we accomplished. It was an interesting time to be there. Sage already had a big name when I joined, but Kevin [Aherne] was really keen to get back to where they started; the original ethos and a return to form. It was a really cool, exciting time to be there.
Unfortunately, the floods [in 2023] put a damper on things but they [Kevin and Reidín] closed the chapter at Sage on a good note.
5 Tell us about exploring the world of fine dining as head chef of The Cove.
For me, fine dining is fun and really gives me a chance to be creative. With à la carte, you have that set format of starters, main course and dessert to follow.
With fine dining, every dish can have elements of each – there are no set rules, which makes it really interesting both for the chef and the diner. When I became head chef at The Cove, my main focus was figuring out our style and how that would be achieved in every dish.
Plating McCarthy’s beef fillet with white asparagus, mushroom and madeira.
6 So, what is your fine dining style?
I love working with local ingredients and suppliers, but I want a blend of everything. You know, we have incredible producers here in east Cork, but it’s exciting to fuse them with flavours from further afield. I build a dish, and then I pick the best ingredients I can find, and if it’s local, that’s a bonus.
7 Has fine dining had its time in the spotlight?
It’s definitely uncertain at times. What is important to me, with fine dining, is that people can afford to engage with and enjoy it. It should be accessible to everyone. For example, we have a five-course tasting menu for €75, which is very good value for the experience. It’s not as long and less intimidating.
Service is also key and Amelia McGrath in our dining room really puts our diners at ease.
So I think it’s just really important to get people in at a fair price, get them well-fed and give them a really enjoyable dining experience.
Chocolate mousse with praline yuzu and strawberry dessert.
8 Talk us through how you
created one of the stand-out courses on the tasting menu – the grilled Garryhinch maitake where the mushrooms are topped with a Korean BBQ glaze, kimchi and button mushrooms.
I was researching ways to cook mushrooms and I came across this method in which you braise them and then press them heavily so the outside gets really caramelised while, inside, it poaches. The Garryhinch mushrooms work perfectly for this – they are meaty and nearly beef-like.
I had made a load of kimchi and I knew that it would pair well. I felt a foam would be a nice, delicate touch. Prior to creating the recipe, we had been getting a lot of button mushrooms in and we always had that little bit more than we needed at the end of the week. So I started dehydrating them, and I built up a stock of powder.
To make the foam, I cooked shallots, low and slow, until they were heavily carmelised. Then I mixed in the mushroom powder and mushroom stock, cooking until everything was completely soft. After adding cream and reducing it, we developed the most delicious foam which adds a real elegance to the dish. It is quite moreish.
9 What producer has stood the test of time for you?
I’ve been dealing with William and Avril Allshire from Caherbeg Free-Range Pork in Rosscabery for as long as I can remember. The quality of their products is absolutely superb. I really think their free-range pork is the best in Ireland. It’s not just the quality, although obviously that is really important – they are really reliable, will never leave us in a bind, and will always help us out if we’re in a pinch. Nothing is ever too much trouble.
We work hard to create a consistently great dining experience for our visitors and reliable food producers, both in terms of quality and their delivery, are key to making that happen.
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