Episode 18: Neven Maguire

The Breifne Earley Show

This week Chef Neven Maguire talks about forming his love of the kitchen growing up in the border town of Blacklion during the troubles in the area. Being content with his life at home in Cavan with his wife Amelda and the twins. He shares about his worst nightmare of trying to add more restaurants and not being able to pour your heart and soul into it, turning down offers in London, Paris and Dublin over the years. How not getting accepted into his first choice course in college would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. His first role in a Michelin star restaurant included emptying the bins, preparing the veg and scrubbing the cooker tops without pay, just for food. Getting his big break on RTE with prawn cocktail and desserts. The process behind his award winning and bestselling cook books. Neven shares his belief that food is the future of the country. His cookery school, attached to the restaurant in Blacklion, mirrors his own view that it’s about people enjoying simple food cooked well. He talks about how his family are his biggest critics but also his best friends and offer the best advice. Neven outlines how important it is to have the strong hand of his wife on the tiller of the office side of the business while he does his thing in the kitchen. He beams with pride talking about his wife Amelda and her Celebrity Mum of the Year award in 2015. His twins Lucia and Conor are the apple of his eye, he talks about spending as much time as possible with them and the happiness they bring into their loving home on a daily basis. Taking 3,500 bookings in a single week when they opened the diary for two years. His staff feel like part of his family, but the progression of staff through the business from the kitchen, housekeeping, the bar and front of house. The importance of having a consistent quality offered each and every night. He talks about how the recession played a major role in the food industry in recent years. The lack of finance in most homes meant a higher volume of people cooking quality food at home and really appreciating the quality food available. Bad restaurants fell by the wayside and the quality establishments thrived through the worst years of the international banking crisis. The re-emerging competition across Dublin is both good and bad for the restaurant industry.