Chef Darian’s Blog

Starting out in Dublin, Ireland!

September 15, 2008 on 11:48 pm | In Ireland | No Comments

Well, I promised that I would get my blog up and running once I got here to Dublin and started working at the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel. I have been here two weeks and have finally started to settle in. I arrived in Dublin on the 26th of August and started working at the Castle on the 28th. They wasted no time! I was immediately placed in PJ’s. It is the fine dining restaurant here at the hotel. It is usually open from Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday for lunch. If the hotel has a lot of bookings then PJ’s will open more throughout the week. I have been put on the vegetable side of the kitchen. This means that I am supposed to come up with two vegetable side dishes and two potato side dishes for each meal. I am also responsible for the soup of the night and all of the appetizers. I will post more on the menu at a later date. Up until now, I have been told what they want me to do as a side dish. I was approached and told that I need to start coming up with the side dishes. No problem! Also, the vegetables are a very seasonal item. I have to plan around that.

The chefs that I have been working with have been more than helpful. I work with four chefs from South Africa, one from Germany, one from China, one from Poland, one from Romania, two from Ireland and one from the Philipines. The Executive Chef is from Ireland and has been with the hotel for 38 years. He told me that the only way he would ever leave is in a box! Well, I can tell you that by being in Ireland I thought that I would do just fine in the way of language. Since everyone here speaks English – what trouble would I have. That soon changed once I started working. The chefs are from all over the world (the wait staff are even more diverse). This means that there are as many accents. I have to really listen to people. The worst is the young chef from Dublin. His accents is insane. For example, he asked me to get a pitcher for cream. He said, “Can you get a joog?” Dry is pronounced “drooy” and when he wants you to put something on the grill he asks me to “lash it on the grill”.

Of course, being and American and living in Texas causes a little grief to be thrown my way. I was getting grief on day (all in good fun, I must add) and I looked around the room and said, “10 chefs against 1, not bad odds for a Texan!” They really thought it funny when I wore my cowboy boots during my orientation at the hotel. When I started working one of the chefs mentioned it and they all laughed. I replied with, “How would you like your butt kicked by a man in 2 inch heels?” That brought a roar of laughter.

I have been switching between the two restaurants. After PJ’s, the other restaurant is called “The Dungeon”. It is more of a quick-service more so than a fine-dining restaurant. A lot of the food is par-cooked and then once it is ordered it is finished off. The Dungeon does a lot of appetizers for the restaurant and the bar. They serve steaks, chicken and lots of fish and burgers. I will post more on the Dungeon as time goes on.

One last thing before I close this entry up. The weather has actually been great. The first few days after my arrival the weather was incredible. It is generally around 60 during the day and 50 at night. In fact, it is 12:30 AM and I have the balcony door open and I am jeans and a t-shirt. It does rain and I have been caught in it a couple of times. I will leave the apartment and it is sunny and bright. 30 minutes later it is pouring down rain. One day I went into the city and it was pouring. I had my raincoat and an umbrella. I spent a couple hours in the National Museum and when I came out is was sunny and warm. I had to carry that coat and umbrella around the rest of the day. But the minute you think you wont need the coat and umbrella, thats when the rain will come!

Thanks and stay tuned for my next post.
Darian