Question for Cooks/Chefs (I'm curious)

Beautybeanie

No idea where to put this so my apologies if it's in the wrong place.

I have a question for the chefs or cooks who wander the boards.

What's the cooking scene like in Ireland?

Comments, related sites etc appreciated.

Thanks.

NextSteps

The scene - kitchens the length and breadth of the country, often most 'happening' between 6 and 8 PM.

Minder

Read the threads to get a flavour of the 'scene'. There are plenty of posts here and on the Food & Drink forum each and every day.

The Sweeper

Oddly phrased question.

Beautybeanie, it depends entirely on what you mean by "scene".

First, the public face of cooking in Ireland has a lot of European influence so is similar to what you may find in the UK (without the wealth of Indian cooking). In other words, we have celebrity chefs, michelin starred restaurants, cooking exhibitions and annual 'events' open to the public regarding food and drink and so on.

If you're looking to work in a restaurant here, that's a different question - the eaterie's reputation holds more water than it's location, so IMO you won't get more kudos for doing your apprenticeship in some unknown joint just because it's in London than you would for a similar apprenticeship in Ireland. However someone who currently sweats over the hot plates for a living may disagree with me on that one.

Cooking at home - Ireland is becoming more multicultural by the year, and subsequently the range of ingredients on offer is becoming wider. You'll find it easier to access speciality stores if you live closer to an urban hub, but these days the supermarkets stock a lot of the wider range of basics - herbs, spices, specialist bits and pieces.

I see you're in Australia - you'd be nearly depressed how similar the range on the shelves in an Aussie supermarket is to the range on the shelves in an Irish supermarket. Coles, Safeway - just like Tesco and Superquinn in Ireland. Aldi and Lidl also have a growing presence in Ireland.

Like anywhere, if you move you need to find out what's good in your location - your local butcher (ours is utterly crap and I'd go to the supermarket instead any day, which is saying something), your greengrocer (there's more chance I'd visit this chap) or your local market (I'll drive to get to the Queen Vic market here or the Prahran market, whereas I don't know of any markets of that quality that were handy to me in either the UK or Ireland).

SnowMonkey

Hi im a cook have been past 5 to 6 years on and off

I've been haveing trouble trying to find a kitchen in which i enjoy working in and one with a style of grub that i like to prepare and cook its all very ......... I find the food in Ireland is no where near exciteing, electic, zaney, unusal, with good concepts it allways seems the same... Haveing said that iv ebeen cooking in france/england the past 2 years so i most have a deeper search.

I worked in newquay in a place where i was sitting on the lines of madness I arived head chef got firedd a month later i was left to pick up the peace's and in the sh1t 40% gp and no costings done realisticly enough My second month it was up buy 60% and my third 85% and that was'nt being stingy that was just makeing use of everything .and of course portion controll...

I havent found a place to go and work yet not from a lack of trying just no where really takes my fancy ...