fine dining
Since launching One Pico, chef Eamonn O’Reilly has gone on to develop several great Dublin eateries. Paolo Tullio talks to theman with a passion for good food
A few weeks ago I chaired a meeting of food profes- sionals in Eamonn O’Reilly’s One Pico restaurant. We were there to learn the results of a nine-nation survey undertaken by Unilever Food Solutions into what peo- ple want from restaurants that they don’t currently get. The top of the list in all countries was more information about the nutritional value of the food on offer. O’Reilly and his brigade of chefs came up with a menu
where all the ingredients were healthy; it was low in fat and low in salt, low in calories and all very tasty. That’s not an easy trick to pull off. When he made a short address, he told us that soon he’ll be introducing a new menu with a lot more information on it about the nutri- tional content of the dishes. Talking to O’Reilly it was clear that here was a chef
with a deep understanding of food and, more impor- tantly, a chef who is prepared to listen to his customers and provide what they want. So where did all this begin? “My father was a chef,” he told me. “He worked in Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge and, unlike many chefs, he
O’REILLY
cooked at home. So, from an early age, I was aware of good food. Although he never wanted me to follow him into the business, I did.” Indeed, O’Reilly’s first job was in Jurys working under
his father. That gave him no privileges – at 15 years of age, having just done his Inter Cert, he did an old- fashioned apprenticeship, being moved from station to station in a big kitchen staffed by a brigade of 60 chefs.He moved from banqueting to butchery, to sauces and grills and, finally, pastry. O’Reilly excelled in pastry and liked the work. It turned into a five-year apprenticeship, but it was here that he got his basic catering education.
Perfect pastries When the Conrad Hotel opened, O’Reilly applied for the job of pastry chef, not really expecting to get it, but he did. Here he honed his pastry skills working with Laurent Chabernet, “a pastry genius” who had worked in Ashford Castle.
74 Irish Director Spring 2011
LIFE OF ‘My father was a
many chefs, he
from an early age, good
chef and, unlike
cooked at home. So, I was aware of food’
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