An Irish Chef in France

Euro-Toques chef Martin Dwyer, is much missed in Ireland since he and his wife Sile sold their eponymous restaurant in Waterford and moved to France. They now live in the Languedoc, where they take guests - and feed them very well.

This month Martin touches on the thorny subject of Cooking for the French…

It is not the commonest of career choices, to end ones working days as an Irish Chef in France, although the reverse is plainly common.

French chefs have always been common in Ireland and over the years many have run successful restaurants there, we Irish chefs, on the other hand, are not renowned for conquering the French palate.

I accepted this as a disadvantage when I moved here first. I felt that the French were going to be far less keen to risk handing over their taste buds to an Irishman.

This is not a condemnation of Irish cuisine by any means, the fact is that the French know nothing about Irish food and cooking but they associate our style of cooking with that of England and “La Cuisine Brittanique” which they have the utmost contempt for.

They are quick to relate stories of holidays in England – usually thirty odd years ago- where they were fed, they assure me, disgusting food everywhere.

Of course like all widely believed myths there is a small kernel of truth in this and thirty or so years ago on a limited budget (and the French abroad are ALWAYS on a limited budget) you could indeed eat far better in France than in the UK - you still can but these meals are now much harder to find and with the advent of Fast Food outlets the lines between the two countries have become very blurred indeed.

So my first reaction when they discover that I am the chef de cuisine in my own Maison d’Hote is one of disbelief, and they start to ask me what kind of food I actually cook.
It is at this point that, realising the deep dyed prejudices of the French that I usually do a little massaging of the truth.

I tend to tell them that I trained in France (which I did but just for a small part of my training) and that in my own restaurant over the years I cooked mainly French food. (True, even though the French food spoke with a strong Irish accent)

This they find very reassuring.

Then I try to let them catch a glimpse of the Eurotoques charter which is hanging on my wall. They may or may not have heard of Eurotoques, but all will have heard of Paul Bocuse, a national hero in France, whose signature is on the bottom.

All chat about food however, is, we all know, irrelevant because the whole truth about food is that the proof of the pudding is in the eating- to this a would add a little rider- the proof of the pudding is also in the smell.

The French, like us, have a certain amount of stock phrases with which they acknowledge certain experiences. The one they use most on me when they arrive downstairs around aperitif time, is an inevitable : “Ooo la la ce sent bon “- or- something sure smells good.

My small satisfaction at this moment is the appreciation in the voices of my diners as the say this, but more particularly in the deep regret in the tone of the people who have decided to dine elsewhere.

It is amazing how many decide to dine with us the next night once they have had a whiff of the heady scents of roast lamb perfumed with Garrigues herbs, or the piquant scent of a pot full of mussels flavoured with basil and garlic.

I started this piece by saying that I accepted my Irishness as a disadvantage when I came here first- now I know better.

Once I have enticed them up to my table and actually managed to feed them they really are the most appreciative eaters in the world.

One recent comments from a Frenchmen in the visitors book reads “Deux journees de regale pour les papilles“ (two days full of delight for the taste buds) another “une cuisine de reve” (cooking to dream about) these convince me that slowly (very slowly) I am in my own way managing to persuade the average Frenchman that us Irish are, after all, well able to wield the odd pot and pan in the kitchen.

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Martin Dwyer started cooking professionally over 40 years ago in the legendary “Snaffles Restaurant” in Dublin. After a time in a Relais Chateau in Anjou and in “The Wife of Bath” in Kent he opened his own much acclaimed restaurant, “Dwyers”, in Waterford in 1989. In 2004 he sold this and moved south to France where he and his wife Síle bought and restored an old presbytery in a village in the Languedoc. They now run Le Presbytère as a French style Chambre d’Hôte. Martin however is far too passionate about food to give up cooking so they now enjoy serving dinner to their customers on the terrace of Le Presbytère on warm summer evenings. Martin runs occasional cookery courses in Le Presbytère and Síle’s brother Colm does week long Nature Strolls discovering the Flora and Fauna of the Languedoc. 

Le Presbytère can be seen at: www.lepresbytere.net; 
email: martin@lepresbytere.net