Chef JP McMahon spoke with Sean O'Rourke about Food on the Edge and the pressure of running a Michelin starred restaurant.
Food on the Edge is a two-day symposium in Galway that brings together food enthusiasts from all around the world to talk about the future of food and the impact of the industry on the planet. It takes place on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd October and if you’re curious about what it entails, JP says:
"It's a coming together of chefs and producers and suppliers, I mean predominantly Irish-based. Most of the speakers are international. We bring, I suppose, high calibre chefs and industry professionals… to inspire the audience."
Michelin Stars
JP is expecting an audience of between four and five hundred for this exciting venture but between organizing the event and running his restaurants, he definitely has his hands full.
On the topic of his own restaurants, Sean wanted to know if the award of a Michelin star has upped the ante and increased the pressure on his staff in Aniar.
"Oh, 100%. It was like an avalanche hitting the restaurant. I think we went from literally being able to take the reservations on our mobile phone while we ran the other restaurants to having to hire a receptionist and of course expectation levels going up and international guests…
"This year the pressure is always there, I suppose it’s like playing the cup final every single night."
Generating profit
JP dispelled a couple of myths during his interview. Surely now that Aniar is so busy it must be generating a lot of profit? Not so, he says. Maintaining it has now become a labour of love, with six and sometimes up to nine chefs catering to 24 diners.
"Of course my accountant thinks I’m insane because last year I took two tables out of the restaurant and he said, you just took €400 a night out of your restaurant and I said yeah but I’m going to make the tables bigger and it’ll be nicer… I wouldn’t mind taking another four out but my wife said that’s absolutely not happening!"
Balanced diet
JP favours local food where possible, and warns that we need to really consider a balanced diet to protect our planet.
"I definitely think less meat, more seafood, more shellfish. Shellfish is really well farmed in Ireland. It’s very sustainable and most of the time we export it and we ignore it so, for me, it’s like eat more mussels and oysters and more seaweed."
Click on the video above to listen to JP’s interview in full.
