LUDO LEFEBVRE OF LES TROIS MEC IN L.A. SAID THAT HAVING HIS OWN PLACE AFTER 6 YEARS OF POP-UPS MEANT THAT 'IT'S MY HOUSE. I DON'T LIVE IN A HOTEL ANY MORE'. DO YOU FEEL THE SAME NOW YOU HAVE SETTLED INTO nede?
Yes we feel like we now have a settled home now. It's fantastic to have a fully set up brand-new kitchen. We are very pleased with it. Before we travelled through Belgium and Ireland in our van with a full kitchen in the back, it was hard work unloading and loading the van and looking for all the right products for each pop up but it was a lot of fun. We meet some fantastic people and made great contacts.
WHICH DISH HAS GARNERED THE MOST POSITIVE FEEDBACK SO FAR FROM CUSTOMERS?
Our first serving which is a hot crusty light sourdough bread with homemade butter, we have received very positive feedback from it.
HAVE YOU FOUND NEW SUPPLIERS WHOSE PRODUCE HAS SUPRISED/DELIGHTED/PERPLEXED YOU?
Yes Brendan Guinan and Donnacha Donnelly are growing incredible vegetables and fruit for us. We are really delighted to have found these 2 guys producing such great products. At the moment we are really surprised to get Irish cherries that taste so incredibly good. Ed Hicks is making charcuterie for our new meat board. Right on our doorstep every Saturday at the Temple Bar Market we get beautiful salad leafs from Jenny McNally.
YOU BOTH WORKED IN noma IN COPENHAGEN, WHICH GETS 100,000 RESERVATIONS REQUESTS EVERY MONTH. HOW SOON DO YOU RECKON YOU CAN BEAT THAT FIGURE IN nede?
Rene Redzepi has built up a brilliant team and Noma has achieved the best restaurant in the world for 3 years running which is quite remarkable, resulting in such high reservation requests. It takes time and skill to build up a successful team. We don't reckon we will beat that figure but are working hard on building up a team. We want to create the right atmosphere here, make it feel more welcoming – we want people to feel at home be relaxed and happy from the moment they walk in the door to the moment they leave. We have only been open 5 weeks and word of mouth is spreading and we are starting pick up a lot of regulars and are getting busier.
WHICH ARE THE NEW SIGNATURE DISHES THAT YOU HAVE CREATED IN nede?
All are dishes are constantly changing with the season. We select our products at their very best. One of our starter dishes is simply celebrating the fantastic great tasting vegetables we get from our local farmer, Brendan Guinan. It consists of the in-season vegetables with a soft goats cheese. Another signature dish is langoustines with garlic capers with sourdough toast which has become very popular. People are fascinated by the amount of flavour from the wild garlic capers.
Razor clams with a fermented kelp seaweed is also another signature dish bursting with flavour. Seaweed in Ireland is fantastic and we want to take full advantage of it. Roasted coffee bean ice-cream with chocolate and roasted barley: it's a very simple dessert but the 3 flavours and textures work really well.
ARE THE IRISH PEOPLE READY FOR SMOKED POTATOES/ AND LOVE ICE CREAM?
I think Irish people are ready. People are up for experiencing new and different flavours. It's important we describe our dishes to our guests so they have better understanding of the products we are using and why. We make a dessert with lovage ice-cream, raspberries and beetroot. A lot of people are unsure what lovage is but are excited to try and learn about a new ingredient to them. At the moment it's on our tasting menu. People love it.
Interview with John McKenna
http://www.nede.ie
