The English chef Jamie Oliver has admitted that he won’t be going near the kitchen of his new Dublin restaurant, but he still loves ‘the spirit of the Irish’ regardless.
Some people love his can-do attitude, others hate his winey childlike behaviour when things don’t go his way, but hate him or love him Jamie Oliver is setting up shop in the Dundrum Town Centre later this year.
However, just because his name is on the door doesn’t mean the celebrity chef will be cooking your foie gras or your bangers and mash. Instead he’ll be sitting in an office somewhere pulling the puppet strings.
“I’m not going to pretend I’m going to be in the kitchen – I won’t,” said the chef.
“That’s not what I do. I pay for it, I pay people’s wages, I choose the right people and really the only thing I do is write the menus and change the senior management…”
Oliver was over for the Taste Of Dublin Festival in the Iveagh Gardens yesterday and he said his reasoning for setting up a new restaurant in Ireland was because he loves the “spirit” of the Irish – it has nothing to do with our empty wallets we’re sure.
“But to be honest with you, I think half of your people are working in my restaurants in London,” he quipped.
Oliver hopes to bring a quality, affordable dining experience to Dubliner’s while using locally sourced produce. Well isn’t it a pity for him that we’re all over in London then?
