Formerly known as The Templeton, the well-established venue joined the Collection at the start of last year and is in the midst of a £7m refurbishment programme. The first indication of its new owners’ intentions was made clear in June when the new Rabbit Bar and Restaurant opened its doors to the public for the first time.

Damian cut his teeth in the trade right from school, taking on a part-time post at the Crawfordsburn Inn while he worked out what he wanted to do as a career.

‘On my first day, the head chef asked me if I was interested in training to be a chef because they had an opening,’ recalls Damian. ‘I thought I would give it a shot and I haven’t looked back.’

Damian stayed at the Inn for a couple of years then moved to the Culloden near Belfast as a junior chef de partie. His time at the Crawfordsburn had served as an ‘eye-opener’, he says, so when he arrived at the Culloden he knew what to expect:

‘The place was on a much bigger scale with banqueting for between 300 and 500 people at a time as well as the restaurant so I gained a lot more insight into what it was like to work in a hotel.’

During his time at the Culloden, Damian completed his City & Guilds 7061 and 7062 before being offered a position at Michael Deane’s restaurant Deane’s on the Square at Helen’s Bay in 1993. Damian stayed with Michael for about four years and says that the experience was formative:

‘I learned a lot about working with flavours and colours, about plating food and how to work with really fresh ingredients,’ he recalls. ‘And because it was such a small restaurant, they were able to train you on wine as well as food, so it was a great opportunity for me.’

After that, Damian went overseas, initially – and briefly – to Zurich and then to the West Indies, where he worked in the world-renowned Plantation Inn in Montpellier as a junior sous chef. Here, the worked with chefs from all over the world and learned a great deal about international cuisine as a result.

Back at home, his next post was with the Compass Group at Stormont and Cultra Manor and during more than nine years with the commercial catering firm, he cooked for a host of celebrities, including the Mayor of New York and, on several occasions, Princess Anne. And he got the chance to work with some notable names from the catering world, including Albert Roux and Richard Corrigan.

His last position before arriving at The Rabbit was with the Crumlin Road Gaol’s visitor attraction, where he stayed for about three years.

Working at the Galgorm Collection’s latest, boutique hotel is ‘very exciting’, says Damian:

‘I’m at the stage now where I have so many years behind me and I can start to put some of the things I’ve learned into practice. We have a great team at the moment, probably about 12 full-time chefs, but our banqueting operation hasn’t opened yet, this will happen later in the year and our team will grow. I am big into getting staff trained and getting them working with some of the great ingredients that I worked with when I first started.’

Damian, like most of his colleagues in the trade, is passionate about fresh, local ingredients and everything at The Rabbit, from the bread to the desserts, is made from scratch in-house.

As for the long-term future, Damian says he’d be happy to stay in his current role at The Rabbit:

‘Obviously though, I like to see everything settled down more with no sign of Covid,’ he adds. ‘There’s a lot to be said for waking up in the morning and looking forward to getting to work, I think there are very few people who can genuinely say that they love the job they are in.’

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Twenty-six-year-old Jack Mooney took over in the post of head chef at the refurbished seafront property in July of last year, but his association with the hotel goes back much further than that.

Raised in a family where both parents were committed foodies, Jack grew up surrounded by food and from the age of 15 he was convinced that his future lay in catering. He spent the next four years studying the subject at the University of Ulster in Belfast, during which time he was sent to a variety of venues for on-the-job experience. One of those properties was the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle.

Around 2013, Adrian McDaid was going through a spell as head chef at the Marine when Jack attended for interview. He recalls that after talking to Adrian, he was offered a job and embarked on what he calls ‘a fun summer’ at the hotel:

‘I loved it straight away,’ he says. ‘It was a great way to live, better than anything I’d done before and with a great, hard-working team. I was here for three-and-a-half years and I went through a couple of head chefs in that time, but Adrian was always the one that stuck out for me.’

That said, Jack does admit that the work itself wasn’t always easy. There were many challenges he says, and soon after starting, the amount of banqueting business at the Marine began to increase significantly. Nevertheless, he says, it was a great experience and one he really enjoyed:

‘I didn’t go travelling like lots of chefs do, but I did leave the Marine for two-and-a-half years from 2016 to go to the Ballygally [Castle Hotel] as a sous chef. It was very different, there was a lot of banqueting work and the hotel itself was very highly regarded, something which we constantly aspire to here at the Marine as well.’

Jack returned to the Marine as head chef in July and was delighted to find that many of those who he had worked with in the past were still on the roster at the hotel:

‘We’re still busy developing our offering here, we have a new bistro, the restaurant and the ballroom have just been renovated and more rooms have been added,’ he says. ‘Business is certainly on the increase, particularly on the banqueting and function side, growth has been massive, and the new bistro is helping us a lot.’

As for the future, Jack couldn’t be happier with his lot:

‘To be honest, I’m very content here, I want things to be as good as they can be and I want to bring the team on that that if the time comes when they have to leave, they’re able to go and do the best they can.

‘In terms of the hotel itself, there will certainly be more new developments here, we’re always looking for a challenge, we’re looking at what others are doing and we’re trying to stay ahead of trends and make sure that we’re an interesting place where people want to come and stay,’ adds Jack.

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One of the most striking things about Ciaran Mullan (29) is his determination to achieve the goals he sets himself.

Ciaran, who comes from Bangor West and is the current head chef at the Cultra Inn, was convinced from an early age that his future lay in hospitality. He was determined to be a chef, he just had no idea how to go about it.

Leaving school at 16, he secured a post as kitchen porter at the former Bangor Bay Inn. The job was ‘an eye-opener’, he says, and within a couple of months he was performing a whole range of tasks from dishwashing to disposing of the rubbish.

Ciaran stayed at the inn for a couple of years until a chef called Michael Dargan arrived. Michael had worked with the late Robbie Millar at Shanks and he and Ciaran became friends. When Michael left to take up a job in the kitchens at the newly-opened Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast, he kept in touch with Ciaran and was soon able to offer him a job.

‘I was 18 at the time and Belfast was a lot bigger than Bangor, I got my eyes opened,’ recalls Ciaran. ‘It was very busy. [Irish chef] Kevin Thornton’s name was on the menu at that time and that’s the level of expertise that we are talking about, it was a big operation and very demanding. But I just got the head down, I wanted to prove myself.’

In the end, Ciaran stayed at the Fitzwilliam for three years, climbing to the rank of junior sous chef before departing for the Boat House in Bangor which, in those days, was still owned by the acclaimed Dutch brothers, Jasper and Joery Castel. Ciaran worked in the kitchen with Yoery and another chef, Patrick Rowan. When Patrick left a short time later to take up a position with Saphyre in Belfast, Ciaran was left working in the kitchen with just Yoery.

Three more years passed, during which the Boat House paid for Ciaran to take part in a ‘stage’ at a Michelin three-starred restaurant in Zwolle, near Amsterdam. He learned a lot during his time away, he says, and was even offered a job although he couldn’t accept because his wife, Catriona, was at home and expecting the couple’s first child.

On his return, Ciaran spent a further year at the Boat House before departing for a job as head chef at a bar in central Belfast. That didn’t work out and he quickly relocated to Saphyre on the Lisburn Road as senior chef de partie. Within three or four months, he had been made pastry chef.

At the age of 24, Ciaran embarked on a period during which he worked in a series of venues, including Howard Street in Belfast at Jonny Elliott’s Edo in Upper Queen Street, where he was head chef at the time of opening.

Four months ago, he took on the post of head chef at the Cultra Inn, in the grounds of the five-star Culloden Hotel & Spa near Belfast. Hastings Hotels, which owns both venues, has a policy of continuous investment aimed at maintaining high standards, most recently installing a brand new kitchen at the Inn.

‘At the moment, I’m excited to be showcasing the fresh, local produce we have available and the unique menu we’ve created for Ireland’s Taste the Island promotion,’ says Ciaran.

He also says that while he sees himself at The Cultra Inn for ‘a good few years’, he would like to look at owning his own venue in the future:

‘I have a wife and three beautiful kids, so maybe I could have a wee country pub-style place that serves a good pint but also gives you a top class meal.’

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Paul Cunningham’s high regard for the flora and fauna of his native Co. Down is the legacy of his beloved grandfather, Paddy, who instilled a great love of nature in Paul when he was still very young.

Paul recalls:

‘He took me out on the seashore to find cockles and mussels and sand eels and we would walk across Dundrum Bay in our bare feet. He was the one who started all this in me and he’s passed away now, but every year, when I’m out picking honeysuckle, I can still hear him like he was standing beside me. He told me to respect the land and it will respect you back.’

Paul has never been able to master catching a salmon with a snare – a feat at which his grandfather was endlessly proficient – but there’s no doubting the 33-year-old chef’s remarkable talent in the kitchen. That skill was acknowledged at the start of June when he collected the LCN Chef of the Year title in its inaugural year at our gala awards in the Europa.

Speaking afterwards, Paul said he had been ‘shocked’ to hear his name announced:

‘I go to most awards thinking I won’t win,’ he added modestly. ‘You’re only as good as your last meal and there are plenty of egos in this business already.’

Paul began working in hospitality at the age of just 13 in the former Roundhouse restaurant in Dundrum while he was still at school:

‘I was washing dishes, a mixture of things, I was just happy to get into the kitchen,’ says Paul. ‘I loved the buzz and I still love it today, 20 years later.’

He went full-time in the restaurant as soon as he had finished his GCSEs

Paul had two aunties, Patricia Bell and Theresa Poland, who were themselves chefs and they advised him that every six months, if he felt he wasn’t learning enough, he should move on. So when the owners of the Roundhouse – Peter Lavery and JJ Lyttle – decided to open another restaurant in Clough, Paul transferred there to work as a commis chef. By then, he was 16.

‘I was loving it,’ he says. ‘I was getting to cook every day and I was learning a lot. As soon as tech became available, I was away to Belfast to enrol and that was even more exciting.’

After about a year, he moved to the Buck’s Head Inn at Dundrum, primarily because he was keen to work with food at a higher level. He was there for about 18 months under head chef, Fergus King:

‘I got on really well with Fergus, he put a great love for the food in me. Anyone can cook, but he taught me to respect everything that came into the kitchen.’

Opening his own place was always an aim, even back then – it was a dream, but Paul says he knew he was stubborn enough to make it happen:

‘If you want something enough and you work hard to get it, then you will. It’s really up to you.’

A succession of other posts followed, at the Hillyard House in Castlewellan; The Dundrum Inn and Belfast’s Shu restaurant. Then, at the age of 24, Paul was approached by the owner of the Anchor Bar in Newcastle who wanted to bring him in to run a proposed new restaurant on the first floor of the premises.

Named after English civil engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who is said to have spent considerable time in the Newcastle area, Brunel’s restaurant opened in February 2014 and in 2017, it moved to new premises at Downs Road in the town:

‘We were hampered a bit by where we were, people would have passed about 14 other places before they came to us, but it’s all completely different here,’ says Paul. ‘It sounds crazy but since we came here, business has quadrupled, especially in lunches.’

As for the future, Paul says his priority now is to make sure that Brunel’s meets its potential – he has no plans to open another outlet – although he admits that ultimately, he has dreams of opening his own concept restaurant:

‘I don’t know where but I’m happy not being in Belfast. I can go foraging here for an hour before opening and come back with a bucket of food. I couldn’t do that if I was in the big smoke.’

In our picture, Paul is pictured with Fiona Davey, who joined the restaurant as co-director in 2017.

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At the time, Kyle worked on reception at the hotel and had no experience of what it was like to cook for the guests.

‘I still thought I’d give it a go,’ he told LCN this month. ‘And I’ve not looked back since.’

It was a harsh baptism for Kyle, but it left him with a real desire to follow what he felt was a new calling:

‘I might not have had any formal qualifications, but it’s like I say to those people who come to me looking for work today, if you’re passionate, if you want to work, then you’ll be able to do it.’

Kyle left the Holiday Inn shortly after his stint in the kitchen and came to Belfast where he started knocking on doors, eventually securing a position in the kitchens at the former 27 Talbot Street.

All told, he spent four years at Talbot Street, but in between, he gained valuable experience in London where he did a stage at Tristan Welch’s Launceston Place restaurant. During that time, he became acquainted with acclaimed English chef, Tom Aikens and ended up working for him for 10 months.

During his time with Aikens, Kyle was in the kitchen from 7am to 1am, five-days-a-week:

‘It was tough going’, he concedes, ‘but it taught me a lot about discipline, no matter what else was going on in your life, you knew that you had to get up and go to work and get it done. You might not see the benefits of that in terms of the money you were making, but you were working with people who were moving on to the kitchens at La Gavroche or whatever and that’s inspiring. It gets you through it.’

At 21, Kyle was back in Belfast and back at Talbot Street, where he remained until the venue closed its doors in 2012. From there, he took up a post as junior sous at the Europa, but Kyle had recently made the acquaintance of French chef, Marc Amand and through him, he secured a six-month posting at the prestigious Restaurant Patrick Gilbaud in Dublin.

It was a dream come true for Kyle, but the ensuing reality put him under a lot of strain:

‘To be honest, things were slightly overwhelming at this point,’ he recalls. ‘I had a girlfriend, a car, responsibilities and moving down there, working a 90-hour week, it’s hard on your relationships. It affected me and my home life. My partner was with me in Dublin, she wasn’t that happy either and we ended up moving back to Belfast.’

Kyle admits too, that the regimented nature of the Gilbaud kitchens made for a mentally exhausting experience, and because the menus for lunch and dinner were entirely different, ‘it was like working I two restaurants at once’, he says.

Back in Belfast, he worked as head chef at Malmaison before transferring to the Balloo Group under chef Danny Millar and eventually to Wine Inns where he helped open The Doyen on the Lisburn Road in 2017.

Then, six months ago, Kyle successfully secured his most prestigious position as executive head chef at the Europa in Belfast.

Since arriving, he’s made some changes. Menus have been revised throughout the property and he’s established an 18-strong team of chefs that he’s very happy with. Also, rather than have one executive sous chef, he has three sous chefs, each one responsible for a single element of the catering operation.

Kyle has plenty of praise for his predecessor, Adrian McDaid, but he points out the benefits of ‘a fresh pair of eyes’.

‘I can see areas where we can be more effective and offer a bigger selection than we’ve done before,’ he says, and he adds:

‘One year ago, I would have loved to have the top job in a big hotel in the city and then this job came along. It’s early in my career, you don’t normally expect this at 31, so I genuinely have no aspirations to move anywhere. I want to put my roots down here and develop this place into something special. I can see myself being here for a long time.’

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