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.’

The post Challenge of a lifetime for Damian appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

At 23, Caelan McVeigh is manager of the prestigious Observatory bar in Belfast’s Grand Central Hotel. And by his own admission, it’s his dream job:

‘I’m happy at my work, I wouldn’t move for double my salary,’ he told LCN this month.

Although he’s back at his post now, managing the highest cocktail bar in Belfast, the early months of lockdown saw Caelan fulfil a very different role, doing everything from servicing the rooms which were being used by frontline workers to helping formulate new staff operating procedures and complete risk assessments.

Since July 3 though, he’s been back in the Observatory on the Grand Central’s 23^rd floor with new Covid-19 restrictions in place:

‘We’re lucky in that we never cram people into the place at any time and so we haven’t lost that much to social distancing,’ Caelan reports. ‘Our afternoon tea trade has been through the roof and our Friday, Saturday and Sunday numbers are at the level they were at pre-Covid. People still want the product, they still want to come out and see us and our regulars are all returning. That’s what we want to see.’

Caelan’s first taste of the hospitality trade was at Vanilla, the restaurant owned by his family in Newcastle, where he had waited on tables from his early teens. When he was 18, he began a part-time job at the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa where the chance to work during big events such as the Irish Open, convinced him that a career in the trade was what he wanted. He mentioned this to his manager at the time and was directed towards the Hastings Hotels trainee manager programme, which he duly embarked on.

The programme saw him work in a variety of roles in hotels across the Hastings group including the Everglades, the Culloden and eventually, the Grand Central where he was part of the opening team at the age of 21:

‘I really loved it,’ he recalls. ‘When I first went into the [management training] programme, my dream had been to end up at the Grand Central and when I eventually got here, even with the stress of opening, it was absolutely the best thing I’d ever done.’

In August last year, Caelan was promoted to the manager’s post at the exclusive Observatory bar:

‘This is one of the most exclusive venues in Ireland with some of the highest standards and the clientele are willing to spend a lot more money to have a great experience here,’ he says. ‘We’re very focused on quality cocktails and premium ingredients and we have our own high-end cocktail list which isn’t like anything anyone else has.’

Many of those who appear in this monthly column are keen to open venues of their own, but Caelan has his sights set on promotion within the Hastings group where, he says, he would like to become food and beverage manager with the next few years:

‘I totally love my job,’ he adds. ‘Working here has its challenges, but I love my team, we are very close-knit and it’s very rewarding whenever you deliver. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.’

Caelan recommends:

Linenopolis 

(A twist On The Negroni)

Ingredients:

25ml Dark Rum

20ml Aperol

15ml Dry Vermouth

5ml jumping Goat Coffee Liqueur

5ml Demerara

2 Dashes of Bitters

Method

Add the entire ingredients list to a mixing glass or jug and stir them until the jug becomes ice cold. Strain the mixture over rocks in a glass with ice. Garnish with orange coin and coffee beans.

The post Caelan is happy at his work appeared first on Licensed & Catering News (LCN) - News Coverage from the Local Trade.

The new Rabbit bar and restaurant provides the first indication of the direction of travel that the Galgorm Collection intends to take with the latest addition to its burgeoning collection of boutique properties.

The Rabbit hotel, formerly known as The Templeton, was purchased by the Collection in February 2019 for £7m. The property is currently undergoing a £7m refurbishment aimed at upgrading its 24 bedrooms alongside new spa and wedding facilities. The Rabbit bar and restaurant, which is now open to the public, represents around £2.5m of that investment.

With seating for around 180 guests at a time, the new eatery also has a large outdoor terrace that offers memorable views across the hotel’s newly installed garden area.

For manager Lynsey Gordon, the restaurant provided the perfect opportunity for her to advance her career within the Galgorm Collection group. Lynsey (33), joined the company nine years ago as a receptionist and quickly climbed through the ranks. She left briefly for Hasting’s prestigious Grand Central Hotel where she was front-of-house manager during its opening in 2018 but returned to manage the new restaurant at The Rabbit in July.

‘Coming back to the group was about career progression for me,’ she told LCN this month. ‘I also missed working for this company, they are very forward-thinking and heavily driven by investment. All the products they have are phenomenal and the opportunity to come and be involved with something new like this right from take-over has been great.’

Lynsey describes the new restaurant as ‘a real home from home’:

‘It has a really warm feeling, there’s a big roaring fire, comfortable seating and everything is really relaxed and informal with booths and more traditional seating, not just a big open space. There’s lots of artwork on the walls, nice low lighting and a lovely garden and terrace. It’s lovely to be able to dine alfresco as we come towards the end of the summer sunshine.’

Lynsey reports that business at the restaurant has been ‘great’ since it opened, with plenty of support from locals keen to see how the popular local venue has been transformed.

‘They’re amazed at the difference,’ she says. ‘So many of them have been Templeton customers and the Templeton has been here for 30 years so at some point, everyone has been in. They love the warmth and the feel of the place. It’s become people’s new local!’

Lynsey admits that after a strong start in July and August, buoyed by the government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme, trade in September has fallen back a little but that’s to be expected, she says. The Rabbit’s enviable position in the affluent Belfast commuter belt, continuing promotional activity and a lingering sense of curiosity around the changes mean that the restaurant is still busy.

The wider focus at the hotel is now on completing the new function rooms and getting those open towards the end of the Year. The Loft will be a new 140-seat function room primarily aimed at the wedding and banqueting market. It’s been available for booking since October last year and Lynsey reports that interest has been strong.

‘To be honest, the biggest concern for us is going to be consumer confidence, our customers need to be comfortable and confident in what we’re doing and we’ve been putting a lot of research and investment into getting that right,’ she adds.

Customers arriving at the restaurant have their temperatures taken and they are asked to sanitise their hands. All the staff wear masks, the tables are well spaced and the menus is delivered digitally via an app.

‘The real challenge for us comes more on the bar side,’ adds Lynsey. ‘The restaurant was always table service but creating a buzz in the bar when people aren’t able to get up and move about freely will be difficult. But we are looking forward to welcoming people back into the bar [on September 23]. It’s a challenge on top of getting the restaurant open, but the feedback is that people are very confident once they get in and see everything that we are doing.

‘I hope that by the spring, we will have all 33 bedrooms ready and our function room and spa opened. This is going to be a really iconic addition to the Galgorm Collection and I think that demand is going to be huge.’

Galgorm Collection’s managing director, Colin Johnston says that the re-development of the former Templeton Hotel in Templepatrick represents a significant investment in the local economy by the group and cements its commitment to growing NI’s tourism industry.

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The popular eatery on the Lisburn Road will re-open its doors to the public on October 9 with three different style elements all under one roof.

The multi-award-winning venue originally opened in October 2000 and since lockdown, the team has worked hard with local building firm, McCue Fit Out, to commence a complete redesign of the entire building, including expansion into the neighbouring property.

SHU itself will remain on the main ground floor while the bright and airy top floor extension will become The Upper House, designed for flexible private dining. The venue’s atmospheric basement will be relaunched as Jul’s.

With an enhanced bar and dining space, Jul’s will have DJ performances on Friday and Saturday evenings. The new Sunday afternoon offering will focus on live jazz played on the house piano.

Alan Reid, co-owner of SHU says that he’s delighted to be able to invest in the restaurant’s ‘next chapter’:

“This huge financial investment is testament to the quality of our food and hospitality, the hard work of our team and the loyalty of our guests throughout the years,’ he adds. ‘We are confidently emerging from the pandemic lockdown, which has been the greatest-ever challenge to the local and global hospitality industry. We plan to come out stronger, brighter and even more confident.’

Brian McCann, head chef and co-owner, adds: ‘This refit and expansion is a sign of the strength of our brand and the local hospitality sector in general.

‘We look forward to getting back to business and giving our much-valued guests new experiences and memories as we approach our third decade in the city.’

Since launching, SHU has scooped a number of prestigious awards for its modern French-inspired cuisine, including Best Restaurant in Northern Ireland at the National Restaurant Awards in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Described by Tom Parker Bowles as ‘seriously good’, SHU currently holds two AA Rosettes and is listed in the Michelin Guide.

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