In defence of difference

Veteran local chef, Raymond McArdle, a well-known face across the hospitality trade in Northern Ireland, was back in the limelight recently when he represented Northern Ireland in the Great British Menu for the second time. He demonstrated his trademark frankness when speaking to LCN’s Russell Campbell…

“Northern Ireland isn’t renowned for its fine dining restaurants, let’s be honest. We’re 10 years behind Dublin and 20 years behind London in my opinion. We’re just not into food, we’re into bistros and steak and chips and the best places in Northern Ireland are mid-market. It’s a bistro culture, that’s just the perfect way to describe it…”

If you’re a native of Northern Ireland, you might say that Raymond McArdle doesn’t miss and hit the wall.

The Newry-born chef is certainly a plain speaker but it’s a frankness backed by impressive credentials and a kitchen background that places him in the company of such recognisable local names as Paul Rankin and the late Robbie Millar.

These days, he looks after his own business, the well-regarded Restaurant 23 at Warrenpoint and he was in the public eye of late when he represented Northern Ireland in the BBC’s popular Great British Menu this year and last.

But when he spoke to LCN recently, Raymond was adamant that with a few notable exceptions, the development of a modern food culture in Northern Ireland has stalled:

“We’ve stopped, we’re not moving forward with food,” he declares. “Many of our restaurant menus haven’t changed since 1997. There are a few that are doing things that are daring and different – Deane’s, Ox, Shu – but generally, people don’t want to take risks, they want to sell what people want to buy – prawn cocktail, steak and chips- and that’s because they want to be busy.”

Raymond is also unhappy with what he sees as the failure of menu prices in Northern Ireland to keep pace with real-world costs:

“Everything has increased in price except for the food on our menus, that’s the same price as it was in 2000,” he says. “You can still get your lunch for £6 anywhere in Northern Ireland and that’s a disgrace. In order to compete, chefs are being forced to source very cheap food and products because restaurants are now in competition with sandwich bars and everything else right down to the local Centra. People seem to prefer sandwich and a coffee to lunch in a restaurant these days.”

Raymond McArdle has been working in the restaurant trade since he left Newry College in 1990. He went straight to work for Paul Rankin, whose own career was showing plenty of early promise, and after working as a commis chef alongside Robbie Millar, he moved to Deane’s on the Square in Helen’s Bay as chef de partie.

In 1996, he transferred to Michael Deane’s flagship restaurant at Howard Street as head chef where he stayed until 2000, when he accepted a similar post at the exclusive Nuremore Hotel and Country Club in County Monaghan. During his time there, the hotel achieved three AA rosettes – one of only two restaurants in the province of Ulster to hold the accolade at that time.

Raymond stayed at the Nuremore for 12 years but in the meantime, he opened the acclaimed Restaurant 23 at Warrenpoint, which he has since developed to reflect his singular attitude to food:

“I do my own thing here and if the customers don’t like it, then they may well decide not to come back,” he explains. “I would say that maybe only five per cent of the chefs in Belfast feel the same way. But Restaurant 23 is long established, it’s a good community restaurant and although we try to push things here that are different and a bit creative, people will often still feel that they have to have steak.”

Earlier this month, Raymond was the only chef from Northern Ireland who took part in the recent charity chef calendar that was shot by Dublin-based mental health charity, Walk in my Shoes.

And as for the future, he remains fairly relaxed:

“I’ve not thought too far ahead at present,” he tells LCN. “I’m happy with what we’re doing here, the restaurant is where I want it to be, it’s got standout, it makes a statement for me and our customers seem to love what we’re doing. That’s not going to change, but I enjoy a challenge, I like to try different things, so you can never be quite sure what we might move on to in the future.”