Eyes front for Sean

Sean Doyle has had a lifelong fascination with the art of cooking and since his arrival at The Maghera Inn four years ago, the venue’s reputation as a diners’ destination has rocketed. He’s been telling LCN how that has been achieved.

Although Sean Doyle (30) – currently head chef at the award-winning Maghera Inn in County Down – has been in and out of kitchens for most of his life, he waited until his early 20s before he launched into formal training for his chosen profession.

When he was a child, Sean would often accompany his mother to the former Rademon estate at Crossgar where she worked as an in-house cook, and it was here that his love of all things culinary really found its roots.

As a teenager, he worked in a number of different local venues in front-of-house roles although he admits that very often, he would find his way into the kitchens: “I was keen, that’s where I enjoyed being,” he recalls.

Despite his passion for cooking, however, Sean’s first real foray into full-time work took him to Brennan’s Spar store at Loughinisland in 2005. Within a couple of years, he had worked his way up to assistant manager and at that point, he decided to leave and begin training to be “a proper chef”.

At 22, Sean began working in his first permanent cheffing job at the Slieve Croob Inn at Castlewellan. At the same time, he began studying with Hugh J. O’Boyle Training Ltd. and eventually came away with a level 3 diploma in professional cooking.

He was with the Slieve Croobl for three years, eventually becoming head chef, before moving on, eventually arriving at The Maghera Inn in 2011, where he joined as sous chef. Six months after his arrival, he became head chef at the venue.

Sean describes the menu at The Maghera Inn – a finalist in the Bar of the Year category at this year’s LCN Awards – as “comfort food”. The ambience in the venue is relaxed with a great local feel and the food on offer is a strong mix of seafood and steak. The menus are changed seasonally and at present, there’s a focus on developing the Maghera Inn’s great reputation for burger dishes.

“I think that being successful has a lot to do with recognising the various cooking trends that emerge and making sure that you’re ahead of the game without having to play catch-up all the time,” says Sean. “If I think that something is going to catch on, then I try to go with my own version and make it my own. I want to cook simple – but not simplistic – food.”

When Sean first arrived at The Maghera Inn, he says that there was a big turnover in kitchen staff:

“In terms of our direction, we were just trying to copy everything that the busy places were doing,” he recalls. “In the end, we just decided that if we’re going to do this, then it’s for the long term. We decide who we are and what our dishes are.”

It’s an approach that seems to have worked. Turnover at the venue is up 40 per cent in just the last year and a large part of that is accounted for by return trade to the venue, which is located a couple of miles outside the town of Newcastle.

Although Sean loves the career he’s chosen for himself, he warns budding chefs that this isn’t the easiest of career choices:

“The hours are long and you have to treat it as a way of life,” he cautions. “You’re at work when everyone else is off, those are the busiest times, and that can be hard. It’s also hard to make money out of food nowadays, it’s hard to please everyone. When we’re designing a menu, there’s only so many dishes you can put on there, so it’s always about finding a balance and that can be difficult, but it’s enjoyable and when you pull it off, it’s very rewarding.”

As for the future, Sean says that consistency will be a key aim, helping to ensure that no matter when a customer visits the venue, they can expect to receive the same level of quality and service:

“I am aiming to build a team here that is consistent and that understands the ethos that we have in the kitchen,” he explains. “We want everyone who comes here to have confidence in their expectations, I want us to be able to maintain our current level of performance in the years ahead so that the current popularity of the Maghera Inn can be maintained. We are booked up three or four weeks in advance at present and I really like the fact that people are talking about what we’re doing here.”