Reap The Rewards

Eipic's Tasting Menu 

So I am nearly finished my placement at the Culloden now three months is the required time that each student has to do as part of our course, however I agreed to do six months work as I taught it would benefit me more which it has in the long run .I would recommend any student who has to go abroad for work experience to do the six months. The six month period I feel it gives the student a better understanding of how a kitchen is ran and also gives the student more time to learn on the job which I think I key to become a great chef. The six months also gives your head chef time to pass some of the responsibly of running a kitchen to the student so they experience the paperwork side of the business which also will stand to you in the long term.

Lobster,Chicken Skin ,Sweetcorn,Sea Veg

Durning my time here I have been kept busy whether its cooking for celebs in the Mitre to photoshoot with various magazines it’s been an enjoyable and testing time. Before coming to the Culloden I’ve worked in various restaurants, hotels and bars cooking food that was good honest food but nothing spectacular. It’s not what I want for my career I wanted to work in fine dining /Michelin star restaurants .So when the chance to work in Belfast in a fine dining restaurant that was Michelin recommended I jumped at the chance. Not just because of the hotels name but because Belfast has such a selection of very good restaurants  boasting two one star Michelin restaurants Ox and Eipic ,that I might just want to work for after I finish college which lucky for me are fifteen minutes train journey away from the hotel. Thankfully I got the opportunity to dine in Eipic in August ,where I meet and spoke to Chef Patron Michael Deane about the chances of working in Eipic or even getting a stage in the near future .

Behind the scenes with Shane Smith

Since I've been away from home by  myself I have a lot of time to think and reflect on food and new food ideas .I find myself reading a lot more on food and restaurants all over the world for me this has been something I will look back on and be glad that I spent so much time by myself as I had a chance to enter and win one of YesChef Ireland competitions which I taught at the time was a bit of fun and didn't expect to win let alone be asked to write an article on young chefs in Ireland to be published in the next issue of the magazine .To be honest I still think its a big idea and even when Shane Smith who is owner , publisher and photographer of the magazine said the picture he took of my dish was lovely I laughed it off and said its all in the photography. Getting to work with Shane and see how to photograph food and what happens behind the scenes of theses foodporn photos was a great experience and I learned a lot from that which I will take back with me as we are doing a module on food media in our final year so I'm sure that a small bit of knowledge will help fingers crossed .

My Dish featured in YesChef Ireland
Textures of Beetroot and Goats Cheese

    By Nicholas Murphy
    @The Mitre Resturant 
    Belfast , Northern Ireland