Perhaps a custard pie fight would settle this
The chefs Dylan McGrath, Kevin Thornton and Kevin Dundon were on Tubridy Tonight on Saturday, and its now online here.
Go straight to six minutes in, when Tubridy starts talking to McGrath - who is not a man troubled by self-doubt. A clip of the chef yelling abuse at one of his staff triggers a pretty interesting debate about whether it’s acceptable or not to treat someone as less than human (compassion, McGrath admits, is not his strong point).
But the real fun comes from newly Michelin-starred McGrath’s dismissal of Dundon, with a dig at his role on The Afternoon Show. Dundon reacts with dignity, but inside he must have been boiling like a lobster’s bath.
Also listen out for the shrieking giggler in the audience, who is somewhat of an irritant at first but comes into her own when she shouts “bastard”.
It is possible to hate somebody for the way they hold their head? If so that McGrath bloke is on the list.
Comment by Twenty Major | January 31, 2008 at 9:14 amHe looks like an awful plank that Dylan lad…I suppose he’s going down the whole Irish Gordon Ramsey route…
Thought the other lad handled himself quite well…The two of them probably made up after the show, by nipping to Burger King.
Comment by Daddy Dec | January 31, 2008 at 10:38 amMcGrath comes across as a monumental a**ehole.
Surprisingly more so than Kevin Thornton.
Comment by cw | January 31, 2008 at 12:26 pmCW - Yet, his point is that you have to be a hard bastard to be a great chef, so he revels in that. I haven’t eaten there, so I can’t tell you if the result is worth it.
As for Kevin Thornton, I’ve met and interviewed him and I found him to be a charming and intelligent man. And he is a really good chef, which helps.
Comment by Shane | January 31, 2008 at 12:30 pmThornton does very well in presenting himself in the media. Extremely well, in fact.
And he is an exceptional chef, without question.
Don’t get me wrong about McGrath though, I don’t think you could put a camera in any Michelin-starred restaurant and see a huge difference in what they showed. It’s his manner in the studio I was talking about, he just strikes me as disagreeable.
Most chefs are arseholes in the kitchen but can put it to one side when they’re doing other things. Maybe he just revelled in the pantomime villain role he was cast in by the audience.
Comment by cw | January 31, 2008 at 12:36 pmMcGrath has opened his kitchen to cameras at a very early stage, a brave thing to do if you ask me.
Did it occur to you that his awkward manner on the show may have something to do with the fact that it is the first interview on tv the lad has ever done?
He spoke when he was spoken to (unlike kevin Dundon) and was backed into a corner on a few occasions.
I think for his first time the guy handled it pretty well.
Comment by Bill | January 31, 2008 at 7:17 pmTonight Cilla, I think I’m going to have to go for … Number Threeeeeeeeeeeee!
Comment by Liz | January 31, 2008 at 8:20 pm