There is something exciting happening on the culinary scene in Co Kildare. Deep in the countryside, so deep in fact that you’ll probably have to trust the satnav woman to get you there, a navy and gold sign announces your arrival at Alumni Kitchen Table and Rooms.
As the gate swings open to reveal a substantial family home set in pristine gardens, you may momentarily think you’ve come to the wrong place. But behind the facade is a purpose-built restaurant with rooms that have been meticulously planned and immaculately executed.
Having trained with Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing at Petrus in London, Philip Mahon was sous chef under Dylan McGrath at Mint in Ranelagh
Chef Philip Mahon and his wife Kathy bought the property in Feighcullen, around 10 minutes’ drive from Rathangan and a little more from Kildare town, eight years ago. They are northside Dubliners but found themselves priced out of the market in the capital and cast their net a little further afield, initially intending to open a cookery school.
That plan has changed, and on July 1st, they will open for their first restaurant tasting menu dinner service. “The name Alumni Kitchen Table comes from the idea that it was originally going to be a cookery school. But I felt I had unfinished business with Michelin [he was sous chef at Mint in Dublin when it got a star in 2008], and I didn’t want to fade away into my career having not given it my best shot,” Philip says, making clear his aspirations for the venture.
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Kathy, a nurse, initially intended to have a supporting role in the business, while continuing to work in her own profession. But that changed during lockdown, and she trained as a sommelier and will now work alongside Philip, running front of house.
Initially, just eight guests will be seated in the kitchen diningroom, though there is room for an additional four diners in time to come, for a 12-course (15 servings) tasting menu available on Friday and Saturday only. Dinner will cost €125 per person, with an optional wine pairing an additional €125. A non-alcoholic beverage package will be available too. Tickets will be sold online on the Tock platform, where customers will also be able to book one of the four beautifully presented en suite guest bedrooms. The tasting menu, with wine pairing, bed and breakfast, will cost €680 for two guests. “If you buy a ticket, you don’t pay another penny, and you don’t have to leave a tip,” Philip says.
It’s a punchy price point for a start-up, so who is this chef, and what is his pedigree? Having trained with Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing at Petrus in London, Philip was sous chef under Dylan McGrath at Mint in Ranelagh, then head chef at the Fitzwilliam hotel in Dublin. While building his dream business, he worked as head chef at The Brown Bear, near Naas. He also did stages (work experience) at Michelin three-star restaurants Per Se in New York and Alinea in Chicago, but always with the intention of returning home. “I want to cook in Ireland. I don’t want to be cooking in London or New York.”
The entire house is pristine and finished to a high-end spec, using Irish and international craftsmanship
Over the past eight years, the couple renovated the house from top to bottom and added a kitchen extension, doing much of the work themselves. “We’ve only got the place finished recently. I didn’t know really how long it was going to take, because we were doing a lot of stuff ourselves. I didn’t have a construction crew rock in here and rock out and give me the place back,” Philip says.
The kitchen diningroom, inspired by a French country kitchen, has an eight-seater communal table, stools at the chef’s counter in front of the custom-made Lacanche range, and a cosy nook for two overlooking the garden, where the couple are growing vegetables for the table. Up to four diners per night will be able to book tickets for dinner only, without accommodation, “though I’d prefer the bedrooms are booked out first”, Philip says. Non-resident guests will enter through a side door, a replica of the door at The French Laundry restaurant in California, while those staying overnight will be welcomed at the front door, and will have the use of two communal spaces, elegant sittingrooms, on the ground floor.
The entire house is pristine and finished to a high-end spec, using Irish and international craftsmanship. Barcelona-based American ceramicist Cara Janelle, whose work Philip admired at Alinea, has created original serving dishes and beverage vessels. Hewn Spoons and Newbridge silverware feature in a custom leather cutlery roll, presented to each guest at the start of dinner service, and placemats are from De Bruir leather in Kildare. Mango Crafts in Co Kerry made the communal dining table and joinery is by Teamwoodcraft in Laois.
The couple say they waited four years for delivery of the Barrel and Gunn industrial sliding doors that lead to the kitchen diningroom, and the Co Dublin company also made the metal wardrobe frames, to Philip’s design, that feature in the bedrooms, alongside beds from The Original Bed Co in London.
Design aside, it is the food and wine that will bring diners to this corner of Co Kildare. Philip plans to use as much locally grown and reared produce as possible, including free-range ducks from Feighcullen Farm, just a few fields away, and lamb from Castledermot on the other side of the Curragh.
The launch menu features four snacks, a bread course, a fresh pea, lardo and quail’s egg dish, followed by cockles and mussels in white wine. John Dory, wild asparagus and vin jaune is the fish course, and Feighcullen duck will be served two ways. An Irish cheese selection will be served before two desserts, and petits fours. The drinks pairing begins with two Bollinger Champagnes, and also includes a Burgundy made by Irish winemaker Roisin Curley, and Killahora Orchards perry, with eight servings in all included. Master of wine Mick O’Connell and Shane Murphy, his business partner in Neighbourhood Wine, have advised on the wine list, which Kathy says will be strong on organics.
The 12-course, 15-serving tasting menu for eight guests adds up to 120 plates. That’s a lot of cooking, serving and cleaning up. “The dishes are complex, they’re technical,” says Philip, and he is recruiting kitchen staff. But the couple believe they can run the business alone if need be. Philip built the business model on “low staff costs, a four-day 36-hour working week, and no staff turnover”, specifically to address issues he encountered running businesses in the past.
For Kathy, the career change has given her more time to spend with the couple’s two young sons, Austin, nearly two, and Sebastian, six, named after their favourite place and the location of their wedding, the food lover’s city of San Sebastián. “It’s nice to be able to be home with the children and work from home and have the best of both worlds.”
Alumni Kitchen Table and Rooms opens on July 1st. Reservations are available here
