Coming out of the topsy-turvy years of pivots and permutations that got us through the pandemic, there was a sense in Paradiso of an opportunity to make a new beginning. Not a complete hurling out of bathwater and baby, but a chance to look at what we had and what we might do with it.
That thinking time is a rare thing in the restaurant industry, where everything is usually about what needs to be done now-now-now. Besides, Paradiso would be 30 years old in 2023, making it a grand old pensioner in Irish restaurant years. What, we wondered, would the old dear like to do for its birthday? Take it easy, have a nap and mosey on as before? Or how about a reboot?
First we set about changing the menu format, not once but twice, settling on a set six-course offering that makes for a better way to combine the amazing produce we have access to with the flavour-driven cooking style of the kitchen. At the same time, we started on a new book that we hoped would reflect our present and how we got here.
Paradiso has never been a place for standing still. When it opened in 1993 – before half of the current kitchen crew were born – it was with an undefined ambition to create a vegetable-based cuisine that could stand with ‘normal’ restaurants, a place where people went to eat pleasurable, exciting, modern food. I wanted it to eventually lose the word vegetarian and just be a restaurant.
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It probably looked like a mad plan from the outside. Ireland was still in the tail end of a recession, and vegetarian food was expected only to be worthy and “healthy”. I can see why people might look back now and think 1993 was the dark ages. But there was a very positive and creative energy bubbling up then, in Cork at least.
Seamus O’Connell opened his iconic and eccentric Ivory Tower restaurant six months before Paradiso. The ground-breaking Corcadorca theatre company was starting out on its extraordinary journey, and there was a brilliant music scene of bands that seemed peculiarly and defiantly of their place. Cork in 1993 felt like a place where you could have a go at doing something if you wanted to try it badly enough. In 2023, Cork has something of that same energy and it feels like a good time and place to start, or start again.
Over the years and decades, this sense of place and of belonging to a strong and vibrant food culture played a big part in allowing the food in Paradiso to evolve and mature into something uniquely of itself. When, early on, it morphed from recipe-driven to produce-focused, it was not because that seemed a good concept, but simply because growers and cheesemakers walked in with their amazing ingredients. Later, it evolved again when I stepped out of the kitchen and began to collaborate with younger creative head chefs, something that continues to this day.
When we sit down at the long table to discuss what to do with the new season asparagus, squash, aubergine or scorzonera, the talk starts with the existing repertoire and moves to new ideas and then to how we might bring those things together to make a Paradiso dish.
This new book, simply titled Paradiso, illustrates where we are now on this journey that feels both mature and fresh at the same time. It reveals how we do what we do, and breaks it down in a way that will help anyone to bring a touch of Paradiso to their own cooking.
Recipe: Smoky za’atar roast squash, lemon tahini, popped barley, mint, pomegranate
Recipe: Aubergine, black sesame yoghurt, zhoug, fried capers
Recipe: Asparagus, deep-fried egg, coriander, chilli, lime, crisped shallots
Paradiso: Recipes and Reflections by Denis Cotter is published by Nine Bean Rows (€39)
