Patrick Guilbaud, restaurateur
My maternal grandmother had a restaurant, a bistro in Brest. Later, my mother had a restaurant. It's on the maternal side.
My father was a man of very few words.He never spoke of the past. But his childhood was very, very hard. He was born in Cherac,one or two kilometres outside Cognac. They were farmers. His mother died when he was young. My grandfather drank too much and had a fall and he too died. Then the Germans came during the war, and took my father to Poland, for forced labour.
We lived in a small apartment in Paris, in the 17th.I have always cooked. My mother taught us about food – she would make us smell the raspberries, things like that. And we had to do things, peel potatoes and so on. Myself and my sisters, we were fighting like mad. There was no washing machine and it was 1966 before we got a television. To be fair to my mother, the food was always good. She always cooked.
My father would have been very happy to stay farming. But when he got back from Poland after four or five years away, well, the farm would not support two families. He worked at Ferodo brake factory in Paris. All his life, animals were attracted to my father. Dogs, horses, wherever he went. It was amazing.
The student riots in Paris had an effect on me. They made me leave the engineering course I was doing, because my father wanted me to do it, and pursue a career in food. I was very good at the mechanical side of engineering, at the design, but I was terrible at the manual side, like putting the hole in the wall, and I still am.
Well, I lost a lot of money that was for sure. But we all lost a lot of money. We were mad when you think about it.
Venu closed in July. We didn't have more money to put into it. The recession hit us very badly. It opened in 2006. My son Charles did a very good job on Venu. He worked very hard. I can't blame any of the staff. If someone is to blame it is me. Charles will survive; sometimes you have to fail to succeed.
Sometimes I wonder, would I have been as successful if I'd been in America?I could have done a lot more things. The only problem with Ireland is that it is so small.
Developing a brand is very, very difficult. Home is where your friends are.
Arthur Gibney was my friend.I miss him. When he was designing the first premises here, I brought him to all the little pompous restaurants in Paris, with the red banquettes, and I said to him: "I don't want that. I want space." Still I think maybe was a little bit too early. Arthur was a wonderful architect, but he was never good at lighting.
Charles Haughey came from time to time.But he didn't come that often.
I retired because I wanted to give space to Stephane and Guillaume. They deserve it. That lasted two or three months. I just can't do it. I just couldn't do it.
Apparently some of the banks say they can't eat here because it doesn't look good. But you should always eat in the best place. For our 30th birthday we are offering a fixed a la carte menu which is more affordable, so customers know in advance how much they're going to spend. In 2008 we were down 17%; we were back up last year 3% on the year before. Well, the cream is gone. We are back to the customers who love what we do, because they have space now.
A lot of people use the Hospice. Recently a friend of mine was there. I wanted to give back good things, so the profit from the book goes to that charity.
Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud: The First Thirty Years(€50) is available from the restaurant, and from Dubray Books and Brown Thomas. Proceeds to the Irish Hospice Foundation
