CARLO ALAMBI in conversation with
SANDRA O'CONNELL
MY FATHER is Italian, hence the name, but my mother is from Dublin. I’ve been head chef at Celestine’s, in Donnycarney in Dublin, for 18 months. Before that I was in Trastevere, in Temple Bar, for 12 years.
When it was sold I had the opportunity to work in another city-centre restaurant or out here. I chose here because it gives me a chance to be more creative.
I live in Trim, in Co Meath, so the commute in is an hour. I’m up at 8.30am and out the door an hour later. I always wear chef’s whites. It’s a hygiene thing. I know chefs who wear black jackets and don’t wash them for weeks. With whites you have to put them on clean each day.
I’m normally first in, so I’ll open up and get started on the breads. We make all our own, so I’ve focaccia, ciabatta and a brown to do. We open the doors at 11.30am and people start trickling in for brunch.
By lunchtime things get busy. In my old job we were serving 250 people a day in a 60-seater restaurant. At those volumes it’s a bit like a factory. Here everything is cooked to order, and I get a chance to get out and talk to the customers, too, which I love.
It’s a regular clientele, and they all know me by name. Some of them will even ask me for their own dish, and if I can I’ll do it.
In the afternoon, when things get quiet out front, I have the time to work on new recipes and to train up the young chefs here. That’s how I learned. My father had Pizzeria Italia in Temple Bar almost before there was a Temple Bar – at least, before it had street lights. Though I did go to catering college, most of what I learned was at his elbow.
Staff numbers here range from two on the floor and two in the kitchen on a Tuesday to four and four on a Saturday, our busiest day. Today I’m going in early to train in a new staff member.
During the week people come into us after work, so it starts to get busy again from 5.30pm but tapers off by 8.30pm. At weekends it will be full until much later.
The recession has actually improved business for us, because we’re finding more people staying local for their night out.
It’s why, though we started out as a wine bar which offered food, food service has taken over here, and we have a full licence, which helps.
Once the last order is made I’m gone. Despite the day job, I love cooking at home, too. Simple food with simple ingredients: you just can’t beat it.