What has been the secret of Hans-Peter Matthiae's ability to survive and prosper in the restaurant business for 30 years, since the day he first opened the doors of Chez Hans, in Cashel, Co Tipperary, at Easter, 1968?
Good food, of course, cooked with meticulous attention to detail, food which people love. Matthiae points out: "We have had people coming here for sole cooked on the bone for 30 years." And even though Hans-Peter has largely ceded control of the kitchens to his dynamic son, Jason, who has set about introducing modern elements to the menus, you can still go to Chez Hans and order Dover Sole on the Bone Meuniere, with garden leaves, and you know it will be as perfect today as it has been over the last three decades.
But there is another element to Chez Hans which is equally important in accounting for its success. Quite simply, the restaurant is a magical space. In the dining room, located in an old Wesleyan chapel, the play of low table lighting, the wood panelling, the large paintings high on the walls with the painting of The Last Supper accorded pride of place, all make for something so picture-perfect that it feels almost unreal - a tabernacle of delight.
The starched napkins arch high on the tables, their whiteness an echo of the white walls in the Markey paintings which greet you in the bar. It is a timeless space, so perfect and appropriate that fashion has nothing to do with the style.
It is one of the perfect restaurant rooms, and every time you return it exceeds your expectations.
When I last wrote about Chez Hans on these pages, for example, I had sat at the next table to a man who looked like he had strolled out of the pages of G.K. Chesterton, and he really did say: "Thank you, Lord, for preserving me to eat another dinner at Chez Hans". There really was a cleric with his dog-collar half unbuttoned at another table, sitting underneath the portrait of The Last Supper. It felt like theatre, and wrote like fiction, but it was utterly real and true.
And, while all this magic is going on around you, another key to the success of Chez Hans is the fact that the staff make it feel like it is their first night of business. They behave as if every night is opening night. There is motivation here, powerful motivation which has not dimmed a jot in 30 years.
When Hans-Peter Matthiae first opened up, there were few dedicated restaurants in the country. Myrtle Allen had recently opened Ballymaloe House as a country house restaurant, and Cork's Arbutus Lodge hotel was operating, but for an establishment to survive simply as a restaurant was, as Matthiae admits, "a struggle".
"The first five or six years was a struggle. We had a staff of four: I was chef, and there was my wife, and one other person in the kitchen, and Michael Doyle, who has of course been with us for the 30 years."
The audacity of siting the restaurant in an old chapel came about largely by luck. "The chapel belonged to a local pawnbroker, and he had rented it to the local band. But he got old, and didn't want to worry about the maintenance, and one night I was walking up to the Rock [of Cashel] with my wife, and heard the band playing, and I thought, `Wouldn't that be a nice place for a restaurant'. So I approached the pawnbroker, and he said £900 was the asking price, and I was chef at the Cashel Palace at the time and I thought, `OK, we have that much in the savings," so we bought it."
Looking back to the days when Chez Hans opened, Matthiae believes "the food had its own charm, and the quality was as good as it is now. Thirty years ago you would get a fantastic plain meal, the quality of the ingredients was A1, and with it, of course, you always got tea and bread and butter!"
He regrets the loss of rituals such as afternoon tea. "We used to go the Cahir House for afternoon tea and it was fantastic, beautiful. Everything was silver, and there was every type of sandwich and scone and cake. I always think of the beautiful afternoon tea." Back then, the remnants of the Anglo-Irish community were his major customers, along with the prosperous Tipperary farmers. It wasn't until he was open for 10 to 12 years that the local community began to go out to dinner.
Then, about 10 years ago, the other major change occurred - a new generation of diners began to frequent Chez Hans. "This was one of the biggest changes, and it gave us new heart, it really encouraged us. Suddenly people had money."
Matthiae's culinary philosophy has not changed over the years: "You can't do a mish-mash, because it lacks direction. You must know your ingredients. And I don't think it matters that our food is quite rich, for when people go out to eat, they go out. They aren't going to worry about the diet. People like a butter sauce! But Jason has changed the food tremendously. I am an old-timer, and whilst I love the modern food, I myself am slow to change."
What Jason Matthiae has not changed is the generosity of the choice on the menu at Chez Hans - there is an entire page devoted to soups and starters alone, and half a page of desserts. There is also generosity in the portions, and the powerful flavours which animate every dish.
All these elements contribute to that "Saturday Night Special" feeling which the restaurant enjoys - and it can effortlessly evoke that feeling on a Tuesday night in March. As Jason Matthiae says, "There is a wall of energy in that dining room on any night, even when there are only 20 people in, and we can feel it in the kitchen."
The classics remain on the menu - seafood chowder; wild smoked salmon with a chive creme fraiche; the brilliant gratin of mussels with garlic breadcrumbs; escalope of Irish salmon with a sorrel butter sauce; sole on the bone; fillet steak with creamed spinach and a green peppercorn sauce; Tipperary lamb with a herb crust.
Jason Matthiae has learnt not just from his father, but also in the fiery London kitchens of Marco Pierre White and the Roux brothers, and for a young chef his work enjoys powerful accomplishment and maturity.
His innovations are most evident in the starters: tomato consomme with fresh herbs; risotto of Dublin Bay prawns with watercress and chorizo; salad of Knockalara feta cheese with tomato fondue and tapenade; tomato, olive and goats' cheese tart with basil pesto. But he is conscious of the need to strike a balance with the dishes Chez Hans has offered down the decades.
His lieutenant is the talented Barry Underwood, who has been in the restaurant's kitchen with Jason for three years, and whose desserts alone are worth the trip to Cashel: iced nougat with almond praline and raspberry sauce; cappuchino brulee with vanilla ice cream; cinnamon roasted fruits with mascarpone cream.
"We are really thankful to everyone who has come to eat here during the 30 years," says Jason, as modest and as determined as his father. Chez Hans could not be in better hands.
Hans-Peter Matthiae says, "The biggest kick I get today is to see the confident young people in Ireland, That is the biggest joy, and it is well deserved and long overdue." That could be father describing son, as one generation hands over to another, for the next 30 years of Chez Hans.
Chez Hans, Cashel, County Tipperary Tel: 062-61177 Open 6.30 p.m.-10 p.m. Tues-Sat. Visa, Access. Wheelchair access. Children welcome.