Born In Dublin, Made In Belfast Kitchens

Dylan McGrath was born on 4 August 1977 at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin^[1]. He did not stay in the capital long. His first six years were spent in Carlow^[1][2].

Then the family moved north, to west Belfast. He went to the Christian Brothers secondary school on the Glen Road^[1]. Belfast is where he grew up, and where he first found his way into a kitchen.

A Rocky Start

School was not easy for him, and neither was catering college. He won a grant to study at Portrush Catering College, and by his own account he was asked to leave three times^[1]. He moved to the Belfast Institute, which went better^[1].

The Blag

His first big job came early. He landed a head chef post at a Jury's Inn in Belfast^[1]. He later admitted that he had blagged his way in, and that he could not really cook yet^[1]. It is a funny story now. At the time, it was a crash course in pressure.

Learning Properly At Roscoff

The real lessons came at Roscoff. At the time it was the only Michelin-starred restaurant in Belfast^[1]. There, McGrath learned the craft the hard way: precision, discipline and respect for ingredients^[1][2].

From Belfast he went to London. He described the kitchens there as tense and highly competitive^[1]. He worked with the chef Tom Aikens, one of the big names of London fine dining^[2].

Seeing The World

He kept moving. He also cooked in San Sebastián, Las Vegas and New York^[2]. Each city showed him a different way to run a kitchen and a different idea of what a great plate could be.

By the time he came back to Dublin, the boy who had been asked to leave catering college three times had become a serious cook with a hunger for stars^[1][2]. His next stop would make his name.