Aniar: Cooking From The West

In 2011 JP McMahon opened a new restaurant in Galway. He called it Aniar, an Irish word that means from the west^[1].

The name was a promise. Aniar would cook only with Irish ingredients^[1]. FCSI describes it as the only restaurant that holds itself to that rule so strictly^[1].

A Noma Connection

He hired a strong head chef. Enda McEvoy had worked at Noma, the celebrated Nordic restaurant^[1]. The idea was similar: look at your own landscape and cook what it gives you.

The West On A Plate

Aniar's menu is built on produce from the west of Ireland: its farms, its wild places and its shores^[2]. Wild and foraged ingredients play a big part^[2]. The menu changes with the seasons^[2].

Old skills matter as much as new ones. The kitchen revives traditional methods such as curing, pickling, smoking and fermenting^[2]. McMahon sums up the idea in a short phrase: look back in order to look forward^[2].

Today

Aniar now sits on Lower Dominick Street in Galway's West End^[2]. Its tasting menu tells the story of Irish food through the ages, with a modern twist^[2].

A School Too

From early on, Aniar was also a classroom. In 2016 it ran a small cookery school for six students on Monday nights, when the restaurant was closed^[3]. Today the Boutique Cookery School at Aniar offers workshops and private classes taught by McMahon himself^[2].

The two restaurants stood side by side in his life. In 2016 The Staff Canteen counted Aniar, Cava and Eat @Massimo among the places he owned in Galway^[3].

For McMahon, it was a big step up from a tapas bar. Cava served Spanish small plates. Aniar would tell the story of his own country, one plate at a time^[1][3].

It was a bold idea in 2011. Aniar argued that Irish food, from Irish land and sea, could stand on its own. Within two years, the Michelin Guide would agree^[1][3].