A Self-Taught Cook Opens A Tapas Bar

JP McMahon did not grow up in a foodie home^[1]. He grew up in Dublin, and he found his way to the stove on his own^[2].

At 15 he got a job in an Italian restaurant outside Dublin^[1]. There he learned the basics: pizza, bread and pasta^[1]. It was the start of a lifelong habit of learning by doing.

Self-Taught

He never went to a formal cookery school. He calls himself self-taught^[1][2]. He learned on the fly, he says, through home cooking, short stints in other kitchens, cookbooks and the advice of older chefs^[1].

Art History And English

Cooking was not his only passion. In his late teens he went back to college as a mature student and took a degree in English and art history^[1][2]. Much later he added a PhD in drama and theatre^[1]. He has taught art history too^[1].

In 1999 he moved to Galway^[1]. It became his adopted city and the base for everything that followed^[1].

The Chance Arrives

In 2008 an opportunity came up to open a restaurant, and he took it^[2]. The result was Cava, a Spanish tapas bar in Galway^[1][2]. It was his first restaurant^[1].

Tapas suited him. Small plates, shared tables and simple, bold flavours were a good fit for a cook who had learned his trade outside the classic French system.

Learning From The Best

He kept learning even as an owner. Over the years he did stages at Tickets with Albert Adrià and at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay with Clare Smyth^[2]. Each visit fed new ideas back to Galway.

Cava was only the beginning. Three years later he would open a very different kind of restaurant, one that would put Galway on the Michelin map^[1][2].