When I worked in Snaffles in Dublin in the early seventies I worked with three waiters who were true professionals.
John, Danny and Hugh had all worked in the legendary Red Bank in Westmorland Street and as that had folded at the same time as Snaffles opened they had been scooped up gratefully by Snaffles.
They had been in the business for many years by the time I met them and offered the kind of service which is now long gone.

Ben Kiley tells a story of arriving into The Red Bank having been on a bender and looking very much the worse for wear.
John whooshed him into the gents with instructions to wait till he came back.
He arrived back with a razor and a new shirt for Ben and stood over him until he made himself presentable.

These waiters had worked together for so long that the three of them communicated in a sort of code which one had to crack to be able to communicate. Some of this was the catering equivalent of Cockney rhyming slang, rosy lee for tea, Johnny for boss (from Johnny Ross/Boss; don’t ask me why) Peggy (from Peggy Dell) for a smell.
More of it was puns on the names of the dishes which were on the menu.
One of our signature dishes there at the time was a Lebanese Salad.
This was a tomato and chilli salad served with a yoghurt dressing.
Of course this was never called by that name when being ordered by our waiters, and of course we all understood what they wanted.

Flash forward then to the late Nineties, about twenty five years later.
At this stage I was well established in my restaurant in Waterford and doing my regular cookery piece on the local radio, WLR.
One Tuesday I was doing a piece about salads and decided to give the old Snaffles favourite an airing.
Having done the other recipes, and you must remember that this was going out live on air, Billy the presenter asked me what the next one was to be.
From nowhere the old Snaffles nick name came and insinuated itself around my tongue.
“My next recipe” I said, “Is a delicious combination of tomato, yoghurt and chilli,
It is called Lesbian Salad.”

Lebanese Salad (for 4)

12 med Vine Tomatoes
1Fresh Red Chilli
1 Tbs. Honey
2 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
1 250grm. Greek Yoghurt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 tbs. chopped Fresh Chives

Put a shallow cross on the top of the Tomatoes and pour boiling water over them. Immediately plunge them in cold water and then remove the skins.
Cut each one in 4 and discard the seeds.

Chop the Chilli finely and combine that with the yoghurt, honey, crushed garlic and black pepper.

Put the quartered tomatoes in a bowl and spoon over the yoghurt dressing.

Leave these to marinade together for an hour or two before serving.

Serve in individual bowls with the chopped chives scattered on top and with hot pitta bread.