When I sold the restaurant I think I assumed that my life as a “well known Waterford chef” would fade away with the business.
I was, as a restaurateur, at least going to get mentioned in guides and reviews and that way achieve some modicum of celebrity.
I was never one to hide my light under a bushel (whatever that means- I must look it up in Brewer*) so I used to relish that the excuse of publicity for the restaurant allowed me to expose myself at will.

If I can break into anecdote my favourite review moment was about 10 years ago when I went out to the tables, as was my wont, at the end of a nights cooking.
When I went to one American couple she looked up, saw me and said:
Its true!, Its just like he said it would be!
She then produced a battered cutting from a news paper in Atlanta where
the food critic had praised “Dwyers” and ended his piece by saying “And if you are lucky Martin Dwyer himself, in his red striped apron will come and chat to you at the end of the meal”
(I used to keep a clean apron hanging in the kitchen as usually, by the end of a night I was in a fairly revolting condition-that night the gods had smiled and decreed that it should be a red striped one)
It appears that I had made her night!

However I am beginning to realise that all has not been lost with the restaurant.
Taking on the Commissioner Generalship of Euro-Toques for two years post restaurant was not the role of a retiring man and, even more so, the writing of this blog is not the sort of thing a skulker under bushels should go in for.

Last year I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 about the blog, but as this has about 4 listeners in the Waterford area it didn’t exactly change my life
But in the next couple of weeks I will be getting a couple of pieces of more local exposure.
On Saturday May 26th (all going well) the Irish Times Food and Wine section are doing a short piece on my blog and in the beginning of June I am interviewed by the totally charming Angeala Flannery for “Corrigan knows his Food” on RTE.
Fame at last!

*A bushel is a weight, as in “I love you, a bushel and a peck” but according to Brewer in this instance it refers to a bushel sized container which obviously was big enough to conceal even the brightest candle.

“Martin Dwyer’s Words ! The blog that educates as it exposes !”