Here’s a warmer upper for Christmas.
Since my days in Snaffles in the early seventies I had been a fan of The Good Food Guide, this is produced by the British Consumer Association (Which) and always seemed to my the fairest of judges. I had worked for a few years in England and based my decisions on where to apply for work purely on the GFG.
I opened my restaurant at the end of ’89 and the years ’90 and ’91 wern’t exactly much fun, my business partner decided to up and leave after the first six months and forced me to crawl again back to the banks begging to be re-financed, and then I was struck down with Hepititis in spring of ’90 and then with a brain Haemmhorage in the Spring of ’91.
All in all not the greatest start to my first business venture.
At Halloween in ’91 after a knackering two years we decided to shut Dwyers for a week and creep to Kerry for bit of well deserved R&R. We stopped in Cork en route and popped into Waterstones to stock up on a bit of holiday reading. There I found the ’92 edition of the GFG was out and glanced idly through it. To my amazement not only were we in it but with a glowing and heartening review. I quote only the first two sentences;
“Martin Dwyer was ill during 1991 and a reader remarked how well the staff coped in his absence. It is however evidently better when he has full control: his personality is magnetic and his skill great ”
I confess that the tears came to my eyes as I stood there in Waterstones and read those generous words- it made the previous two years of hard struggle worth while.
So now, 21 years later here, to the GFG, is a belated thank you.