Limerick chef Eoin brings his own unique flair to local dishes this Christmas

IN THE kitchen of Off The Bone in Raheen, chef Eoin Sheehan catches up with Limerick Live before putting on his apron for a Christmas special.

Located just off the Raheen roundabout at the Great National South Court Hotel, the gastropub opened the door of its kitchen to the Pallaskenry chef, who has a Christmas leftovers recipe to share.

When he was in college, Pallaskenry chef, Eoin, tracked down local restaurants around Europe. But it’s in Lake Como, that he fell in love with both a place and its cuisine.

For the West Limerick cook and business owner, it was a co-op in Malta as a chemical engineer student that made him realise what he truly wanted to do in life – to cook.

“It was kind of an eye-opener as to what I didn't want to do with my career,” he said. After finishing his co-op, he travelled through Italy, where he discovered a “phenomenal melting pot” of different cuisines.

“Because you’re kind of close to Africa and to Europe, there’s this really strange cuisine there – of everything,” commented the chef.

With a “dismal wage” from the company he was working for, Eoin decided to track down local restaurants on TripAdvisor.

“I would find all these restaurants in the local area, and I'd email them all and tell them I was an Irish food blogger travelling. And if they would agree, I’d offer to come into their kitchen, take a video, create a short social media advert for them, and leave my review,” Eoin explained.

And in return, from Malta to Sicily to Bulgaria to Greece, Eoin ate his way through the Mediterranean – for ‘free.’

Recalling his experience as a food blogger, he said: “It was insane, this big Irish food blogger at the time, and I had all these fake credentials. But I got a wealth of knowledge from it – and ate some of the best meals of my life.”

Did he pick up a few cooking tips along the way? “Some of them were sushi restaurants, and I was watching them roll sushi, and others were Italian restaurants, so I was watching them make like tomato sauce from scratch. They were on camera, so they were keen to impress. They were like showing me everything and letting me taste everything,” he said.

According to him, having a camera gave him credibility, and that’s how he got insight and experience in the kitchen. Something he would later implement into his own world.

Although, it’s in a small restaurant in Northern Italy that Eoin “learned an awful lot.”

Speaking of the local gem, the Limerick chef recalled: “It was so simplistic, a really small kitchen. It was a husband and wife running a restaurant that could fit maybe 20 to 30 seats.”

Because of the Italian pair’s passion for the food, Eoin fell in love with both the place – and with cuisine. When he flew back to Ireland, he knew where he wanted to be.

“When I came back to Ireland, I was really happy that food was where I wanted to be, and that's when I kind of put the hammer down for that food business,” he said.

During his studies, Eoin started preparing meals for his friends. Word got out, and Eoin became ‘that guy’ – the one preparing simple and healthy meals. By his fourth year of college, he set up Country Munch, a meal preparation service.

New European destination added to Shannon Airport summer 2023 schedule

Producing meals for an array of teams such as Limerick GAA, Munster Rugby, the business also covers other people and sports teams all over the country.

Recently, Eoin has become a resident chef on Virgin Media One Six O Clock Show, and he also runs cookery classes for corporate events and public classes. From his media production studio in the Treaty city, he continues to work with several Irish brands.

Is there one thing he wished people knew about him?

“I think what surprises people most is what I cook for myself on a day-to-day basis. People have this perception that I only cook like beautiful dinners for myself every evening. It’s the opposite, you couldn't believe it,” he laughed.

As the chef is about to put the knife down, this reporter wonders who he’d like to have dinner with – dead or alive. It would be American chef and travel documentarian, Anthony Bourdain.

"I love Anthony Bourdain and I love his books. I used to read a lot of him when I was travelling, so I'd love just to talk to him."

As the chef is about to put the knife down, this reporter wonders, if Limerick was a meal – which one would it be?

According to Eoin, because Limerick was known as Pig Town, it would be “a good hearty bacon and cabbage meal.”