'We have the same passion': Restaurateur couples share how they blend love and business

Catherine and Kevin first met in the 80s, at a Dublin nightclub.

“That’s how everyone met then,” Catherine says.

It took them a few years of pursuing their careers and living in separate countries before they married and moved back to Ireland, where they bought Dunbrody House, in Co Wexford.

They have been running the hotel and restaurant together for over 25 years.

“At the start, it was majorly stressful,” Catherine says. “We did a lot together, but as the business develops you take on more defined roles.”

Catherine looks after front of house, sales, and marketing, while the kitchen is Kevin’s realm.

Along with defined roles, keeping business strictly professional is something they both cite as essential.

“Try not to get upset with each other, no more than two colleagues might get upset,” Kevin says.

“As soon as you walk out the door, forget about what just happened.”

They’ve had plenty of highlights over the years and, for Kevin, achieving goals together is one of the best parts about that: “If you win something or you hit targets, you’ve something to celebrate as a couple and as a business.”

For Catherine, having a shared vision and similar mindsets has been a big asset.

“We have the same passion in terms of quality, local and authenticity. We don’t agree on absolutely everything, but 90% of the time we do. When you’re both putting in the same effort, the payback is shared.”

Valentine’s Day isn’t a big deal for them, Kevin says it was “sort of always written off our diaries because we’ve had to work, so it’s never really come into play”.

Although, Catherine does mention she’d be annoyed if she didn’t get a card.

When it comes to romantic meals, for Catherine it was on the Orient Express for Kevin’s 50th birthday: “That was absolutely amazing, every bit of it. The train, the staff, it was really memorable, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

For Kevin, it’s a tie between eating at Alain Ducasse in Monaco and a night spent at home during covid.

“We were just cooking and eating pizza from the pizza oven and drinking a bottle of champagne. The place was empty and the weather was beautiful, and we were sitting on the terrace, just the two of us.”

• dunbrodyhouse.com

Kevin Dundon's Roasted Rack of Lamb & Rösti Potatoes

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Servings

2

Time Preparation

 24 mins

Time Cooking

 1 hours 25 mins

Time Total

 1 hours 49 mins

Course

 Main

ingredients

• Per Irish Racks Bone 1 French (2 Person), 7 Of X Trimmed 3 Bones Lamb 6

• Mustard Dijon 2 Tbsp

• Parsley, Freshly Chopped Tbsp 3

• White Fresh 150g Breadcrumbs

• Butter, Melted 50g+50g) ( 100g

• Zest ½ Lemon

• Pepper Salt &

• Wedges Onions, Cut In 3

• In 2 Half Carrots, Sliced

• Grated Potatoes, 2 Peeled And Large

• Tbsp 4 Oil 5 Rapeseed Irish

• Salad Leaves 80g

method

1. The Oven To 200°c Preheat

2. Tray Base Carrots Of Roasting And The Onions, On A Garlic Place The

3. Rack Of Keep Aside The On Lamb Mustard Spread Then,

4. And In Brushed Mixture Onto Pepper Zest, Melted Breadcrumbs, Bowl, Bine Parsley, A And Together Gently 50g The Racks The Mustard Salt The Lemon Press Lamb Butter And

5. Minutes In And Roast Rest Meat The Person Remove For How Like 2 Normally For From Place Heat Allow You You 5 20 If Depending Would The And Per 3 – Allow I Required, Cooked Carve On To Oven Minutes As Possible 25 Bones

6. The The A With Some Return The Bowl Grate Potatoes The Prepare Salt Excess Bowl, From Grated Twisting In And Towel, And The Squeeze Tea Liquid Then Potatoes Potato In Pepper A In Mix Meantime, The By The To Season Rösti

7. In Pan, Heat Rest Frying Moderate/ The Low Melt Butter A And Oil Large A Of The On

8. Of Take Grated The Small ( Potato 4 Cm Per Patties Handful 4 And Make Diameter A Person) Of 2 About

9. In When The About Each Is Side The Each Minutes Are 6 Disc On 5 The On Place Cook Through For They Middle Soft Cooked, Crisp Onto The And Potato And Pan Rösti Outside

10. Salad With Lamb Serve Potato And The Some The Rösti Carved Leaves

David O’Halloran and Martin Buckley, The Lifeboat Inn, Co Cork

David and Martin met while at college in Cork – Martin was training to be a chef, David to be a plumber.

The recession meant David made the switch to working in hospitality and he hasn’t looked back since. They bought The Lifeboat Inn, in Courtmacsherry, Cork and opened it in June 2017.

On social media, they are better known as ‘the lads from the Lifeboat’ — where they share their daily lives with over 60,000 followers.

“We’ve been on such a journey together already,” Martin reflects, “getting into a relationship, going through the marriage equality referendum, voting together and then opening the business together.

“This year, the highlight has been the social media, that’s gotten a lot of positive attention for us.”

The social media is something they are both proud of, David particularly loves that it gives Martin a chance to shine.

“Being a chef, people don’t get to see him as much — so it’s lovely to see his personality come through.”

In business and at home, supporting each other is a big part of how they’ve made it work. As David says: “We both know what each other is going through.”

Valentine’s Day tends to go over their heads, according to Martin. “It’s like that with our way of life.”

They both prefer to put the emphasis on making time for each other year-round, eating out being one of their favourite things to do together, so they’ve plenty of romantic meals to choose from.

For Martin, he thinks back to when they got married in Napa Valley and stayed at a place called Meadowood.

“It’s gorgeous and I’ll never forget the meal we had there. I think the time in our lives was very special because it was before we opened the business, before the marriage equality referendum had passed, we were very comfortable being together as a gay couple in public — so that was just a very special meal for us.”

For David, it was an unforgettable lunch in Amsterdam. They’d booked two Michelin-starred restaurant Bord’eau (now called Flore). “They rang to ask if we could move the booking to dinner because they had no other bookings for lunch, but we had a flight to catch.

“They went ahead with our lunch booking anyway. It was probably Amsterdam’s best restaurant, and it was just the two of us like we’d booked the whole place out. That was quite special.” 

• lifeboatinn.ie

Jumoke Akintola and Peter Hogan, Beach House, Co Waterford

Jumoke and Peter met in London 15 years ago while doing the same teacher training.

They were working as teachers when Peter started a pop-up food business. Jumoke remembers: “One day, we both came home from work, from school, and independently said, ‘oh do you want to do something different? Why don’t we try and do food full-time?’

“We didn’t think we could do that in London so we moved to Dublin and opened Fish Shop in Blackrock Market.”

They now own three restaurants together.

In Dublin, they have Fish Shop on Benburb St and Bar Pez on Kevin St. In Tramore, Co Waterford, where they also live, they have Beach House.

There’s lots to love about working together.

Peter says: “It is the whole reason why you do it, the freedom of being able to just dream up an idea and create something that without you doing it, just wouldn’t exist.”

Jumoke praises his work, adding: “I think Peter is really good at what he does, and I’m lucky enough to see him do that up close. I get to see another side of him.”

When it comes to advice on working together, Jumoke says time is everything.

“You’ll figure it out, but it will take time.”

Peter recommends enjoying it as much as you can:

“We’d still do it all again if we had the choice.”

“There are ups and downs with it. It’s a big risk and it’s kind of a high-wire thing that you do, so when you’re lucky enough that things work, to be able to share that with the other person is kind of priceless.”

Neither of them is big into Valentine’s Day, but they do like to plan trips together — London being a place they both have fond memories of. In Jumoke’s case, a meal at Noble Rot, in Soho, last year stands out as one of their most romantic.

“We’ve been there loads of times before, but for some reason this time we just had the best time. We were laughing non-stop about everything and I thought ‘isn’t it great, you know, we’re still having the best time together after all these years’.”

Peter chose London also but for him, it’s when they visit St John restaurant.

“It’s our go-to favourite place. It’s just a super fun place, it’s got an amazing bar and a beautiful aesthetic. We go back every August.”

• beachhousetramore.ie