Sisters who savour taste of success in the kitchen

Lifestyle – Judy Murphy meets women who are to  fore of food service industry in Galway

Michelle Crehan has a stack of cookbooks by her bed. She reads them like other people read novels and all the time she’s absorbing ideas and information that she will later put to good use in her restaurant, the Kitchen at Galway City Museum.

But life wasn’t always thus for the mother of three. Michelle came to cheffing relatively late in life, having previously trained in journalism, a career she worked at for several years in Ireland and Australia. Her CV also includes a spell teaching English in Japan and a brief period as a private investigator – better not to dwell on that, she laughs. She also studied film in GMIT and worked at that briefly.

For nearly three years now, she has been chef-patron of one of the city’s most popular restaurants, located to the rear of the Spanish Arch, where the savoury food – Mediterranean in style, but local in ingredients – caters for vegetarians and carnivores, while the cakes and breads are sublime.

Michelle’s career change began when husband Mark, a site foreman, lost his job in the early days of the recession and she had to reassess her options. She had been focusing on rearing their three children, but with Mark out of work, she decided she’d have to start earning money. However, freelance journalism or films weren’t going to pay the bills, so she looked elsewhere.

Michelle had always loved cooking and baking, but as a hobby. Then, at around the same time as she was exploring new career options, her sister-in-law Noeline Kavanagh, who runs Macnas Theatre Company, inveigled her into catering for a post-parade party when the designated caterer let them down.

“I gave it a go and I got great feedback,” she says.

That led Michelle to seriously consider a career in food and at the age of 39 she successfully applied to GMIT for the college’s Total Immersion one-year cheffing course.

At the interview stage, this straight-talking woman told the panel that she’d had a bit of experience in the Clybaun Hotel – owned by her father, the property developer Chris Crehan – but, otherwise she was just a keen amateur.

Despite her reservations, she was accepted and started just as she turned 40.

“From day one, when I went in and put on the chef’s whites I knew I’d made the right decision. I had the knowledge about food but GMIT taught me the skills.”

It was a tough year, but her mother was a great help with the children – and continues to be.

Michelle graduated three years ago and got a job baking in the restaurant at Galway Museum. Shortly afterwards an opportunity came up to rent the space. But she had to make up her mind immediately.

She knew Aoife Qualter, who worked front-of-house there and was a fan of hers. Once Aoife was happy to stay on, Michelle committed.  Also from Galway, Aoife had previously worked as a restaurant supervisor in the Hotel Meyrick. She’d then went travelling, returning home three years ago to see her parents. She fully intended leaving again after a summer at home, when she worked in the Museum restaurant under the previous management. But when Michelle approached her, Aoife opted to stay on.

“I wouldn’t have done it without her. She has way more experience than me,” Michelle says simply.

The two work together really well. They share a wicked sense of humour and during the interview, they finish each other’s sentences. However, despite their bond, leasing the Museum restaurant was a huge risk. No previous tenant had managed to make it work and Michelle was taking it on in very tough times. 

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.