Adrian McCann - A life as colourful as the salads he prepares so well!
Adrian Mc Cann from Lyons Cafe Sligo - A Witty Unpredictable Talent who listens to Wu Thang Clan
As Lyons Cafe and bakeshop has re-opened and once again has become Sligo’s own “Bewely’s, a coffee house, where you meet and eat, we feature one of the chefs behind the wonderful dishes created every day from fresh and local produce. Read Adrian Mc Cann’s remarkable story and below in Sligo Food Tours own “Chefs uncovered” .
As with so many young Irish people living and working abroad, when it comes to starting a family of their own, this is best done on home soil. “I had lived in the south of France for 8 years where I was the head chef of a restaurant” recalls Adrian Mc Cann. How did he come to working in France, we ask. “When I was twenty I threw my bag on my back and headed to Europe. I travelled around and along the way helped out in places here and there, learning and trying as much as I could of the local cuisine. I eventually returned home, but felt I wasn’t quite ready to stay so I moved again, this time to France.”
Sligo born and bred as he says, Adrian’s love for food started early as his mother was a chef and so he was always around cooking and baking. “When I was thirteen I got my first weekend job in a kitchen, helping with desserts and prep” he remembers. “For the next three years I ended up working every section of the kitchen even getting early training on the grill where I started to show real talent for it and working under pressure.” We are curious how that fitted in with school life as a teenager? Adrian responds with a knowing smile: “Let’s just say, when I was sixteen, me and my principle clashed heads so I figured school was not for me and since I was already in the chef game I decided to pursue it full time.” Courageously he rang the Culinary School in Killybegs the next day. “I got on their apprenticeship course even though I was two years below the starting age. I don’t think they realised when accepting me”, he remembers with a grin on his face. “As you only did one day a week in college it was a course that worked best for me. It also helped that my brother decided to do it with me!”
So how did he end up in the kitchen of Lyons Café? “Returning home from France I was lucky to get a trial in Lyons Cafe which was intimidating at the start as I had never done this style of cooking” Adrian tells us, “I had never done this style of cooking and had never really worked with local suppliers or had created salad dishes based upon seasonal vegetables.”
How did he manage we wonder. “Under the guidance of Gary Stafford I've been allowed to grow, use my own ideas and flourish in a way I was never allowed to do in my twenty-plus years of cooking.” Even the set back of a double hip replacement in the last two years could not dampen Adrian’s spirit: “It gave me time for new ideas and allowed me to study new recipes.”
Asked what he likes most about his work in the kitchen, the answer is telling: “With a great team we have helped to evolve Lyons Cafe distinctive style of cooking and famous salad bar.” It looks like the traveller has found his culinary home.
“Under the guidance of Gary Stafford I've been allowed to grow, use my own ideas and flourish in a way I was never allowed to do in my twenty-plus years of cooking.”
HERE IS ADRIAN MC CANN UNCOVERED:
What is your favourite food? Has to be a toss up between Asian and Italian. You could have the argument of which came first, noodles or pasta, but as long as they are in my belly I don’t care.
Finish the sentence: A chef is the one who turns food into happiness.
The country you travel for food? My own! With the right ingredients and practice you can create, copy and master any recipe from anywhere in the world in your own humble kitchen.
Three things you always have in your larder/fridge? Dried garlic, garlic puree, fresh garlic. You can never have enough garlic at home, I suppose plus lemons and natural yogurt.
What is your most used gadget? Robot coupe/ food processor. From making dressings to preparing vegetables to grating cheese, even needing dough. The hardest worker in the kitchen.
Do you read cookbooks and which one do you come back to? Yeah I do. I love a bit of Jamie Oliver or Matty Matheson, a Canadian chef. They both do home style cooking but in big flavour ways.
Who is your inspiration (not necessarily from the food world)? Batman. You don’t need powers to be a superhero.
What are you currently listening to? Slipknot and Wu Thang Clan (Hip Hop)
Something people don’t know about you? I used to have drinks with George Michael’s gardener when I lived in France. I know, I know, you can pick your chin up of the floor now.
What will be hot in 2021? Hopefully with people staycationing this year we will see a lot of chefs like ourselves pushing our local produce like polytunnel seasonal vegetables. So for 2021 I'd like to see everything bright, fresh and crunchy.
On our Sligo Food Tours Lyons Cafe and bakeshop is usually our first stop, unfortunately due to health and safety guidelines because of the current pandemic our tours are on hold, but we encourage all our readers of this blog to visit Lyons Cafe and find out for themselsves why we call it a culinary hot spot in the North West!