Angie from Stoked -drawing inspirations from the seasons and travelling
Stoked in Strandhill is one of our favourite restaurants, because it never ceases to innovate and surprise. “To be Stoked is to experience pure joy and elation . When you come to Stoked our aim is that you feel that way,” they say on their website and we totally agree. Stoked was created and launched in April 2018 by Shane Meehan and we have featured Shane already in a previous blog.
“Stoked - the perfect place to work”
Here we want to shine a light on Angelika Fabis, better known in Stoked as Angie, one of the chefs that make the restaurant tick. Our first question is, what does she like about Stoked and for anyone, who knows Strandhill, the answer is not surprising: “I love our location, there is nowhere better to be for a great sunset or a quick surf before service. Combining these it makes the perfect place to work.” And then there is the human element: “We’ve got an amazing team of passionate chefs and very positive front of house staff in Stoked, everybody is motivated to do their best so it’s always a happy atmosphere here.”
But how did she end up in Stoked, we ask: “I’m from Poznan in Poland and moved to Ireland just before lockdown. During the pandemic I fell in love with Irish nature, I started surfing and enjoying being by the sea. So when I was looking for job in a restaurant, I wanted two things, it had to be at the sea and also care about the food. It wasn’t an easy ask, but luckily I found stoked.”
“The freedom to cook my style of food”
What does she enjoy most working as a chef in Stoked, we ask, and the answer comes quick: “The freedom! I can cook my style of food and carefully choose products that we’re using in the kitchen. Thankfully the customers seem to like what I’m doing. This season I’m moving more into menu development and upgrading our drinks offering as I’m very passionate about this side of the restaurant too.”
How does she come up with her creations for the menu? “I love to eat, I love food and I love to travel for food, so I’m bringing a lot of new flavours back and mix it with what I like and know. Sometimes it’s coming out as a weird mix of Asian-Polish flavours but, somehow it works, well hopefully.”
“Inspiration from the seasons and travelling”
Where does she draw her inspiration from? “I draw my inspirations from the seasons and of course from chefs and restaurants I’ve visited. If I love the food I’m eating, I bring that back to my cooking. For example last week we travelled to London and ate lots of great food. We went to a very special place that was on my food bucket list for a long time - KOL (a Mexican Michelin star restaurant). In KOL they are using the finest English produce, so that was very inspiring and for sure this season we will serve even more tacos in Stoked. We make our tortillas in house and we strongly believe this makes all the difference.
“Ireland has amazing produce”
Is locally sourced food important and are there challenges? “It’s very important, we’ve got a lot of amazing produce in Ireland. Most of the seafood is world class and we should be very proud of it.” What about vegetables, we ask? “Getting seasonal locally sourced vegetables is getting easier, but still it’s challenging compared to the variety I’ve had in Poland.”
We are interested in her background, did she train as a chef? “I never classically trained as a chef, probably even never thought that one day I'd become one. It all began when a friend and I opened a small restaurant and I ended up in the kitchen. I was a photographer at the time and we didn’t have much experience. We learnt as we went along and because we focused on quality ingredients and quality wine we improved fast. I always loved food, and feeding people is close to my heart, so it was a natural progression.” This are great memories we guess. “Yes, unfortunately this journey has ended, but fortunately I’m now involved in developing Stoked with my partner Shane in a most beautiful part of Sligo, so no regrets.”
Neantog Food News - Chefs uncovered – Angie from Stoked
1. What is your favourite food? Tacos, hand made from scratch, that’s my favourite food. Nothing can beat the taste and smell of fresh corn tortilla. It’s so much fun, you can make it a comfort food and also something elegant, almost fine dining as well.
2. Finish the sentence: A chef is a person that makes you feel good.
3. The country you travel for food: Greece, Mexico and definitely Thailand. After last years trip I absolutely fell in love with Thai food. I don’t think we’ve had anything there that wasn’t tasty.
4. Three things you always have in your larder/fridge? Eggs, Butter, Wine. (I’m not eating much at home, but will try to change it this year as we’ve finally got our little place (with Shane) and I’ve managed to have my orange kitchen, so finally it’s a pleasure to cook at home.
5. What is your most used gadget? My knife and also a good pan, then blender, mandoline, microplane and vac pack machine in that order.
6. Do you read cookbooks and which one do you come back to? I love cookbooks, but the one I’m coming back most often is The Flavour Thesaurus.
7. Who is your inspiration (not necessarily from the food world)? David Zilber* from food world. I love everything about fermentation and I love how he combines food with fashion. Amazing.
8. What are you currently listening to? I am always listening to Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsbourg and The Olllam.
9. Something people don’t know about you? I was vegetarian for more than 10 years
10. What will be hot in 2024? Hopefully Stoked terrace :)
*David Zilber isa professional chef, fermenter, butcher, photographer and author who hails from Toronto Canada.