I’ve not had the balls to discuss this for 20 years, but it’s 20 years to the very day that I fucked up my suicide. I’ve written and deleted these words so many times over the years but now I feel brave enough to admit my suicide attempt. Chat to somebody, anybody, me, I’m here x
The raheny inn
They have a strict “no moving kegs for a week” before tapping it
It must settle in the keg fully before they’ll pour it
It shows, look o dah 😋
Need 9 more to fully test this theory, Also request official state funding for this hypothesis on pinting
We have been let down/ stiffed by what we believe to be a large fake booking for today
They strung us along all week with queries and increased the numbers over n over. It was deliberate and calculated
We spent so much time trying to accommodate them, rebuilding the table
A very positive story today
Remember the 3 legendary KP’s that stayed by my side during all 3 lockdowns, they never faltered or complained, they leapt into action every time we pivoted, they were the backbone of everything
Today they got their work permits, visas and promotions
We are closed
We can’t in good conscience add to ongoing risks
We will re-open when it’s safe to do so
Not much more to say, but everybody mind
yerselves and focus on good health
We’ll bounce back
Thanks for your support
Be nice to retail teams today, they’re back after 3 months, they’re likely scared, they’re out of practice and they’ll be trying their best to negotiate many new systems, a few kind words and a bit of patience will go an awful long way today x
Just witnessed the most foul display of racial abuse in a restaurant towards staff. Poor woman was in tears, we frogmarched the piece of shit out. it’s completely unacceptable & people need to be called out on it. It’s abhorrent. This is not Ireland. This is not who we are
Christmas Eve
Traditionally the busiest day of the year
Our teams have worked their arses off all year, have been tough as nails and gone to war for us
We can’t harp on about work life balance and not be true to our word
So we’re closing ALL places on Christmas Eve
The dream
The Dublin Fruit Market, restored, properly with a connection to the community
Just picture it, all of our wonderful produce, a busy bustling market, little food spots, wine and beers
A true link to our food, our farmers, our fishermen like in Lisbon or London Borough
I know many are put off with very complex recipes and methods, this, whilst not easy, its worth the perseverance of getting it right
Don’t worry if you get it wrong the first time
We feed plenty of gards, all wrecked tired from dealing with shit like this.
If any of you know these 2, tell them they’re barred. BARRED FROM PAYING.
Meal on me, slap up platters and a bottle of wine for the “get her number” alone
The 8pm rule really needs a little rethink on if it’s *really* helping things. It’s tearing the industry apart. There’s not a restaurant/ pub model that can keep full employment on full salaries. An extra 2 hours would balance books, Would it really affect 🦠 stats that much?
So……
Been a LONG few weeks
4pm today I googled cheap last second flights
Needed a decompress badly and I’m a last minute nelly, found one but had to leave RIGHT THEN
5pm was at airport after a Fucking mega rush to get there on time
5:15 self check in :
my bag tag fell
Yearly reminder asking you not to text your chef friend asking how long to cook your Turkey for
Frankly, we don’t give a fuck what you do with it, just stop annoying us
Sincerely and with kind regards,
All chefs
Sadly my granny passed today, really really tough not being able to go and say goodbye before she left us
But It’s comforting to know the 3 girls are back together
Grannies are the absolute best , give your granny a call if you can x
EVEN FUCKING ANNOYING CUSTOMERS WILL GET THE WARMEST WELCOME IF WE GET OPEN IN DECEMBER
Mrs 19 allergies getting big smiles
Well done steak, sauce on side ?
my pleasure sir
Want to split the bill awkwardly ?
delighted to
Please give us December,
we’ll be good I promise
What is the public opinion on operating Michael’s as a take away call n collect service ?
Nobody allowed in the door
I would love to do ANYTHING to keep staff in a job
Pasta
Platters
Crab claws
Salads
Arancini
Antipasto
Fish n Chips chippy style from fresh prime fish
I don’t know who needs to hear this but
I had a really tough week last week
2 days in bed, mini meltdown, head fried - hit a wall & it was actually just what I needed
was good to let it out & reset
We’re all a bit vulnerable at the mo It’s just fine to scream into a pillow
X
As cancellations roll in everywhere across the country, support schemes are being scaled back and people will undoubtedly be laid off in the coming weeks
I beg you to support your small local independent joints, or they’ll go bust and the premises will be hoovered up by chains
Would you watch a mini documentary of the behind the scenes journey of opening the new spot in blackrock ?
A warts n all, no fuckaboutery tv show. The stresses of a refurb, the week of absolute carnage leading up to opening night featuring the mikes crew
Asking for ….us
As we look at ways to improve our teams work life balance, we’ve taken the decision to close both restaurants early for Christmas and close for a week from the 23rd December at lunchtime and let everybody go to their families in good spirits
Mikes Take Away
We’ve decide, after putting strict safety measures in in place to provide a take away & Drive Thru service from tomorrow
Please see the rules & sample menu
This will hopefully allow to keep a few staff with families in wages through this
Lets get through this
I will never ever do valentines again without taking payment in full.
I’ve never seen last minute cancellations like this.
Yeah yeah I know it’s my own fault and I’ve been reluctant but we have to go down that route
7 last min cancellations and 2 no shows, it’s soul destroying
I honestly think that anybody on a student work visa who worked throughout covid rather than claim the PUP should be rewarded with a 2 year full time work permit, they deserve it and it will cost the state nothing
Lads, forget your wine pairings and 27 course crescendo tasting menus. That sip of cold coke after heavily salt n vinegared chipper chips is life. Life.
Time out market…..
Mixed emotions
It’s great, big swing of the Mickey
Packed, nice work
Really angry that we don’t have one
The produce that I handle every SINGLE day would piss all over what’s here
We have better of almost everything and joe soap can’t get it because we
I’ve worked diligently, non stop & full time since I was 15
We’ve been trying to get a mortgage for a family home over the line all year with no luck for anything remotely affordable or close to good value
Dublin property prices are actually proper vulgar
The game is rigged yo
*phone rings*
*curtly*“I want a table for 4 Tonight, 8pm”
“I’m so sorry, we’re fully booked this evening”
“I’m a regular”
“I’m really sorry”
“I come very often”
“I’m very sorry”
“Put Michael on the phone”
“Michael ? He hasn’t worked here for 2 years”
Drop the 8pm closing and be done with it ffs
It makes ZERO sense, we want to trade, we want our teams back, we don’t want to upset our loyal guests by turfing them out at 8pm for no good reason
The dressing room & the goodwill is lost
We want to eat out past 8pm, we’re not kids
If yer going to be home alone on Xmas day, are sound & don’t mind power ballads, you’re welcome to join us at ours
Feeling low ? throw us a DM
Feeling jealous of others perfect Christmas’? dont, it’s mostly a facade
Honestly, if you’re gonna be sat alone
come over, eat with us
I’m FULLY responsible for navigating 70 jobs (32 of those have young families dependent on them) though an absolute shit storm and to do that I need to charge €38 to avoid swirling down the drain and job losses. There are no winners at the moment.
Have a great day
Given the lack of guidance we have received & the speed at which December is approaching, we have taken the very tough, gutting decision to remain closed in Michaels for December
Unsolicited Advice incoming 🙈
I just want to say that EVERY SINGLE
Government office / dept
Bank
Utility provider
Revenue / rates dept
Supplier
Landlord
That I’ve contacted on behalf of myself, the company or staff, have responded impeccably
If you’re grabbing food from us to eat in the park please let us know
We have cutlery/ napkins etc & most importantly well give you a bag for the rubbish, please feel free to bring the bag back to Mike’s
We will happily dispose of it all properly for you
Have a whopper Sunday🥰
Successful court hearing
Full publicans licence granted with successful planning permissions
Full fire & disability compliance,
amalgamation of 3 units and terrace all signed off on by the judge
There was a 3-4% chance of getting this done 1st time
Blackrock is all systems GO
Tried to do my part today and went to the local blood bank to donate.
Honestly the last time I’ll go.
The amount of questioning ...
Who’s blood is this ?
Where did you get it ?
Why is it in a bucket ?
Never again
Running a restaurant
Cons : leaving the bed at 2am to trek across the capital to investigate a security alarm
Pros : getting a good snap of a sleepy city
This is what a no show looks like, group confirmed today & demanded a window table. 7 people, in a 34 seater restaurant. We’ve turned away dozens of regulars. I really don’t want our first interaction with our guests to be demanding credit card, but it’s looking that way. Gutted
After a good auld chat with the team and the way things are panning out
We’re going to extend our Christmas break to 2 weeks to fully give the lads a break after they’ve busted their asses all year, and then return to do Click & Collect throughout January
Ok, I shouldn’t engage on this,
but here we are …
I can’t buy good Fillet of prime Beef for €5
We buy the best we can lay our hands on and it cost me roughly €11 plus our homemade chips (Maris Piper potatoes, hand - cut and very laborious) we roast bones for the pepper sauce
I’m awful at keeping in touch
My godmother was mums best friend since she had her 1st child at the tender age of 15
Her biggest ally & she minded us all hugely
I was embarrassed that I never sent her a book, but I did recently
This has me shook emotionally tbh
My godmother sylv
Tyre Blew. Called this fella, on New Year’s Day. My tyres are in stock nowhere, he goes to the yard & digs one out, comes to fix it, locking nut shears off 🤬, he gets Rita & the kids into a cafe to keep warm, calls a welder who comes out at 8pm & fixes the bolt. I love Ireland
Thank you so much for the support, it’s rather overwhelming. I was expecting I’d bottle it and delete the tweet. Im still grappling a bit with opening up for the first time and I don’t want to debase a very complex issue with generic responses. But you’re a good auld bunch x
I’ve not had the balls to discuss this for 20 years, but it’s 20 years to the very day that I fucked up my suicide. I’ve written and deleted these words so many times over the years but now I feel brave enough to admit my suicide attempt. Chat to somebody, anybody, me, I’m here x
I think I’m going to do a Christmas dinner recipe or two on here based on an absolute SHOESTRING budget
We can’t all afford/ need a huge organic bronze Turkey & it’d be nice to find thrifty ways to make a whopper Xmas dinner without breaking the bank, a dinner that evokes envy
I was never great in school to be fair…
I recently found all of my old school reports that mum had kept..
“You have shown that you are of no asset to this school Gareth”
Imagine getting that as a 12yr old
It stung me to read that today let alone how I must have felt back then
Ready 💪💪💪
Massive respect to the Quiver Crew,
another family run independent business who worked around the clock to give us a dig out 👌🏻
Reservations go live tomorrow
The burning and vandalism of this tree artwork is an absolute disgrace. I drive past this every day and saw the progression every day as it was created. The skill, effort, labour and love that went into it, for it to be destroyed is really disheartening
We always head to Wexford for what would have been me mams birthday
Phones go away, we share funny memories & giggle away, as we would have done with her
I definitely wish she got to see a bit more of older Me than the younger tearaway Me
Give yer ma an auld call or a hug x
I just met the priest who did my mum’s funeral
He told me something I’d totally forgotten about…
None of us wanted to leave mum overnight so all 4 of us kids slept in sleeping bags around the coffin through the night messing around joking, laughing and swapping memories
I’ll choose my wordings carefully so as to remain gentlemenlike
The fucking lack of fucking clarity of every fucking aspect of the fucking new “guide” lines that do anything but fucking guide us can just fuck the fuck off
We managed to reach out to sergeant somers, she simply won’t accept any meals, but she’s kindly asked us to pay the voucher forward to a hospital worker, which of course we will, through
@feedtheheroes1
. Several kind offers to donate, we shall rinse you all for a few quid yet x
Holy fucking shitballs, fastest sellout ever, non stop calls for 2 hours. Like NON STOP. Going to count what’s left and show a revised menu for the rest of the evening ! Sorry to anybody who couldn’t get through, talha was like a switchboard operator. Clear demand for it
I’ll never forget this day, it was in the absolute height of lockdown, Vicky was up for treatment and against the rules, we opened our doors just for her to have her dinner
Vicky thought we were doing her a favour but meeting this ferociously brave lady was incredibly humbling
For my tweeps who don't do Instagram, here are a few pics from my AMAZING lunch today at
@MichaelsCoDub
with my good friend, and today's chauffeur,
@walls2
THANK YOU does not cover what your kind gesture today means to me, Gaz ❤
Big day tomorrow, I’ll get the keys for blackrock pressed into my hand
Not going to even attempt to lie,
I’m like a small kid on Christmas Eve, 50% nerves 50% excitement
Woke up today & was halfway to work and I was like “nope”
I was in absolutely foul mood,
I would have absolutely ruined everybody’s day around me at work
I had a duvet day and
Jesus it was a joy
Sometimes NOT being there is better
It’s ok to have a duvet day
Back tomorrow
It took me 30 years to drum up the courage to talk on the radio with my stammer
I NEVER thought I’d do tv
let alone really enjoy it
I guess I’ve learnt that the stammer is just part of me that ain’t going anywhere, so feck it, get down with it
See you on Ireland AM on Mon morn
We've once again made the decision to close all venues on Christmas Eve
I find myself using the same phrase as last year, that our teams have worked tirelessly all year, being as tough as nails and going to war for us. We can't preach about work-life balance and not be true to
It’s bittersweet that we announce to all our local regular guests and to all the visitors who have traveled from afar to dine with us over the years, that the lease has expired at Michael’s in Mount Merrion. For now, we’ll be focusing on wrapping up all the wonderful Michael’s
Big big day for us today
A lot of hard work by a lot of people for ever a year boils down to the next few hours
All goes well the champagne will be popping later on 🍾
Wish us luck 🤞🏻
For my tweeps who don't do Instagram, here are a few pics from my AMAZING lunch today at
@MichaelsCoDub
with my good friend, and today's chauffeur,
@walls2
THANK YOU does not cover what your kind gesture today means to me, Gaz ❤
Mother’s Day is always bittersweet as I would kill for a good auld chinwag and hug from mine, which would inevitably turn into getting given out to by her, as per
Ma’s have a very very special place
Tomorrow I’ll raise a Black Russian to mine, her favourite drink
God I miss her
Thanks for so many kind messages today
Such a support
I know corners of Twitter can be a cesspit of hatred & nonsense, but I find it’s far outweighed by goodness, support and often a bit of emotional respite and friendships
Today has shown why I love Twitter
I’ll respond to
This is my first proper day off with absolutely nothing to do in 7 months or so, not gonna lie, feels glorious. Might just go back to bed with a cheesecake
Lads, a 14 no show, I feel sick 🤕 absolute disaster. Working so hard ti make the specials and turned away so many guests who would have turned up. Gutted
We just received a message from an
#influencer
to book a Table this week we gave them times available and they picked one then they replied with have we influencers rates?Is this a thing?Like we are a
#smallbusiness
and in these times we all need to
#supporteachother
Most brussel sprout recipes are simply masking how fucking disgusting they are
“ add bacon to your sprouts “
NO leave my fucking bacon alone
Don’t drag delicious bacon into this grotesque game of mini bitter cabbages you have going on
Glad that’s off my chest
So many kind words when we were expecting a bit of anger / upset
Thank you for understanding
I’ll respond to all in the Morn, for now I’m gonna have my first good nights sleep in a week x
Aaaaannd that’s a wrap
Thank you for keeping me company
It makes solo travelling much easier
They say that twitter is a cesspit but you’ve shown that it’s actually good craic
Really appreciate you
Back to the grind now, peace out
Deluxe Platter
18oz Striploin On the bone 🥩
Wild Line Caught Seabass 🐟
Seared King Scallops
Annagassan Lobster 🦞
Lambay Island Crab 🦀
Dublin Bay Prawns 🦐
Irish Shellfish
Lobster Fishcakes
Drop of butter
Sides of Home-Made Chips n Sauces Weekend Treats 👌🏻
Open from 2ish today for take away & collection
Menu to follow but plenty of fresh seafood steaks, surf n turfs & pastas 💪
5 staff in jobs and 9 suppliers ticking over
Every little helps
Call up on your way to the park
No interaction, no touching, do not enter ze building
Another 2 small family suppliers kept ticking over. I don’t think we’ve ever been more conscious of funnelling things to the smaller producers than now. Our menus are being based on what our farmers and growers have. I’ve never seen such community spirit as right now. Fuck corona
Hearing about a young west cork lad, luka
he’s only 17, making whopper knives out of an old shipping container, loved the idea, commissioned one
Got something a little different..
52100 Carbon Steel blade
Glow in the dark handle
Relevant engraving