The menu
Having returned hale and hearty from another wonderful Theatre of Food at the Electric Picnic, The Menu brings tidings of a splendid initiative, Skillet, from his old pals, erstwhile chef and culinary educator Anthony O’Toole and multi-award winning American food writer Mei Chin, in conjunction with Tommy Bergin, of the YMCA.
Skillet is a programme aimed at vulnerable and at-risk unemployed youth in South Dublin and will teach them the fundamentals of the culinary industry, allowing them to host their own pop-up restaurant. Anthony will conduct the day-to-day kitchen training but some of the industry’s stars will act as mentors and trainers, including chefs Derry Clarke and Ross Lewis along with Chapter One maitre d’ Declan Maxwell and Food & Wine writer Aoife Carrigy, the latter pair looking after front-of-house training. All training takes place in King’s Inn, and the pop-up will take place in the Royal College of Surgeons (Sept 16). However, Skillet is desperately in need of funding to ensure the full training programme can go ahead and The Menu urges all to donate early and often as even a couple of bucks will go a long way. To donate or for more, see facebook.com/dublinskillet and crowd-funding website www.gofundme/doqfes
