Aishling Moore: the Cork chef setting the Goldie standard in Irish seafood

Talent, hard work and more than a little humility have fuelled the speedy ascent of Goldie’s Aishling Moore through the culinary ranks, writes Joe McNamee

Aishling Moore talks candidly from the comfort of the kitchen in her Michelin Bib gourmet fish restaurant, Goldie on Oliver Plunkett street. Picture: Chani Anderson

In late autumn, 2019, I went with a former culinary teacher to dine at Goldie, a new seafood restaurant in Cork where the head chef and co-proprietor, Aishling Moore, was another of his former students. 

We enjoyed a lovely meal, even a few mis-steps still hinting at future potential. Afterwards, though clearly nervous, Aishling sidestepped any salving balm of praise, keener to hear criticisms, the better to learn for the future. 

That humility and eagerness left an impression as abiding as the food.

Soon after, the Goldie rocket took off and has never since returned to earth. 

If awards tell a story, Aishling’s haul has been remarkable for one so young; Best Casual Dining in Ireland 2022, Food & Wine (F&W) Awards, and the RAI Awards; Best Young Chef in Ireland 2023, F&W Awards; Best Chef in Ireland at the RAI awards, 2024. 

Goldie earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2021, retaining it ever since and Aishling’s first book, Whole Catch, was launched in April.

Cork-born Aishling and her brother were raised by their mother in Westview, a handful of houses hidden off the South Douglas Rd. Her childhood was a constant blur of motion.

“I loved playing sport,” says Aishling, “All sport. Pitch and putt, Gaelic football, soccer, even building bases with the lads. I loved the competitive aspect and team aspect. I played with the boys for Tramore Athletic until I was 11 and then joined College Corinthians [playing with Irish internationals Megan Connolly and Clare Shine], and I played in goal for Nemo Rangers. Loved it, the camaraderie, the craic — and we were really successful with Nemo. I played ’til I was 18 and started cooking full-time and couldn’t go to training. I missed the buzz but as soon as I started in kitchens, I got the same buzz back straight away.”

Her passion for food began at home.

“My mom always shopped in the English Market, the best place to get food before we had as many farmers markets as we do now. I always loved going there or into O’Donovan’s [an iconic city centre butchers, now-closed] getting the cheese, sliced ham, coleslaw, potato salad. Simple, traditional food.”

But there were equally strong guiding influences on television.

“I always enjoyed the chefs. Derry Clarke from L’Ècrivain on The Today Show and Jamie Oliver was the real reason I got into food, seeing him go into the Borough Market and then I was able to go into the English Market, and pick up bits in Mr Bell’s, so we would have been eating noodles with black bean sauce and stuff like that as well. I cooked a lot of Rachel Allen recipes. I remember the Bake book. That was huge. Everyone’s mom got that for Christmas.

“When I was 15, 16, I started cooking more at home and the more I did, the less my mum did. She was working full-time so she used to prep dinner and I’d come home from school and follow her instructions to cook the meal. Once I hit 16, I became really attracted to the idea of cheffing, the lifestyle around it, that it can be your job, but also be part of your day. My day revolves around food, whether it’s in the restaurant or at home.”

Aishling Moore hooks a turbot outside her Michelin Bib restaurant, Goldie. Picture: Chani Anderson

Seeking out work experience in transition year, Aishling aimed high — Ballymaloe House.

“I had no contacts at all in the food world, the closest I’d got to Ballymaloe was the relish, but Ballymaloe was huge to me, so I emailed and was accepted.”

She spent the week with head pastry chef JR Ryall. “There were loads of first tastes. Blood orange. Couldn’t believe the flavour, it’s still one of my favourite ingredients, the contrast of sweet and bitter is head-meltingly delicious.”

She was brought to the nearby Ballymaloe Cookery School for an afternoon demo by Rory O’Connell. “It was all shellfish, he was opening scallops in the shell, and, like, I’d never even seen a scallop in the house.”

After that, smouldering culinary passions burst into flame. 

“I would just stay up all night cooking. Everyone else gone to bed and they would just smell what was going on downstairs, and I loved it.”

That summer she applied to nearly every restaurant in Cork City for a job as kitchen porter, happy to start at the bottom. Not a single restaurant gave her a shot. “They wouldn’t hire me because I was female, said I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

Aishling did well in her Leaving Cert but despite the urgings of teachers, her heart was set on Culinary Studies in Cork Institute of Technology (CIT).

“I loved it straight away. Had great lecturers. Had great fun. Like, I had read the whole practical professional cookery book before I started college.”

During her first year, she applied to do her summer work placement in Fenn’s Quay, a Cork restaurant with a strong commitment to local, Irish produce.

“I got in and very quickly knew I was good at it, particularly in service, I was able to deal with the craziness. And there was no expense spared on good Irish ingredients, I got to taste incredible produce. And it was a breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner operation, so I got to see all of that without having to work in a hotel. But very quickly I realised I wanted to do dinner only. That was where the fun was at.”

After the summer, Aishling continued there part time. “I used to get the bus at 7am from the top of my road to CIT, get ready, be in the kitchen for 9am until 4pm, get the bus to town, be in Fenn’s Quay for 5pm, work til 11pm, go home, four nights a week. I’d work a full day on Saturday, just Sundays off and I loved it.”

With her first pay cheque, Aishling took her mum on a culinary pilgrimage to Chapter One, in Dublin.

“We got the Aircoach up and the nerves going into the place, I was like, ‘Mom, don’t be asking any stupid questions, just pretend like we belong here, even if we know we don’t’. And the way they treated us, my god, it was amazing. They quickly realised I was a young chef from Cork. Ross had us brought into the chef’s table for dessert and he brought us Irish coffees, petits fours and sat and talked about Cork for an hour. To give a 19-year-old chef that time was incredible, I’d already owned his book which I thought was magnificent and I still remember every single thing we ate.”

McKenna Guide’s chef of the year Aishling Moore pictured in her Michelin Bib gourmet fish restaurant, Goldie on Oliver Plunkett street, Cork city. Picture: Chani Anderson

When budding young chefs grow up watching the likes of Masterchef: The Professionals, it’s hardly surprising when they develop an itch for the glamour of fine dining, creating hordes of wannabe chefs who cook with eyes as much as palate. But Aishling’s experience and palate were already those of a chef years older, making her a prime candidate for success in fine dining. After a short stage, chef JP McMahon was impressed enough to offer her a position at Aniar. 

Though callow in years, she was by now creating dishes and running service in Fenn’s Quay and also directing her own learning. It was a hard choice, but she feared the leap from casual dining to the Michelin-starred Galway restaurant would mean gliding over a whole bank of knowledge in between. Instead she returned to CIT to do a BA in Culinary Arts and began to look for another restaurant.

“Any time I had a night off, I was eating in Elbow Lane. What they were doing was really different, really special, amazing food but really casual, comforting. I think [then head chef] Stephen [Keogh, now executive chef of the Market Lane Group] really influenced the cooking in Cork.”

Aishling applied for a job and Keogh was impressed enough to take her on. “Straight away he was challenging me the whole time and it was amazing. There’s 5kg of pears. Make me a pear curd. No recipe for pear curd exists. How do you figure that out? I remember after a week off, I came back and he said, ‘I’ve got you a present in the fridge, a whole goat. There you go. Make 70% margin on that’. I loved it.”

Six months later, Aishling was working as head chef. She thrived in the new role and in 2019, was invited by the Market Lane Group to become head chef/co-proprietor of a new seafood restaurant, Goldie.

“I was stunned, I said I’d take the weekend to think about it but I already knew I wanted it. I’d worked in restaurants that served fish, but none of them bought in whole fish. This was completely different. I wanted it to be a very cool restaurant, relevant to the 21st century, no chowder, fish cakes, beurre blanc, all that traditional sole on the bone element; instead serving fish that was being exported, red mullet, megrim, witches, pollock. We were only going to source from day boats that might not always have fish so what would we serve on the days in between, how could we preserve the fish and extend its life. [British chef] Fergus Henderson’s nose-to-tail meat cooking was a big influence on me, so I wanted to apply that approach to seafood, using every single part of the fish.”

The novel approach generated a flurry of rave reviews within months of opening. The disruption of the pandemic was a huge blow but Aishling persevered. During the brief pre-Christmas reopening in December 2020, one particular diner fetched up.

“Cork didn’t have a Bib Gourmand, and we felt it should, and me and Stephen talked about it as a goal for Goldie before we opened and then never mentioned it again. One night in December [Sous chef] Rob [Dorgan] said, ‘I think that’s the Michelin Man’. I was like, ‘come on, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, it’s Christmas week, no way!’”

A week later, Michelin posted about Goldie online and Aishling’s phone went into meltdown. Early in 2021, Goldie earned its Bib Gourmand, the most prestigious of its awards to date.

“The awards are incredible but I’m uncomfortable with it sometimes because it’s not me, I can’t take credit for this success. I’m just a part of a team in Goldie and the Market Lane Group. We’re very self-critical in Goldie, that’s how you guarantee quality. I don’t think I have natural talent in anything I’ve been successful at. I think it’s just been hard work.”

Though the immensely talented young Corkwoman does herself a disservice, neither is it false modesty because, despite all the success, one great abiding quality remains, her humility.

 

• Aishling Moore is the Irish Examiner’s new cookery columnist.

On the spot

My favourite Irish hotel is ...

Ballymaloe House, for showing the difference between service and hospitality and it’s where the food revolution started in Ireland … and the first kitchen I worked in.

My favourite Irish restaurant is …

For his use of Irish ingredients and teaching us all about a [Turkish] cuisine that none of us really had access to other than in kebab shops — which we also love!

My favourite Irish food product/ingredient is …

Irish oysters, for the variety you get all around the coast

My food hero is …

[Fish smoker] Sally Barnes [of Woodcock Smokery]

I would cook her …

A whole turbot with very little else, just some spuds on the side and a good bottle of wine.

My favourite Irish touring destination is …

I spent a week in Donegal in January and stayed in Glenties, up near Olde Glen Bar, where Ciaran Sweeney is cooking and had an amazing meal there. That whole area is like a completely different country, absolutely loved it, how quiet it is, the solitude.

If I wasn’t a chef, I’d …

Have my own business, when I was younger I toyed with the idea of being a gardener, I would have worked for myself no matter what, maybe growing food.