Alumni Kitchen Table: A chance to sample Michelin-level cuisine in Co Kildare

Meet the couple behind Alumni, a restaurant that offers diners a chance to eat at the table of a chef more used to working in Michelin kitchens, writes Leslie Williams

Sat, 17 Aug, 2024 - 02:00

Leslie Williams

The Latin noun ‘Alumnus’ is derived from “alere” which means “to feed” or “to nourish” and that is the ultimate mission of Philip and Kathy Mahon — to nourish.

Each week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7.30pm, eight guests assemble around a large ironwood table in the kitchen of a modern house in the Kildare countryside.

They are there to eat 14 courses of exquisitely prepared food — sometimes they know each other, sometimes they are strangers, but the power of fine cooking and conversation always brings everyone together.

“Spontaneous applause after the last course is not unusual, we even get standing ovations sometimes,” says chef Philip Mahon. “It is a full evening, there is one sitting and you are there for the night. We take people on a journey,” says Kathy.

Kathy and Philip are the couple behind Alumni Kitchen Table in Rathangan, Co Kildare, a still rather secret restaurant that offers diners the chance to eat at the kitchen table of a chef more used to cooking in two and three star Michelin restaurants, with an optional overnight stay in a Scandi-style guesthouse.

“We didn’t have a backer, we are from humble backgrounds, we created this ourselves and we are extremely proud of it. It was not an easy journey but it was worth it,” says Philip.

July was fully booked and I only managed to get in because of a cancellation. What struck me most on arrival at Alumni was the attention to detail – from the warm welcome to the custom made beds and bespoke crockery.

If the Scandi-style decor is luxuriant minimalism then the cooking style veers towards luxuriant maximalism with Philip making everything from the bread and cultured butter to the almond-nougat petit-fours.

The evening flows seamlessly, helped by an ingenious cutlery roll which avoids endless re-setting of knives and forks, and is paced to perfection.

The cutlery was of course from nearby Newbridge Cutlery.

Philip didn’t make the tactile eye-catching serving dishes (although I bet he thought about it) — instead they were commissioned from Barcelona based ceramic artist Cara Janelle. Alumni is in good company, Janelle has made dishware for several 3 Michelin star restaurants including Alinea in Chicago and Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.

Philip is alone in the open kitchen, cooking, plating and serving each course alongside Kathy who acts as charming host

and sommelier, on hand to answer further questions and explain the inspiration behind each pitch-perfect wine match.

The intimate nature of the cooking also means Philip can accommodate food intolerances and allergies unlike many Michelin starred restaurants. Up to 14 courses sounds like a lot (it used to be 16) but the evening flows incredibly smoothly.

Chef Philp Mahon and his wife Kathy at Alumni Kitchen Table, Glenaree, Rathangan,Co. Kildare. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Philip Mahon grew up Dublin and began his culinary career as a teenaged kitchen porter in the Thomas Read Pub Group: “We brought chicken wings and Caesar salad to Dublin in the 1990s!”.

Quickly realising that he had a vocation and wanting to push himself, he took the advice of his head chef and figured out what he needed to do to get to London.

One culinary qualification and a couple more years working in Dublin brasseries later, he found himself aged 21 on the veg station in Marcus Waring’s iconic two star Michelin restaurant Pétrus, part of the Gordon Ramsay Group.

“At the start I was living on the outskirts of London near Heathrow in my auntie’s, working 20 hour days, constantly having my prep work thrown back at me, and falling asleep on the bus to Knightsbridge and on the way home,” he recalls.

“It was tough, I lost over six stone, but I was living the life. It was the mid-2000’s and our names were on the door of the cool places. We would finish work at 2am Saturday and go clubbing until Monday afternoon. It was brilliant — best days of my life in many ways.”

It was a big step up from brasserie to two star Michelin; sometimes it was horrendous,. It wasn’t ‘Philip’ any more, it was “stand back, Irish!” A chef threw a pan of boiling oil at me, there were burning incidents, but at that time I saw it as part of my training and I just keep going.”

Thankfully things improved. A promotion came, and Philip was manning the hugely important sauce station at Pétrus and knew his worth, as did his employers.

Wareing got him an intro to Thomas Keller of the three star ‘Per Se’ in New York for a time and then he returned to Dublin to work with Dylan McGrath’s Mint in Ranelagh which held one Michelin star. Philip enjoyed his time at Mint and believes it to be one of the most creative parts of his early career.

Chef Philip Mahon getting food ready in the kitchen at Alumni Kitchen Table, Glenaree, Rathangan, Co. Kildare.

By 2009, Ireland was in a recession and so Philip headed back to the US, to Alinea in Chicago, Grant Achatz’s legendary three star restaurant.

Back in Dublin in late 2009, a blind date at the Molly Malone statue brings the all important Kathy into the picture. Very soon they were living together and planning a future.

Some further stints in good restaurants followed including Harvey Nichols in Dundrum and Gordon Ramsay’s short lived restaurant in Powerscourt, while Kathy continued to work as a nurse for Abbott Pharmaceutical.

A plan began to form: What Philip and Kathy needed was a permanent place to live that could double as a venue to share Philip’s talent with the world.

Moving to Kildare in 2014 to a spacious modern house they both continued to work while they remodelled the house to realise their vision.

Their sons Sebastian and Austin arrived (now aged 8 and 4 respectively— the former a dab hand at shelling peas), and their new life took shape.

Borrowing JCBs, learning to plumb, calling in favours, researching wine producers, Kathy retrained as a sommelier while honing her natural flair for interior design, and in July 2022, Alumni Kitchen Table opened.

Just over six months later Michelin put them in their 2024 Guide and now many weekends have a waiting list.

“We are constantly refining, improving and developing, not just the dishes but the whole experience,” says Philip. “Generosity is key, not just in the food but in the wine measures and in the welcome.”

“A journey”, Kathy called it, and it was — from saline pops of trout roe to tangy homemade butter to lobster to turbot to lamb to chocolate. No wonder people applaud.

Dining room with table set for dinner at Alumni Kitchen Table, Glenaree, Rathangan, Co. Kildare. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Alumni Kitchen Table’s tasting menu has a strong focus on seasonality, sustainability, and is created with the support of local farmers and growers. If there is lamb it will be from the Curragh ten miles away, and if it is duck it will be from Feighcullen Farm just one mile away.

We began with a glass of pristine Larmandier-Bernier Grower Champagne to match a sourdough starter croustade with a fennel purée and smoked trout, piled high with trout roe. The herbal notes in the fennel and the salty notes in the roe brought out similar flavours in the Champagne.

Next, a light fluffy toasted brioche with a cacio e pepe cream topped with guanciale and Parmesan, a sort of carbonara flavour bomb which the Champagne also coped with admirably.

A full lobster claw was given acidity and heat with a spiced tomato ketchup, but best of all was the dulce de leche flavour in the dollop of ‘burnt cream’ on the side which seemed to add extra succulence to the lobster.

Philip uses treacle in his sourdough which lightens the texture and this led to darkly sweet treacle notes in the crust in contrast to the delicate fluffy but textured crumb on the interior.

Homemade cultured butter lifted the flavours nicely, and was so good I found myself eating it on its own as a sort of salty savoury custard.

Sweetcorn velouté with chicken wing, chicken and truffle jus, shavings of summer truffle and crispy chicken skin was served with an earthy skin-contact sémillon-sauvignon from Bergerac, some age-appropriate skin on skin action.

Roast turbot with white asparagus was topped with fresh crab and samphire with a ginger- infused foam; flavours of early summer continued with a couple of lamb dishes — a crisp tart with lamb belly and a richly sauced saddle of lamb with caramelised onion and sweet new season peas and broad beans.

Food ready for service at Alumni Kitchen Table, Glenaree, Rathangan, Co. Kildare. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Throughout the meal the saucing on every dish was show-stoppingly good, surely enhanced by Philip’s mastering of that sauce station back in Pétrus nearly 20 years ago. The refinement didn’t stop with the savoury either as creams, custards, meringues and infusions in the next few courses were equally impressive.

The wine matches on the evening were another highlight — innovative, very much of the moment, and often brave. Philip and Kathy like to pick wines made by other couples doing their own thing such as David and Nadia Sadie who make a stunning Chenin Blanc from a very old dry-farmed vineyard in Swartland, a gorgeous wild herb scented wine layered with citrus, honey and peach but with an almost ozone salty kick of acidity on the finish.

That salty kick combined with the texture and fruits allowed it to knit in nicely with turbot, samphire and asparagus.

A pear and burnt apple scented Txakoli from the Basque region matched an intense tomato and black olive dish while a natural Bergerac Sec easily knitted in with flavours of sweetcorn, chicken wing and summer truffle.

Other fine choices included Killahora bottle conditioned cider with rhubarb and Michele Chiarlo grapey floral Moscato d’Asti with Italian meringue and lemon yoghurt sorbet with white chocolate cremeux and a burnt butter tuile.

Alumni offers precise flavour-focused cooking, extraordinary saucing, generous portions and creative wine pairing — it is easily some of the most exciting cooking in these islands.

How to book

Overnight B&B plus 14-course tasting menu costs approximately €520 per couple excluding wines.

Thursday-Saturday all year round. Private parties of 8 are popular for special celebrations.

Guests are also welcome to simply book in for dinner without accommodation, with the tasting menu costing €150 per person.