This much I know: Darren Connolly

I can operate well on five hours sleep. I’ve been doing it for 14 years now.

I’m an early riser. I get up every morning at 6.15, even though I may not get to bed until after 1am.

Anyone considering a career in cheffing should be prepared to put their social life on hold for at least 10 years. You have to be very dedicated and you have to enjoy it as, behind the scenes, it’s a lot harder than it may seem. You work 12 to 13-hour days, that’s around 80 hours in a six-day week — eight hours prep and four hours service.

I love it. I love the interaction with the customers and the staff. I took a week off recently and I was bored. It’s very rewarding to see plates coming back empty and to see that the customers are enjoying themselves.

We’ve an open kitchen — I’m used to them from working in Australia — the only drawback is that sometimes you forget that you can be seen and you may start singing or something.

I’m at my happiest when I’m with my family, sitting around having a cup of tea or a meal in my mam and dad’s. I go there for dinner two or three times a week. My mother always takes control of the cooking. There can only be one boss!

I grew up in Cobh, down The Mall. My mother was a chef and my dad was practically a chef — he worked in the navy and one of his jobs was to plan out the menus. My mother is the one who got me interested in food. She was constantly baking, for us or for others, and one of my earliest memories is learning to make biscuits and rolling them out into moon shapes. She’s working in a gluten free bakery now, Mary’s Country Kitchen — the only one in Ireland.

I went to Australia for a year and ended up staying in Sydney for seven years. My biggest challenge was being promoted from a lowly backpacker to head chef in The Porterhouse there when I was only 23. I had to learn fast how to manage 11 staff, the rosters, going down to the fish markets and doing all the ordering.

I hated school. I may have had the wrong attitude — it was me against the world. Somewhere along the line I might go back and do my Leaving Cert. I left school to do a CERT course when I was only 16. I was the youngest in the class, mixing with 20 year olds, but I was in my element.

In the kitchen, I’m stern but fair. I used to have a temper on me but I learnt to leave it at the door. I realised my attitude was upsetting people and I just had to try a different approach. It’s definitely not necessary to have a fiery temper, that’s all about ego and its very rarely that you come across it.

If I could cook for anyone in the world, it would have to be Manchester United football team.

My idea of hell would be no football and, to be stuck with the same type of cuisine all your life.

Darren Connolly is head chef of Arthur Mayne’s on Pembroke Street, Cork, one of the restaurants taking part in The Campo Viejo Tapas Trail from May 20 until June 5 in Cork City. The Trail also takes place in Dublin from June 9 to July 17. Tickets for the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail are priced at €20 with the trail taking place each Wednesday between 6.30pm and 9pm and each Sunday between 2pm and 4.30pm in participating restaurants. For further information visit www.facebook.com/campoviejoireland or www.campoviejotapastrail.ie