Insta-success: How Kevin Dundon and Dunbrody House reinvented themselves during lockdown

Dunbrody House

We’re going live! I’m sitting in the demo studio of Dunbrody Cookery School in County Wexford where one of Ireland’s most famous chefs, Kevin Dundon, is about to talk to the masses. 

Every day at 2pm, during lockdown (both of them) and since, the celebrity chef has been streaming cookery sessions to his legion of followers across the globe via Instagram live. At a time when people were at marooned sa bhaile and looking for a helping hand to create everything from sourdough starters and fakeaways, Dundon has tapped into an interactive way to bring Dunbrody House to masses. And he’s got Ireland cooking.

“The idea all started with my daughter Sophie, who was in Transition Year at the time,” he tells me. “She suggested I become more active on Instagram with live videos and in just a few months, there’s been a massive reaction.” Dundon has seen his audience rise from 2K to 30K at a time when diversifying online platforms is so important. 

During my stay, Kevin’s baking a classic coffee cake with twists from slathering the sponges with apricot jam, to ramp up flavour, to topping the cake with pecans, versus the traditionalists’ walnuts. For Dundon, it gives a greater sense of connectivity to Dunbrody for those who can’t make it here. 

Kevin Dundon

But many do, sitting next to me watching the demo is hotel guest, Anne, who tells me she’s been watching every demo since Kevin started going live. Today’s her birthday and she’s fan-girling big time.

That evening at dinner in Dunbrody House’s aptly named Harvest Room Restaurant, I enjoy the spoils of one of Ireland’s most renowned kitchens. 

A fantastically fresh starter of roasted garden tomatoes with Beara sea salt gin is followed by Hook Head monkish with garden courgettes while a theatrical chocolate bomb terrine provides a spectacular dessert. 

Between serving dishes and chatting to guests, Catherine Dundon chats to me about Dunbrody House’s ethos in showcasing Irish food. “I think what we’ve always tried to highlight is our preparing of delicious, local, Irish food - in season,” she tells me. “And that doesn’t have to limit you either as at this time of year, we can use everything from delicious winter vegetables to our raspberry bliss berries which grow in our garden up until October.”

It’s dining at a culinary icon like Dunbrody House, where you indeed appreciate the strength of Irish produce (and incidentally, service) but you also ask yourself, when our food movement standards are becoming so on point, where does our food scene evolve to from here? Wherever that is, you can imagine Dunbrody House will pave the way.

Dunbrody Stay

Kevin Dundon’s Dunbrody Cookery School demos are broadcast live daily on Instagram with on-site guests welcome to attend shoots. For accommodation, Dunbrody House has reopened for bookings in December; their popular Live like a Lord (or Lady!) package offers two nights bed & breakfast with dinner on one night, plus a classic afternoon tea with champagne experience from €375pps. 

Their Christmas Made Easy online course for €75 also starts this Monday; it’s spread over seven days with daily recipes, tutorials, cooking demos and two live cook-alongs, with all recipes downloadable. dunbrodyhouse.com

Dinner at Sophie’s

Looking for a Christmas treat with a view? 

Cork’s flashiest restaurant opening in some time has arrived with Sophie’s, the 6th floor skyline restaurant of The Dean hotel, is set to open from next Friday (December 11). 

Offering a similar wow factor to its sister property in Dublin, the modern glasshouse restaurant offers panoramic views over the river Lee with exciting breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner options too. 

Think everything from vanilla buttermilk pancakes to spiced beef sandwiches with Irish brie and fries. Sounds pretty delicious! sophies.ie

Mulled Wine Spa

Looking at adding a little mulled wine to your wellness break? Well, this winter, English wellness company Spa Seekers has begun rolling out the country’s first ever mulled wine spa treatment. 

Set to a toasty 37°C, gallons of spicy glühwein are added to a hot-tub with the tannins from the wine said to rejuvenate skin in the ultimate act of vinotherapy. 

Shrigley Hall in Cheshire is the first hotel to offer the service (from £60) with other festive treatments include a frankincense massage. Keep an eye out on Irish spas following suit in the future! spaseekers.com

Slán a Chara

This week brought the sad but somewhat inevitable news that Cara, Aer Lingus’ beloved inflight magazine and all-round national publishing treasure has been grounded indefinitely with the loss of three jobs. 

Writing for the magazine - and their team - has been one of the highlights of my writing career and it seems hard to imagine an Aer Lingus flight now without being accompanied by the magazine’s consistently stellar articles, design and photography. 

We can only hope that, perhaps, the magazine will take flight again in the future. Ach go dtí sin, slán a Chara.