Jamie serves up at Eason’s
Yesterday, the kitchen dervish was the toast of Eason’s as he signed copies of his latest cookbook in Dublin’s O’Connell Street store.
“I’m quite boring - I’ve been with the same girl for nine years,” he once protested at what he saw as unfair British media attention.
But the lad’s not looked back. Still with ex-model Jules Norton for 13 years, the father of two small girls is doing his bit to ensure youngsters get the best start in life by eating well.
Jamie turned his conscience and his camera on school dinners for a series to be shown in spring next year.
“It’s changed my approach massively,” he says of being a father.
“It’s given me an understanding of what parents have to put up with.”
Since he first grabbed public attention with his no-nonsense approach to quality cooking eight years ago, the Essex boy has become a one-man industry.
Last June he received an MBE in Queen Elizabeth’s birthday honours list for services to the culinary art. Pukka - and still only 29.
Seven cookery books behind him, it goes without saying they’re best-sellers. Jamie’s Dinners, the latest offering, is described as his most accessible yet.
In 2002, Jamie took 15 youngsters who had never been near a restaurant kitchen and turned them into professional chefs to work under him at his new restaurant Fifteen.
