As Taste of Dublin draws crowds to Iveagh Gardens this weekend, Catherine Clearymeets two more culinary couples dealing with the demands of the trade
CHARLES GUILBAUD AND LYNN MORONEY
Sunday is sacrosanct for Lynn Moroney and her boyfriend, Charles (or Charlie, as she calls him) Guilbaud. "I'm well used to the long hours by now. I work as a management consultant, so my hours are long, too, but in a different way. Sundays are really the only day when it's quiet for both of us, and that really focuses us to make the most of it."
Although she is not in the food business, Moroney loves food, and they talk about it a lot. One of the perks is being able to go into Guilbaud's central-Dublin brasserie, Venu, and eat together occasionally. "It is very stressful. I can see how busy he gets dealing with so many people and making sure everyone's happy. But he loves it. And he can't go in there in a bad mood."
Has Guilbaud looked for any management tips from her? "Surprisingly, very little. He's taken to it like a duck to water. He's a real people person, and he has huge energy."
The couple met through a college friend. "He took me to Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud on one of our first dates, so he must have been trying to impress me," she says.
Moroney's mother was in the catering business - she ran Café Bistro, on Castle Market, for 15 years - "so I've always had a pretty good idea of the demands involved", she says. "I understand when we go out to restaurants that there can be off-nights. We do end up going to Venu when we have the time, and we eat at home a lot."
At weekends Guilbaud could finish work as late as 3.30am on Sunday morning. "I look at it and think, well, you could be going out with an oil-rig worker who's away for six months of the year at a time. When you see your partner so inspired and passionate about what they do, that makes all the difference. He could be coming home at five o'clock every evening from a job that he hated."
MICHELLE AND ERIK ROBSON
Michelle Robson was a sales rep for a coffee company when she met her husband, Erik. The couple set up the first Ely wine bar, on Ely Place in Dublin 2, together eight years ago.
"We genuinely think it's a case of not having time to think about the long working hours, and we really appreciate having a little bit of time off. Having a night off is a novelty. We once worked out that it really only happens twice a year, on each of our birthdays."
Ten years ago Michelle called into Mitchell & Son Wine Merchants, where Erik was working, on Kildare Street in Dublin 2, to talk to them about stocking coffee. "We discussed coffee and then we bumped into each other the following morning. The next day Erik phoned and asked if I'd like to go out. I think we've more or less seen each other every day since then."
The couple opened the first Ely in December 1999, inspired by a trip to Seville they had taken the year before. "We sat on a bench in the sunshine and both decided this was a lovely way of life; the idea of having wine by the glass and a bit of food. So we started looking for a premises when we came back." In the past two years they've expanded, with two more wine bars in the Dublin Docklands, at Custom House Quay, on the northside, and Hanover Quay, on the south.
"In the first couple of years it was just very much work, going in at 8am and working till 2am or 3am. Then we had a little boy in 2005, and that completely changed everything. We use our time more wisely now and know that we have to leave work at a certain time. In a way, having Oscar has taken away a lot of that pressure of worrying about work."
Robson had a complicated pregnancy, and Oscar was born prematurely. "He was sick for quite a while and was quarantined for eight months." Coping with that put work stresses into perspective. "I just don't get as frazzled or as worked-up about things. It also taught me not to plan too much and just take each day as it comes. You can't map out your life."
Since Ely opened, their customers' knowledge of wine has grown extensively. "In the old days you would have people coming in looking for a glass of red or white. Now they want their favourite Gewurztraminer or a nice Riesling or a Pinot Blanc."
Michelle says that she loves the industry and that "it's interesting dealing with people". Life is not full of trips to vineyards and twilight tastings, however. "We do get an awful lot of invitations, but it takes so much of our time, so we tend not to. We would prefer to get a few days to spend with Oscar."
Their next quest is to find a house with a garden where they can find refuge from their busy schedule.