The Fine Art Of Staying Hungry

The Hungry Monk team SAT27JULY24

ith the sun finally breaking through after a soggy Saturday morning, GG was delighted to learn a rather sweet and bubbly new fact this afternoon.

Apprently, your 36th anniversary gemstone is champagne.

“Well, we reckon it must be close to that,” says Hungry Monk head honcho Julian Keown. “So, let’s open this battered old bottle of Bollinger to mark our 36th birthday. The label’s got a few marks and scratches, so, best to tidy this one away ourselves as damaged stock…”

Ourselves also including manager Nicolas Alas, who has been with The Hungry Monk for 24 years now, and head chef Christoph Denk, who has been here for 10. Which, is head chef years, is just under a century.

“It’s is pretty remarkable how long some people have been working here,” says Julian, “and it’s something we’re very proud of. It means we must be doing something right.

“And having familiar faces around you every day also makes The Hungry Monk feel very much like a second family…”

Speaking of which, it was back on July 1st 1988 that Pat Keown first opened the doors on his dream restaurant in what had been Dr Orr’s main practice. At that time, 18-year-old Julian was getting hot and bothered in the kitchen, learning how to be a chef before gradually learning that he didn’t want to be a chef.

Today, Pat and his beautiful wife, Sylvia, are happily retired down in the wilds of Galway, always delighted to see family and friends back home in Greystones. As long as they bring along some local takeaway.

For his part, Julian has found his calling as the front-of-house charmer, which may be part of the reason The Hungry Monk has become something of a celebrity magnet over the years. Then again, it could be all down to Christoph’s fine food.

“What gives us the greatest kick is the simple fact that we see many regulars coming through our doors time and time again,” finishes Julian. “Through hard times and good times, these wonderful people make everything worthwhile…”

Hoping to get a shot alongside the Taoiseach to add to their celebrity wall, given just how busy the Harris lad is these days, we thought it best to do mock-up holdover for now.

In the meantime, we sat down with Nicolas, Christoph and Julian to find out more about the Monk life…

You can find out more about The Hungry Monk here,  and see our May 2016 interview with the Keown boys here.