Just the business:Phelim Byrne, head chef and cookery-school tutor at Dunbrody Country House Hotel, in Co Wexford, for the past three years, has set up his own cookery school, catering company and food-manufacturing business.
Byrne is a natural teacher who gently coaxes the best from his students, and his new school will make things as easy as possible for his clients. There'll be no need to go on a shopping trip for special ingredients before you show off your new cooking skills, for example, as participants will be provided with a box of ingredients to take home - very useful if you do one of his Thai classes and don't live near an oriental food shop.
"I opened the doors on January 30th, and it has been buzzing since. The dinner-party courses have been booked up almost two months in advance, with great interest from groups, who can decide when they want to come and what they want to cook - and generally bring along a few bottle to open during the night," Byrne says.
See www.phelimbyrne.ie, or call 053-9184995, for a list of the cookery courses and for sample menus for the catering company. Marie-Claire Digby