Words such as confit, escalope and medley were a secret lingo uttered only in the country’s genuine gourmet restaurants. These could be counted on two fingers and were the sole reserve of the country’s crème de la crème.
Then in the early 1990s, Ta Se Mohogani Gaspipes in the north inner city became the place to be for the happening people who didn’t own building firms or bloodstock businesses.
The ranks of the clientele included up-and-coming names in politics, most of whom have since moved on to run the country — Bertie Ahern, Michael McDowell, Mary Harney, Michael Smith and John O’Donoghue all dined there. There was a strong contingent of media and music types including Van Morrisson, the Hot House Flowers and Agnes Bernelle.
The term “luvviebatter” — the popular nickname to describe the area’s arty society — was coined there.
The restaurant was founded in 1991 by Roy Kinsley, an American chef, and his wife Drina, an artist. The restaurant closed last year, and now the Kinsleys have put the premises — an old-fashioned Georgian shop and residence combined — on the market for €750,000.
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Roy says: “When we first came here, Drina agreed to give me a year of her time to help me run the restaurant. Twelve years later, it was her time to do her own thing. She’s an artist and writer, and while the writing can generally be slotted in here and there, her painting is a full-time occupation. We had a fantastic time running Ta Se Mohogani Gaspipes, but now it’s her turn.”
The Kinsleys stand to make a handsome profit on the sale of the property at 17 Manor Street, where the former restaurant seating area has been Drina’s art studio for the past year.
“The whole of the north inner city was very run down when we first came here,” Drina recalls.
“But Stoneybatter, with its period houses and character, was beginning to attract artists, musicians and actors who were coming in for the cheap rents. We wanted somewhere to live and somewhere to open a restaurant. We couldn’t afford two properties so we needed one to do both.
“A friend put us on to No 17 Manor Street, a run-down old-fashioned shop and home of the Georgian era. It was then being run as a carpentry showroom.”
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She says the previous owners had done a great job in covering up the faults in the building which became glaringly clear when they took it over. Roy says: “When we acquired it, the past owners had taken the inside windowsills with them. The period fireplaces had long gone and the wood on the original shop front had rotted.”
Older locals will recall the premises as Nelson’s greengrocers, where the family had their living room in the back and sleeping quarters directly over the shop.
The Kinsleys were forced to strip the building. But at a time when builders were still throwing Victorian fireplaces onto skips and scraping away ceiling roses for fluorescents, they at least strove to keep it as near as possible to its original condition.
“We bought two period marble fireplaces from an old Christian Brothers’ House in Donnybrook.
“We had an exact match of the original shop front built, and we kept the plasterwork. Even the original beam which held up the first floor was used to build a counter,” says Roy, who used to work with a firm of kitchen architects in America.
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The couple hired an architect to supervise the restoration, and Roy was on site at all times.
“Builders are the same the world over — they’re fine as long as you keep an eye on them, but once you give them too much slack, they’ll start taking you for a ride.”
Under such close supervision, the project was completed at speed and to the Kinsleys’ satisfaction. Some heavy work to meet safety legislation was required, and some ingenuity was needed to hide ugly modern fittings which are in evidence today if you look carefully. Only a keen eye, for example, will recognise a sprinkler hidden in the centre of an elaborate Victorian stuccoed ceiling rose.
“This was originally a doctor’s house when these houses were built back in 1845,” says Drina. “Stoneybatter is great because so many of the buildings have remained almost intact.”
The couple opened their restaurant to rave reviews in 1991, but as the year progressed business was slow and they were facing closure.
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“Then we had an idea,” says Drina. “We remembered we had planned to do some jazz nights and we got on the phone to our contacts.”
Before long, they had lined up well-known jazz musicians such as Louis Stewart, Peter O’Brien, Jim Doherty and Agnes Bernelle, and the place was regularly full.
“One night we had a flautist drop in to say hello,” remembers Drina. “He was born locally and specialised in a celtic take on jazz — one of his numbers was a version of Van Morrisson’s Moondance on flute. When he saw that Van Morrisson was actually in the house, he ran home and got his flute. When he played Moondance, Van the man got up on stage with him and they jammed for the night. It was fantastic.”
Property values in the Stoneybatter area have risen sharply in the past 12 years.
These days the area has a mixture of trendy professionals and locals who were brought up in the area. Fortunes have generally been good here for the past 15 years, apart from a recent trough in the Irish film industry’s activity which resulted in many of the area’s actors being out of work. Wags rechristened the area “bitter batter” after the catty attitudes that prevailed for a while. Drina says: “We were considering putting a bitter batter burger on the menu, but thankfully things improved here.”
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Now Stoneybatter is preparing for another shot in the arm, this time from the Luas, which will run to nearby Smithfield.
No 17 Manor Street has the advantage of a mixed commercial and residential zoning and an excellent double-sized kitchen, fitted to commercial standards.
Accommodation covers 1,660 sq ft in a two-storey building with a return. This was originally a four-bedroom Georgian house with two large reception rooms. Those have been converted into one extra-large room at ground floor level, while a bedroom at the back was amalgamated with the kitchen to make the very large kitchen.
On the return are three bathrooms, a private room and a ladies’ and a gents’. Three bedrooms upstairs have been converted into two but the house could easily be converted back to a four-bedroom format.
Drina’s studio is at the end of the garden — a 300-sq-ft building with a toilet off it. Now the Kinsleys are looking around for a property near water. “We’ll probably end up somewhere on the east coast,” he says.
FitzGerald Chambers Ltd, 01 671 2277