By Andy Spearman
A young chef from Drogheda is being tipped as the next great thing in Irish cuisine. He’s only 20 but already he has been nominated for Young Chef of the Year section of the prestigious Yes Chef Awards and is working with a Michelin Star winning chef.
Jack Bell from Marian Park says he has had a passion for cooking ever since he was a child and he was never in any doubt about what he wanted to do when he left school.
“I want to get to the top of my profession” Jack said, “and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes” he said.
Although still only 20, Jack has worked in kitchens for the past three and a half years starting with two years in the Crown Plaza Hotel in Dundalk followed by a year in the Blue Anchor Restaurant in Carlingford.
Last year he spent six months working in England but in January he got the break he was looking for when he landed a job as Chef de Partie working alongside Michelin star winning chef Thomas Fleury at the Cross Guns Restaurant in County Meath.
The Cross Guns has been serving the public since 1798 but a couple of years ago it came under the management two local men Dermot McDonnell and James Sharkey who’s ambition was to raise the standard of the restaurant from Gastro pub to fine dining experience.
They brought in Thomas Fleury as Executive Chef in December and that ambition was quickly realised by Thomas who has worked in some of the best French cuisine restaurants in the world including the world-renowned three Michelin Star L’Esperance in Vezelay, France, and eight years with Alain Ducasse, who runs 16 restaurants which between them have been awarded 32 Michelin Stars.
The name Thomas Fleury may be familiar to readers as, in 2019, he and a partner established the World Gate Restaurant in Termonfeckin to great acclaim but which suffered greatly when Covid struck just as they were making a name for themselves.
“We opened three times and also closed three times” Thomas said ruefully. “In between times we cooked the best take-away in Ireland!”
The World Gate project is not dead in the water but, for the moment at least, Thomas is concentrating on putting The Cross Guns on the culinary map nationwide.
“I’ve done a year’s work in just four months” Thomas said and all of the innovations that he has brought, to both the venue and the menu, have certainly paid off and the word is spreading far and wide.
When it came to hiring a Chef de Partie, Thomas said that he knew straight away that Jack was the man for the job. For his part, Jack says he feels so lucky to be working for such an eminent chef.
“Even though many of the other applicants had more experience, Jack shone out for his enthusiasm and passion to learn. I have no doubt that he will make a truly great chef.”
The Cross Guns is in Castletown, County Meath which is between Navan and Kingscourt on the R162 and between Kells and Ardee, just off the N52. It can be tricky to find for non-locals but more and more people are making it their business to find their way there from Dublin, Drogheda, all over Meath and much further afield. The eircode is C15C659.
The menu changes daily according to what is in season and 70 per cent of the food is produced within two kilometres of the restaurant and all of it from the Boyne Valley.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating and the food that Thomas and Jack are serving is going down really well – in just four months they have become the number three restaurant in Leinster on Trip Advisor and they are usually booked out at least two weeks in advance.
For more information about the restaurant and the 60 seat wedding/event venue see https://thecrossguns.com/
For reservations call: 00 353 (0)46 900 1918.
