ABOUT US

Jim Tynan’s interest in food began when he was only six or seven years old and was influenced by the very good cooking skills of his mother and grandmother.  Upon leaving school he chose to train at Rockwell College, where after an initial two years training he won the Chef of the Year Award which resulted in him completing a third year of study which culminated in him obtaining the highest award available, the PPU Gold Medal for General Excellence.  He then remained in Rockwell for another two years where he taught practical classes to student chefs and waiters.  He opened his first premises in Portlaoise in April 1982, at the age of 22, after returning from London where he had worked as chef de-tage in the world famous Claridge’s Hotel. This first venture was a coffee shop called The Coffee Studio located in two upstairs rooms at 27 Church Street.  He moved to an old coach house to the rear of No 27 in December 1985 and then to the current bigger premises, which stretches between the original Church Street location and Hynd’s Square, in November 1997. The current premises, The Kitchen and Foodhall, seats 200 people as opposed to the original 32 places in 1982. 
 
From the very beginning Jim’s philosophy has always been to start from what you know best and progress from there.  With memories of best quality often-simple ingredients, cooked well at home and wonderful service skills learned at Rockwell, he set out on a food journey that involved hard work and unfaltering dedication.   Like the best cooks, there is a particular communication and encouragement, a kind of unique and authentic language, that results in bringing others along with you as you cook and Jim has developed a marvellous core team of dedicated cooks with him.  The first person to cook alongside Jim was his wife Sarah who joined in fulfilling this dream of developing a restaurant that people would enjoy and would want to return to.  She bakes the majority of cakes and tarts for The Kitchen and quite honestly is the pastry queen of this enterprise!  Jim’s sister Imelda took an interest in cooking from about twelve years of age when she insisted on helping out whenever she was allowed.  She has worked with Jim, cooking for over twenty years and joined later by another sister Caroline, they are his main culinary and management supports in the restaurant.  This is very much a family affair with kitchen preparations taking place under the watchful eye of another sister Brigid, and Jim’s children Kathy, Craig and Chloe all being involved at various stages over the years. Supported by a very loyal workforce, many of who have worked here for a long number of years, the restaurant functions largely due to commitment to delivering the best quality food with first class service. 
 
Jim is committed to only serving the best quality food and has a long history of supporting local producers and speciality food makers.  He goes the extra mile in promoting a product when he knows it is top class, which is why you will only find the best of Irish and some European food produce for sale alongside his own products in The Foodhall.