chefprofile
Alyson Magee talks to Kevin McCourt, chef/owner of Knags, Glengormley
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hefing was “just something I’ve always wanted to do,” says Kevin McCourt, chef/owner of Knags in Glengormley and events business Prestige Catering. Taking to cooking while at school in Newtownabbey, work experience at Lansdowne Court followed and, after leaving school, “I served my time in Corr’s Corner.” Honing his skills at Belfast venues Pavilion, The King's Head and The Washington, Kevin then joined the Fergus Inn (since renamed the Loughshore Hotel/Clarion Carrickfergus) as head chef. Kevin worked there for 13 years, during which time he became involved with the catering college in Newtownabbey as a lecturer, and assessor in NVQ levels 2 and 3, two days a week. “My training in Corr's Corner stood by me everywhere I went because I learned the basics there, but I think the most important training I got was when I was head chef at the Clarion Hotel because that gave me the knowledge of how to manage staff and budgets.” After four weeks spent training in three of Gordon Ramsay’s Michelin-starred London restaurants, “I came back and made the decision to go out on my own,” says Kevin. "That was 10 years ago. I was offered the franchise at Fortwilliam Golf Club. While there, we formed Prestige Catering, the events side of the company." After eight years at Fortwilliam, “we wanted to have our own identity, our own premises,” says Kevin, and Knags was opened in September 2014. Both Knags and Prestige Catering are very much a family affair, with Kevin and his wife Gina as business partners. Gina is a chef by trade but works front of house in Knags, while Kevin’s daughters Nicole and Ashlin work in
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Kevin McCourt pictured with Gordon Ramsey.
the business part-time while studying. His brother Gerard is currently head chef in Knags but will focus on Prestige Catering from December, allowing Kevin to focus on Knags’ new function suite due to open on November 21. Knags was initially conceived as a much smaller project but now includes the restaurant, an adjacent coffee shop and the new standalone function suite with its own bar and toilets. Prestige Catering has its own production facility on the site, with separate kitchen and refrigeration. “We made a very conscious decision to do a full massive refit and, to be fair, it’s paid off,” says Kevin. “It's been very busy the last 13 months."
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Knags is open seven days a week, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner from 9am until last dinner service at 9.30pm, and employs 46 full- and part-time staff. With the area full of fast food restaurants, Knags brings something different with chic décor by Lee Austin Design, simple, quality food and a focus on staff training and customer service. “We make everything ourselves, we don’t use convenience food and we keep it fresh,” he says. “Walter Ewing supplies our seafood, with seafood deliveries here six days a week, our beef is all supplied by Pallas Foods, and our fruit and veg is sourced locally as well." Fresh cod and scampi battered to order are popular choices alongside chicken fajitas in the family-friendly restaurant, while daily specials might include fresh halibut, a scallop dish and lamb Wellington. Prices are competitive and the food is simple as “we’re still basically in north Belfast so we try to suit our market,” he says. “I don't want to go down the fine dining route, I think it excludes a lot of people.” Fresh sandwiches, pasta and other specials are produced daily for the lunch market, offering a quick turnaround for diners on their lunch break as well as a local delivery service. Prestige Catering has really taken off, with customers extending from small private functions at home to feeding 6,000 to 7,000 people at Royal County Down during the Irish Open. “I enjoy my job, and am just happy to be doing what I do,” says Kevin. “We're very lucky, this business is a hard business to be in and I think between the restaurant and the event catering side, it keeps the whole thing going. They sort of feed off each other.”
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