First day of the Gourmet Garage hits the spot

There wasn't any fanfare, just a few photos fed out a couple of days before, writes Brian Byrne. But Fallon's Gourmet Garage opened today to a steady stream of customers looking for something of their favourite restaurant, closed since mid-March by the coronavirus crisis.

It isn't the restaurant reopened. Yet. But the ready to heat chilled meals and other goodies on sale in a shop open from 11am-6pm are as good a reflection of the famous bistro's cuisine as you are going to get in these times. Take your choice home, open a suitable bottle while waiting the short time it takes to make the meal ready. Then savour everything Fallons except the service.

"It has been surprisingly busy," Brian Fallon told the Diary this afternoon. "I thought today would be quiet, but we've had to restock several times, and we completely ran out of several dishes."

The 'Garage' is in the front section of the bar area, with part of the restaurant having couches where people can wait while those in the shop area are choosing — only two people are allowed shop at a time. There are hand sanitisers and masks available at the entrance for everyone.

"At the moment I'm keeping it to this kind of operation. I may be forced into hot takeaway meals later, but a lot of the food we normally produce in the restaurant doesn't really travel. These are blast-chilled, so bringing them home and heating them retains the restaurant quality."

There's good variety in the fare available — sea bass, fillet steak, various versions of Fallon's familiar signature dishes. Beautifully presented and ready for short cooking times in conventional or microwave ovens, depending on the dish. Brian Fallon is very pleased at the reaction.

"It's good value too. Because it's cold food there's no VAT involved. So you can have two mains and sides for €18. It's a lot cheaper than takeaway."

The new venture means that Fallons already have four members of staff back working instead of none. Mary Walker, handling the till today, says it's great to be meeting people again.

Looking to the future is difficult, though. "Closing was easy but reopening is going to be tricky," Brian says. "The one-metre instead of two-metre could be a game changer, but at the moment we just don't know."

In the meantime, Fallons is a thing in Kilcullen again. That's a very good sign, for the town and for the business. "It's also a signal to people that we do intend to be open again as a restaurant, whenever we can."

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