Treats in store at tastebud department

ONE MORE THING:CORK TV chef Clodagh McKenna is reporting brisk trade at her new restaurant in Arnotts department store in Dublin.

“Homemade by Clodagh” made its debut on the first floor of Arnotts last week, following a €45,000 refurbishment.

McKenna is also taking charge of a second eatery in the store. That won’t get a facelift for the time being, but a new menu will be launched there in about three weeks.

McKenna told me yesterday that trading at the first floor restaurant was up a tasty 15 per cent last week when compared with the same period of 2010.

“It’s been incredibly successful,” she said. “What we’re trying to create is good, honest homemade food with an Irish origin.”

All its mains are a reasonable €10.95. “That seems to be why it’s working . . . at least that’s the feedback we’re getting.”

Anglo Irish Bank and Ulster Bank – which have taken control of the department store to secure their loans – will no doubt be pleased.

The other positive from this is that all of the staff have been retained from the old restaurants, which had become tired. Bewley’s also recently opened in Arnotts.

While McKenna is the creative force in the kitchen, the company behind the new Arnotts restaurants is actually controlled by Capital Food Emporium Ltd.

Its shareholders are listed as John Collins and Peter Gaynor, who McKenna simply describes as “private investors”.

McKenna is busy on other fronts, too. She continues to run her cookery school in the Village at Lyons in Newcastle, Co Dublin.

McKenna also plans to film another TV series with RTÉ, that is likely to air next spring.

“It will be part here, part the cookery school and part going into shops,” she said.

“I’ve had to put off filming for a while because it’s just too busy in here.”

A good complaint to have in a recession.