We see the three chefs squinting through the peep-hole. They take turns to peer in. They're always in the kitchen at parties but today the three chefs have stopped to listen to Paul Brady sing. It's not every day they have a hero singing in their parlour. What about our lunch? Do we smell something burning? The kitchen staff at Lloyd's Brasserie - Nial Harbison from Cookestown in Co Tyrone, John Falconer from Trim in Co Meath and Shane McDonagle from Ballybuffet in Co Donegal - smile before returning to their galley. They say not to worry, it's all under control. And so we all sit down to eat, and the new album, Oh What A World, is well and truly launched. Renee Lawless, a yoga teacher in TCD's sports department, is a long-time fan of Brady's, going back 20 years. Brian Adams, head of music at Today FM radio station, says Brady's single, The Long Goodbye, is "one of the most requested songs we have".
Singer Leslie Dowdall, looking forward to singing support to Brady on his upcoming tour, is here. The two of them started this tour in Limerick last night (Friday). Tonight they'll be in Galway's Leisureland, and from Monday they're in the Olympia Theatre. Then after a week it's on to Letterkenny and Belfast.
The boy wonder himself, Ronan Keating, jets in from Los Angeles (where he has been for the past two months). He'll be off
again soon to Monte Carlo - this time to perform and pick up an award at the Royal Music Awards. Has he any tips for other jet-setting travellers? "Bring your underwear in your hand-luggage, because you'll always lose your bag," he says after giving this probing question some thought. Other fans of the man from Strabane spotted at the leisurely lunch-cum-launch include the ubiquitous John and Odette Rocha, boy-band guru Louis Walsh and film-maker Gerald Heffernan, of Frontier Films. Guggi, the artist with long streaming hair and snake-skin boots, has also joined the group to enjoy Brady's singing, to congratulate him and break bread with him.
He's not nervous at all at the idea that his own exhibition is to be opened later that evening - at the Solomon Gallery. Don't artists feel stripped naked when their work goes public after months of preparation? "I'll be a bit more naked than I am now," he says. "But I'm excited about it." "I'm very pleased with the show. I genuinely think this is my best show."
The boy from Ballymun is still known as Derek Rowen by his family but whatever his friends call him, they'll be calling him the birthday boy today. We'll keep his age a secret but let's just say that it's a perfect age. Happy Birthday, Guggi.