Irish TV series or program
| Guerrilla Gourmet |
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| Country of origin | Ireland |
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| Original language | English |
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| No. of series | 1 |
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| No. of episodes | 6 |
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| Network | RTÉ One |
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| Release | 11 February 2008 (2008-02-11) |
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Guerrilla Gourmet is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. The series features professional chefs from various backgrounds, such as Dylan McGrath and Kevin Dundon, who each take on a new challenge. Each episode sees a different chef try to construct a temporary "guerrilla restaurant" out of nothing, taking on the task of locating a premises, composing a menu, cooking the food to serve to the customers and finding the actual customers themselves. The six-part series began broadcasting on 11 February 2008 at 20:30. Locations featured include Blackrock College, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and the Rock of Cashel.
Episodes
The first episode featured Kevin Dundon.[1][2] He regularly features on The Afternoon Show and both owns and manages Dunbrody Country House Hotel in County Wexford alongside his wife Catherine.[1][2] Dundon establishes a restaurant in Saint Saviour's Boxing Club in Waterford.[1][2] Four of the fifty members of the boxing club prepare the food, including pigeon and tomato and poitín soup,[3][4] in the temporary kitchen.[1][2]
The second episode features Denis Cotter.[5] He is described as a "vegetarian icon" and "hero to non-meat eaters", beginning his career as a banker before quitting to form his own restaurant business.[5] In 1993 he opened his award-winning Café Paradiso restaurant in Cork.[5] Cotter's challenge sees him construct a "Gary Larson-esque world where he turns reality inside out" – he establishes a vegetarian restaurant in Bandon Mart to attract local beef farmers to try his vegetarian options.[5] Cotter also has a fear of cattle.[5]
The third episode features Kevin Thornton.[6] He is described as a "gastronomic legend" in Ireland.[6] He has a Michelin star restaurant and is also fond of photography and scuba diving.[6] His family includes one wife, two sons and two grandchildren.[6] Thornton chooses to house his temporary restaurant at the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, having grown up in the area as a child.[6] He cooks rabbit, scallops and sea urchins for twenty-eight people without the use of electricity.[7]
The fourth episode features Anita Thoma.[8] She has spent much of her adult life engaged in the process of cooking, but only recently set up her own business in Dublin, Il Primo.[8] Her father emigrated to Ireland from Switzerland in the 1940s.[8] She is described as being in possession of a Mediterranean menu and "personally sourced" Tuscan wines.[8] She blends food with performance so takes her temporary restaurant to Fossett's Circus.[8]
The fifth episode features Dan Mullane.[9] He is from County Limerick.[9] He owns The Mustard Seed restaurant and grows his ingredients in his own vegetable garden.[9] He attended catering college after school and emphasisies "hospitality, generosity and the personal touch".[9] He says he will never open another restaurant.[9] Having boarded in Blackrock College in Dublin, Mullane returns there with his temporary restaurant.[9]
The sixth and final episode features Dylan McGrath.[10] He owns Mint in Ranelagh, Dublin.[10] He was brought up in West Belfast before attending catering college.[10] His cooking style is that of an artist and he is known to serve his food in darkness so that his guests can "hone their taste buds".[10] McGrath chooses a dark room in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin as his temporary restaurant venue.[10] One week after filming he received his first Michelin star and achieved further fame when he was involved in a fight with fellow chef, Kevin Dundon, on the live television chat show Tubridy Tonight.[11]
