{"id":153709,"date":"2025-11-22T12:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/153709\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T12:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:32:09","slug":"my-interest-in-cooking-started-on-tv-big-fan-of-saturday-kitchen-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/153709\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My interest in cooking started on TV. Big fan of Saturday Kitchen\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m excited. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing where we can take it,\u201d says a low-key Lewis Barker as he sits by the fireplace in the lounge area of Terre<\/a> at Castlemartyr Resort in Cork. The \u201cproud Yorkshireman\u201d is speaking just a couple of weeks after arriving in Ireland to take over the role as executive chef at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant, a heady role no matter how experienced or skilled the cook. Barker has already made the kitchen his own, starting early with changes to the canap\u00e9 menu and quickly working his way up.<\/p>\n

He is taking over from Vincent Crepel, who departed Terre<\/a> earlier this year. The 32-year-old says he ended up in this tiny corner of Cork because he was \u201cready for a move\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept thinking to myself that something would come if I could just be patient \u2013 it\u2019s easy to kind of dive into something only for it not to work out. I feel that this is great for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barker is originally from Leeds but he has lost \u201ca little bit of the accent over the years\u201d. Unlike some other eminent chefs, he does not have a romantic family tale that gently guided him into his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have that \u2018granny cooking in the kitchen\u2019 or \u2018mum\u2019s recipe\u2019 memory that led some people into cooking. I come from a very working-class family, and my interest in cooking started on the TV,\u201d he says. \u201cBig fan of Saturday Kitchen, Rachel [Allen] from around the corner [in Ballymaloe], that sort of thing. [Gordon] Ramsay\u2019s Boiling Point was kind of my raw introduction to kitchens that made me think I\u2019d like to try and do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChefChef Lewis Barker, Executive Chef of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant \u201cTerre,\u201d at Castlemartyr Resort, Cork. Pic Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

He also loved reading cookbooks and immersing himself in their world. \u201cI just loved the symmetry, the art, the creativity of it all. I took food tech in my early teens too, so from year 10 [age 14 to 15] to my GCSEs, and that was it for me really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barker\u2019s first real food adventure was a part-time job at age 15 in Anthony\u2019s, a restaurant near his Leeds home, where he was bitten by the fine-dining bug. He started with basic jobs such as peeling potatoes and cleaning mussels. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to work faster, better, harder so I could jump into the action. Then I decided to study professional cookery at college. I did my VRQ [vocational-related qualification] levels one, two and three at Leeds City College while working at Anthony\u2019s, and then I decided to just travel. I kind of thought to myself, How far can I go?\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Quite far, as it turned out. He travelled to Australia for two years and worked in two of the country\u2019s best restaurants \u2013 Vue de Monde in Melbourne and Quay in Sydney \u2013 before spending a year in Barcelona. He landed in Singapore in 2016 and it remained his home for the better part of a decade. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I was in Barcelona, I looked into the idea of Singapore and the more I saw, the more interested I was. I ended up working with an Irish chef, Andrew Walsh, for a year when I moved over. Then I was approached to take on a sous chef position in Bacchanalia, a restaurant with one Michelin star,\u201d he says. \u201cIt closed during Covid, but I stayed on and partnered with the owners to open Sommer in 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LewisLewis Barker, executive chef of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Terre at Castlemartyr Resort, Cork. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

Aged 27, Barker took on a chef-patron partnership and won a Michelin star just nine months after opening, which the restaurant maintained until closing in October 2024. He had firmly set up a life there \u2013 his wife is a teacher, who will work out the rest of her contract before joining Barker in Cork next summer. The couple had their first child earlier this year, and Barker says that being apart from his wife and their seven-month-old has been extremely tough, despite believing that setting up a new life in Ireland is going to be better for them all in the long run. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter almost 10 years I was ready to move closer to home, so I had started looking at moving back to the UK,\u201d Barker says. \u201cMy parents are still in England and I wanted to be closer to them, especially after my wife and I had our son. Aside from all that, rents are super high in Singapore right now \u2013 it\u2019s so expensive \u2013 and there are so many restaurants closing, so it felt like it was the right time to leave.\u201d <\/p>\n

Having met the owners of Castlemartyr Resort, Dr Stanley Quek and Peng Loh, while living in Singapore, Barker says it felt right when he was approached to take on the role as executive head chef at Terre, which opened in 2022 and was promoted to two Michelin stars as part of the 2024 Guide. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of this industry: you make a connection and then you never know what opportunity might be around the corner. Once they approached me, everything happened pretty quickly and it felt like a no-brainer. I\u2019m lucky that I have a very understanding and supportive wife!\u201d <\/p>\n

Barker says he started developing dishes for the Terre menu as soon as he got confirmation of the role and is excited to continue connecting with local suppliers as he explores Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"LewisLewis Barker at Terre <\/p>\n

\u201cI like to describe my cooking as contemporary French modernised through Asian flavours. Not every dish of mine will have an Asian element, but it\u2019s all in the seasoning. That\u2019s something I really worked on while in Singapore, working with things like koji instead of just salt, or dashi, pozu, a little heat from chilli,\u201d says Barker. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to bring to Terre. There\u2019s something about Ireland that feels like home and after not having proper seasons for nine years, I\u2019m really excited to be able to have all four again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is full of praise for the kitchen team he has inherited too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a really talented team here already and working with them has been brilliant. We\u2019re using top-quality ingredients, like beef from Michael McGrath down in Shanagarry, Goatsbridge trout<\/a>, and Rossmore Oysters. Our Jersey cream comes from Ballymaloe House, so the cows are milked in the morning, then it\u2019s delivered in the afternoon \u2013 how incredible is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

On the day of our chat, Barker has been working with the team at Terre for a fortnight and is set to fully change the menu over the next few days. He describes the new experience as a journey through the local area and Ireland itself, including dishes such as line-caught sea bass aged for a week via a Japanese method called shioyaki \u2013 salting before cooking \u2013 that is then grilled and rested over smoking Midleton whiskey barrel logs. As many of the vegetables, herbs and flowers as possible are being sourced from the resort\u2019s garden and polytunnels. Overseen by head gardener Kevin O\u2019Shea, the garden is a project Barker really wants to emphasise over his first year. Even now, when there aren\u2019t that many plants in bloom, he has found a way to bring O\u2019Shea\u2019s work into the diningroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cKevin has been organising all of the arrangements on the tables and around the restaurant. They feature heather, herbs and the like from around the estate to introduce people to what he\u2019s doing,\u201d says Barker. \u201cAfter guests have their first two canap\u00e9s in the lounge, Kevin will bring them down the hallway to the kitchen, where they are served their next two before heading to the diningroom. The hallway is full of preserves and microgreens, and Kevin will explain them to guests. I want him to be able to tell his story throughout the year, he\u2019s proud of what he produces and I think involving him adds a little more to the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LewisLewis Barker at Terre <\/p>\n

While the full menu change is starting slowly, the two canap\u00e9s Barker has developed are already on offer and he serves them with pride. Describing them as \u201cmaximum flavour bombs\u201d, one is a tartlet inspired by tartare, with aged beef, fermented kansuri chilli paste, yuzu kosho, barbecued red pepper, N25 caviar and egg yolk jam. The other is made with citrus-cured Goatsbridge trout, ginger, shallots, sake-marinated roe, and katsuobushi emulsion. Flavour bombs indeed \u2013 they speak to the plan Barker is planning to execute at Terre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m such a perfectionist and I love the top-quality ingredients, precise execution and artistic flair you need to have for fine dining; that\u2019s why I\u2019ve always been drawn to this level of cooking. I\u2019m ambitious and I think there\u2019s always more to strive for. The day that you think you have nothing to learn is the day you know your passion is gone \u2013 and I still have a lot to learn and do here. Terre has two Michelin stars and I want to retain them, but I don\u2019t want to get carried away yet about winning more,\u201d says Barker. \u201cThis version of Terre that we\u2019re building is a completely new experience. I\u2019m here for the long haul, I\u2019m building a life here for my family and I can\u2019t wait for them to join me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m excited. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing where we can take it,\u201d says a low-key Lewis Barker as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46,93,64500,631,74127,61,60,709,46885,86850,5861],"class_list":{"0":"post-153709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cork","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-food-month","11":"tag-for-you","12":"tag-gordon-ramsay","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-magazine","16":"tag-michelin","17":"tag-rachel-allen","18":"tag-restaurant"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}