{"id":372445,"date":"2026-03-30T04:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/372445\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T04:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:51:07","slug":"orna-larkin-of-intercontinental-dublin-on-what-inspires-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/372445\/","title":{"rendered":"Orna Larkin Of InterContinental Dublin On What Inspires Her"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the days grow longer and the first signs of spring begin to emerge, the InterContinental Dublin<\/a> is marking the season with a refreshed afternoon tea offering led by executive pastry chef Orna Larkin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hotel\u2019s Easter Afternoon Tea will run until April 12, before the Spring Afternoon Tea returns from April 12-30. Served in the Lobby Lounge and Reading Room, the experience looks out over the hotel\u2019s garden terrace, where early seasonal growth reflects the menu\u2019s focus on fresh, bright flavours.<\/p>\n

The offering combines classic elements with contemporary touches, from savouries such as smoked salmon on soda bread and spring leek quiche, to pastries including rhubarb tart, pistachio financier and banana and Baileys choux. Alongside this, guests can choose from a selection of loose-leaf teas, coffee, or champagne options.<\/p>\n

In this interview, Larkin discusses the inspiration behind the menu, what she loves most about her job, and her own unique journey to becoming a pastry chef.<\/p>\n

What can guests expect from the Easter afternoon tea?<\/p>\n

We take classic seasonal flavours and put a bit of a spin on them. For Easter, instead of hot cross buns, we\u2019re doing hot cross cinnamon rolls, something a little more elevated but still familiar.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also doing a carrot and vanilla entre, inspired by the tradtional carrot cake, and a milk chocolate and cornflake tart, so there\u2019s that nostalgic Easter element, but with a bit more flavour and fun.<\/p>\n

What excites you most about the menu this year?<\/p>\n

One of the most exciting things was working with rhubarb grown in our own garden. A few years ago, I asked our gardener, Nick, if we could plant and force rhubarb, and this year it finally came through.<\/p>\n

We used it for the Mother\u2019s Day afternoon tea in a rhubarb, vanilla tonka bean entremet. It was amazing to work with something grown just 20 feet away. I love that process from idea to final product.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us about your background?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m from Bray, and I always knew I wanted to be a chef. After school, though, I ended up studying Commerce in UCD, which, in hindsight, wasn\u2019t for me. It was during that time that I really realised I wanted to pursue cooking.<\/p>\n

I did panic a bit, as I felt like I\u2019d spent years on something that wasn\u2019t leading me where I wanted to go, while my friends were moving into careers. My sister and I looked at the best options, and that\u2019s when I decided to move to London to study at Le Cordon Bleu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very intensive course. You can complete it in a year instead of four. You\u2019re working Monday to Saturday, about 14 hours a day, which suited me much more than a traditional college setting. I lived in Camden and would have loved to stay, but London is very expensive when you\u2019re starting out as a commis chef.<\/p>\n

So I moved back to Dublin and decided to apply to places I really wanted to work, whether they were hiring or not. One of those was the Four Seasons, and I\u2019ve been here ever since.<\/p>\n

Where do you think your desire to bake came from?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always loved cooking and baking. My whole family is very into food, even though they all work in finance. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve always shared, and it\u2019s been that way since I was a child.<\/p>\n

It was how we spent time together, so I always knew it was something I really enjoyed. I also think I need a creative outlet, and this job gives me that. It\u2019s the perfect fit.<\/p>\n

What surprised you the most when you entered the industry?<\/p>\n

How different this kitchen is from how kitchens are often portrayed in the media. This environment is much kinder and more understanding than what you would expect. I know a lot of people are speaking out now and saying that, unfortunately, many of those negative depictions are accurate, but that hasn\u2019t been my experience here.<\/p>\n

If it were like that, I wouldn\u2019t still be here 13 years later. What really surprised me is that it\u2019s possible to have a life outside of work. Going into hospitality, my biggest fear was that I\u2019d be working every night and weekend, and essentially saying goodbye to friends. But that hasn\u2019t been the case.<\/p>\n

We make a real effort, especially in pastry, to ensure everyone has a fair schedule. We rotate shifts and make sure people get every third or fourth weekend off, so they can maintain a sense of normal life. I don\u2019t believe that passion for your work should come at the expense of having a personal life.<\/p>\n

What do you love most about your job?<\/p>\n

Definitely the creativity. For example, yesterday we launched our Easter display, and I\u2019m given full creative control, no one really questions what I\u2019m doing or how I approach it. So I’ve been designing chocolate chickens all week, which is really fun to bring to life.<\/p>\n

Things like building the gingerbread house at Christmas are is a big part of it. It\u2019s that constant creative outlet that I love. The fact that we change our menus so often is what keeps me going.<\/p>\n

I don’t really have a kind of typical day which is really nice for me. If there were typical days, this would not be a job for me. I like that it’s different every week.<\/p>\n

I’m really lucky with the team that I have. We are all genuinely really good friends.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us about any upcoming projects?<\/p>\n

We are actually opening a new restaurant in the hotel. Up until this year, Seasons Restaurant has mainly been used for big events, like rugby days and similar occasions. Outside of that, it\u2019s mostly just been a breakfast service for the past few years.<\/p>\n

Now, though, they\u2019re completely stripping it back and doing a full refurbishment. It\u2019s going to be an entirely new concept, which is really exciting.\u00a0It should be opening within the next 10 to 12 weeks.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the restaurant is completely sealed off as it\u2019s still a building site, so we haven\u2019t been able to see the progress up close.\u00a0I think we\u2019re all just really looking forward to getting in there, seeing the finished space, and starting the process of designing the menus.<\/p>\n

What do you like to do when you are not working?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a big reader, so I\u2019m usually reading something.<\/p>\n

Between that and having two dogs, I\u2019m either out walking them or, honestly, cooking at home. I still spend a lot of time doing that.<\/p>\n

Where is your favourite holiday destination?<\/p>\n

My husband and I went on a driving honeymoon through Texas a few years ago. Last year, we did something similar in the US, travelling through Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans, and this year we\u2019re planning Boston, Cape Cod and Maine.<\/p>\n

We really enjoy driving holidays, the control of moving from place to place at your own pace and having that sense of freedom. I especially love American driving holidays. What stands out is how different each place can be. New Orleans, for example, feels completely different to Nashville, even though they\u2019re relatively close. The variety, particularly when it comes to food, is incredible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something I\u2019d love to do in Europe as well. It would be great to drive through different European countries on a food-focused trip over a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the days grow longer and the first signs of spring begin to emerge, the InterContinental Dublin is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,167074,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-372445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-intercontinental-dublin","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372445","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=372445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}