City Bites: We talk to Peter McKenna and Kevin Dow from Glasgow’s Gannet

We visit the Gannet to hear Peter McKenna and Kevin Dow’s background in hospitality.

Transcript

00:00We're in Finistoun, and we're in The Gannet, which is one of my favourite restaurants in the city.

00:05Peter, you're the head chef and owner here. How did you end up in Glasgow?

00:10You know what? It's funny. I ended up in Glasgow through a chance meeting in Australia, where I actually learned to make that dressing.

00:18My goodness. There you go.

00:21It was a lovely lady brought me to this city, and I met her 20-odd years ago.

00:25What was your experience before that? What were the cities that you were involved in before that, or the places that informed your food?

00:30I came from Ireland. I came from Monaghan, which is a small town on the border.

00:34You know, grew up in the 80s and 90s.

00:37It was a lot of home cooking. My grandmother was a fantastic baker. My mother's a great cook.

00:43My mother lived in London for years, so she picked up Pakistani dishes and Greek dishes.

00:48So we were always eating something exciting. You know, so that's my foundation.

00:52My parents liked to eat out, and we were lucky enough to have a few good restaurants around us.

00:56I got to work at the weekends and after school in a Mediterranean restaurant called the Mediterraneo for the dairies.

01:03Really good friends of mine to this day.

01:05You know, learning to do the basics, making tiramisu, you know, peeling, chopping, and just getting that bug for the kitchen, you know.

01:13But, you know, getting an idea of this is what I want to do with my life. There was nothing else I wanted to do.

01:21Cooking was it for me, because I was never going to be a rock star.

01:24Well, there's still time, Peter.

01:26Kevin, what's your kind of Glasgow story?

01:29My Glasgow story? I was born and bred West End, grew up on Byers Road.

01:34Did you move to Finiston when it was an established culinary mecca, or did you move to it when it was a bit of the Wild West?

01:39Just when it was a bit of the Wild West. Just before. On the cusp, I believe, I would say.

01:45It was just as places were opening. I was working, looking for a job. I was working elsewhere.

01:52I'd sold my house, and I didn't have anywhere to live at the time.

01:55I was staying with various people, and I didn't want to change jobs at that point.

02:00When I got my house, I started looking for a job, and the first one I looked at was actually here,

02:05and it was somewhere I wanted to come and work. I'd heard about and knew about, and I came round and spoke to the guys.

02:13The rest, they say, is history.