AARON Buckley, from a well-known family of restaurateurs in Cork city, chose Bantry as his family’s destination of choice in 2019 – before Covid.
He lost no time in opening another of his Uncle Pete’s restaurants in New Street in Bantry and the pizzeria quickly secured a great trade, which allowed him to close his operations in Cork and fully settle locally.
That, of course, was before the pandemic hit businesses with a wallop.
The changes that the food industry has gone through – not just Covid, but the vat hike from 9% back to 13.5% in the midst of growing wage costs, an energy crisis, and a massive cost of living hike – meant he and his wife Olivia also had to change.
The couple, together with their chef Suthat, turned their problems into opportunities by diversifying and creating a supper club offering fine dining every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening.
In November – with Aaron and Suthat in the kitchen and Olivia at front of house – they began to trial a six-course tasting menu to bring Asian flavours to the people of Bantry. Over a three-month period, an estimated 1,500 people sampled everything that Aaron and Suthat had to offer at Yum Yum, and came back for more.
Aaron said it was time to move away from offering just the tasting menu so they could cater for diverse dietary demands, welcome repeat customers, and showcase their talents to people willing to travel to Bantry for good food.
‘When you are creating a six-course tasting menu there is not much flexibility with it,’ said Aaron. ‘We couldn’t have a separate vegan or gluten-free menu, so customers weren’t able to come to us because they didn’t like fish, for example. We soon realised that going a la carte was the way forward.’
By the end of March, they were ready to add another string to their bow – Asian Fusion Street Food in the outdoor patio area they created during the pandemic.
That’s already very much in demand every Tuesday and Wednesday nights, as well during the day every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
When Aaron says Asian fusion, he means just that – cuisines include Thai, Japanese and Chinese. It’s a passion he revelled in while travelling throughout Asia as a young man, and second time around with his wife.
Aaron said he and Olivia wanted to make Bantry a home for them and their children Clementine (6) and Christy (4).
‘We wanted to get out of the city. We had a baby on the way at the time, and a small child,’ he said. ‘We wanted to bring the kids up in a natural environment.
‘We had been working our way gradually through West Cork for the previous 10 years, staying in different places, and the big thing was being able to live here for the same price as a rental on a Cork city apartment.’
Aaron said they are loving their new endeavour because fine dining and their a la carte menu allows them to create an experience for people, while others can have a holiday experience simply by eating Asian fusion food al fresco.
‘There are few places offering good Asian cuisine and even less so in a fine dining environment,’ he added. ‘We are confident we have found something in the market that people are willing to travel for, because it is something different.’
