Niall Davidson shares his life in food, from his earliest memories to his favourite flavours and culinary inspirations.
Niall Davidson is chef-proprietor of allta, in Dublin’s Docklands. Originally opened on South Frederick Street in 2019, the restaurant quickly began making waves, and news of its return in early 2024 set a shiver of excitement down the spine of Ireland’s food scene. Here he shares his life in food.
What are your earliest memories of food?
It sounds cliched, but some of my earliest food memories aren’t great! I was the fussiest of eaters when I was young. Some of the ingredients I now cherish and have grown to love I totally despised as a child. From a personal connection with food, my fondest memories are my dad’s curry, my mum’s bolognese, and my granny’s fresh bread that filled her house every morning when we stayed as kids.
How would you describe your relationship with food?
As I grew older and made the connection between food and farming, I think that’s when my relationship grew massively. It is pretty impossible to cook amazing food if your raw ingredients are not the best possible and at peak condition. Over the years it has become an obsession, and getting these ingredients into the kitchen sparks my excitement and makes it easy for me to create new dishes.
What was the first meal you learned to cook?
Fried bread when I was about seven years old, it totally blew my mind. Then at 11, I vividly remember roasting my first chicken, experimenting with injecting the resting juices back into the breast.
What’s your go-to breakfast?
My wife Liza and I love breakfast together on the weekends. We don’t get many opportunities to cook during the week but Sunday breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the week. Our current go-to is croissants gently heated, loose scrambled eggs from my mum’s chickens, Burren smoked salmon and avocado.
If you’re impressing friends and family at a dinner party, what are you serving up?
Honestly I’d just invite them to the restaurant or get Al Higgins to cook instead from his backyard BBQ. He’s a long term photographer and friend and his dinner parties are epic, I couldn’t come close.
Who is your culinary inspiration?
It changes from time to time but some of my longterm heroes and biggest inspirations that I admire and look up to—and after meeting them in real life are even better (unfortunately sometimes it’s the total opposite)—would be Neil Perry and Alexandre Couillon.
What would your last meal on earth be?
On Killoughter beach in Wicklow, with my wife Liza under a midsummer evening sunset, eating grilled meats and vegetables from a disposable BBQ and drinking wine chilled in the sea as the waves crash on the shingle beach.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
Sun and Sand butter chicken in Newcastle, county Wicklow. It’s the best curry in Ireland.
What’s the go-to quick meal you cook when you’re tired and hungry?
My wife’s prawn pad thai with extra sweet chilli sauce.
What is one food or flavour you cannot stand?
Pig’s spleen, I pretty much eat everything else.
Hangover cure?
I enjoy a nice glass of wine or beer, but I’m not a huge drinker and haven’t been hungover in about five years so I wouldn’t know. Sorry for being boring!
Sweet or savoury?
Impossible to pick.
Fine dining or pub grub?
Fine dining. I crave Michelin stars!
Favourite restaurant in Ireland?
Liath, Olde Glen Bar & Restaurant, Lignum, Restaurant Chestnut, Dede, Terre, Assassination Custard — it’s impossible to choose.
Best coffee in Ireland?
Proper Order, Cloud Picker, Brew Lab.
What are your thoughts on the Irish foodie scene?
I think it’s expanding rapidly and there is a much more discerning and aware customer.
What’s your favourite thing about cooking?
Community, creativity, conviviality and adrenaline.
What does food — sitting down to a meal with friends, mindfully preparing a meal, nourishment, etc — mean to you?
The food is the vehicle for memories, laughter and love, but it also eases sad times too.
Food for thought — What are some areas for improvement within the Irish food/restaurant/hospitality scene?
I think that pushing community between chefs, creativity in young chefs and working on the constant challenge of creating financially viable restaurants where chefs don’t need to work more than 48 hours a week is the dream. Work/life balance is key to any long and successful business but it’s so tough without raising menu prices. A commitment to zero tolerance bullying or sexism is also key to my approach to managing my kitchens.
Chef’s kiss — Tell us about one standout foodie experience you’ve had recently.
Maison Sota Atsumi in Paris.
Compliments to the chef — Now’s your chance to sing the praises of a talented chef, beloved restaurant or particularly talented foodie family member.
I think it’s impossible to talk about Irish food without mentioning the people that make it so easy for me to cook their amazing produce. Jenny McNally and all the family, Ben Tyrrell of Woodtown Jersey, Micheal Brogan of Brogan’s Butcher’s, Juan Blanes of Glenmar Shellfish, Partick O’Sullivan of Cromane Bay Shellfish, Dermot Allen at Winetavern Farm, Grainne and the Calvey Family of Achill Island Lamb, Hilda and Dominic at Castleruddery to name a small amount of the amazing suppliers we work with on daily basis.
Secret ingredient — What, in your estimation, makes the perfect dining experience?
My current favourite one is smoked white soy.
