When you walk through the front door of MacNean House in Blacklion, Co Cavan, there is a warmth and a welcome that you just don’t find in many restaurants. It’s an ambience that can’t be created overnight, it is one that evolves through years of hard work and memories. It’s a natural evolution, and it is so very natural at MacNean House.
That front door you walk through is the same one that the nine Maguire children came through every day after school and when you’re in the dining room, it’s not hard to imagine the family having tea around what Neven Maguire calls “the biggest kitchen table”. It is also the place where in 1970, Neven’s parents Joe and Vera Maguire opened a small restaurant to host Sunday lunches and local dinner dances.
Neven Maguire's MacNean House
Neven says: “I still have those original menus that my mother created with the classics of the time – prawn cocktail, melon balls, of course a lovely piece of fish such as sole and the favourite, baked Alaska. For the time, for the area, she was doing a good business.”
A troubled past
It is only when you visit Blacklion, however, that you realise how accurate the phrase “sitting on the border” is. The bridge that connects Blacklion in Co Cavan to the town of Belcoo in Co Fermanagh is just moments away from the restaurant and the garda station sits directly opposite it. In 1973, during the height of the Troubles, a car parked outside the restaurant prompted fear. A full evacuation followed and shortly after, the car blew up, wiping out the front of the restaurant. “Thankfully no one was injured,” says Neven, “but it was devastating for my parents, the business they had worked so hard for, our family home, it disappeared in an instant.”
Neven and Amelda Maguire MacNean House
The story could have ended there. MacNean House could have been just another tragic story of the Troubles. Blacklion could have been another rural town devastated by the violence of the era. But Vera Maguire wouldn’t let that be the end of her story, their family story. “It did take 15 years, busy years, rebuilding, raising all of us kids and doing a bit of B&B, but in 1989 my parents decided to re-open the doors of MacNean House as a restaurant. Thirty years ago, a new chapter of our family business began.”
It was a case of unfinished business for Vera, but Neven’s interest in food was also a factor. “I was 16 and I had been cooking with my mother since I was 11, and while all my brothers and sisters were also tasked with peeling potatoes and polishing glasses, I had the real passion for cooking.”
The start of a career
As Neven grew older, that passion might have come with a few notions. “Off I went to culinary school and I was coming back saying to Mam I wanted to put kangaroo and crocodile on the menu.
“I remember Dad going off to Sligo and asking him to get me star anise and vanilla pods,” he laughs. “In fairness, she allowed me the freedom to be creative but the staples always stayed on the menu, local beef and Thornhill duck from up the road that has been on the menu for the full 30 years.”
It was actually Neven’s travel that focused the mind. “I was encouraged to get experience in different restaurants and locations. I trained in London, San Sebastian in Spain, Luxembourg, mostly Michelin-starred restaurants and I started to understand that what is local is beautiful, the exceptional quality of Irish ingredients.”
It was around this time that Neven started winning numerous accolades and in tandem with that, he got his big gig on TV. “I’ll never forget the nervousness driving to RTÉ to make spicy chicken salad on TV with Marty Whelan and Mary Kennedy but pretty soon after that, I became resident chef on Open House. For six years, I was there every Tuesday and it was a real game-changer.
MacNean House Neven Maguire
“Suddenly we noticed that it wasn’t just locals coming to the restaurant, people were driving from Dublin. I remember myself and Amelda going on holidays, we were in Timoleague in west Cork when these two women started chatting to me and knew my name. You can’t imagine the kind of impact that can have on a business.”
Then one day it all changed. “In 1999, my father was killed in a car accident in Sligo. It was so sudden, devastating really. My mother, well she never really got over it. She had great faith, both my parents did, but that really tested her.
Neven (second left) with his parents Joe and Vera and Eamon McCourty, a local chef at the time.
“And then a few years after, she was in an accident where a tyre hit the back of her head. She never went into the kitchen after that. The busy environment was too much for her.”
The reins were officially handed over but Neven says until she died in 2012, she was always there to give him guidance and advice.
“Being 30 years in business brings me a lot of pride and we’ve had such highs over the years, but that longevity doesn’t come without its challenges, and these are the challenges that you would never imagine.”
The female influence
While Vera led the way in those early years, the second phase of MacNean House also has a team of strong women by Neven’s side. This includes his wife Amelda; head chef Carmel McGirr; restaurant manager Blathín McCabe (whose palate for wines makes her one of the best sommeliers in the country), and his right-hand woman Andrea Doherty, who has the tough job of saying no when Neven says yes to every engagement, he laughs.
“Building the business with Amelda has brought a different family element. She is a fantastic businesswoman and has been there by my side as we grew from a small local restaurant to a 19-room guesthouse that can serve 110 people on any given night. We have developed the cookery school, the chefs table for private dining and we now employ 75 people in Blacklion. Her attention to detail, her eye for interiors and her solid advice is all tied up in the success of MacNean House.”
Neven says staffing is one of the most challenging day-to-day elements of running a business. “We are located in a very peaceful and scenic but very rural village, in Blacklion. Compare it to the bright lights of Dublin and London where chefs can build their experience. But we have had a solid core of staff for a long time that helps to ensure that consistency. And it’s important to me that we treat our staff well.
“That image of a loud, hot kitchen with the chef shouting his head off, that’s not us, that’s not me. Treating staff with respect is huge, and we reward them for that commitment. We’ve travelled as a team to London, Spain and France to dine in Michelin restaurants and be inspired by other chefs and food markets too.”
Speaking of Michelins, it’s not something Neven is too concerned about. “I’m much more concerned about making my customers happy rather than a Michelin judge and with it comes an extra pressure, it’s not just getting a Michelin, it is maintaining it. As long as the restaurant continues to remain full, that our customers continue to come back and have memorable food experiences, that means so much more to me.
“A woman, 90 years of age, said to me recently that she had the best meal of her life with us. There is no accolade that can top a compliment like that.”
So what’s the future for Blacklion? Well don’t expect to see Neven opening another restaurant. “Blacklion is my home, I can only be in one place at any given time. The cookery school gives me so much joy, I still love my TV work, writing in the Irish Farmers Journal, working with the Simply Better team in Dunnes Stores.
“Another premises would only distract from the core, that simple idea that my mother had to re-open her lovely local restaurant 30 years ago in 1989.” CL
When you walk through the front door of MacNean House in Blacklion, Co Cavan, there is a warmth and a welcome that you just don’t find in many restaurants. It’s an ambience that can’t be created overnight, it is one that evolves through years of hard work and memories. It’s a natural evolution, and it is so very natural at MacNean House.
That front door you walk through is the same one that the nine Maguire children came through every day after school and when you’re in the dining room, it’s not hard to imagine the family having tea around what Neven Maguire calls “the biggest kitchen table”. It is also the place where in 1970, Neven’s parents Joe and Vera Maguire opened a small restaurant to host Sunday lunches and local dinner dances.
Neven Maguire's MacNean House
Neven says: “I still have those original menus that my mother created with the classics of the time – prawn cocktail, melon balls, of course a lovely piece of fish such as sole and the favourite, baked Alaska. For the time, for the area, she was doing a good business.”
A troubled past
It is only when you visit Blacklion, however, that you realise how accurate the phrase “sitting on the border” is. The bridge that connects Blacklion in Co Cavan to the town of Belcoo in Co Fermanagh is just moments away from the restaurant and the garda station sits directly opposite it. In 1973, during the height of the Troubles, a car parked outside the restaurant prompted fear. A full evacuation followed and shortly after, the car blew up, wiping out the front of the restaurant. “Thankfully no one was injured,” says Neven, “but it was devastating for my parents, the business they had worked so hard for, our family home, it disappeared in an instant.”
Neven and Amelda Maguire MacNean House
The story could have ended there. MacNean House could have been just another tragic story of the Troubles. Blacklion could have been another rural town devastated by the violence of the era. But Vera Maguire wouldn’t let that be the end of her story, their family story. “It did take 15 years, busy years, rebuilding, raising all of us kids and doing a bit of B&B, but in 1989 my parents decided to re-open the doors of MacNean House as a restaurant. Thirty years ago, a new chapter of our family business began.”
It was a case of unfinished business for Vera, but Neven’s interest in food was also a factor. “I was 16 and I had been cooking with my mother since I was 11, and while all my brothers and sisters were also tasked with peeling potatoes and polishing glasses, I had the real passion for cooking.”
The start of a career
As Neven grew older, that passion might have come with a few notions. “Off I went to culinary school and I was coming back saying to Mam I wanted to put kangaroo and crocodile on the menu.
“I remember Dad going off to Sligo and asking him to get me star anise and vanilla pods,” he laughs. “In fairness, she allowed me the freedom to be creative but the staples always stayed on the menu, local beef and Thornhill duck from up the road that has been on the menu for the full 30 years.”
It was actually Neven’s travel that focused the mind. “I was encouraged to get experience in different restaurants and locations. I trained in London, San Sebastian in Spain, Luxembourg, mostly Michelin-starred restaurants and I started to understand that what is local is beautiful, the exceptional quality of Irish ingredients.”
It was around this time that Neven started winning numerous accolades and in tandem with that, he got his big gig on TV. “I’ll never forget the nervousness driving to RTÉ to make spicy chicken salad on TV with Marty Whelan and Mary Kennedy but pretty soon after that, I became resident chef on Open House. For six years, I was there every Tuesday and it was a real game-changer.
MacNean House Neven Maguire
“Suddenly we noticed that it wasn’t just locals coming to the restaurant, people were driving from Dublin. I remember myself and Amelda going on holidays, we were in Timoleague in west Cork when these two women started chatting to me and knew my name. You can’t imagine the kind of impact that can have on a business.”
Then one day it all changed. “In 1999, my father was killed in a car accident in Sligo. It was so sudden, devastating really. My mother, well she never really got over it. She had great faith, both my parents did, but that really tested her.
Neven (second left) with his parents Joe and Vera and Eamon McCourty, a local chef at the time.
“And then a few years after, she was in an accident where a tyre hit the back of her head. She never went into the kitchen after that. The busy environment was too much for her.”
The reins were officially handed over but Neven says until she died in 2012, she was always there to give him guidance and advice.
“Being 30 years in business brings me a lot of pride and we’ve had such highs over the years, but that longevity doesn’t come without its challenges, and these are the challenges that you would never imagine.”
The female influence
While Vera led the way in those early years, the second phase of MacNean House also has a team of strong women by Neven’s side. This includes his wife Amelda; head chef Carmel McGirr; restaurant manager Blathín McCabe (whose palate for wines makes her one of the best sommeliers in the country), and his right-hand woman Andrea Doherty, who has the tough job of saying no when Neven says yes to every engagement, he laughs.
“Building the business with Amelda has brought a different family element. She is a fantastic businesswoman and has been there by my side as we grew from a small local restaurant to a 19-room guesthouse that can serve 110 people on any given night. We have developed the cookery school, the chefs table for private dining and we now employ 75 people in Blacklion. Her attention to detail, her eye for interiors and her solid advice is all tied up in the success of MacNean House.”
Neven says staffing is one of the most challenging day-to-day elements of running a business. “We are located in a very peaceful and scenic but very rural village, in Blacklion. Compare it to the bright lights of Dublin and London where chefs can build their experience. But we have had a solid core of staff for a long time that helps to ensure that consistency. And it’s important to me that we treat our staff well.
“That image of a loud, hot kitchen with the chef shouting his head off, that’s not us, that’s not me. Treating staff with respect is huge, and we reward them for that commitment. We’ve travelled as a team to London, Spain and France to dine in Michelin restaurants and be inspired by other chefs and food markets too.”
Speaking of Michelins, it’s not something Neven is too concerned about. “I’m much more concerned about making my customers happy rather than a Michelin judge and with it comes an extra pressure, it’s not just getting a Michelin, it is maintaining it. As long as the restaurant continues to remain full, that our customers continue to come back and have memorable food experiences, that means so much more to me.
“A woman, 90 years of age, said to me recently that she had the best meal of her life with us. There is no accolade that can top a compliment like that.”
So what’s the future for Blacklion? Well don’t expect to see Neven opening another restaurant. “Blacklion is my home, I can only be in one place at any given time. The cookery school gives me so much joy, I still love my TV work, writing in the Irish Farmers Journal, working with the Simply Better team in Dunnes Stores.
“Another premises would only distract from the core, that simple idea that my mother had to re-open her lovely local restaurant 30 years ago in 1989.” CL
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