Shamrock-shaped potato cakes and a potato-peeling competition are some of the quirky ways one small Dublin city centre restaurant is marking St Patrick’s Day in the midst of the pandemic.
Steve Quilligan, owner of the Irish Potato Cake Company on Bachelor’s Walk, said it had been a “horrendous” year for the small business, which opened in January last year, less than three months before Covid-19 restrictions were introduced.
“By March 1 we were getting really busy. I was saying, ‘Wow, this is going to be a successful operation for sure’. We were perfectly timed to pick up the St Patrick’s Day boom,” he said.
“Instead, as you know, Covid hit.”
Now the restaurant is restricted to takeaways and Mr Quilligan said it is increasingly difficult to continue operating as it lies heavily on tourists.
De shamrock-shaped Beef&Guinness potato cake for Paddy's Day
☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
Sher where wudya be goin ??#StPatricksDay2021 pic.twitter.com/XLrKdHsEqN— Irish Potato Cake Company (@DannyMulligans1) March 7, 2021
“The city centre has been absolutely devastated by the lack of tourists, the lack of students. They’re all gone and also the workers. They are all at home in the suburbs,” he said.
“It’s been a rubbish year. For the first lockdown it was panic stations. But when we reopened outdoor dining took off. We were doing much better than before. But then the winter comes and it’s not so much fun.
“It’s curtains for everybody if outdoor dining doesn’t start in May and June.
“I know loads of restaurateurs and I know loads of lads who are giving up hope and are waiting to sell.
“It’s going to have a devastating effect on the city centre. It’s a pity because we need our city centres to be vibrant.”
He said the only upside is that he rediscovered his love of cooking.
“I had to actually do the work. I had to come in and start cooking and do everything. I couldn’t afford it otherwise.
“I was feeling really down, I thought what’s the point. Naturally you start to question. But once I started cracking on and doing the cooking, I loved it.
“It’s been a horrendous thing but it forced me into going 100% into the business.
“I’m doing everything from ordering food to being chief bottle washer.
“It keeps you going in your head anyways, if not financially.”
Despite the difficulties facing the industry, Mr Quilligan said he was determined to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
“I wanted to do something positive but also something in the real world, something that wasn’t online,” he said. “Virtual is so boring.
“So we have a beef and Guinness shamrock-shaped potato cake on the takeaway menu.
“Then we thought we’d get people to peel potato for us outside as a laugh.
“They put the funny hat on, peel potatoes and obviously maintain social distancing and wear masks. We give them a homemade lemonade or cup of tea or sample of potato cake if they tag us on Instagram.”
He hopes it will lift people’s spirits for St Patrick’s Day: “We’re trying our utmost anyway, as they say.”
