On a pre-COVID stay at the Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, I sat down with Noel McMeel, executive chef of Northern Ireland’s first 3 AA Rosette and multiple award-winning hotel restaurant, The Catalina. 
During our interview, we discussed his storied career and how understanding your roots ultimately makes you a better cook.
His range of experience spans the US, from the kitchens of Jean-Louis Palladin (The Watergate Hotel) in Washington DC to Alice Water’s Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. When he made it back home to Northern Ireland, he famously ran the kitchen at Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan. While there he catered the 2002 wedding of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, before taking on his current post at Lough Erne Resort, where he fed some of the world’s most powerful leaders during the 2013 G8 Summit. If you ask him how he built his success, however, he always brings you back to his loving family and humble roots.
Family values
“My family is everything; I really believe that,” he says. “Having been reared in a large family and learning to be self-sufficient; my memories of growing up are quite colourful. Back then, having to look after the garden and do our jobs was such a chore. Little did I know, my parents were filling my toolbox full of skills, and even today I am able to use them – I dig into the toolbox and take out all of that information that they gave me all those years ago.”
Noel McMeel with his mother Maureen. Noel credits his parents for developing his work ethic and instilling in him a deep love of fresh, seasonal ingredients.
He credits his parents and his farm upbringing for developing his work ethic and instilling in him a deep love of fresh, seasonal ingredients. His menu at The Catalina is a testament to this; each dish celebrating Irish producers while his award-winning breakfast buffet features the best of the locality: fresh-churned butters, traditional jams and sweet, sparking apple juice.
“My mother was one of the most amazing cooks because she was able to look after us all,” he laughs. “Even as children going to primary school – we had a fry in us every morning. We would come down, the fire would be roaring, the milk would be from the cows the day before (the cream skimmed off). There would always be wheaten bread, soda bread, treacle bread and scones with homemade jam.”
Taste of home
After our interview, as my husband and I sit down for dinner at The Catalina, I see his mother on the table. Not literally, of course, but as we sit we are brought a selection of breads. A trio – consisting of a wheaten, treacle and curried soda bread – served with fresh Abernathy butter; with such a tender crumb and delicate flavour, you can taste the passed-down tradition that goes into making them.
“Mammy’s originally from Fermanagh and when I took this position at Lough Erne she really thought that I was coming home; that I’d finally arrived,” Noel says. “I asked about the kinds of bread she would have had growing up in Fermanagh. I could have done focaccia and sourdough, but why would I if I’m in Enniskillen?”
A starter of a local delicacy, Lough Neagh eel, and scallop brings me back to my own childhood on Canada’s east coast; eating smoked eel with my father.
Smoked Lough Neagh eel, seared Irish scallop, Comber potato puree and Armagh bramley apple - a starter at The Catalina Restaurant, Lough Erne Resort.
The eel is caught close to where Noel grew up, in Moneyglass, Co Antrim, so it’s a special ingredient for him as well. My main course of pork is cooked three ways, but in each preparation the meat shines; the farmer who supplies Noel raises the pigs on a nearby island on the lake. The food is elaborate and high-end, but the tradition is apparent; you see it on paper, as part of the menu’s story, and especially in the flavour. I finish with one of Noel’s nostalgic desserts – his rice pudding with stewed fruit.
“On a fine-dining restaurant you really don’t get rice pudding, but let me tell you, it will stay on (the menu) till the day I die, because my father loved it,” he says. “It’s a homebird thing.”
Hospitality post-COVID-19
The Catalina Restaurant, Lough Erne Resort.
When the COVID-19 lockdown began in mid-March and the resort closed its doors, Noel took it as a sign to look inward and appreciate what’s good in life. Spending time with family and working in his much-loved garden (where, in normal times, his cooks would spend time learning about food and harvesting ingredients for the restaurant) he feels the lockdown provided him with some much-appreciated head space; also giving him the time to plan his return to The Catalina.
“The menus dictate quite a lot of what our post-lockdown offering will be,” he says. “It will be interesting to see what a five-star resort will look like with the new policies in place. I think, instead of seeing services removed, what we offer will actually be an enhancement in high-end hospitality.
“Our four- and six-bedroom lodges will now be able to order (from The Catalina). If you’re in Enniskillen, you can come and pick up an afternoon tea, whereas you couldn’t do that before. Our aim is always to give our customers something that will exceed what’s available in Northern Ireland.”
*Accommodation and dinner for Janine’s stay were provided by Lough Erne Resort. The Catalina Restaurant will reopen on 17 July.
On a pre-COVID stay at the Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, I sat down with Noel McMeel, executive chef of Northern Ireland’s first 3 AA Rosette and multiple award-winning hotel restaurant, The Catalina.
During our interview, we discussed his storied career and how understanding your roots ultimately makes you a better cook.
His range of experience spans the US, from the kitchens of Jean-Louis Palladin (The Watergate Hotel) in Washington DC to Alice Water’s Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. When he made it back home to Northern Ireland, he famously ran the kitchen at Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan. While there he catered the 2002 wedding of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, before taking on his current post at Lough Erne Resort, where he fed some of the world’s most powerful leaders during the 2013 G8 Summit. If you ask him how he built his success, however, he always brings you back to his loving family and humble roots.
Family values
“My family is everything; I really believe that,” he says. “Having been reared in a large family and learning to be self-sufficient; my memories of growing up are quite colourful. Back then, having to look after the garden and do our jobs was such a chore. Little did I know, my parents were filling my toolbox full of skills, and even today I am able to use them – I dig into the toolbox and take out all of that information that they gave me all those years ago.”
Noel McMeel with his mother Maureen. Noel credits his parents for developing his work ethic and instilling in him a deep love of fresh, seasonal ingredients.
He credits his parents and his farm upbringing for developing his work ethic and instilling in him a deep love of fresh, seasonal ingredients. His menu at The Catalina is a testament to this; each dish celebrating Irish producers while his award-winning breakfast buffet features the best of the locality: fresh-churned butters, traditional jams and sweet, sparking apple juice.
“My mother was one of the most amazing cooks because she was able to look after us all,” he laughs. “Even as children going to primary school – we had a fry in us every morning. We would come down, the fire would be roaring, the milk would be from the cows the day before (the cream skimmed off). There would always be wheaten bread, soda bread, treacle bread and scones with homemade jam.”
Taste of home
After our interview, as my husband and I sit down for dinner at The Catalina, I see his mother on the table. Not literally, of course, but as we sit we are brought a selection of breads. A trio – consisting of a wheaten, treacle and curried soda bread – served with fresh Abernathy butter; with such a tender crumb and delicate flavour, you can taste the passed-down tradition that goes into making them.
“Mammy’s originally from Fermanagh and when I took this position at Lough Erne she really thought that I was coming home; that I’d finally arrived,” Noel says. “I asked about the kinds of bread she would have had growing up in Fermanagh. I could have done focaccia and sourdough, but why would I if I’m in Enniskillen?”
A starter of a local delicacy, Lough Neagh eel, and scallop brings me back to my own childhood on Canada’s east coast; eating smoked eel with my father.
Smoked Lough Neagh eel, seared Irish scallop, Comber potato puree and Armagh bramley apple - a starter at The Catalina Restaurant, Lough Erne Resort.
The eel is caught close to where Noel grew up, in Moneyglass, Co Antrim, so it’s a special ingredient for him as well. My main course of pork is cooked three ways, but in each preparation the meat shines; the farmer who supplies Noel raises the pigs on a nearby island on the lake. The food is elaborate and high-end, but the tradition is apparent; you see it on paper, as part of the menu’s story, and especially in the flavour. I finish with one of Noel’s nostalgic desserts – his rice pudding with stewed fruit.
“On a fine-dining restaurant you really don’t get rice pudding, but let me tell you, it will stay on (the menu) till the day I die, because my father loved it,” he says. “It’s a homebird thing.”
Hospitality post-COVID-19
The Catalina Restaurant, Lough Erne Resort.
When the COVID-19 lockdown began in mid-March and the resort closed its doors, Noel took it as a sign to look inward and appreciate what’s good in life. Spending time with family and working in his much-loved garden (where, in normal times, his cooks would spend time learning about food and harvesting ingredients for the restaurant) he feels the lockdown provided him with some much-appreciated head space; also giving him the time to plan his return to The Catalina.
“The menus dictate quite a lot of what our post-lockdown offering will be,” he says. “It will be interesting to see what a five-star resort will look like with the new policies in place. I think, instead of seeing services removed, what we offer will actually be an enhancement in high-end hospitality.
“Our four- and six-bedroom lodges will now be able to order (from The Catalina). If you’re in Enniskillen, you can come and pick up an afternoon tea, whereas you couldn’t do that before. Our aim is always to give our customers something that will exceed what’s available in Northern Ireland.”
*Accommodation and dinner for Janine’s stay were provided by Lough Erne Resort. The Catalina Restaurant will reopen on 17 July.
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