Galway Advertiser 1990/1990_09_13/GA_13091990_E1_008.pdf 

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ON FROLICS

The son shone on the Clarenbridge Oyster Festival and British cookery expert, Keith Floyd beamed on the crowd.
Floyd is television pro tionally forknown internagrammes like Floyd on Food, Floyd on France, Floyd on Britain and Ireland. He has owned some of Britain's best restaurants, and has little tolerance of diners who do not appreciate fine cuisine. Socially he has a reputa tion for being a bit of a hell raiser - some compare him to a culinary Oliver Reed. But in Clarenbridge there was little evidence of mis. Dressed in a maroon corduroy suit, complete with waistcoat, flowery dickie bow and brown suede shoes, he looked outrageous and acted charmingly. Keith Floyd gets asked to officiate at functions all the time. He cannot and will not go to all of them. "I only go to things I like. I like oysters, stout and Ireland, so I love being here," be said, taking a drink from his pint. Despite his layers of clothes he showed little signs of wilting in the heat. He explained he had a cold and had eaten boxes of lozenges for his sore throat. "You need to drink lots of liquids with a cold, don't you?" he asked with the roguish grin for which he is famous. v ^ ^ e d which of his programmes he most en joyed making, he answered without hesita tion. "To date, Australia has been the best. We did so many things. We went walking with Aborigines, we dived off the Great Barrier Reef, we went tuna fishing and we went cattle herding in helicopters," he said gleefully. According to Keith the fish in Australia is "something else". His claimed the oysters didn't compare to those in Clarenbridge though. cook much these days.

Bacon and Cabbage
"At the moment, I only cook once a week, usually on a Sunday. In Kinsale I enjoy having Irish food, like bacon and cabbage and Irish stew. "I love exotic food, but I also love plain cooking," he explained. "At present I am interested in Thai cooking, my favourite dish is shrimps and prawns done in coconut milk, lemon grass and chilli." But he always goes back to roast leg of lamb, Irish stew, or bacon in parsley sauce. In his Devon pub his staff ocassionally cook bel ly of pork and cabbage for mm. "There are only two types of food," he insisted. "'Good and bad. The most important thing about cooking is the shopping. Whatever your budget it is vital to get good ingre dients. For instance it is better to buy a quality piece of bacon than second

The "Quiet Side" of Keith Floyd as he samples a Galway Bay Oyster
quality steak." He also maintained cooking should be done with and for other people. "It's 100% of my life, almost..." he laughed. "In the early days, I was so in terested in giving people a good time, I didn't look after the financial end of things, and suffered. Now I hire people to do that for me." players make a mistake, I can tell them where they went wrong. " Keith Floyd was reticent about his reputation as a hell raiser. "Half of me is flam boyant, and half is quiet. I like sport and I like events like this, but I don't do it every day. I'm not as wild as people think." He loves flitting about, getting on planes, but he also loves going home. "I like doing things to the best of my ability, and bringing a bit of sunshine into people's lives. That's what it's all about," be said with a sunny smile.

Juicy Oysters
"I was at the Sydney Oyster Festival and their oysters aren't a patch on Irish ones which I think are the best in the world, really fat and juicy." "Hind you, there are wonderful oysters in the Helford River in Cornwall fairly near where I live. Maybe I should get Mur phy's to sponsor a festival there, and we could all visit each o t h e r , " he laughed. Keith owns a pub in Devon which is famous for its fine food. He trains his bar staff to pull stout the way it is done here. "In England generally they don't let it settle, but in my bar they do." Keith acts as host in his bar, and "lends a sense of style to the place" Although his life revolves around food he doesn't get a chance to

Floyd the Hell Raiser
He is very interested in sport and says he is an armchair rugby player. "Five seconds after the

THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL LEANEST

Floyd on Oz
Keith Floyd had come to Galway from Dublin, but before that he had been in Cork. He has a holiday home in Kinsale. "I saw the All Ireland hurling final there. It's a wonderful game, and I en joyed it so much, I am per suading Murphy's (the Festival sponsors) to get me a ticket for the football final." Keith has recently arriv ed back from Australia, where he was filming Floyd on Oi. It will go out on television next spring and he is currently writing the book to accompany the programme. He says Kinsale is the ideal place to do this, because it is quiet, and be is allowed to work.

99p

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THE BLUE RAINCOAT RESTAURANT
At the Spanish Arch Gallery Long Walk Will open on Thursday, Sept 20th
LUNCH -- 12.30 p.m. -- 3 p.m. D I N N E R -- 7.00 p.m. -- Midnight
RESERVATIONS A "Flamboyant" yes to the best Oysters in the World!