Nick Price

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We have described Nick Price as “the greatest cook in the history of Northern Ireland”, and we meant it, and we were right. In the dog days of the North's Troubles, Mr Price was cooking food in Daft Eddy's in Sketrick the like of which people had never seen – smart food, tasty food, unmannered and improvised food, food that didn't take itself too seriously, food that was a sheer delight. He moved to Kilmood and cooked beautifully there, and for more than twenty years he has been cooking delightful food in Hill Street, in Nick's Warehouse. Most folk ascribe his success to a wonderful sense of humour, and he is witty and self-deprecating. But that's not the real reason he has prospered, and survived for so long. Mr Price is a polyglot: he knows the business from soup to nuts, he knows the good stuff, and he understands it as an intellectual, which is one reason why we often make a comparison between Mr Price and Myrtle Allen.

He has produced, in addition to some of our favourite food, a smashing book called “The Accidental Chef” (“I didn't set out to be a chef, I wanted to be a manager...”) and it's a rare and compelling book because it is actually more about Mr Price's family than it is about his work and his cooking. He never puts himself forward, yet it is to the forefront that his talent ensures he arrives. Of course, he flatly denies being the most important chef in the history of Northern Ireland. But then, he would say that, wouldn't he?

Nick's Warehouse, 35-39 Hill Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland
+44 28 9042 9690
www.nickswarehouse.co.uk