Cork-based chef sets his sights on third Michelin star

AHMET Dede, of Baltimore’s two-star Michelin restaurant, Dede at The Customs House, says it’s very important to speak loudly about what you want from life. To be competitive; have a vision, invest in your personal journey, and work hard.

Ahmet came to Baltimore in 2017 to run his own kitchen for the first time. As head chef at The Mews, he came from central Dublin to sleepy Baltimore to work with ingredients only from West Cork, at a seasonal restaurant open just seven months of the year.

“We were the first restaurant to do that and will probably be the last,” he says. “I don’t see anyone replicating that because it’s challenging; you’re limited, but it was a good thing, and I enjoyed it.”

That manifesto earned Ahmet his first Michelin star in 2018, but just one year later, the restaurant closed.

Born and raised in Ankara, Turkey’s sprawling capital city, Ahmet’s family moved to the picturesque coastal town of Kuşadası. The bond he felt with the equally picturesque fishing village of Baltimore made the decision of what to do next a complex one.

“I always had a special connection with the coastline, the lifestyle of being near the sea,” Ahmet says. “There’s something in the air that just calms you down.”

Instantly connecting with village life, Ahmet worked hard connecting with local farmers, producers, and fishermen.

That was key for me; getting to know people. As a chef I should be in the farm, seeing what’s coming, planning, seeing what’s going to come. 

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I can talk to them: I want this, can they grow this, can they not grow this. That was the relationship I needed to have.”

The Michelin star Ahmet achieved at The Mews was the realisation of a personal ambition, but it was also a reflection of the dedication of his team and the network of producers that supplied the restaurant with impeccable ingredients.

“It was good for everybody,” he says. “I’ve been here seven years now, and still work with many of the same farmers. They have always been very good to me. In 2018, when I went to London to receive the first star, I said: ‘This is for West Cork – we did it, baby!’”

While at The Mews, Ahmet met Maria Archer, a Dublin businesswoman with a grá for Baltimore and had purchased the old customs house with a view to opening a coffee shop and delicatessen.

Maria asked Ahmet if she could work with him in his kitchen to gain some experience. They became firm friends, and Ahmet leaned on Maria for business advice and friendship.

The Customs House opened in July, 2019, a month before The Mews closed for its final ever season, and Ahmet and Maria worked together on a few Dede at The Customs House pop-up events during autumn and winter. But Ahmet was a chef without a job. Offers for positions flooded in, but he was reticent in making a hasty decision.

I was happy here. I felt I had started something. I had got my first Star here, had made friends, connected with people, and was starting to feel really good. I decided to not rush my decision.

Maria and her partner Shane approached Ahmet with the offer of sharing The Customs House space.

“Maria would run the coffee shop until 3pm, then I’d do my thing four nights a week as Ahmet Dede pop up, for a year, at The Custom House. That was the idea. I left for six weeks in Turkey for a break, to clear my head and decide what to do.

“It was a big decision,” Ahmet recalls, “and that decision led me to where I am now. I needed to be thinking clearer and be in the right head space.

“My family said I should stay [in Baltimore] because the village had been good to me; West Cork had been good to me. I was very happy here. I was finding myself, and my shoulders weren’t heavy anymore. If I could stay here and bring over my chefs [from Turkey], then this would be amazing.”

Ahmet started with a series of evening pop-ups. There was no pressure to retain the Star achieved with The Mews and no pressure to for another, yet. His priority was celebrating the food of his homeland.

“I am Turkish, that’s my background. I love Turkish food, I love spicy food, I love big aromas and big flavours, and I want to focus on that part now - this is chapter two for me.

I have amazing ingredients in West Cork, I mix them with spices, cooking techniques, presentation, serving, story, and traditional way of eating. That’s how the concept started in my head.

Everything was set to launch on March 16, 2020, but then Covid hit.

“That was it, the opening was gone, the world was changed,” recalls Ahmet.

For 11 weeks, his concept restaurant morphed into a high-end takeaway service, ran as akin to a restaurant service as possible, putting down a year like no other.

“I never worked as hard in my life as I did that year! I was working off adrenaline. By the last service of the year, I was just going to do a final takeaway. I was exhausted, so tired. I was burned out.”

Maria noticed a booking for a single person on the last service of the craziest year of Ahmet’s life.

“I just knew it was a Michelin inspector, but I didn’t care. I did care inside me, but I had gone through so much in that year: I had lost an aunt and an uncle in the same week to Covid, my father almost died, my mum had Covid; I was going through so much emotion, so I felt like I didn’t care. I was trying to please everyone, but what about me?”

Ahmet dug deep and found enough to create one final menu, served their mysterious single diner, and finished for the year.

I was done, I needed to switch off and have time to rest and recover.

That’s when he met Carly, who became Ahmet’s partner and mother to his first child.

On New Year’s Eve, 2021, Ahmet flew out to Kuşadası to spend six weeks with his family. While there, surrounded by his family, the Michelin Guide awarded him a Star for Dede at The Customs House.

“It was very emotional, and it went wild in Turkey,” says Ahmet, adding that while The Mews star was special, this was “incomparable”.

“There was so much hard work and belief, and it was so special after coming through the most difficult time: Covid, losing family members, having no team, working so hard, making it happen and believing it could happen.

“People said, it’s a coffee shop, you won’t get [a star] there; the décor’s not good enough, the chairs and plates aren’t good enough. But it comes down to what’s on the plate.

“You need to be behind your food; you need to believe in your product. The product is not this cup, your product is what’s in it. Beautiful food deserves beautiful bowls, plates, cutlery, but if you don’t have it, don’t make it a big deal. The product should still taste great, whatever you serve it on and in. You forget about the plate after you eat something special.”

In March this year, Ahmet received a second Michelin star for Dede at The Customs House. Now he has all the best bowls, plates, glassware and cutlery.

“Everything we’ve built the last four years has been through hard work. Now I have the best of everything, but it came with time. 

If I was so obsessed with those things in the beginning, I’d still be searching and be a one-star or no-star chef.

Ahmet credits the second star with sharpening the restaurant’s culinary vision: Turkish-Irish fusion. It’s a cuisine that takes the best of seasonal Irish produce, the flavours and techniques of Turkish food, and presents them to the diner as stellar exemplars of exciting fine dining.

“The cuisine takes shape; style starts to shape. We started to create dishes in our heads, pushing up the spice level; lots of ingredients from Turkey make a big difference to our cuisine,” says Ahmet.

“You see people’s reaction to the little kebab with the chilli paste on it or the little onion dolma; red lentil stew with fish; kebabs on skewers. People love it and that builds up confidence. Michelin said, you come and leave happier in your life. I love that description.

“The inspector’s feedback didn’t talk about a particular dish; they talked about the cuisine. They see we’re trying to do something, present a cuisine that’s never been done in the country before.

“Everyone cooks a piece of meat or fish or uses tomatoes or strawberries, but the flavour combinations, using ingredients from Turkey and mixing it with the beautiful ingredients from here, makes it unique. What we cook and present here cannot be replicated in Ireland. There’s only us at this level.”

Ahmet is happy for Maria, for the faith and belief she placed in him, and for the professionalism and friendliness she brings to the atmosphere in their restaurant.

“I always say this is our home: you come to my home, and we take care of you. We want you to be happy, we want you to be comfortable, we want everyone to go home with a smile on their face, and we’re going to feel really good about it.”

At only 37 years old, Ahmet is in his professional stride, but there’s no let up to his future ambitions.

“I’m pushing for the next thing in my head – there’s one [star] more left to get! I have to get three. I’m not shy about it. I’ve never been shy about it ever since I came here. I was walking around a farm the other day, andwas told: ‘Remember when you first came here and said you were going to get a Michelin star? Well, now you have two and a child!’

It’s important to speak loudly, in anything. Who would have said in 2020 I would do a pop- up a few evenings a week in a coffee shop, and maybe that restaurant will hold two Michelin stars by March, 2023? 

"Baltimore, two Michelin star sounds amazing. Baltimore, three Michelin star sounds even more amazing!”

This season, the focus for Ahmet, Maria and their talented team is to enjoy themselves.

“The focus is to have fun, keep creating, keep innovating, keep our staff excited; keep everyone part of the journey and part of an organisation. We are family, and that is very important to me.

“We have created something - now we sharpen and keep it unique,” says Ahmet. “When our time is done and we hang up our aprons, we will be talked about as the restaurant with a spice-based menu in a small fishing village that changed the cultural palates of the region.”

See www.customshousebaltimore.com