In our summer issue of the Leinster Express / Laois Live's Laois Life magazine, we spoke to Bramley's head chef Sam Moody on his cheffing journey. The autumn issue of Laois Life has hit the shelves, and can be bought in your local newagents. Read our profile with chef Glen Hunter below.

Having worked in several Michelin star restaurants and earning one in his own right, British-born Chef Sam Moody now runs Bramley restaurant in Abbeyleix with his wife Emily. 

“I've always loved food, food in our family was really important,” Sam explained.

Pictured: Chef Sam Moody and his Bramley team

“My Dad is a very strict vegan and was always conscious of the food he ate. When we were young he was made redundant, we were self-sufficient on vegetables. We didn’t live the good life, but it was very important and very special. We grew up near Gatwick, in a town that supplied Gatwick airport with staff. To have grown up in a family that cared about food was so important,” he said.

Sam left home at 17 to work in a hotel restaurant in Sussex, before meeting Chef Stephen Crane. The chef credits Mr Crane for his strong foundation in the higher end of hospitality.

“It’s a very high pressure job, there's a lot of deadlines for your food prep. If you haven't started it by a certain time, it wont be ready by lunch, mistakes really matter as you mightn’t be able to use something,” Sam said.

Pictured: Bramley in Abbeyleix

“You are dealing with the public and it's all public facing, it's stressful. People come to your restaurant for different reasons, and their personalities may also cause stress if they're in bad form, and it's a very fast paced environment.”

After working in different hotel restaurants, Sam handed his CV to Stephen at Ockenden Manor, a prestigious hotel known for excellent food in Sussex.

“I worked there for 3 and a half years and we won a Michelin star,” Sam said.

“It was a very small staff and it was very busy, very precise. After that I began working under Michael Caine in Gidleigh Park, it was a very classical restaurant,” he said.

“Michael had two Michelin stars and he was unashamedly ambitious in working for his third star. It was very intense,” he said.

“I went in as a sous chef and the head chef left after about 3 months, we lost the Michelin star and the team dissipated,” Sam explained.

Pictured: Chef Sam Moody

“I had said 'I’ve gotta go', and can't work in these conditions, the head chef resigned, when I was asked to stay as an intermediate head chef, I was only 25,” he said.

“I did that and they didn't find a new head chef, I just took the job, and after two years we regained the Michelin star. I won it in my own right. We maintained it for five years.”

The chef then went on to work as head chef in The Bath Priory hotel, another high end establishment known for fine dining.

“After a while working there, you get good, and then really good. I stayed there for three or four years and planned on moving to France to work, before I met Damien Bastien, the manager of Ballyfin Demesne.”

Damien invited Sam over to Ballyfin, where Sam fell in love with the idea of working so closely with the garden.

“I took the job as head chef and was there for 5 or 6 years. What I missed with Ballyfin was cooking for people. I had always dreamed of eventually returning to England to open a restaurant,” he said.

“People appreciate what we do, and we appreciate them. But when you are cooking for the hyper wealthy, they are a bit spoiled and used to people waiting on them hand and foot. I love when it's local people enjoying a special occasion or just a Wednesday dinner, we are a neighbourhood restaurant that cooks tasty food, and we are hyper local where possible.

Pictured: Chef Sam Moody

“Damien brought me to McEvoy’s in Abbeyleix and we talked about the details of the job, I walked out and noticed Bramley. In the back of my head I always had thought that Bramley had a beautiful front for a restaurant.”

Sam and his wife Emily bought Bramley, and transformed it into the successful restaurant it is today.

“It’s not without its challenges, it’s a challenging climate for any business, costs are huge. We take each week as it comes, and we make sure that we deliver a consistent and high quality service.”

Sam and his family have created a circular waste system, where they recycle their compostable waste as fertiliser.

“We want to recycle all of our vegetable trimmings, eggshells and cardboard, we use nothing from the plates. All of that is brought back to our allotment here and composted. Our produce is grown from that. We are open 4 days a week and not quite self-sufficient on compost yet, but we will be,” he said.

“I wanted to create a business that is wholly sustainable, so we can take people passionate about good service, without having to work 60 or 70 hours a week. To create something we can be proud of, for our children and to rely on ourselves. That's why.

“If I hadn't done it I would have regretted not trying. It would have been an easy thing to have stayed in the head chef job, but I've never been one for doing things the easy way,” Sam finished.

Each copy of Laois Life features an exciting 'Meet the Chef' feature. This is only a taster of what we have on offer in our Laois Life magazines, so sit back and relax and delve into 100 pages of fresh, quality content!

We would like to thank all our contributors for their help and co-operation and all our advertisers for their continued support.

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