Matt’s a hit with village people
Hollywood star talk of the town as he orders a family feast in local café
HOLLYWOOD actor Matt Damon was a ‘dream diner’ when he dropped into a Dalkey village café for a spot of breakfast, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
After shooting on his latest film was postponed because of the coronavirus, the Good Will Hunting star holed up in a house in the pretty southside village with his wife and children and was spotted out and about in several of the local establishments.
He also left ramblers starstruck when he was seen going for a daily run on rugged Killiney Hill.
While Damon may be acting royalty, an Oscar winner with a string of accolades to his name, when he stopped by the Corner Note Café in Dalkey, he was ‘treated the same’ as every other customer.
Speaking exclusively to the MoS, café owner Mary Caviston said she was surprised when her manager told her the breakfast order from the ‘guy at table 9’ was put in by the Hollywood superstar.
‘He came in at about 9.30 on a Sunday morning,’ she told the MoS. ‘It was March 15, so two weeks before we went into lockdown.’
The Corner Note Café, a hub in the heart of Dalkey, a hugely popular foodie destination, had already implemented social distancing when Damon brought his family in for some Sunday breakfast.
‘He was with his wife and his beautiful children – there were six of them in total. He was the last in and he was wearing a baseball cap, and I did catch the American accent but other than that he was just like any other customer,’ said Mary.
It was her eagle-eyed manager Fergal Kavanagh who realised that they had a celebrity in their café and told Mary that the ‘guy in the cap’ was Damon.
She said: ‘It was very funny. My manager said to me: “You DO know that guy in the baseball cap is Matt Damon, don’t you”’?
‘And I was, like, “STOP!”,’ she laughed.
While she was coy on what Matt ordered off their menu, she did say that he left a happy customer.
‘He had a beautiful family. They were all impeccably mannered, so polite, unassuming just really lovely people,’ she said.
Mary asked Damon if he would oblige her for a quick snap to hang on her wall of fame.
‘Pierce Brosnan was in before and I have a picture with him, so I just politely asked him if “he wouldn’t mind” and he said “absolutely” I could get a picture.
‘He was very accommodating, and he was so lovely and we went outside and we got a picture together.’
Mary’s Matt snap is now hanging on the wall alongside Brosnan and singer Bob Geldof, who was also a client of the Corner Note recently.
‘Bob Geldof came in a while ago and my son’s girlfriend, Adele Pointon, who is an artist had actually done a chalk painting of him. So I gave him that and he was bowled over by the likeness,’ she said.
The Corner Note has been at the beating heart of Dalkey life for over nine years but has recently closed its doors due to Covid-19.
Mary is self-isolating above the café with her golden retriever ‘Ayrton Senna’ for company.
As well as dropping by the Corner
Note, Damon enjoyed a pint in Finnegan’s pub where locals were bemused to see the Jason Bourne star – casually dressed in jeans and a faded New England Patriots T-shirt – relaxing with a drink before heading down the main street for a meal in Ouzos restaurant. The affable heartthrob was happy to pose for a selfie with staff member Prakash Custnack, which later appeared on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
The Last Duel, which also stars Ben Affleck, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer, was put on ‘indefinite hiatus’ days before shooting was due to start here.
The cameras were ready to roll in counties Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Tipperary.
‘You DO know that guy is Matt Damon, don’t you?’
‘His family was all impeccably mannered’