Conrad heads home but it will be just for a frying visit

CELEBRITY chef Conrad Gallagher is making a rare return to Ireland for a cookery tour.

The controversial Killybegs, Co. Donegal-born chef claims he’ll take his students to the likes of super posh Michelin-starred Chapter One in Parnell Square, Dublin, and L’Écrivain, run by Derry and Sallyanne Clarke in Lower Baggot Street in the capital.

‘We are organising a small intimate group of “foodie people” who will join me on a five-day trip to Ireland, where we will be treated to chartered travel and five-star accommodation,’ he wrote on his Facebook page.

Bigging up Irish cuisine further, he added: ‘An opportunity to visit some of Ireland’s best restaurants, food markets and meet some of the most celebrated chefs. Experience cooking demonstrations, Michelin-star dinners, visit some countryside lodges and castles and finish with some traditional food and music in a vintage Irish pub setting.’

Gallagher, now based in Newport Beach, California, doesn’t spend a lot of time in Ireland, where he left a few unpaid bills following a couple of failed ventures. In one case, the Fitzwilliam Hotel on St Stephen’s Green, he was accused of taking three Felim Egan abstract paintings with him when he left and of selling them for IR£9,000 – but a jury acquitted him of all charges. He also went bust in South Africa. But Conrad’s cookery school in the US seems to be going well. In a single day this month, he sold 98 classes – and appealed on Twitter for two more punters to make the total up to 100.