I can’t go within 10 yards of Pichet – but I can see it from my new restaurant!
But television maître d’ Nick Munier is bouncing back with a fresh project
what I wanted to achieve. I knew then I had to go back to basics, like when I worked with Marco, where we served well-cooked, simple food in comfortable surroundings. I am not reinventing the wheel here. Because Dublin has started to grow again and people are going out but want value for their money, I have to meet higher expectations.’
Nick has pumped every cent he has into the business, a sign that he not only believes in the concept of the restaurant but ensures that he will be more than hands-on with it.
‘I am taking all the money that I made selling my shares from Pichet and I ploughed it in here,’ he says. ‘But I don’t have millions. Everyone thought I was paid between €850,000 and a million for leaving Pichet but I didn’t get anything like that. My shares weren’t worth much but I took it all and reinvested it in here.
‘I have never chased money. I am after the dream. Even if Pichet had failed, I would have been glad that I at least tried. I don’t have any regrets and I won’t have any this time around.’
Despite working with Dylan McGrath on Masterchef, Nick has opted against bringing in a bigname chef to help launch the business on March 20.
He wants people to come to him for a night out rather than to see a celebrity cook.
‘I am creating a brand first, an aspirational night out, rather than focusing on the food first, which I did previously,’ he says.
‘When I opened Pichet, I had a great chef so I knew that Steve would do his magic in the kitchen and I would take care of front-of-house.
‘But Avenue is about being a big brand where you don’t care who is cooking in the kitchen, you just want a great night out, in a comfortable chair, with great music and fantastic staff.
‘I have a main chef, whom I was blessed to get, Tom Walsh – and he gets it. I met so many people who wanted to be the head chef with their name on the door but I didn’t want to be held to ransom by a chef who is going to come in for six months, make a name for himself and move on. So I created this crew that was focused on the whole restaurant, who understood the brand, and I am the face of the brand.’
It would be easy for Nick to hold a grudge against his former business partners in Pichet but he insists that he has moved on. Now the most important thing in his life is his relationship with his three boys — Conan, 15, Luc, seven, and Alex, five.
‘I wished them well [at Pichet],’ he says. ‘I don’t talk to them any more – I have no reason to talk to them and they have no reason to talk to me.
‘It is unfortunate the way it ended but when someone doesn’t want you there, and made that very clear, I had to accept that.
‘Now I am so focused on what I want to achieve and to look after my boys. They are my number one priority. I have a table in the restaurant and it has their names on it so when they come in, that is their table. They are part of the business and I want them to get involved.
‘I grew up in this business. My parents had a hotel and I thought it was an amazing thing to be part of and, as I said, this is [my sons’] legacy and I want them to feel a part of it. Whether they follow me into it is up to them but I want them to have a purpose.’
There’s no doubt that Nick has been through a lot in the last two years. He admits that he faced a choice of paths when in the depths of depression and, thankfully, took the right one.
‘I got paranoid about what people would think but at least I didn’t go down the drink-and-drugs route,’ he says.
‘I kept myself healthy and fit and I focused on my children.’
He also reveals he is not seeking a new relationship after the breakup of his marriage.
He explains: ‘I am fearful of women now, to be honest. I am happier single. If it happens, so be it but I am not looking.
‘It took me a long time to get over the break-up. I am still hurting but that’s just the way life is. Everyone goes through their own trials in life and it is how you come through it.
‘I had to accept that and move on but it took me a long time to accept, because I withdrew and it was very painful.’
Nick is clearly at his happiest when he is busy. He is still painting and has long-term plans to turn his third-floor space into a gallery.
He is planning a signature dish in the restaurant of a 60-day aged steak burger with a glass of craft porter and a bucket of chips. But as happened with Pichet, his juices really get going at the mention of chairs.
‘They are a beautifully bespoke chair made of egg-shell blue,’ he enthuses, thumbing through pictures on his phone.
‘I have to have good chairs and these are definitely better...’
I am fearful of women now, to be honest. I’m happier single