Athlone's 'Irish food ambassador' in China
When Athlone man Curt Evans first moved to China in 2018, he didn't plan on making it a long-term arrangement.
"It was supposed to be for ten months," he said. "It was for one college year, and then I had the goal of coming back here to lecture in Athlone IT, as it was at the time.
"But I just got caught up in it over there. It's big cities, it's very enjoyable, and there's lots of opportunity. So I thought, 'yeah, I'll give it a go'."
A former chef at Thyme restaurant in Athlone, Curt (37) is now in his eighth year as a Chinese resident, and his Far East adventure is going from strength to strength.
In the second half of last year he took a big step by opening his own restaurant in Shanghai, called Yeats modern Irish bistro.
Although it has only been open for a couple of months, the restaurant has already hosted renowned Irish writer Colm Tóibín among its guests, and last month Curt was one of the members of the Irish community who were invited to meet Micheál Martin while the Taoiseach was in Shanghai during his official visit to China.
Despite living thousands of miles away, Curt has been a regular visitor back to Athlone, making trips home once or twice each year.
He recently met with the Westmeath Independent over a coffee in the Sheraton Athlone Hotel, where he reflected on his time in China to date and his goal of using social media to help grow the reputation of Irish food in a country of well over a billion inhabitants.
Serving his Thyme
Originally from Grotto View, Battery Heights, Curt studied Culinary Arts in Athlone IT (now TUS). Asked how he got his foot in the door at Thyme restaurant, which has won awards and critical acclaim over the years, he said: "I'm the kind of person that, if I'm going to do something, I want to do it right.
"I was looking around Athlone and I thought, 'where do I want to work, where do I want to train?' The college could set me up with a load of places, different hotels or different restaurants, but I admired Thyme and I wanted to work there.
"So I went in looking for a job. They didn't have a job available, but I got talking to (head chef) John Coffey's wife Tara and I told her, 'I'm quite happy to work for free. I'm looking for a ‘stage’, I'm looking to come here to learn'. I went in one night for a trial and it was brilliant, I got a great kick out of it.
"After about six months, I remember John saying he was quite happy for me to start working there. From then on he'd put me on the roster for a few days a week, and if I wanted to come in of my own accord outside of that, for extra training, I was welcome.
"So that was it. I ended up staying there for quite a long time."
Curt would go on to work for a year as the sous chef at The Lock restaurant, which was based in the former Chateau building alongside the River Shannon, and is now closed, before later moving back for a second stint in Thyme.
"What I learned in Thyme, and in The Lock, was a real respect for the ingredient and the locality. John Coffey knew every single farmer we were getting the vegetables, meats, and dairy from. He knew all of them by name, and I liked that.
"It was about getting these really amazing ingredients and not complicating them, just elevating them. That's what I took from Thyme, and that's what I'm trying to do now in Yeats."
Move to China
The 2018 move to China came about when, with the aim of becoming a Culinary Arts lecturer in Athlone in mind, Curt took up an offer to lecture in restaurant management at a partner school of AIT in China.
A city called Hefei, which has a population of 10 million, became his base, and he now divides his time between Hefei and Shanghai, China's second-largest city.
While he still teaches in a regional university - Anhui University - the teaching is now focused on English speaking and literature.
"I do a lot of work around WB Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, stuff I really like, and it goes down well with the students because in their equivalent of the Leaving Cert they would sometimes study a bit of Joyce or Yeats."
Living abroad has helped strengthen his appreciation for Ireland. "All the songs you would hear years ago, about people leaving to go to Australia, England or America... they hit home a lot more when you're living away from home.
"I love Ireland, but when I am here it's just home. When I'm away from home, I'm far more patriotic!"
He found that there's a lot to enjoy about the lifestyle in China. "I absolutely love it. I never thought I would, but I really do," he smiled.
"The cost of living in Hefei is crazy low. In Shanghai the cost of living is higher, but it's still lower than here. You could go out and have a basic lunch in China for two or three euro, and it's really good, handmade food.
"Irish residents can travel to China visa-free for 30 days. I have a few friends who are planning on coming over this summer, and I can't wait. I have another life over there and I'd love them to see it."
While he is far from fluent in the local language, Curt said he's reached the stage where he can have "a very basic chat" with Chinese people in their native tongue. "I can get from A to B, and order a drink and some food. I can survive," he said.
Restaurant opening
In recent years Curt got involved in food consultancy work and helped open a restaurant in Hefei producing Western food. The success of some of his food consultancy led to the idea of opening a specialist restaurant in downtown Shanghai.
"I wanted to get back to what I considered basics, and wanted to try a modern Irish restaurant. The only city where that would work in mainland China is Shanghai. Maybe it would work in Beijing, but I don't think it would work as easily there," he said.
"Shanghai has more international people, and more of an international feeling, than other Chinese cities. It's a big international city, and almost follows its own rules.
"Most young people in Shanghai, if they came from money, would have studied abroad in different countries, so they're very open to authentic Western cuisine. And there's a huge number of foreigners there also.
"To be honest, I was nervous about going purely Irish (with the restaurant) and I was considering opening an 'Atlantic bistro' tying Ireland and France together. I thought that might give me a larger net, but then I decided, no, I'm going to go for it, I'm going to be brave and call it a modern Irish bistro and name it after an Irish poet, in Yeats."
Yeats modern Irish bistro had its soft opening in late September and its grand opening in early November, with David Murphy, the Consul General of Ireland in Shanghai, cutting the ribbon.
"For the grand opening we did a private lunch. We had people in from Bord Bia, someone who came from the Irish Embassy in Beijing, and David, the consul general. That night we opened to the public and had a big party, with traditional Irish music. It was brilliant."
Curt is the chef/founder of the restaurant. "I have some Chinese partners (in the business) but I am the majority shareholder. I write the menu, but I'm not in the kitchen every day any more. Sadly I'm a bit too busy for that," he explained.
He said the response to the restaurant to date has exceeded his expectations and there has been great support from the Irish community in Shanghai, with the local GAA club holding its Christmas party there. Guinness also booked out the restaurant for a tasting event, with Curt producing a special Guinness-themed food menu for the occasion.
"It's hugely exciting, and to be honest (the restaurant) is something I've always wanted to do. I'm very happy that I decided to lean into the Irishness of it, and I feel like I'm getting some of the just rewards for that," he said.
Future plans
While he hopes to continue visiting Ireland twice a year in the years ahead, Curt said he expects to remain living in China for a while yet.
"When we opened Yeats I put in quite a bit of money into it and signed a four-year contract. So I'll be there for at least another four years," he said. "There is a lot of opportunity in Shanghai and the future, for me personally, seems brighter there at the moment."
Something he has been focusing on of late is promoting his restaurant, and Irish food in general, on social media in China.
His social media handle in Chinese translates to 'Curt's Irish Kitchen', and on his recent visit home he was recording online videos, with Chinese subtitles, in Sean's Bar, Thyme, and at artisan food locations such as lamb producer Glen Keen Farm in Mayo, and the oyster farm in Donegal which produces the oysters he uses in Yeats restaurant.
"Social media is hugely important. It's important everywhere, but in Shanghai if you weren't forward-pushing on social media you'd be left behind," he said.
In addition to the restaurant, his busy lifestyle in China includes involvement with a kids' language school, for teaching children English, and helping a local charity called Masked Angels which works with families of children suffering from leukaemia.
On every visit back to Athlone, one of Curt's traditions at the end of the trip is to take his mother, Mary Evans, out for a special meal in Thyme.
"Each time I get back to Ireland the trip 'resets' me," he said. "This year I went 12 months before coming back, and I missed it something shocking! It was a bit too long to be away."
Meeting the Taoiseach in Shanghai 'a proud moment'
When Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid an official visit to China last month his talks in Beijing with the country's president, Xi Jinping, were followed by a visit to Shanghai where Curt Evans was invited to meet him at the Irish consulate.
"There was a very small group of us who got to go to the consulate in Shanghai to meet (the Taoiseach)," Curt explained. "I got to meet him because of having a ambassadorial role, I suppose, for Irish food and that was lovely.
"I brought the menu from my restaurant and he was so kind, so down to earth. He made a lot of time for me, read the menu very carefully and asked me some questions about it. I have some dishes on it like rabbit and venison, stuff that I'd consider very Irish, and he was asking me things like, 'oh, do they eat rabbit over here?'
"He signed the menu for me and we got a photo together, of me and him shaking hands, which I'm going to put up on the wall in Yeats along with the signed menu. It was a big endorsement from the country so I was delighted with it, to be honest, and my Mum was even happier!"
A Newstalk radio crew covering the Taoiseach's visit also paid a visit to Curt's Yeats restaurant and interviewed him there.
The topic of Government officials paying visits abroad is topical at present, with every senior and junior Minister taking a trip overseas for St Patrick's Day next month.
Curt pushed back on the notion that these are 'junkets', saying they can bring meaningful benefits for Ireland and for the Irish diaspora abroad.
"It's not a free holiday (for the politicians)," he said. "It's quite special for the Irish community in these places, number one, and number two it pushes (issues) along. It shows Ireland is quite serious about these issues, by sending a Minister."
He pointed out that the Taoiseach's visit helped result in the lifting of the ban on Irish beef exports to China (a ban which was subsequently reinstated due to cases of the Bluetongue virus in herds in Wexford) and that Micheál Martin was also involved in discussions about the potential for direct flights between Shanghai and Dublin.
"Direct flights between Shanghai and Dublin is something I would love. If we could get those open it would be huge for tourism," said Curt, who flew from Shanghai to Helsinki, and Helsinki to Dublin, on his recent visit home.