Life and times of British chef who made Kenya his home

Chef Mullan’s memorial was held on March 11 at the Windsor Golf and Country Club in Nairobi; an event that also brought together the Kenyan-Irish community, hotel industry stakeholders and tens of executive chefs trained by him over the years.

Attendants paid glowing tributes to the culinary great who was born on January 11, 1951. Many video tributes were also played on screen from chefs all over the world; who were trained or worked with him over the years.

These included Anton Mosimann OBE, Chef Antony Osborne, Anton Edelmann former Executive Chef at the Savoy in London and Gary Lane of Labadi Beach Hotel in Ghana. Chef Mosimann said in his tribute, "Eamon was a fantastic friend, a good supporter and excellent ambassador to our industry, he did so much for young chefs."

As read in the eulogy by Mr Stanley Marenge, who had known Eamon since they both worked at the Norfolk Hotel in 1981: “Despite his Irish blood and English upbringing, he was a true Kenyan.”

Eamon was always one to speak his mind and he disliked people who didn’t seem to have a backbone. His first job was as a newspaper boy, at the age of 13, for a “Scottish guy called Davey”. Two years on, he was the head paper boy.

Davey cheated customers by selling old magazines, which is when Eamon got in on the action; never one to miss out on a trick. At the age of 16, he quit school having obtained only one “O” level (in art) to go for trial at Blackpool Football Club in 1967.

Was it not for young Eamon’s disregard for the club’s rules, getting caught after repeatedly breaking a 10pm curfew for the boarding house he was living in, who knows what kind of footballing career he would have had? He was suspended for three months. His pride made him go out and look for a job outside of steelmaking, which was the common activity for most of the youngsters back then in Corby, England.

He fortunately ran into an old friend who was a chef. The allure was that the job provided accommodation too.

In 1967, he started a four-year apprenticeship at the Welcombe Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon. Starting from the position of commis chef (basically a hand to other chefs), he was armed with Mrs Beeton’s Cookbook and Household Guidance as his only source of knowledge on cooking. The book had been provided by his older sister Valerie.

His first shift would start at 5.10pm and was the hardest part of his life, being made to peel a crate of apples. By the end of the day, his wrists hurt so badly that he thought he would never cope in the kitchen. But in true Eamon style, he did not let that set him back.

The head chef was Tom Brewer, who was a role model for Eamon and would later become a good friend. He was old-fashioned, did not stand any nonsense and discipline was paramount in the kitchen. This was exactly the same style Eamon would come to use in his kitchens.

During his time there, he enrolled in the South Warwickshire College for further education to undertake various City and Guilds qualifications on day-release courses, which Eamon wrote that he “did not find difficult”.

The principal, Mr Payton, took a shine to Eamon and often when teaching staff were absent, he instructed Eamon to conduct the classes. This was before Eamon had even finished his studies at the college.

During this time, Eamon was also playing football for Alveston’s first team in the Stratford Premier League. He was also making friends and learning lessons that would last a lifetime. Glyn Hughes, a dedicated pastry chef and a father figure to Eamon, taught him about the pastry department. Many chefs then, and now, are not keen to learn about this side of the kitchen, but with his hunger for learning, Eamon became a great pastry chef.

Eamon entered his first cooking competition at the age of 17. He won two gold medals and one silver medal, working through the nights in order to not interfere with his day job. When he became an executive head chef, he not only actively encouraged his chefs to enter competitions but would also allow them time during the day to practise dishes.

At the age of 19, Eamon won the Midlands Junior Chef Competition and entered the Chef of the Year Competition at Hotel Olympia in Earls Court Square, London. He came third, but firmly believed that he should have won, as did one of the other judges who was overruled. He appreciated the judges’ constructive feedback, but returned the medal and possibly uttered some colourful language; in true Eamon style!

Also at 19, he met his future wife, partner of 53 years and his loyal cheerleader, Lesley. After four years, when his apprenticeship at Welcombe was completed, Eamon plied his trade in France at The Negresco Hotel in Nice; becoming the first British chef to work in their kitchen.

Seven months later, he moved back to Welcombe, but regretted the decision as he felt the hotel wasn’t moving in the direction he wanted. In 1973, Eamon and Lesley packed their bags and headed to Scotland for a summer season at Gleneagles Hotel.

Having been handpicked to work at the Frankfurter Hof in Frankfurt, he was promoted three times during his five months there. The kitchen was a tough environment and too regimented for Eamon and he returned to France after his time was up. This time, the young couple headed to Lourdes to work in the Hotel de la Providence where Eamon was offered the role of Sous-Chef (the chef working under the Head Chef).

Eamon realised that he wanted to grow, learn and be respected in his profession – a realisation that came true due to hard work and dedication. He moved to the warmer climate of Jamaica as sous-chef of the Round Hill Hotel, in Montego Bay.

In the 2017 book Food for the Famous, he said of the chefs and kitchen staff: “They were no great shakes but were fantastic characters.” This fitted Eamon’s style to a tee. He was known to hire for character and not talent. The head chef would often stroll into the kitchen at 10am, leaving Eamon to create the menus and run the kitchen at the tender age of 23.

Upon his return to England from Jamaica, he walked into an agency and was told: “I have just the job for you in Nairobi, Kenya.”

This was certainly a fateful moment in his life. Eamon and Lesley were married within 10 days of receiving the information. They arrived in Kenya four days later for what was to be a one-year contract.

They decided to call this one year their honeymoon, but not many people can say their honeymoon lasted 47 years!

It wasn’t without glitches in his work. Three days after starting work at the New Stanley Hotel in 1975, he resigned because the salary stated in his contract upon arrival was different from the one he had been promised initially. Again, Eamon put up a fight and it was rectified. Tony Elliott, the general manager at the New Stanley Hotel, stated, “You had bloody better be worth it!” Eamon definitely proved this and more.

Eamon has helped shape the service industry and helped improve the standards of quality in preparing dishes. His book tells the story of a young man shaped by his mother’s keenness in getting the freshest and best food products, for food even though they didn’t grow up having much.

Even though he was proud, he had always believed in giving his all to a cause. Hard work and the superiority of his dishes saw him win widespread admiration. Hotel after hotel came for him.

He also worked at the Norfolk Hotel (he was there when a terrorist detonated a bomb, killing 20 people on December 31, 1980), the Fairview Hotel (where he also spent his last working years before retiring in 2015).

During the 80s and 90s, Eamon was Group Executive Chef which meant extensive travel to various lodges including, Aberdare Country Club, The Ark, Mount Kenya Safari Club, Sindbad Hotel in Malindi, Nyali Beach Hotel in Mombasa, Keekerok Lodge in the Masai Mara, Treetops Lodge in Nyeri, Samburu Lodge and the Coral Strand Hotel in the Seychelles. He never worked at Muthaiga Club, he was a guest chef and Culinary Consultant there.

He saw Kenya’s food service industry go through evolution of being nothing special, to attaining high standards, before accountants took over and the bottom line made the quality drop. Through it all, he dug in defiantly to maintain the dignity of the dish while giving customers the best palate experience they could have. He was often at loggerheads with company executives, but especially the accountants who tried to make him compromise on the quality of his dishes in the name of saving a shilling.

During the 1980s, the Ibis Grill was voted third out of the top 10 restaurants worldwide by the magazine Condé Naste.

He saw hotels change management from one international company to another (like when Block Hotels was sold to the Lonrho Group) and denoted how a lack of involvement of locals in business operations is detrimental.

He also decried tribalism and the cartels in the industry. His relentless demands have seen saw his apprentices get jobs in seven-star hotels around the world and many more winning gold medals in different competitions continentally and globally.

But even as he grew in the industry, he never wanted to be left back. Continuous travel to further his knowledge was undertaken to establishments such as the Ritz in London, Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok and Raffles in Singapore, among many others.

He fell in love with Kenya and despite many overseas job offers, he decided to stay in the city he called home, Nairobi. Despite his professional achievements, it was clear that the arrival of his two daughters were his greatest moments. Georgia was born in June, 1983 and Ciera completed the family in October 1985. Both were born and brought up here, and taken care of by a Kenyan nanny ‘ayah in swahili’. Eamon later on even built his house here in 2000, which the family would then call home.

Lesley, always helping Eamon and never detracting him from his work, took his family to his work places to show him the continuous support that his three greatest fans were never far away. In return, they would often eat his delicious food in his kitchens.

Lesley said, “How different Kenya would be today if he hadn’t graced it with his presence!”

She talked about his kindness and the help he provided to a multitude of young Kenyans who followed in his footsteps to become great chefs. He changed so many lives.

“He loved his lads, as he called them, and Georgia, Ciera and I love them too. They loved, admired and respected Eamon too,” she added.

She describes his Irish humour as cheeky, in that he could say things to people that many wouldn’t.
Eamon became a grandfather in July 2020 when his first and only granddaughter was born to parents Georgia and Matty in Queensland, Australia. Unfortunately, he never got to meet her due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but he got to watch videos and photos of her.

Georgia fondly remembers her father for the “luxurious picnics” they would have in Magadi, playing boules together and watching Chelsea FC games on the weekends.

Ciera was lucky to have been in Kenya when he passed on. She said her father lived by the mantra “firm but fair”. She once asked their ayah Peninah if she had been scared when she started working for them. The help replied, “Yes, Bwana used to scare me but I know it’s because he wanted me to learn.” She is still part of the family, 34 years on.

Ciera humorously remembers that he had ignored her when she recently said she was going vegan and promptly served her chicken when she returned home. However, when he realised she was serious, he always had a delicious vegan option for her.

She also recalls the stresses she, her mother and her sister saw put upon Eamon from the battles he had with management in the hotels. She believes they (management) couldn’t handle his raw talent, cheeky wit or charm. He paid airfares from his own pocket for him and “the lads” to travel to competitions when management refused to help, even though they mostly returned with gold medals.

“For many years in the early ’90s, you also provided three meals a week to three Aids orphanages in Nairobi to feed the mums and the children using food that would have gone to waste and also provided them with a Christmas cake every year.

Sadly, this ended when the management accused you of theft. This was a sad day for you and many who relied on those meals. Daddy, please rest assured this was always a story Georgia and I were very fond of, and it speaks volume,” read Ciera at the memorial.

Timothy Kairu, Executive Chef at Accor Hotels, Dubai, met Eamon in 1991 at 19. He trained in his kitchen for six years, making eight international trips with Eamon for competitions.

“In my cabinet, I have three golds, a silver and a bronze (medals) from competitions in the UK, South Africa and Dubai,” he said.

At the end of the six years, Eamon called him to his office and told him to resign. In those days, the only response was “Yes, Chef!” Eamon helped him draft the resignation letter, which Timothy took to HR. When asked by HR, Eamon said they should let him go. Even despite the general manager’s protests that he would go to their competition, Eamon maintained they should let him go.

“When I gave him my clearing letter, he pulled a drawer and gave me an offer letter. He had gotten me a job in Dubai. He negotiated my contract, salary, benefits, everything and I was to leave in 10 days. I lived there for 15 years, I became executive chef at Accor Hotels,” he says.

He said Eamon still followed up on him and even attended his wedding with Lesley. In 2012, his former chefs organised and surprised Eamon with an appreciation dinner and from that Mullan’s Old Boys Club of chefs was formed, to help each other, following in the footsteps of their mentor.

Eamon didn’t like chefs who pegged themselves on having higher education or training abroad as the measure to making a good chef. He would ask them to open up their minds to learning culinary from this streetwise guru instead.

“In retrospect this was all I needed and to date I’ve never regretted it. He was a father-figure and helped bring out the man in me. He grounded me in the values of integrity, professionalism, hard work, time value of working, respect for all and staying power,” expressed Oscar Mulavu, executive chef at Karen Country Club, who said Eamon knew when to be a friend or foe, when to shield you or let you fight your own demons; good thing there was a lesson to be learned.

He called Eamon a culinary icon, who is immortalised in the many he has brought up in the world of things kitchen, such that you cannot talk about the culinary finesse without his name coming up. He inspired, developed character and a sense of camaraderie among his brigade such that they felt invincible with an aura of a warrior.

Isaac Arunga, former executive chef at Windsor Golf and Country Club, worked with Eamon for 17 years. He worked with him at the Norfolk Hotel for six months, before Eamon moved to the Fairview Hotel. He was called to interview with him again and they worked together again.

“We managed to go to England, South Africa and Seychelles. In England, I was lucky enough to work at The Ritz and Simpson’s all Michelin starred. Chef Mullan pushed me to go work out of the country, at Burj Al Arab, Dubai for two years at Al Muntaha. It was the ultimate torture, working from 8am to midnight and when I emailed him he would tell me “just do it!” When I came back home, because my wife was having our first born daughter, Eamon helped me get a job at the Stanley Hotel. After that I went to Lord Erroll for two years within which it became one of the top-14 restaurants in the world on CNN’s list,” said Isaac, crediting this to the training Eamon had instilled in them.

Isaac said of all the other bosses he has had, only Eamon kept track of him throughout, saying he was special no one would replicate the love he had for Kenyan chefs or spend as much time with them.