Lyon’s Cafe in Sligo is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with the publication of Lyon’s Cookbook 3. We spoke to Gary Stafford in the lead up to it.

“We are custodians of this historic place, and I feel honored to be part of it, I am just looking after the place and I want to do it to the best of my ability.” (Gary Stafford)

Gary Stafford’s Lyons Café is one of the jewels of Sligo town, the archetypical café that every town and city needs. Even today it has kept its old world charm, where the refurbished chairs, hand made in the former Czechoslovakia, are on the cafe floor since it opened.

Lyons was always classic and under the stewardship of Gary has established a reputation for fabulous food with a friendly service in an atmospheric setting – timeless and classless.

Consistent, honest, creative, wholesome and nourishing are the most used adjectives customers use, when they talk about the food and shows that Gary’s cooking has earned Lyons a dedicated following of customers who trust them.

Asked to describe himself in three words, Gary ventures:

disciplined, consistent, appreciative (of my customers)

Gary’s and his team’s day begins at 6 am with prepping as they start everything from scratch every day with the four mains on the menu changing every day. Although favourites like the carrot salad appear all the time, the by now legendary salad bar is driven by seasonality, prepared fresh daily and always all gone by the afternoon.

Gary very much believes that a chef is the creative link between farm and fork and therefore pays great attention to his suppliers, many of them are local.

Every Saturday Gary and his team of chefs plan for the week ahead. The recipes are always different and evolving and recipe development is driven not only by what is available, but also by customer demand. “People come for lunch”, says Gary, “and they don’t know what’s on our menu, but they know it is different every day and they trust its good.”

Dishes can be tweaked as late as on the morning as the team are constantly tasting to maintain the quality. All soups and casseroles, sauces and gravy are always gluten-free and catering for vegetarians and vegans is standard.

“Our secret is, everything is always freshly cooked, nothing is hanging around”, says Gary.

Experience and meticulous planning is key. They only prep for two days the most and when its gone its gone. There is no food waste apart from vegetable trimmings and peelings, which is remarkable.

Under the watchful eye of Gary, the staff in the kitchen and on the floor work together seamlessly creating an atmosphere of enjoyment and respect and that all important feel good factor. The staff are very loyal and some have been there seven years or more. New staff are trained in house and Gary insists that they enjoy their job.

Gary and his team have created something unique and wonderful at Lyons Café, a mutual understanding, a trust between the café and its customers.

“Sligo is not a big city, which means a lot of my customers are coming a few times a week. If I see the same people coming in a few times a week they are coming in for a reason, which means I have to be very consistent in our customer service. That drives me and the same can be said for the team. I drive on customer satisfaction.”

Sligo’s food scene is evolving all the time and Lyons has earned its place through the quality of the food and the reliable service.

“I love it here” says Gary, “it’s a good journey.”