Neven Maguire wooed his wife Amelda with a very impressive coast-to-coast first date, and all these years later he's still totally smitten.
The celebrity chef missed his first chance to court Amelda but he was adamant he wouldn't let the opportunity to chat her up pass him by twice.
Taking a well-deserved break after competing in a cooking contest abroad, Neven had a second serendipitous run-in with his sweetheart.
How They Met
Explaining how they met, he recounted: 'In CPs, which is the nightclub in Galway, I was after coming back from a cooking competition in France, I represented Ireland and then I took the weekend off.'
The Cavan man's lady is from near where he lived in Blacklion but the pair met properly on a night out in Galway.
'I met her in CPs on Sunday night. I went down to Galway to stay with my sister-in-law.'
'I met Amelda before Christmas and I missed my chance to chat her up because she lives near me and then I met her in Galway and I asked her to dance and she said yes, thankfully, and we started going out straight away.'
Their first date
Their first date spanned the width of Ireland, and Neven said: 'Our first date was the Cliffs of Moher which is amazing, and then I brought her to Bang Cafe.'
'And I still remember what we had: Scallops with pancetta and mashed potato and then we had grilled vegetables and chocolate brownie,' he said of their Dublin dinner that followed on from the afternoon jaunt on the West coast. Reminiscing he said: 'I'm a lucky man!'
'I was doing a programme on RTE with Marty Whelan and Mary Kennedy,' Neven said, explaining why the couple came all the way from Connacht to Leinster of an afternoon.
'Thank god she loves food as much as me and she's a great cook too even though I would do most of the cooking at home,' the Cavan man gushed.
Family life
The happy couple got married two decades ago in 2006 and have since welcomed twins who are now 13 years old.
Talking to EVOKE about the kids' first year at secondary school, he gushed: 'They just finished their first year and they enjoyed it, thank god.'
Big day for the twins 7 birthday party thanks to two of our staff for making them Petra and @chefsmcf there class 🙏🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/3WR7DMI5Lh
— Neven Maguire (@nevenmaguire) February 9, 2019
Keeping the romance alive
Speaking about how they keep their romance alive, he revealed: 'We make time for each other, go for little walks with our dogs and twins. We get on great and she is the biggest rock in my life!'
The couple works hard and plays hard, putting their time into MacNean House and spending their downtime tasting the offerings in other wonderful Irish restaurants.
Food is truly the way to the heart.
