Electric Restaurant Marks 120th Anniversary
Of The 1902 Cork International Exhibition
With Tom Spalding Talk & Cocktails Of The Time
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| Dr Tom Spalding, in period clobber. Pic @corkbilly |
Dressed in your Sunday finery, feathered bonnets and top hats included, the good people of Cork paid their pennies and stepped into a car that was hauled up the ramp. The passengers, full of anticipation and perhaps not a little trepidation, stepped from the cars into a small boat at a height of 70 feet.
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| Ready for action (l-to-r): mixologists Caolann McNeill, Dan Cronin & Cian Daly Pic: Shaunagh O'Connell |
No safety belts, just holding tight on to one another, as the boat began its rapid descent of the chute towards the waters of the River Lee. There were nervous screams as the boat thudded onto the surface of the river, splashing water as it did so, and then it slowly lost momentum before the thrilled passengers were taken back to the banks as the crowds cheered. All the fun of the fair at the 1902 Cork International Exhibition at the Mardyke.
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| Whiskey Sour. Pic: @corkbilly |
No chute these days nor on last Thursday night week when a group of invitees gathered in the South Mall to hear historian Dr Tom Spalding give us his take on the Exhibition while our kind hosts Electric Restaurant served up a series of cocktails from the original 1902 menu, cocktails made by the Waldorf Astoria bartenders on their visit to the Mardyke. We were, of course, in Electric’s new cocktail bar, Ohm.
Tom told us how the exhibition came about and indeed how it lasted a year longer than originally planned. The then Lord Mayor Edward Fitzgerald was a driving force behind it and eventually the venue or at least, part of it, was named in his honour, Fitzgerald's Park.
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| Stevie G (Red FM) & Lisa Grainger. Pic: Shaunagh O'Connell |
Hundreds of thousands came, from near and far, to visit the exhibits. And the organisers had laid on plenty of entertainment for their visitors and indeed Tom said these entertainments brought in the money and led to the Exhibition making a profit. The highlight of course was the huge water chute that was erected near where the Shaky Bridge now stands.
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| Pic: Shaunagh O'Connell |
Food and drink was also an essential and there was no shortage of dining venues, scattered around the grounds, serving everything from freebies (samples of confectionery and bread in the Industrial Hall) to top notch cuisine at The Chalet restaurant. In between, there a few teahouses and a Temperance Restaurant.
So successful was the exhibition that a second year was added on and they began again in May 1903. That year, the royal couple King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra came to see what the fuss was. They too were well fed of course and there was wine (and more).
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| Margaret & Carmel Best. Pic: Shaunagh O'Connell |
Tom had the list:
Sherry - Garvey’s Amontillado.
Hock - Liebfraumilch.
Champagne - Perrier Jouet’s**.
——
Moselle Cup (a cocktail, methinks!)
____
Gran Marnier Cordon Rouge
Green Chartreuse
Kummel (a Caraway liquor apparently).
Pas Mal!
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| Cocktail "Corpse Reviver". Pic: Shaunagh O'Connell |
So what cocktails were we drinking? Well, the busy and energetic Electric bartenders, paying tribute to the visitors from the Waldorf Astoria, had recreated the four below from the original 1902 event.
We had a choice of:
Mint Julep (Bourbon, Mint, Ango);
Gin Sling (Gin, Lemon, Sugar, Soda);
Corpse Reviver (Tequila Blanco, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, Lemon, Absinthe);
Whiskey Sour (Bourbon, Lemon, Sugar, Whites, Ango).
That sour was my favourite. Ango, I presume, is bartender speak for angostura bitters.
I’m sure the Ohm team can rustle up any of that quartet for you if you walk in off the street but they may just prefer to see you trying something from the current menu, original cocktails and quite often original names.
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| Electric welcome from Emer O'Mahony. Pic: Shaunagh O'Connell |
Fancy Rose of the Lee? Glendalough Rose Gin with Lychee, Prosecco and Soda.
Then there’s Sound Man Brendan. Havana Maestros Rum, Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Beamish and Banana.
One for the road? Try the Jungle Beour, a melange of Rum, Campari, Pineapple, Ginger, etc.
And they have quite a few more.
* For much more info on this amazing Exhibition, get your hands on The Cork International Exhibition 1902-1903: A Snapshot of Edwardian Cork by Daniel Breen & Tom Spalding. Also check out footage from the Mitchell and Kenyon Collection: Panorama of Cork Exhibition Grounds (1902) – YouTube
** If you take a look at Electric’s current wine list you’ll note they have a couple of different bottles of Perrier Jouet in their sparkling wine section.
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