RESTAURANTS AND FOOD: Garryvoe

Showing posts with label Garryvoe. Show all posts

Friday, May 20, 2022

Take a walk in Garryvoe.

Take a walk in Garryvoe

Fog was shortlived!

Pics taken 14.05.2022

Foraging

Garryvoe Hotel on left

Sand, sea and lighthouse, with wisps of fog

Man and child

No fog now!

Monday, January 17, 2022

An East Cork One-Two. Hard to Beat This Walk and Eat! Beaches and lunch at Castlemartyr Carewswood Café

An East Cork One-Two. Hard to Beat

This Walk and Eat!

Lime & Chilli Chicken Salad

Beaches and lunch at Castlemartyr Carewswood Café

Some great sunny days last week and on one of them we headed east to Ballinwilling beach, between Garryvoe and Redbarn. Plan was to have a long walk and then call for lunch to the Carewswood Garden Centre between Ladysbridge and Castlemartyr.

Ballinwilling. Redbarn is around the corner.

It didn’t quite to go plan but did work out very well. The tide was well in at Ballinwilling, leaving very little room for walkers unless you came equipped with wellies. We did a bit but soon retreated and drove the few minutes to Garryvoe.

Garryvoe

Of course the tide was well in there too but we walked on the beachside path and after that, to the west, there was a long stretch of sand up and beyond the entrance to the next beach (Ardnahinch). The last of the cloud has vanished as well and we and the four-legged friend enjoyed the hour or so, taking in the fresh air, the views (out to the Ballycotton Lighthouse on its island) and the sounds of the birds and the sea.

Island in the sun.

The appetite was well warmed up by the time we got back to the car. A few minutes later we were in Ladysbridge and soon turning right to Carewswood which is just off the R632. Got a bit of a shock to see the large car park more than half full at 12.05pm or thereabouts. “I should have had booked,” I said. But no worries. They had plenty of space in the two room cafe, no problem with social distancing and they took the details.

Getting a deserved drink from his new water dispenser.

They were just changing over from the breakfast to the lunch menu and we opted for the latter and a table in the sunny outer room. Lots of openings to the fresh air here, including a couple of sets of doors. It was warm enough to dispense with the coats as we studied the menu, quite an extensive one as it turned out, featuring soups, salads, sandwiches and hot dishes plus a short wine list.

Chipotle Chicken Burger

I picked Chef Pawel’s daily special: Chipotle Chicken Bap, with smashed avocado and mixed leaves, served with rustic fries (€14.95). CL, also on a spicy kick, went for one of the salads: Lime and Chilli warm chicken salad, fire roasted peppers, smashed ago, vine tomato and jalapeño salsa, Blanco Nino tortilla, lettuce and yogurt (13.95).

The airy outer dining room

Both dishes were excellent and in each case, the main element, the chicken was of a really high standard and delicious. CL’s bowl looked huge but, aside from the fairly hard crisps, made short work of it. I also had quite a feed both in term of quality and quantity but the walks on the beaches had certainly tuned up the appetites and it was two well satisfied customers that walked out into the sunny afternoon.

Ready for the coming season

Not too many customers around the garden centre itself at the moment but the staff are busily engaged in preparing for the season ahead. They have quite a reputation here and indeed that very evening I was chatting to a gardening enthusiast from Dublin who said: “Glad to hear Carewswood is doing so well, I really like it. Aside from the food, their plants are better than anyone else’s and the prices are reasonable.” So there you are, another reason to visit lovely East Cork!

* They pride themselves on ‘honest food with no artificial colourings or preservatives and serve a range of delicious freshly baked goods and local artisan and organic foods’. Good to see local producers supported. The salmon is from Ballycotton while Gubbeen, Blanco Niño, and bakers Pana are among the producers mentioned.

Looking well, as always. The Garryvoe Hotel.

Friday, May 7, 2021

Garryvoe Beach Walk

Garryvoe Beach Walk

6th May 2021

One big pink house in a local caravan park.

Contre soleil! Owner and dog at play.

Forager digging in the sand.

The Garryvoe Hotel, looking good and ready to welcome guests later this month.

Silhouetted walker about to stroll past the lighthouse island.

The Ballycotton Lighthouse on its island and three ducks in foreground
(or should that be forewater?)

Big Bird and the lighthouse island

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Ingenuity & the Bounty - the Seafood & Wine Dinner at Ballycotton’s Bayview Hotel.

Ingenuity & the Bounty - the Seafood & Wine Dinner at Ballycotton’s Bayview Hotel. FEAST 2019 is up and running!

Razor clams.....

From the Norrie Rancheros via the Octopus’s Garden to the Slocked Apples and Blakas, and all that delicious aromatic Albarino in between, we had quite a ball at Ingenuity & the Bounty - the Seafood & Wine Dinner at Ballycotton’s Bayview Hotel in association with Rias Baixas Spanish Wines and the first major meal of FEAST 2019.

Norrie Rancheros

Leslie Williams pointed to the harbour down below as he introduced the wines from the rias. “I love this part of the world. Ballycotton is a perfect place to serve Albarino. It is the most marine wine.” The fruit is grown in the lower estuaries of the long rias (sea inlets) that penetrate this north western region of Spain. Just spread out your fingers with the back of your hand upwards. The gaps between your digits are the rias, the rest (the low ground or baixas) is where the vines, tended mostly by women (the men away in the cities working), grow.

Dessert

You can see the amazing menu in the photo: so many types of fish included - Crab, Razor Clams, Hake, Eel, Octopus, Mussel, Lobster, St Peter and The Stoner. And from the sea too came Dillisk (for the mayo), Sea Purslane, Samphire and Sea Beet. St Peter’s fish is the John Dory while The Stoner is the rock bass.

A superb meal then with a sweet finish - on the double. The dessert was the Slocked Apples (I know this practice of “hobbling” apples from an orchard as slogging) and Blackas (the local name for Blackberries). When the coffee arrived, so too did some substantial treats as you can see from the photo!

Leslie’s three wines went down well. We started with the Bago Amarelo 2018 by Adegas Galegas. Think we’d all have been quite happy to carry on with that. As a wine expert of my acquaintance declared at a recent tasting: there is no such thing as a bad Albarino.

But, at the Bayview, we found out some Albarinos are better than others! Certainly, the Santiago Roma Albarino 2018 from Bodegas Santiago Roma, while having the typical acidity, was more intense in all aspects than the Amarelo, including texture, aromas and flavours.

I had been expecting the Terras Gauda O Rosal 2018 to be the top wine. But had my doubts after the first sip as the Roma lingered strongly. But soon the O Rosal began to assert itself. It may not have had the forward intensity of the Roma but this more rounded, more sophisticated wine proved itself once again in the long run. No wonder Leslie declared it his favourite Albarino.

Octopus Garden

This was the first major event of Feast (which started impressively at the Castlemartyr Resort Hotel on the previous day). And Stephen Belton, who manages the Bayview along with its big sister across the way, the Garryvoe, was in fine voice despite cheering on Dublin in Croke Park 24 hours earlier. “I’m delighted with the evening. Thanks to everybody for coming. We’re into our food here but not pretentious about it, very relaxed with our well sourced well cooked offerings. And great to see Feast expanding. There is so much to offer in East Cork now. A fantastic offering that can compare with any other place. East Cork is still emerging and Kevin and company are putting it up on the national stage.”

Lobster.....

The Kevin he mentioned is Kevin Aherne of Sage in Midleton and he was next to speak and acknowledged that there was a business element, of course, to the festival, the hope being to attract more visitors to the region. “But this year we want the community of East Cork itself to enjoy it. There are now 40 events, spread over 7 days and it is growing, getting national, even international, press attention. Great for the growers, producers, chefs who enjoy it themselves.”

..with the coffee!

“Ireland is now a benchmark of world food and Cork is the best of that. East Cork is a part of it too and we want you to enjoy yourself. Taste the food. Have a drink. Have a laugh.” Not a bad motto at all and there is loads more to do from here until Sunday. Check out the events here at FEAST

Also at Feast

Patryk Serves A Feast of Poland At FEAST Dinner In Surf & Turf

Lobster & Sushi at Granary a Highlight of Midleton Sunday Stroll

Asado at Barnabrow House. FEAST’s Argentinian BBQ

Ingenuity & the Bounty - the Seafood & Wine Dinner at Ballycotton’s Bayview Hotel.

Sunil Ghai at SAGE (coming 11th)

Monday, January 2, 2017

2016: Best Places to Stay

Best Places to Stay 2016

Stayed in quite a few places this year. From Kerry to Meath, from Donegal to Dublin, from Limerick to Waterford, from West Cork to Wexford. These were the best. Suggestions for 2017 welcome!

Screebe House, Connemara