Chef Greg Expands Brook Inn Repertoire After Kerridge Stage

Chef Greg Expands Brook Inn Repertoire After Kerridge Stage

The Brook Inn in Sallybrook (Glanmire) has recently been included in a couple of national guides but Head Chef Greg Murphy is not resting on his laurels. Every year he seeks to improve the offering and this year is no exception as he completed a stage* with Tom Kerridge of the famous Michelin two star “Hand and Flowers” pub in London.

Greg supports local suppliers including Tom Durcan, Gubbeen Smokehouse, Carrigaline Cheese, Rathcooney Fruit Farm Strawberries, and the Green Field Farm. And he is a big fan of the English Market.

Glazed Omelette

I met Greg when I was back in the Brook last week to check out the new menus and straight away noticed the Glazed Omelette “Tom Kerridge”, smoked haddock, with aged Parmesan cheese. Well, that was my starter and an excellent one it was.

But regulars needn’t worry. It is not all Kerridge. You’ll still have your steak, lamb, chicken and fish and other dishes for which the Brook is well known. There are a whole range of menus here including A La Carte, Set Dinner, Early Bird, Tapas, Breakfast/brunch, Finger Food and, this time of year, BBQ!

Hake

Tom Durcan’s spiced beef featured on CL’s starter, a superb plate that came with pickled Enoki mushrooms, baby potatoes, olive oil, pea cress and red cabbage purée. Looked well and tasted even better.

Quite a wine list here too, many of your favourite countries and varieties listed. I enjoyed a fresh and interesting Pecorino, an organic wine from Italy that matched well with the fish.

A grilled fillet of hake was my main course, accompanied by a spinach and basil velouté, charred lemon gel, mussels, brown butter gnocchi, and hazelnut. Well cooked, well presented and every ingredient played a role in a superb dish.

Dessert

CL’s pick was the Grilled breast of chicken, southern fried leg, leek, onion dressing, salt baked celeriac, purée Tarragon cream. The fried leg added an extra dimension to another excellent combination. By the way, there are a number of sides available and, yes, those Triple Cooked Chips are outstanding! 

After all that, we decided to share a dessert: West Cork Cream, with honeycomb and a champagne sorbet. Easy to dispatch and delicious! And a lovely end to a lovely meal. Excellent produce, top notch cooking and a friendly and efficient service from start to finish in a very comfortable room.

Chicken

The Brook Inn is easily found, on the road from Glanmire to Watergrasshill. It will be on your left, a well maintained building with lots of flowers at this time of year. There are a few parking spaces in the front while the main car park is at the rear. See the map here. 

* A stage (French word) is an unpaid internship when a chef works briefly (usually for a few weeks), for free, in another chef's kitchen to learn new techniques and cuisines.

Rainy Night but Well Fed at the Brook Inn

Rainy Night but Well Fed at the Brook Inn

You won’t go hungry in the Brook Inn. It is open all day, every day, so you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner there. And another thing, the portions are Irish (big!), as I found out when I visited this week.

It was a bad night, the rain lashing down. But parking is close by and soon we were seated in the comfortable dining area. Despite the weather last Wednesday evening, the dining area was very busy and the bar alongside was doing okay as well.

The menus, including the well priced Early Bird (2 course for €21.50), were soon brought to our table, near the fire! Quite a decent wine list as well and they also sell a few non-mainstream beers, as well as Stonewell Cider.

CL started off with the Chicken Liver Parfait Apple & Cranberry Chutney (8.95), Ciabatta and Granny Smith Jelly. Quite a large portion! But very flavoursome and enhanced by the chutney and jelly. Mine was more straightforward: The Brook Spicy Buffalo wings (7.25), Lime & Coriander Dip. Good quality sweet spicy wings tamed, a little, by the cool dip.

Spotted the McGrath's No.5 (5.95) on the menu and needed a sip or two of this very agreeable ale to go with the wings, not to mention a glug or two, or three, of water. Meanwhile, CL was thoroughly enjoying her impressive glass of Real Compania Verdejo (7.50), aromatic, fruity and with a good dry finish.

Both starters had been of a high standard and that continued with the mains. A staggering array of enticing options included pasta, curry, meats (including steaks) and fish. I was tempted by the Tasting of Organic Pork but picked the Roast Rack of Lamb Herb Crust (23.95), Carrots with Rosemary, Confit Shoulder, Fondant Potato Red Wine Jus.

The rack was excellent and that confit shoulder was dark and meltingly tender. Everything was perfect and, in terms of quality and quantity, it was quite a plateful! And the same could be said of the other mains: Fresh Bream, Pan fried (23.95), Warm Potato Salad with Bacon and Spring Onion, Wild Mushroom cream & wilted Spinach. 

Two happy customers, having indulged in a feast for the eyes, not to mention the waistline, stepped out into the continuing rain, promising to be back another night to try the desserts!

Greg Murphy is Head Chef here. He had shared his Sausage and Potato Christmas stuffing on Twitter before the festival and we used it over the holidays and found it perfect! It may be used at any time and you’ll find the recipe here.

Greg is the grand nephew of Sean Kinsella of the Mirabeau Restaurant, Dublin. “Sean was Ireland’s first celebrity chef whose guest list included Hollywood greats like Burt Lancaster, Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier.” So Greg has  a bit to go but, as he gives new twists to familiar foods, he sure is heading in the right direction!

Brook Inn, Sallybrook, Glanmire, Co. Cork

Phone	(021) 482 1498
Website	http://www.thebrookinn.ie/

Hours

Mon - Thu: 10:30 am - 11:30 pm Fri - Sun: 10:30 am - 12:30 am