Cork's Dessert Festival launches today!

press release

Where and What's on Offer

Electric Bar and Restaurant

Mad Hatters Afternoon G+T July 1st 2-4pm

Cake Club Sunday 2nd July 3-5pm Also featuring dessert specials all week

The Franciscan Well

Ice Cream and Beer Weekend July 1st and 2nd from 1pm

Nandos Academy St

Free Nata with every coffee ordered

Blue Haven Kinsale

Promoting Ice Cream Sundae Menu all week

Casanova Gelato

Launch of "The Giant" Sundae

Featuring parfait cups all week

Arthur Maynes

Beefeater & Tonic with an orange foam

paired with an orange scented Creme Catalana

Hassetts Bakery

Featuring all their homemade desserts

Fundraising cupcake event Fri June 30th 11-3pm

Cafe Velo

Pie with Italian Meringue

Cronins

Homemade ice cream made with Cronin's brown soda bread

and Russian Imperial Stout from the White Gypsy

LISHH Dessert bar all week featuring fresh homemade desserts

with a coffee for just €5

Malay Kitchen

Featuring fresh Malaysian sweet treats all week

Griffins Garden Centre

Featuring all Grannys Griffins Fabulous Homemade Desserts

Competition for afternoon tea for 2

Amicus

Featured Desserts: Amicus After 8

The Allotment Sundae: Butterscotch Bonanza

143

Corks only entirely vegan cafe!

Dessert Demonstration Wed 28th 7-9pm €30

Sober Lane

Guest Dessert- Kinder Sundae

Guest Cocktails: 1. Nutty Russian- Absolut Vanilla, Frangelico, Kahlua and Milk

2.After Eight- Tia Maria, Creme de Menthe, Baileys and Milk

Holy Smoke

Featuring Desserts: Devil's Fruit and Holy Revenge

More desserts and events to be confirmed by: Midleton Park Hotel, The Oriel House Hotel, Myo Cafe, Box of FrogsThe Cornstore, Huckleberry Donuts, Oh My Donut, The Granary Foodstore.

The public will be voting all week on social media for :

Corks Best Dessert

Corks Best Treat and

Best Dessert Event

All other info will be posted on our social media daily!

For any more info email : dessert@festivalcork.com Or follow us on social media!

Gonna be A Burger of a Week. Big and Bad Boys to Rock Cork

Gonna be A Burger of a Week

Big and Bad Boys to Rock Cork

The first Cork Burger Festival runs from January 30th until February 5th. The local cafes and restaurants have climbed aboard in impressive numbers and, if you love your burger, you are going to have some tremendous choices over the week. Below you'll find a selection of what is on offer. More details on the Festival Facebook page here. 

The White Horse in Ballincollig have a Seven Day Burger Battle on, with a tasty clash each night. Friday's duel between the Texan and the Mexican looks saucy with a repeat thrown in on Saturday if you want to switch sides.

Soho Bar have joined in the fun with their Three Rebels, three different sliders and a pint of beer for a tenner.

If you’re in Son of a Bun, watch out for the Wonka ticket. Each burger special you order on this fantabulous week will be hiding a Son of a Wonka ticket. If you happen to be the lucky winner of one of their 7 golden tickets you will be in for a treat! “For the next 5 months you will get to have our burger of the month on us!”  Limit 1 burger each month per ticket holder.

New Douglas restaurant, 12 Tables, are running a Burger Battle Royale. On one plate you've got the Mick O’ and, on the other, its The Big Fella. That’ll take some sorting.

If you’re up to big, then maybe the Oliver Plunket is the place to be. Here’s the challenge. The Big Boy (he who dares, WINS) 32oz burger topped with Bandon Vale cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onions served with a side of fries; €30, finish it and it's FREE!

If you can't make it to a restaurant, Davidson’s Craft Butchers have offers on burgers all week. Keep up to date here.

You’ll find the Great Griffin in Dripsey at Griffin's Garden Centre. It looks tempting. Check out their Facebook page for giveaways.

And be sure too to tie up the horse at the Bad Boys where you can tuck into their 8oz Smoked Rodeo Burger topped with Chilli Con Carne Cheese and Sour cream. Bad!

The Meatball Place are also on board with a selection of Speciality Burgers, not just for the week, but for the month!

Nine Market Street in Kinsale are doing a four-course Burger meal (dessert is an ice-cream burger). A fab meal at a great price of €25.00 the lot. Date is Saturday the 4th from 6.00pm.

Lots more places involved including the Silly Goose (with Ali’s Kitchen). Check it all out on festival’s Facebook page here.  

Griffin’s Spinning Wheel Unveils Gorgeous Gluten Free Options!

Griffin’s Spinning Wheel Unveils Gorgeous Gluten Free Options!

Sweet GF! Don't forget, today is Fiver Friday at the Spinning Wheel.

Paid a visit to the beautiful Griffin's Garden Centre on the banks of the Lee in midweek and came home from the Dripsey venue with a Eco-Friendly Champion Anthurium. I can’t eat it - that’s what the label clearly says!

But I ate more than enough as the main purpose of the trip on a sunny aftenroon was to check out the new range of gluten free food that they have in their lovely river-side Spinning Wheel Restaurant, a very busy spot indeed. It is open 9.00 to 5.30, so you may have breakfast and lunch here and lots more besides.

Miriam, who invited me out, told me they  “have been working hard with our head chef, bakery team and customers to ensure that we have a large range of gluten free meals, cakes, scones, desserts and breads available at all times from our customers. We will always have gourmet options for coeliacs and people who wish to live a gluten free life.”

GF samples: Chicken salad, Fish Pie, and, right, breakfast options

"We offer a range of gluten free breakfasts from gluten free scones, breads, omelettes and full Irish Breakfast. Gluten free quality sausages are  available on our breakfast menu. A range of gluten free sausages have been taste tested by our customers and restaurant team. And the best have been given the Granny Griffin seal of approval and are now on the menu.Throughout the day, we are constantly baking gluten free scones, bread and desserts that are available to eat in our restaurant or to take away.”

“Our Lunch Menu has one the largest ranges of gluten free options in Cork. Lunch is served from 12 to 3pm. We have two options of soups every day which are both gluten free. Over 80% of our  salads are Gluten free including an option of gluten free quiche. So for a light lunch option you have a choice of soup, quiche and salad or a vibrant flavoursome open Sandwich.”

“Our head chef is always creating new and improved gluten free lunches. The majority of sauces created in our kitchens are gluten free. Each gluten free meal is well signed to inform the customer. A expansive range of Gluten free desserts and Cakes are also available in the restaurant,  Pavlova, apple tart, brownies, orange and almond cake are just to name a few. And why not try our gluten free Afternoon tea. Pre booking is essential for all Afternoon Tea.”

More sweet stuff!

Chef Chris took me through the tasty options, starting with those Clonakilty Sausages and puddings which he tested on the visitors at last week’s World Feeder Fishing Championships. He uses the black pudding too in a delicious salad. Perhaps the top salad I tasted was the Caesar, great tasting chicken from his Macroom supplier and gluten free croutons that tasted better than the average.

And most impressive of all, I thought, was the Fish Pie, the excellent cornflour sauce recently developed by Chris. Many people think that Gluten Free food is bland, as Chris said. But this tasting plateful was full of great flavors, proof positive of the exact opposite.

The restaurant manager Helen introduced us to Pastry Chef Mary and what a belt bursting selection she had for us, everything from a simple scone to Pavlova to a stunning Chocolate cake. No penance going GF with these kind of goodies on offer!

Creme Brûlée
To get the best from this, and other Heuchera, plant it a little proud of the earth!

Aided by copious cups of coffee, we finally managed to get up from the table and enjoyed a stroll around the magnificent garden centre which will be familiar to many of you. Had another chat with Miriam and got lots of gardening advice!

They also have a home section and that includes an indoor plant display and it was here that we bought the Anthurium, pictured left!

* You have an even better excuse than usual to visit Griffin's today. It is Friday and they have a Fiver Friday offer in the restaurant. Check it out here.

The Spinning Wheel Restaurant

Granny Griffin Knows Best

Thai Green Curry

Granny Griffin Knows Best

Granny Griffin’s famous Apple Pie was on the menu last Friday when we visited the Garden Restaurant at Griffin’s Garden Centre in Dripsey. 

It wasn't the only highlight as it was Fiver Friday, meaning that some main courses were available at a fiver. Indeed, the prices are always reasonable here as you can see from the bill, everything a fiver or under! 

But don't worry. Prices may be keen but the quality is there, certainly in that delicious Apple Pie. It went down a treat. So too did the expertly produced Pavlova, the real thing. 

It was quite a dull day but this comfortable restaurant is bright  thanks to acres of glass and looks out on to the colourful shrubs and flowers in the Garden Centre, a lovely room and also quite a busy one at lunchtime. On a better day, you have the option of eating outside where the tables overlook the river.

Quite a few people, most in fact, opted for the self service option and that moved along smoothly. We were served at the table, with friendly efficiency and courtesy. We all went for the Vegetable Soup as a starter and this was well up to scratch as was the brown bread.

Now what kind of mains would you get for a fiver? How about a beef stew? Griffin’s support local producers and the beef came from Aghabullogue; you can’t get more local that that.

It was excellent, a lovely stew. The other fiver special on offer was a Thai Green Curry and that too was top notch; Chicken was well cooked and those bowls for both the beef and curry were quite substantial. Still, there was room for dessert including that famous pie.

Next time, I’ll have to get a photo with Granny and will even wear a hairnet if necessary!

THE SPINNING WHEEL AT GRIFFIN'S

GRIFFIN’S GARDEN CENTRE

Picture this. The sun shining on a terrasse. Dinners enjoying themselves at the tables. It overlooks the water. Here comes a motor boat with a water-skier going zigzag behind it.

You are not on the Med. Not dreaming. You are at lunch in the Spinning Wheel, the lovely restaurant attached to the stunning Griffin’s Garden Centre in Dripsey. I was there yesterday.

Click to enlarge

When we arrived at the centre to see the newly installed display gardens, designed by Margaret Griffin, we were greeted with some free nibbles. Loved my piece of tart with Ardsallagh Cheese.

First mission though was to take in those new gardens. They are just fantastic, something for everyone here. Most are set to a fairly small scale, some smaller than others, and so will suit the majority of people. The ideas though will suit everyone interested in livening up their space. I loved the use of colour (eg the bright red lamp, the pink wall, the white flowered corner and also the artefacts such as mirrors).

Well worth a visit for the display gardens alone. And particularly so this coming Friday when Dermot O’Neill will be along to officially open them, starting at 11.00am. It is just over twenty minutes from the western side of town.

Click to enlarge

I’m a regular (if infrequent) visitor here and usually call to the onsite Spinning Wheel restaurant which is right on the bank of the River Lee. This place is light and airy, loads of glass and lots of colour too, right down to the serving trays. It is open all day with lunch served from 12.30pm.

You can have light bites, tea and scones for examples, toasted sandwiches or something more substantial. Never shy at the table, I went for the award winning Jack McCarthy Black pudding, wrapped in bacon and served with a mix of summer berries and, of course, a side plate, this of carrots and haricots verts. A lovely meal in a lovely place for ten euro.

You may also but food items to take away here, such as cakes and scones and various preserves, including jams and relishes.

We got down to some serious business after lunch and grabbed a trolley, bought some plants, got some advice (the staff here are very friendly and helpful) and headed back to the car. But not before a look at the indoor shop, so well stocked you’d need a fair bit of time to browse through.

All in all, quite a visit on a sunny day. But don't worry too much about the weather. Quite a bit of the centre is under cover and you always have the shop and Spinning Wheel. If you can't make it on Friday, put it on your list of things to do.