Cahernane House Hotel in Condé Nast Top 3
‘Best Dining Experience'
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| Eric Kavanagh |
Cahernane House Hotel in Killarney has been shortlisted in the Condé Nast top 3 hotels for ‘Best Dining Experience UK & Ireland’. Condé Nast is widely regarded as the ultimate globetrotting bible for even the most discerning traveller and features luxury hotels, restaurants and destinations from all corners of the world.
The leading lifestyle travel magazine will hold its ‘Annual Awards for Excellence Dinner’ at the glitzy May Fair Hotel in London on Monday, 5th of November when the overall winner will be announced. Cahernane House Hotel, General Manager, Emer Corridan will attend the black-tie awards ceremony to represent the property.
Emer has been working at Cahernane House Hotel since 2016, managing the hotel and ensuring that each guest that walks through the door has a relaxing and memorable stay as well as leading her team to a four star standard and beyond. Emer as an individual can best be described the life of Cahernane with her passion shining through in her everyday contact with both the team and guests.
Cork native Eric Kavanagh is the Executive Chef at Cahernane House and leads a talented team in the kitchen at the distinguished Herbert Restaurant in the hotel. Before starting at Cahernane House Hotel in 2017, Eric worked at Longueville House in Mallow, Marlfield House in Gorey and Sheen Falls in Kenmare. He also spent some time abroad in Canada and New Zealand where he was inspired by the many international chefs he worked with.
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| Crab, cucumber |
The key ingredient behind any good meal is the timing however, and Eric is keen to point out that he bases his menu and technique on what time of the year it is.
“It’s a seasonal thing,” he said. “You want to make the food so it’s good, but that it also shows technique and it’s not over the top and there for the sake of it. You see what’s around, what is in season, and you put it together and you make sure that there is some sense of technique to it to. From there you test it, and if it works you use it, if it doesn’t work you keep adjusting it until you’re happy with it really.”
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| Cured Halibut, carrot, finger lime, Bergamot |
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| Cod |
The Herbert Restaurant has two AA Rosettes and serves fabulous seasonal dishes prepared with flair and style by a hand that understands great technique with minimal fuss. We were on the Table d'Hote €55.00 menu and started off with an excellent glass of Prosecco. Delicious breads, including a treacle version and an onion one, followed as did an amuse bouche.
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| Raspberry mousse |
No shortage of interesting starters on the menu and mine was a gorgeous Wild Boar and Foie Gras while CL was thrilled with her Castletownbere Crab wrapped in cucumber. A couple of palate cleansing "Middle Courses" followed, Cured Halibut for me, Clementine Sorbet for her. Two beautiful dishes, small but enough for the chef to again display his skills.
As he did again with the mains. Hard to top the Slow Cooked Guinea Fowl, with Mead and Soy, Pistachio, Pumpkin, Black Trompette Mushrooms, and Baby Turnip. CL enjoyed a beautiful fish dish: Confit Cod and smoked Cod Belly, with Seaweed Pastille, Cauliflower, Cabbage and Apple. Really high class stuff and all washed down with a PradoRey Verdejo, aromatic, elegant and expressive.
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| Figs |
And did we have dessert? Of course. We had a couple of beauties, not from the usual list of suspects at all. CL was delighted with her pick: Iced Raspberry Mousse (Lemongrass gel, crème fraiche and coco snap) while I indulged my sweet tooth with Sauternes Infused Figs and Pressed Kefir (fig compote and wild blackberries). Quite a finalé!
See second post from this visit, details on room, bar and breakfast, here.
See second post from this visit, details on room, bar and breakfast, here.
Fancy a meal there? Why not check out their Autumn Escape Break (From €94.50 per person sharing) includes one night’s accommodation with breakfast and dinner in the fine dining, critically acclaimed 2 AA Rosette Herbert Restaurant (you can also enjoy a complimentary glass of prosecco when you book on www.cahernane.com). This lovely package also includes a complimentary art and history tour which runs each evening from 6.00pm. For more information on Cahernane House Hotel or to make a booking see www.cahernane.com or call (064) 663 1895.
