Greenwich Café Brunch A Perfect Finalé To Cork On A Fork Festival

Greenwich Café Brunch A Perfect Finalé To Cork On A Fork Festival

Eggs Royale: O'Connell's Smoked Salmon, Poached East Ferry Farm Eggs and Hollandaise sauce. The best Eggs Royale I've tasted in a long long time and Evin (of Brunch Cork), at the table with us, agreed. The ingredients were superb. The smoked salmon was a light and delightful surprise, so much better than what you get in many hotel breakfasts, you know those that come with a punchy aroma that dominates everything else on the plate.

Greenwich café chef patron Dermot O'Sullivan supports local all year round at the popular Caroline Street venue. So it was no big surprise to see him do it again with his Cork on a Fork Brunch special last Sunday, fittingly entitled "A Celebration of The English Market with Kinsale Gin". No surprise either to see the event sell out. 

It was quite a gin weekend for us and
the Kinsale version kept up the
standard in this welcome G&T
just after arrival.

CL enjoyed her tasty plate of Irish mushrooms on Pana sourdough toast, Parmesan shavings and slow-roasted tomatoes with basil pesto. Again the ingredients were key. The mushrooms and tomatoes were packed full of flavour and there was no shortage of moisture to soften the sourdough crust. Thumbs up again!

We had recently enjoyed the third dish on this special menu and knew the Strawberry Crumble Challah Bread French Toast using challah bread from The Alternative Bread Company, new season Irish strawberries, whipped mascarpone and oat crumble / or Rosscarbery bacon with maple syrup is another gem from the little kitchen here.

French Toast (from a previous visit)
is a regular on the menu here

Felicity Roberts of the Greenwich team heading to the sunny terrace
during last Sunday's A Taste of The English Market Brunch
 with Kinsale Gin during Cork on a Fork Fest. 
Pic: Joleen Cronin.

Supporting local is ingrained here in Greenwich. Just check out all the local names on the regular menu below.

Roughty Foodie - K. O’Connell Fish - Izz Cafe - Bradleys - Neighbourfood - Dungarvan Brewing. Supporting Local. Make It A DailyHabit

Roughty Foodie - K. O’Connell Fish - Izz Cafe - Bradleys - Neighbourfood - Dungarvan Brewing

Supporting Local. Make It A Daily Habit!

Lots of us are on Click and Collect these days, supporting our local restaurant, grocer, baker and supermarket. It’s easy to do once you have the hang of the technology or a son or daughter or grandchild to help out.

But it doesn’t always have to be a “big meal” at home. Budgets have to be met. In a city like Cork, well served by the English Market, various farmers markets and a string of independent grocers, it is easy enough to vary the offering, leaving room for the odd treat and still not break the bank. There is a bit of legwork involved of course but that has the benefit of meeting people and enjoying the conversations, even through the mask.

I know you each have your preferences (and particular treats) but this is what I did last Thursday and Friday. No walks involved with the first dish as the Musakhan was delivered via Neighbourfood on Wednesday evening. The Musakhan? You may well ask.

Well it is a dish from the Palestinian Izz Café on Georges Quay, consisting of local fresh Irish chicken breast, cooked with cardamom, red onions and Palestinian sumac in extra Virgil olive oil. They bake the vibrant mix on traditional dough. It is garnished with pomegranate seeds and served with a delicious yogurt dip. It is a delicious meal all round. One costs €10.50 and we shared it at lunch on Thursday. And there’s a lot more to be explored on the Izz menu!

Friday morning, we were in the English Market, heading for the O’Connell fish stall. We were in good form, lining up a treat for ourselves. John Dory, known as St Peter’s Fish around Venice (though you’ll get a different species, called Tilapia if you ask for St Peter’s Fish in Galilee). They had some on the counter and fourteen euro later we had our catch.

But what would we use with it? Minutes after, while chatting to Margo Ann at the Roughty Foodie, I saw the answer: a three euro bundle of fresh asparagus! The vegetable (I'm not sprayed!) and superbly fresh and flavoursome fish went down a treat at dinner.

On up to Bradleys then for bread and jam and a few other basics. I was primarily on the lookout though for the newly canned beers from Dungarvan Brewery and scored the full hat trick here. Looking forward to trying them very soon!

Taste of the Week. Cajun Salmon from K O'Connell Fish

 Taste of the Week.

Cajun Salmon from K O'Connell Fish

O'Connell's Cajun Salmon with our Cajun Salad

Isn't it great that so many Irish butchers and fishmongers are more and more giving extra choice just like the French traiteurs. Our latest such purchase was a couple of hefty salmon fillets from O'Connell's Fish Stall in the market, both looking well in their coat of Cajun sauce. And, just to reassure you in case you don't like things too spicy, the O'Connell sauce is mild (but tasty!).

We added a bit of oomph to it ourselves, thanks to the Official Blog Chef remembering a Cajun Salad recipe from an old Reader's Digest Cookbook. Peppers, red onions and celery were involved. We didn't have everything on the list. No Tabasco, for instance. But that was very satisfactorily replaced with a dash of the excellent Dr Trouble Sauce from Zimbabwe. And the result was an warming dish in the middle of winter and our Taste of the Week.

K O'Connell Fish Merchants

English Market, Cork.

Email Address: Freshfish@eircom.net

Contact number: 021 427 6380

Facebook: K O’Connell Fish Merchants

Instagram: K O’Connell Fish Merchants

Twitter: @Pattheenglishmarket