Nine most popular restaurant posts 2012

Nine most popular restaurant posts 2012

Many of you will miss
dining in the garden of
O'Brien's Chop House.

Amazingly, a restaurant review from November has taken more hits than any other this year (2012) and the review of the Chapel Steps in Bandon is our top post for the year. It has taken around 2,200 hits and that puts it well ahead of the others. Chef Kevin O'Regan can take much of the credit. He is helping upgrade Chapel Steps from a cafe to a restaurant and his previous restaurant, Electric, is number two on the list!

Sad to see that two of the nine, O'Brien's and Augustine's, are no longer open but newcomers such as Chapel Steps and Electric are wasting no time in claiming their places among your favourites.

1 - Chapel Steps (November)

2 - Electric (June)

3 - Buffalo Tasting at the Mills (September)

4 - Lunch Treat at O'Brien's Chop House (August)

5 - Epic Tweet-up at Springfort Hall (March)

6 - Stuart Bowes at Barnabrow (November)

7 - Jacobs on the Mall (October)

8 - Tom Crean Dining Experience at Annie's (September)

9 - Last Supper at Augustine's (February)

EPIC TWITTER FOODIE EVENT AT SPRINGFORT

 Reckon Bryan would prefer to be in the kitchen than on the mike. Insert top: last of the James Nicholson sponsored wines, the Quady - Elysium Black Muscat (California) and insert bottom: Course #4, the Raspberry Jam Sorbet.

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 #1: Ardsallagh Goat's Cheese, pear & walnut

#2: Dunmore East Scallop, blanquette of beans

 #3: Jack McCarthy's Black Pudding and Glazed Springfort Pork Belly, celeriac, Apple and Longueville House Cider.

 #5: Twelve Hour Feather Blade of Hereford Beef, swede, wild 3-cornered leek, truffle & beetroot.

 #6: Clonmore and Ardrahan cheese, Tomato Chutney

#7: Lemon Posset, shortbread biscuit

 #8: Bitter Chocolate Tart, caramel and pecan.

 Bryan with Springfort's Margaret (@springfort) and, left, Elaine O'Shea (@_theBBQ_team

Congrats to chef Bryan McCarthy and to all at Springfort Hall who staged a magnicient event, the third in the series of #MunsterFoodieTweetup. The nine course foodie event was epic, thanks largely to the skill of Bryan and his team in the kitchen. The beef and the black pudding were perhaps the highlights but all dishes were excellent. Some excellent wines also from the James Nicholson portfolio and I really enjoyed the Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc and the Domaine du Grapillon d'Or Gigondas, not neglecting the Beaujolais nor indeed the Muscat (pictured). Great too to see the produce of local producers being put to such good use by Bryan. It was a long night in the popular north Cork venue but no tales to tell. What happened in the Baltydaniel Bar stays in the Baltydaniel Bar!

MONSTER MUNSTER FOODIE TWEET-UP

MUNSTER FOODIE TWEET-UP

Ace chef West Cork’s Bryan McCarthy (left) is looking forward to welcoming foodies from Munster (and probably) to a monster foodie tweet-up at Springport Hall Hotel on the first Sunday of next month, March 4^th. No less than nine courses are planned for the evening which begins with a drinks reception in the Balltydaniel Bar in the highly rated hotel.

Bryan is the chef at the 4 star 1 AA Rosette hotel, “cooking with the seasons and using local artisan produce”. You’ll find him on twitter under @newfoodie2012 while the hotel itself tweets as @springfort and the event tag is  #munsterfoodietweetup . Costs are €75pp for drinks reception, 9 course tasting menu & wine (+ accommodation €25pp).

“This is going to be brilliant,” Bryan enthuses. “We already have a lot booked and spaces will be limited. It’s a great deal at that price and it's going to be epic! The local disco is going to be well over before we finish up. Don’t worry about the disco though as it's rumoured there might be a DJ on the night!”

Bryan is pretty well known for his sensational Twelve Hour Feather Blade of Hereford Beef which went down a treat at last year’s Taste of Cork in Fitzgerald Park. We asked him if it will be on the menu.

Bryan: “As for the menu, there will be lots of local produce including Jack McCarthy’s black pud, Ardsallagh goats cheese, our own pork, wild garlic and of course the Feather Blade beef.”.

Conor O’Brien of JN Wines is consulting with Bryan on the wine list. Details have yet to be finalised. Conor tells me it'll be a sparkling wine reception, then one white wine, two red wines and a dessert wine to finish. “This will be JN wines third time sponsoring the #munsterfoodietweetup and we hope to keep that up into the future.”

Springfort Hall Country House Hotel,
Mallow,
Co Cork.
Tel : 022 21278 

WEDDING MOVES


HITCHED OUT OF TOWN

Once upon a time, in the last century, you’d hear of the rare couple skipping off to Rome to get married but now out of town weddings have become increasingly popular. And to increasingly exotic destinations at that. The Canaries are quite popular and next month at least one Cork couple will be getting hitched on the shores of Lake Garda.

At least in the case of European venues, the couple have a decent chance of getting a crowd but pity the lonesome twosomes who take off to some island in the Pacific or Indian Ocean to end up on their own with the hotel chef and receptionist as the best man and bridesmaid.

I was at an out of town wedding recently. In the middle of nowhere. Well, while Springfort Hall is just 500 metres from the junction of NewTwoPotHouse on the Mallow-Buttevant Road, thankfully the old Georgian pile isn't that far away. One can get a taxi home to the city rather than pay the rather excessive room price.

For all that, it is a popular venue. I have been at a few functions there over the years and the facilities and ambience for such are excellent and the food is regularly good.

This menu, in common with many current weddings, had choices. I picked melon for my starter. It was well presented and went down a treat, to be followed by a big bowl of soup. The main course choice was either salmon and cod or beef. I took the fish and, like the beef, it was excellent, both served with a selection of spot-on veg (cooked but not overdone).

Dessert was a slight disappointment. My choice was the Bailey’s Chocolate Roulade but it was very much on the extra dry side. The other choice was a Pavlova with fruit and I heard one or two arguments as to whether it was meringue or real Pavlova. But overall the meal was excellent, the coffee was good and the service was friendly and excellent.