RESTAURANTS AND FOOD: The Pantry and Corkscrew

Showing posts with label The Pantry and Corkscrew. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Superb Dining At Westport's The Pantry & Corkscrew

The Pantry & Corkscrew is a little gem, though hardly a hidden one, right in the heart of Westport. If you want freshly made food using the very best local ingredients, with an interesting bottle of wine or local craft beer, then make this your destination.

Here, you’ll get the warmest of welcomes from Dermott and Janice who take pride in using as much local organic and free range produce as possible from the land, earth and sea.

Arancino

Listed among their suppliers are Joe Kelly Organic Vegetables, Andarl Farm Outdoor Pigs, Kellys of Newport, Starcrest Seafood, Aran Island Goats Cheese, Achill Island Sea Salt, /Mescan Brewery, Killary Shellfish, K&C Norton, Wines Direct, Sysco, The Apple Farm, Coffee.ie, Faherty, Wholesale and Wild Wines.

There’s a tempting range of starters with a couple of specials as well and included Naturally Smoked Atlantic Haddock Croquettes, King Oyster Mushroom, Braised Irish Beef Rib Empanada, Andarl Farm Shredded Ham Hock Cashel Blue Cheese; Puffed Rice Crusted Tofu.

In the end we settled on one of the specials. Glad that we did as the Arancino filled with Mozzarella & Salami Napoli, with Tomato & Basil Sauce and Fresh Rocket, certainly lived up to its special billing. We were up and running with that.

They carry a range of the local Mescan beers and we each had a bottle of the Seven Virtues Lager to start with, full of flavour and refreshment. Later, I would move on to the Mescan Old Brown (thanks to Dermott pulling out the last of the batch). I knew I was on a winner as I’ve had a few over the past year or two. Talking about patience, this is matured in oak barrels for more than two years. Well worth waiting for!!!

I had enjoyed a Schnitzel a month or so ago in Kerry and when I spotted one on the menu here, my mind was made up, especially since I saw the pork was coming from the local Andarl Farm. The full description was: Herb Crusted Andarl Farm Free Range Pork Schnitzel, Pancetta & Parmesan Cream, Potato, Fennel and Butternut Hash. Crispy and tasty, full of flavour and texture and the potato and sauce enhanced the whole dish. A big thumbs up for this one.

Desserts

And it was the same from the other side of the table where CL was delighted with her Oven Baked Herb Crusted Fresh Irish Hake with Killary Mussels, Haricot Beans, and Creamy Tomato Seafood Sauce. Full marks all round here for the fish and all that came with it, all perfectly cooked and presented.

No sharing dessert this time, though there were generous tastings exchanged. One, with a little encouragement from our server, was a Melon Semifreddo (from the specials) and the other, spotted early on, was the Normandy Apple Pie with House Vanilla Ice Cream.

It is a small narrow and comfortable room where the warm welcome is an indication of things to come in this cozy place where good food and drink and chats and smiles are the order of the day. Very Highly Recommended.

It is not just me. Recently, they won the Award for Best Emerging Irish Cuisine at The Regional (Connacht) RAI Awards.

More on the Pantry and Corkscrew on their website here

Also on this trip

Superb Dining At Westport's The Pantry & Corkscrew

Achill Island in the sun. And wind.

Sipping Mescan Beer. Doolough Valley.

Ballycroy National Park

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Sipping Mescan Beer and Smoke on the Water. CorkBillyBeers #24

Sipping Mescan Beer and

Smoke on the Water.

CorkBillyBeers #24

Began a two day trip to Mayo with a call to a micro brewery under the gaze of Croagh Patrick and the smoke on the water came later as we drove toward the lakes in the beautiful Doolough Valley as it was drifting high into the sky from a fire blazing on the slopes at the left hand side.

We had long made attempts to get to see the Mescan Brewery, makers of Belgian style craft beers and based in Cartoor, well off the road between Westport and Louisburgh. We got there eventually and met up with Cillian for a couple of sips and a chat.

Mescan beers are highly rated and rightly so. Amazing attention to detail and casks full of patience are required. He explained that his beers take a minimum of 4 months with the heavy ones getting 6-8 months where your normal craft beer takes just a few weeks from start to counter (can vary from brewer to brewer). While the extra time makes the Mescan more expensive, Cillian reckons it is very important for the quality of the beer. And it is indeed a premium product.

The beautiful Doolough Valley

New beers here are tried out in 50 litre batches but he said you can never be sure, the results are never totally accurate and can be different when brewed in bulk!

But yes, the patience is well worth it as we found out when we sipped their Special Reserve (8.6% ABV). The famous Chimay Blue was the inspiration for this recipe and it is fantastic. Another superb special is the Baltic Porter, brewed with a lager yeast.

And later that evening, I was on the strong stuff again, this time thanks to Dermott of the lovely restaurant called The Pantry and Corkscrew in Westport. It was his last bottle of the Old Brown (delivery was due the next day) and it was absolutely enjoyable and I loved it as I knew I would - I did have a few over the past year or two. Talking about patience, this is matured in oak barrels for more than two years. Worth waiting for!!!

Flames spreading

Not all the Mescan beers are super strong. Take the lager for instance. That weighs in at 4.5% and is one of the very best around. Had one of those as well in the Pantry and Corkscrew.

Cillian is a busy man. A few days earlier he had been in Dublin doing a collaboration with Whiplash. In March, he was in the capital for the “Me Auld Flower Festival” in a historic building that used to be home to the Dublin City Fruit, Veg and Flower Market.

Smoke rising from the water in the valley

It was emotional for Cillian, a Dub himself: ”My great great grandfather, Patrick Moran, took the first stall in those markets after they were opened in 1893. He moved into Arran House on the corner ….. and our family lived there for over a 100 years. I remember growing up there and the Warden letting me and my older brother Paddy ring the end of market bell each day - 50 years ago.”

And if you want to try out Mescan beers and much more then head to the Grainne Ale Festival on the Saturday and Sunday of this Bank Holiday weekend - 29th & 30th April 2023! "Come choose from a range of beers from local independent breweries in the beer garden of Gracy’s Pizzeria and Bistro at Westport House."

Our sips and chats over, we said goodbye to Cillian and to Theo (a Frenchman doing the work while we were talking) and, with directions, headed off cross country to Doolough.

This is one of the most beautiful corners of the country but loaded with sadness too because of what happened here during the famine, such sadness among such beauty. Disappointed to see the smoke rising though as we got closer but there were fireman and helpers on the scene and they soon got it under control though it left a nasty black scar on the slopes.

With the smoke cleared we got a great view of the lakes and the mountains, probably the clearest day we’ve enjoyed here. A highly recommended drive and just a few minutes from Louisburgh (check out its lovely Portuguese café TIA).

On our way back to the hotel in Westport, we made a stop at the Croagh Patrick carpark. No, not to climb the famous mountain but to cross the road and reflect as we looked at the marvellous National Famine Memorial, the Coffin Ship by sculptor John Behan. More sadness.