FOOD COAST HARVEST FEAST

A guest post by Rick LeVert of the Food Coast...

Four Bridgestone-Recommended Restaurants
One Communal Harvest Feast


On 26 September 2010, four Bridgestone recommended restaurants  Rathmullan
House, Harry¹s Restaurant, An Bonnán Buí, and The Beach House  will be
joining forces to serve 300 guests a sociable harvest feast against the
backdrop of Lough Swilly and Rathmullan¹s historic Battery. What¹s on the
menu? Donegal¹s best local ingredients turned into a four-course, communal
lunch by Donegal¹s best chefs.

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Restaurant & Bar Scene in Cork

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French Food and Wine fest coming up – see blake Creedon’s blog http://blakecreedon.wordpress.com/

Cafe Gusto The evening menu which we serve late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Washington Street has become very popular. This month we introduced Cicchetti, Venetian tapas which have gone down a storm. On a recent visit to London we were amazed to see that this type of informal cafe food is all the rage. So call in, no booking needed, as we..

Irish Foodies Cookalongs 

CURIOUS WINES OPENING NIGHT

CURIOUS WINES

Curious Wines officially opened their doors at Kinsale Road last evening and no expense was spared as dozens of guests were entertained, wined and dined. Thanks a million, Mike and Matt.

Just inside the door, plates of very tasty nibbles were the centre of attraction before we slowly moved upstairs where a classical trio entertained and where bottle laden tables awaited.

Sparklers first and I sampled some Prosecco, one fizzy, the other sparkling; preferred the first but the second was also gorgeous. We would come back to that table as herself liked the Italian (not so much the wines but the tanned guy dishing them out). Popped over to France and some Chablis la Colombe.

The Apple Company in Cahir

THE CHAMPAGNE OF APPLE JUICES

This is my favourite apple drink: The Apple Farm of Tipperary Sparkling Apple Juice. I have previously called this the champagne of apple juices and see no reason whatsoever to change my mind after my most recent tasting which came at the weekend when I bought a couple of bottles (€2.50 for a small bottle but well worth it) of this premium apple juice from The Pantry Stand in the Midleton Food Market. The Pantry obviously has good taste as this is available in their Midleton restaurant.

How is it made?

RED ALL OVER

WINE ALLIANCE COMPETITION  

ENTRIES CLOSE 8.00am MONDAY 2oth!!!!

It’ll be Red all over on September 19^th and to celebrate Cork’s success in reaching the All-Ireland football final we have a cracking prize for you: 6 bottles of classy Spanish red wine, perfect for the celebrations.

The Rojo Mojo Tempranillo (2009) and the Rojo Mojo Shiraz (2009) are new to Ireland and are being imported exclusively by Wine Alliance

The Question: Did Cork wear red or white jerseys in the 1973 All-Ireland final when, helped by two goals (and a point) from Jimmy Barry-Murphy, they defeated Galway? This is a slightly tricky one – you don’t expect us to give the wine away too easily. 

If you need a hint, go here and scroll down to (or search for) Blast from the Past. Video clue here.

Send your answer to: b1946l@gmail.com

ORGANIC MARKET

Ollie Moore has been in touch to tell us all about Ireland's first organic market opening in Clonmel. read more

Photo: produce by Siobhain la Touche.

Wagamama

From today, Wagamama introduce sushi to their Cork menu ..read more

FRENCH DOUBLE

FRENCH DOUBLE

Wine Alliance has come up with an impressive French double, both by Boutinot . The 2009 red Mas de Vigneron is a Pays de Vaucluse while the white is Pays Cote de Gascogne.

Vaucluse as you probably know is a part of Provence and Mas means farmhouse in the local lingo, usually one with no windows on the north so the dreaded Mistral can't bite through. By the way, I’m looking to rent one (well part of one anyhow!)  there next summer....so if you have any contacts let me know!

One such farm building, Mas de la Dame , has been producing wine and olive oil for four generations and has other claims to fame: Vincent van Gogh painted it (1889, later stolen but still used on wine label as at right), it was mentioned in the Nostradamus predictions and also referred to by Simone de Beauvoir.

This Pays de Vaucluse may not be AOC. You wouldn't be expecting much?  Mistake. Especially where an area has no appellation controlee vineyards.

This summer, I spotted the local Pays de Domme where I was staying in Sarlat and put it in my trolley only realising back at the Gîte that at about €8.50 it was the dearest wine I bought that day but this local beauty was also the best wine I bought that day.

Thanks to our host, I has also drank a few bottles of another local wine, Pays de Perigord, and that too was excellent and the same can be said of this exclusive import from Vaucluse which consists of Grenache Noir (70%) and Syrah (30%).

Colour is a burnt red with berries on the nose. It is soft and fruity and spicy as you’d expect with good length on the finish. Medium bodied and well balanced it is a great taste and great value at €8.99. ABV is 13% and this very drinkable red is recommended to go with grilled meats, casseroles, pizzas and mature hard cheeses. I drank it on its own and it was just delicious.

The white, Pays

Crafty Confections in Midleton

CRAFTY CONFECTIONS

Crafty Confections is run by “sugar artist” Kelly Cope. "I love the challenge of designing each cake, creating something unique, that will truly be a centrepiece and quite simply, make people say Wow! It is very important to me that the cakes not only look good, but that they also taste amazing. I often get told by people, they can't believe they actually taste even better than they look!"

The hype can

Rose Cottage Fruit Farm in Mountrath

ROSE COTTAGE FRUIT FARM

The tasty products of the Rose Cottage Fruit Farm may be found at quite a few local markets including Mahon Point and Midleton. Cherries and Blueberries are included in a wide variety and they also do drinks such as Apple Juice, also mixes such as Apple and Raspberry, and they have a full range of jams.
Enjoyed a bottle of their Apple Juice recently and can agree it is worth the three euro for the 75cl.

SOWAN’S ORGANIC

SOWAN’S ORGANIC

Sowan’s Organic, listed in the Bridgestone Guide, make bake mixes so that you can make real home baked food, real fast. Mixes currently available include: super spelt, traditional brown, pancake mix, gluten-free real bread and quite a few others including the Wheat and Rye mix that we bought at their stall in the Recent Midleton food festival.
www.sowansorganic.ie
353 (0)86 805115
Carrigeen, Stradbally, Co Laois.

Check out my review of Sowan's Organic - I am cork - on Qype

Tastefully Yours

TASTEFULLY YOURS
From Waterford come new and unusual flavours in the Chutneys, Relishes and Pickles produced by Dunhill’s Tastefully Yours. I tried out a few recently (at the Midleton Food festival) and they certainly tickled the taste buds. I bought two chutneys: the Cheese Board Chutney along with the Beetroot and Orange Chutney.
Their hand crafted products are the perfect accompaniment to pasta dishes, salads, hot and cold meats and are high quality ingredients for use in your daily cooking.

TOP FOUR - IN A ZONE OF THEIR OWN

SETÚBAL’S STELLAR QUARTET  

Portuguese prize-winners

Get your hands on these Iberian newbies, a quartet of quality Portuguese wines from the Setúbal peninsula at an astounding price, brought to these shores, for the first time, by the talent spotters of Wine Alliance.

Let me fill you in.