Food and Drink Spotting

Food and Drink Spotting

Darina Allen stepping it out at Ballycotton!

Seafood and Song in Ballycotton

All the Ballycotton businesses have teamed up together to offer a June Bank Holiday weekend of seafood, shanty, free family entertainment and the famous Ballycotton craic to all.

“Come and see everything Ballycotton has to offer this June Bank Holiday weekend. Officially opening with a Seafood demonstration on the pier by Darina Allen on 3pm Saturday, the aim of this weekend is to promote Ballycotton and have fun as we do!

This is the first time all our local businesses have pulled together and pooled their resources to offer a weekend of FREE family entertainment… on Saturday on the pier there will be arts and crafts, puppet shows, decorating cookies, make your own pottery, fish and wine tasting, face painting, cookery demonstrations, treasure hunt, singing contest and much more and on Sunday in the village more of the same and more!

Come and enjoy the local talent as they try to win the ‘Freedom of Ballycotton’ much sought after prize with their Shanty singing!

Boat trips from the pier will also be available at a reasonable price and DJ Mossie from The Blackbird will be at the end of the pier encouraging children young and old to shanty for your seafood!

See the website at http://www.ballycottonshantyandseafood.com/  and keep up with our FB updates for more information.”

10 Euro for a family - no matter how big the family!!!!!) Puppet shows, decorate your own cookie, make your own pottery, arts and crafts, free ice cream for kids in fancy dress etc - all free and no admission charge. Families are struggling and we want to show Ballycotton at its best.

Sherry Baby at L’Atitude 51!

“At L'Atitude 51, we're pretty passionate about all things wine-related, so we're uber-excited to be taking part in World Sherry Day!!!!

We've got a number of fantastic sherries lined up for the weekend for you to try - from dry and zesty fino's to nutty oloroso's and the much-talked-about en-rama (unfiltered) manzanilla's.

We'll be going a little Spanish for the weekend and serving up some delicious Spanish Tapas to match.

Join us from 24th - 26th May as we pay homage to this much misunderstood drink.

PS Tell all your Spanish friends!

Duchess Tea Rooms

“My favourite tea to drink on a lovely hot day like today is Peppermint very refreshing and versatile, so why not try making your own Peppermint iced tea.

1 cup fresh mint leaves, washed

3-4 green tea bags (use organic/natural)

Ice

Honey or agave, fresh lavender leaves (optional)

Preparation:

Place mint leaves in a large glass or BPA-free plastic pitcher. Crush gently with clean hands. Add tea bags, and pour hot water over top, leaving a few inches of room. Cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Remove tea bags; serve over ice. Add honey or agave to sweeten and a few fresh lavender leaves, if you have them on hand.

New Summer Beer Exclusively available from Market Lane & The Castle Cafe

“We are delighted to have agreed with The White Gypsy Brewery that they will tailor-make a seasonal beer to go with a dish from our summer menus being served in The Castle Café and Market Lane.
Our first summer beer will be a Weissbier and will exclusively be available in Munster from these two locations. The dish that we are matching to is a Pan-fried monkfish with spinach mash, smoked bacon lardons, roast parsnips and a honey lemon jus.

This beer will be available until the autumn when the next seasonal beer and its matching dish will be revealed and served. Lots of people will match existing dishes with wine and beer, but there are very few restaurants who have the opportunity to do such a specific and exclusive match with the chef working so closely with the brewer. We’re delighted to strengthen our association with White Gypsy who also produce our in-house stout, Angel Stout.

Follow us on Twitter or see our Facebook pages for more news and updates.”

www.marketlane.ie www.castlecafe.ie www.elbowlane.ie

Shorts

Hayfield Manor Hotel ‏@HayfieldManor7m

Only a month to go to our next Wine Society Event on June 20th!Delighted to be showcasing New Zealand's most awarded winemaker Villa Maria,

Potted, pickled & cured - grilled fennel sausage, local ricotta, giardiniera, olive bread. http://www.foodspotting.com/reviews/3578206

Youghal welcome for renovated Walter Raleigh

Youghal welcome for renovated Walter Raleigh

Fish Cake & Roulade

“Great to have it back. It’s good for the town!”, was the general reaction to the reopening of the renovated Walter Raleigh Hotel earlier this year. The hotel was a regular stop for passersby in the good old days and the new owners are hoping that their version will “appeal equally to locals and visitors alike”.

The hotel may not yet be going at full steam as renovations are still going on but the taste of things to come was on view in the Bar Restaurant when I called in last week. And, based on local fish and beef, it is a very encouraging taste indeed.

Started off with a Fish Cake, served with a Salmon and Prawn Roulade, a mixed baby leave salad, cucumber and organic yoghurt. Hadn’t been expecting much more than the fish cake - the roulade was a bonus - and it was real pleasure to see it delivered to the table and even more of a pleasure to polish it off.

The Five Spice Calamari (Vodka and Tonic battered calamari with chilli, garlic and red onion and a house made lemon and basil mayo) was the other starter on the table. Maybe not as spectacular as the other one but again well cooked and well presented.

This was a very encouraging start and the high standard continued with the main dishes. My pick was 21 days aged 10 ounce rib-eye, served with a stack of crispy onion rings, Portobello mushroom, hand cut chips and a pepper sauce. This, supplied by Twomey Butchers in the town, was superb, cooked as requested and so well presented. The pepper sauce came in its own jug (I like sauces served like that as you can  use as much or as little as you like) and a bowl of their obviously hand cut chips.

Aside from the regular dishes, they also have a Special list each day. The Fish Cake came from that as did the other main dish that we enjoyed: the superb Pan Fried Hake served with a delicious seafood and sweet pea risotto. And the surprise here was a little bowl of fresh mussels on the side.

Silken teabag!

After those two courses there was little room for dessert so I settled for tea. Amazing how the choice of teas and coffees has improved in recent years and the Walter Raleigh won’t let you down in that regard. I choose a green tea, the Yunnan by Java Republic with its “unique silken teabag” that I hadn’t seen before. Nice cuppa!

The renovated bar is comfortable and looks very well and the service was friendly and efficient. Worth a call!

Kildorrery International Food Fair

Kildorrery International Food Fair

Spotted this Facebook post from Caroline Hennessy (Bibliocook) yesterday morning and decided to head up to Kildorrery to check it out.

"Food from Latvia, Japan, Lithuania, Korea - and some samples of Irish beer from @8degreesbrewing! The Kildorrery International Food Festival at 2pm today.

Some of the delights on offer for your enjoyment at this year's Kildorrery International Food Fair on Sunday May 19th:

Bangers and Mash with Onion Gravy
Cream of Barley Soup (original Titanic recipe, goes down very well) served with Trudy’s soda bread
Chicken and vegetable stew (Japanese chikuzen style)
Dakjjim (Korean marinated chicken stew with noodles)
Latvian Pork and Bean Stew
Lithuanian Grated Potato Dumplings and Flat Potato Cake
Brisket and Poha (beef and kale)
Yam and Egg Stew
Beans and Dodo (fried Plantain)."

The Fair was held in the local schoolhouse with ample parking across the way in the GAA Grounds. There was a fiver charge for admission and for that you were supplied with a bowl and a fork/spoon and a wristband that entitled you to get into the main room and eat all you could get.

The place was packed with most of the punters willing to try out the exotic as well as the local food on offer. By the time, my round was finished, I was delighted to see a cup of tea (or coffee) on offer in an adjacent room and I enjoyed that very much along with a bun (all for just two euro).

Hard to take pics in such a crowded situation but managed a few.

Oriental touch

Matcha Green tea cakes

Delicious: Chicken and vegetable stew (Japanese chikuzen style)

Fried ribbon cookies

Brisket and Poha (beef and kale)

Not much left! The African rice was very popular
The food on the right is banana.

Local  beers with a growing international reputation!

Little Beauty Comes Home

Little Beauty Comes Home

Bringing Gold

Maurice O'Mahony of Wine Alliance introduces
Little Beauty's Fleur McCree.

Little Beauty’s Fleur McCree says demand is high for her 600 cases of limited edition Riesling. She even sells it into Germany and has had a recent query from Japan where the grape is "all the rage with the young affluent Japanese woman”. It will be all the rage in other places too with yesterday’s news that her 2010 from Marlborough has won the New Zealand Regional Award (for Riesling selling at under fifteen pounds sterling) in the Decanter World Wine Awards!

The wine, made from less than 2 hectares of vines, is a “refreshing lemon lime” and “deliberately made dry”. It is the drink anytime wine, the “lager of wine” according to Fleur who loves it with roast pork.

The second wine at last week’s tasting in L’Atitude 51, who supplied some really tasty bites for each wine, was the Pinot Gris, again from less than two hectares of vines. “Pinot Gris loves the stones, the water, and the sun.” It just takes off in these conditions and that can, in the wrong hands, lead to quantity over quality.

So it has to be reined in. Bunches are removed. Must be done by hand as machines can’t decide which bunches to discard. “Concentration in Pinot Gris means quality” and it is “the most pampered variety in the vineyard”. Here you have lip smacking flavour, oily, yet drier than the Riesling. Don’t over chill it and use with nuts, pork crab and so on.

Sauvignon Blanc is perhaps the typical Marlborough wine. Little Beauty’s 2010 is, I think, a little bit more restrained than the usual Marlborough and the better for it. The different blocks around the vineyard ripen at different times yet the intense fruit is preserved and there is “a build-up of layers of flavour to enhance the experience. Mango, Passion fruit at the start followed by Citrusy flavours mid-palate and then basil at the back of the tongue”. Really top notch.

The Gold medal news was the first surprise at the well attended tasting. You can’t taste gold medals but we could taste the second surprise: the Black Beauty Edition of Sauvignon Blanc. Only 200 cases were produced from a few selected rows and this was a world first for Ireland. “...quick harvested...and then put into small old barriques (French), barriques that are ten to twenty years old...no stainless steel is used..fermentation is in the barrel...no cultured yeast...just the local wild yeast”.

And that intensive management pays off. “It is a beautiful fruit wine..lots of texture..creamier...richer...use with pork chops and garlic.”

“Hello, you exotic Little Beauty”, was Fleur’s greeting to the next wine, the Gewurztraminer, as she sniffed the Turkish Delight on the nose. This comes from two different one hectare plots, from two different clones of a variety that is “lazy in the vineyard”.

Its sweet fruitiness is balanced by “a clear acidity”. “It is a food wine, very versatile.” She advised us to try it with Cheeses, Foie Gras, Terrines, spicy crab and fragrant curries.

Now it was time for the final wine, Pinot Noir, the only red in the Little Beauty team. The Marlborough sun will not ripen the likes of Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz and so Pinot Noir is the most common red variety in the area.

This, hand harvested from between six and seven hectares, has a short spell in stainless steel before aging for 12 months in oak. It is a terrific example of the variety. “Complex but in a friendly way! Soft silky and a hint of tannins. Enjoy, definitely, with Pan-fried duck breasts.”

Just another Little Beauty in a beautiful wine tasting in L’Atitude’s superbly appointed upstairs room, made for just such an occasion. May there be many more of them. 

Little Beauty wines are imported by Wine Alliance. It is widely available around the country so check out the stockists here.

Wine Geese events

Tuesday May 28th, Cafe Paradiso: Presentation & Tasting with winemaker Emma Cullen of Cullen Wines, Margaret River, Australia in Café Paradiso in association with Liberty Wines.

July 11th, Crawford Art Gallery: “A Bordeaux Evening in Cork” with Pierre Lawton, Bordeaux and Ted Murphy, author of “A Kingdom of Wine – a Celebration of Ireland’s Wine Geese”.

 (Part Two)

Little Beauty Comes Home

 (Part One)

In 1825, thirty year old John Cox welcomed his new son William into the world in Passage West, Co. Cork. William, who married in 1846, was one of the first Europeans to settle in New Zealand and died there in 1899.

William was the great, great great grandfather of Fleur McCree, co-owner of Marlborough winery Little Beauty, who was back in town last Thursday evening, her tutored wine-tasting, in Union Quay’s L’Atitude 51, part of the current Wine Geese Series.

“Marlborough is the home of Little Beauty and a very important place for me,” she said. “There we have 2,500 hours of sunshine annually and clear skies. If you go to New Zealand be sure to have your sunglasses with you when you land in Auckland, it is so bright.”

Marlborough is into farming both on land and on sea and has “a huge reputation for such a little place”. But its grape history is a very short one. The first were planted in 1972 and the hopeful farmer was told he “was bonkers”.

Fleur, who had always had a terrific affinity with nature (sleeping as a child on her trampoline under those bright bright stars),decided in the late 90s to get into wine – for keeps!

The apprenticeship took quite a while. Scouting trips to Alsace, Burgundy, the Douro, Napa Valley and Mendoza (among other places) yielded valuable knowledge before she and her partner decided to settle back home. But then they spent years in London, working to raise capital before eventually starting up in Marlborough where they now farm 41 hectares of vines, which is a tiny area, considering that there are 33,000 hectares under production in New Zealand.

They first planted in 2002/3 and then of course they had to wait for their first harvest. But two years later they were in for a big shock when a severe frost wiped out blocks of their Sauvignon Blanc. And two years later again, a once in a sixty year flood caused major damage again. Tears then but only for a brief period. “Then I realised we were essentially farmers. This was what we had to deal with.” And deal with it they did. It is not an easy life ”but rewarding”.

Labour is scare here and machines are necessary (though not used in all areas, Pinot Gris and Noir are hand harvested for example). The versatile tractor is put to good use. To preserve the freshness and flavours, they have to use the machines to make the harvest “really quick”.

Perhaps one of the most ingenious machines is what looks like a windmill and nine of these are scattered around the vineyard and used to prevent the blanket of frost settling. While New Zealand enjoys long hours of sunshine, the day’s highs (maybe late twenties) can be followed by very cold nights. But the blades on these machines oscillate and rotate and succeed in fighting off the frost.

A state of the art technology network across the site captures real time data variables from Mother Nature and, among other things, helps dictate when the wind machines (and which wind machine) comes into play. The use of stainless steel, copied from the thriving local dairy industry, is widespread, though oak barriques are also used in Little Beauty.

The fledging Little Beauty earned its early keep by selling its Sauvignon grapes to Cloudy Bay. The cash helped them develop the vineyard and then they got a huge boost when Eveline Fraser, then head wine-maker with Cloudy Bay, decided to join the rookies!

You’ve often heard of the passionate vineyard owner. Last Thursday night we saw one in action in L’Atitude. “I’m very fussy over where Little Beauty goes. Come hell or high water, you’ll never find Little Beauty in a supermarket. It goes only to good homes. Integrity is very important nowadays. A wine made with integrity or an accountant’s wine. Which would you prefer?”

I reckon William Cox would have been proud of his great great great grand daughter!

Fleur also had a couple of real surprises for us during the tasting and I’ll have that and more on the Little Beauty wines themselves in Part Two tomorrow.

Amuse Bouche

Wenger used all the tools. Previously the pre-match meal at Arsenal had consisted of baked beans with Coca-Cola. “Some players went on to the pitch burping,” Dennis Bergkamp reminisced. Not under Wenger.

From The Football Men by Simon Kuper.

The Award-winning House Cafe

The House Cafe

For just €8.50, I enjoyed a sublime lunch dish in Cork last week. Ballyhoura Wild Mushrooms were the main element here, the light touch of the House Cafe culinary team  combining them with Free Range Egg, spring onion and parmesan to construct a delicious omelette. They added some pickles cucumber and healthy organic leaves to vary the taste, the flavours and the textures. A simple creation. But a superb one.

House Cafe is the relatively new award winning cafe set up in the foyer of the Cork Opera House. Just like  managers Victor Murphy and Steve McGlynn and Chef Eoin O'Reilly, I’m always looking to support local producers and isn’t it just great to see these fresh ingredients used in such an imaginative way. The menu here is very attractive and it looks as if I’ll have to return again, and again.

CL went for the Mezze Slate (8.50) and what a variety she got. Colours and flavours galore in the Aubergine compote, roasted parsnip hummus, bean salad, roasted peppers, Tomato Tapenade, and marinated olives.

We had each started off with a soup (4.50). One was Cauliflower and Parsnip, the other Carrot and Sweet Potato. Both very tasty and quite substantial. If you had time only for soup, this would keep you going for quite a while.

Finished off with coffees and by the way this too is excellent and comes from the Golden Bean, based at Ballymaloe and regulars at Mahon Point Farmers Market. Not much room for dessert but did try a Macaron. Sweet!

Opening times are  all day Monday to Saturday, from 10 to 5.30, and shownights until 9.

Victor proudly gave me this list of the growers and producers that they use:
Leaf / Salad / Veg - Caroline Robinson, Coal Quay Market
and Derek Hannon - Greenfield Farm, Leamlara.
Other seasonal fruit/veg' from various stallholders at the Saturday Coal Quay market.
Wild mushrooms from Mark and Lucy of Ballyhoura Mushrooms.
Eggs and Apple juice from Colin Wolfe, Coal Quay market.
Fish from O'Driscolls market stall, Ballycotton seafood, Rene Cusack & Frank Hedermans.
Sausage, rashers, bacon, puddings from Avril Allshire -  Caherbeg/Roscarberry
Free range chicken - Jack McCarthy
Sourdough and pide bread - Arbutus Bread
Cheeses :- Knocklara
              - Gubeen
               - Hegartys
              - Mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan, olives and olive oil from Real olive company/Toonsbridge.
Beef - O'Mahony's, the market
Game - Ivin Ellis.
Coffee - Mark Kingston of Golden Bean


"For Drinks,  we collect seasonal foraged flowers and herbs, to make cordials. We make everything from scratch on site in House Cafe (save the white bread)."

Food and Drink Spotting

Food and Drink Spotting

Taste of the Week.



Did you know that the Cornstore are now dry aging their own beef with Himalayan salt and that means their steaks are extra special at the moment. "Imported Himalayan salt  is used to absorb humidity in the aging unit over a period of up to 35 days resulting in the most tender, flavoursome beef one is ever likely to taste."






Real Wine - Celebrating the Artisan Grower

 Wine talk and wine tasting with Eric Narioo, of Les Caves des Pyrène, and Pascal Rossignol, of Le Caveau,  in The Grain Store at Ballymaloe

Sunday 26th May, 6.30pm

This is a great opportunity to listen to two passionate and experienced wine experts in this area, over a very pleasant, informal, yet educational talk, and a tasting of different artisan wines

Eric from Les Caves de Pyrène and Pascal from Le Caveau both specialise in artisan wines sourced from individual growers, that are 'true to where they come from, which are made by hand with minimal interventions in the vineyard and winery, and which show maximum respect for nature and the environment'.

Sunday 26th May, 6.30pm  €15 (includes wine tasting of eight different wines)

Further information & to reserve places

colm@ballymaloe.ie

Tel: 086 0859034

www.ballymaloe.ie

Sage Expands!

Midleton’s award winning Sage Restaurant will be closed for renovation from June10th to 15^th. Kevin Aherne explains: “We will be re opening with a new Cafe/Wine & craft beer hub AKA The Greenroom next to the restaurant. The Greenroom will be open Tue-Sat from 9 am till late . We will have all your morning needs from coffee to scones to light bites. Lunch will be from 12-4 with Sandwiches, wraps, organic salads, soups,cakes, tarts & more. With a large emphasis on local as always . From 4 o’clock on, the craft beers and wine will be flowing with local cheese and producer platters. We will be running our mug club where you can personalize your own mug with Susan from Crafty Hands. We will also be running a take away service at lunch time if you don’t have time to sit down and join us.”

Irish???. Maybe. Maybe Not!

Thanks to Mary Daly on Facebook for this piece.....

Did you know that we import over €5 billion worth of food and drink every year? Many of our well knows brands that we presume to be Irish, in fact are not!! 

Siucra, Lyons Tea, Kimberley Biscuits, HB Ice-Cream and many of our meats, fruits and vegetables are all imported. 

Imagine the affect on our economy if we were to actively seek out Irish alternatives? Supporting Irish food producers means we enhance local economies, create jobs and reduce's our carbon footprint.

Shorts

Roz Crowley visits the Firehouse Bakery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgLDZAYUXno&feature=youtu.be

EXTENDED SUMMER HOURS AT CAFÉ PARADISO! · 13 MAY 2013

“Here’s some good news for a Monday, and for every Monday in this coming summer. To better use the long balmy evenings and the expected harvest bounty from Gortnanain Farm, we’re extending our dinner service to six days all summer long, including Mondays.

From Monday 3rd June and until 24th August, our summer hours are:

Dinner – Monday to Saturday from 5.30pm;

Lunch – Saturday noon to 2.30pm.

Don’t know if many of you saw this bit of fun with Julia Childs on twitter during the week. Like sharing a laugh or two so here goes again:

@JeffreyMerrihue: Julia Childs Mash Up: http://bit.ly/10vGmbX  yes really.

Kate Lawlor of Fenn’s Quay has her first book coming out next month:

Fenn's Quay ‏@FennsQuay9m

Exciting times here @fennsquay we’ve just got the first proof of @fqchefess book which will be launched next month pic.twitter.com/L9M6eAaxsR

11 Stunning Cakes That Look Exactly Like Other Foods
Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/29705/11-stunning-cakes-look-exactly-other-foods#ixzz2TA9H43DM 
--brought to you by mental_floss! http://mentalfloss.com/article/29705/11-stunning-cakes-look-exactly-other-foods @Greatfoodtweet

Marc Stroobandt ‏@beerinfo10m

The earliest use of the term India pale ale was … in Australia? http://wp.me/p3uv9-U5  via @wordpressdotcom

Electric

“we are crying out for staff - especially experienced wait staff, good money and plenty of hours if youre not afraid of a bit of work - cvs by email only to ernest@electriccork.com”

Good Food Ireland

***Recipe*** 
Delicious Seasonal Rhubarb & Ginger Crumble 
by Renvyle House Hotel
http://bit.ly/10OLUE7

Another Rhubarb Tip:

Roz Crowley ‏@RozCrowley14h

Boil 1L orange juice + 2tbsp brandy + star anise. Use to poach new season rhubarb until barely soft. Good with vanilla ice cream #roztips

Well fed at the Pavilion

Well fed at the Pavilion

Chicken wrap

Many of you will, when travelling in the Carrigaline area and on the Kinsale Road, have seen the signs for the Pavilion in Ballygarvan and will know it is a large garden centre. But did you know that they have a very busy cafe there and also a well stocked food shop?

Smoked salmon sandwich

Called there for lunch recently. In plenty of time, I thought. But, having taken a browse amongst the plants and garden furniture, got quite a surprise when I returned to the cafe area about 12.30 to find a big queue for the goodies.

Olives, pesto and tapenade for sale in the food shop

Took time to study the menu, printed over the serving area on a large blackboard. Decided to go for the Delicious Dill sandwich: Open smoked salmon on homemade bread, with cream cheese, cucumber and dill and a choice of two salads.

Plants and water feature in garden centre

Quite a feed, as was that chosen by CL: Tasty Tarragon, a wrap of Chicken, bacon, tarragon, mayo, lettuce and tomato, not forgetting your choice of two salads. Each cost €8.50. Great value. And value obviously appreciated as many of those in the café came from nearby factories and offices – it’s just about two miles or so from Cork Airport. Service is friendly and efficient – that queue moved quickly.

Also had a look at the food shop. Couldn’t leave without a loaf of Arbutus bread and a pack of those fantastic smoked rashers by Ummera but there is much more there, a lot of it by local producers.

They also have a country store where you may buy unusual items for the house. One display that caught my eye was the unusually shaped soaps crafted by Mianra from Carrigaline.

The garden centre is a big one and much of it is undercover. Hard to resist making a purchase here. In truth, there was no resistance and more was spent on the garden than on the food!

World's Strongest Beer

The world's strongest beer will damage your wallet!

Available at Bradley's, North Main Street

Loire Lesson #4

Loire Lesson #4

Harvest time at Gitton

Gitton Peer & Fils, Pouilly-Fumé 2008, Clos Joanne D’Orion, 12.5%, €23.75, Karwig Wines

The grape here is Sauvignon Blanc and 2008 is regarded as one of the better years. I’ve read, though where I can’t recall, that a good Pouilly-Fumé has a pungent smell often likened to gun flint, the extra smokiness coming from the local flinty soil known as silex.

Colour is straw with tints of green while the nose is aromatic, reminiscent of white fruits. It is quite a mouthful, quite a mouthfeel, smoothly viscous and full of intense flavour with good acidity; it is long lasting on the palate with a terrific long finish.

Class in a glass. No gun smoke, by the way. Very Highly Recommended.

Domaine du Haut Perron, Guy Allion, Touraine Sauvignon Vielle Vignes 2011, 12.5%, €17.40, Bubble Bros.

Touraine, around the city of Tours, is the largest AOC in the Loire area. Though not as well known as the smaller AOCs of Sancerre and Vouvray, it produces some excellent wines and can rival Sancerre for the quality of its Sauvignon.

This dry white, from the vineyard of Guy and Cédric Allion on the slopes of the Cher River, has a couple of extras going for it. It is made from the fruits of old vines and is left on its lees for a few months. The wine makers too are committed: “We do our best to respect nature every day”.

This one has intense flavours with a fresh tingly mouthfeel, excellent acidity and a lasting finish. This aromatic (white fruits) wine is well made and Highly Recommended.

* I am heading to the Loire later in the summer. Any tips on what to see, do, (even drink!) appreciated.

The Woodford. Excellent Lunch.

The Woodford

Perhaps it is not overly surprising that we have many good black (and white) pudding makers in the region. The surprise is more in the robust resurgence of this old food of the poor and its emergence on the tables of the local restaurants, including the Woodford Pub  in Paul Street where I enjoyed a recent lunch.

Clonakilty black pudding salad - €11
Caramelised apples crispy potato skins, bacon, honey & mustard dressing

Clonakilty Black Pudding was the first to make a widespread breakthrough and I got a pleasing reminder of why in this salad. Here it combined very well with the segments of sweet apple atop each mini cylinder of the rich black pudding with a loose and crumbly texture, its full flavour tinged with salt.

The flavour of the bacon cubes was a lingering sweet ambush, so pleasantly potent on the palate and certainly a worthy addition to the salad. Not so long ago, patrons would have passed on this. Now, the pudding is back in foodie fashion.

Bluebell Falls goats cheese crostini -   €10
With beetroot relish, walnuts, tomato chilli jam & honey dressing 

The warmed Bluebell Falls Goat Cheese was served on crostini. Beetroot has become a standard companion of the chèvre and, shredded here, one could easily taste why. Tomatoes and sweet crunchy caramelised walnuts also played their part in making it a very satisfactory salad indeed.

These two salads were well put together, not just casual collections on the plates.

We were initially somewhat disappointed to see the Specials Boards make an appearance about six or seven minutes after we had ordered (and some 35 minutes after lunch serving time had commenced). But that was wiped out by the two splendid salads that we enjoyed before finishing off with some decent Illy coffee. The friendly staff were on the ball here and the service was excellent.

On The Tapas Trail. Cork and Dublin.

On The Tapas Trail

Hit the Cork Tapas Trail with Rioja wine-maker Campo Viejo last Sunday and it was a good one. Four restaurants were visited over the course of a leisurely two and half hours, tapas galore were consumed and no shortage of their 2007 Reserva either!

This is the first year that the trails are being held in Cork. The Cornstore, Arthur Mayne, Oysters and Electric are the participating restaurants. Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons are the days and it is great value at twenty euro. The Cork trails run from now until June 5^th (with June 2^nd excluded) while the Dublin dates, again Wednesdays and Sundays, are from June 9^th until July 17^th.  More info here.

Paul

There were four groups on last Sunday's Cork trail. Ours started in the Cornstore with a glass of Campo Viejo Cava and a selection of gorgeous tapas with the Jack McCarthy Pudding and Queen Scallop my favourite though I got through them all including that luxurious flourless chocolate cake at the end. By the way, did you know that the Cornstore are now dry aging their own beef with Himalayan salt and that means their steaks are extra special at the moment.

Cornstore: Baby Octopus (nearest)
and Black Pudding & Queen Scallop.

Our guide was Paul and he told us a few yarns about the city as we strolled between the various restaurants. Next call was to Arthur Mayne Chemist in Pembroke Street. Not now a chemist, though many interesting artefacts remain on view, but a wine bar cum cafe. 

Got some tasty stuff here too, including a meat and cheese platter and a lovely treat on the way out, a sinful mouthful of their Mint Aero Chocolate Mousse. Didn't realise they had such an extensive menu here. Must call again.

Then we got a big welcome from Donal and his crew in Oysters and a lovely selection of their food on a board. Highlight? Hard to pick one. The swordfish was superb but then so too was the Butternut, Squash and Sage Risotto, the Duck Parfait and the....  Much of this board also features on their €35.00 table de hote menu, available nightly until 7.00pm. And one that I can highly recommend!

 

Then it was up the Mall to Electric, our final stop on the trail. Here Jason filled us in on their short hectic history and on their most recent development, the lovely fish bar upstairs. Treats here included a Crab Mousse and a very special Polenta and Wild Garlic Mini-muffin (below). No shortage of the Campo Viejo red either as an interesting afternoon came to a pleasant end by the banks of the Lee.

Nash 19 goes French. With style!

Nash 19 goes French

Didn’t realise until almost too late that so many of the city’s restaurants were joining in the fun of the second Cork French Food and Wine Festival. Among them were Les Gourmandises who had a Roasted Duck Leg Confit from the Landes area; Cronin’s of Crosshaven were doing a Bouillabaisse; The Farmgate presented Blanquette de Veau while Star Anise might have had the inside track with Saddle of Rabbit from Lyons.

We ended our festival weekend on Saturday in Nash 19 who had also entered into the spirit and were indeed offering some good French wines at an attractive price (€4.50 per glass of a Sauvignon from Bordeaux).

By then, the Very Classic French Onion Soup had sold out but they did have a gorgeous Soupe de Poisson avec Croutons, a really flavoursome bowlful (a large one!), the fishy flavours mild, the texture smooth.

On then to the piece de résistance, the Salade Nicoise au Seared Tuna, dish of the Cotes d’Azur. I believe though that the citizens of Nice can hardly agree among themselves on the exact recipe for this traditional dish with some of the traditionalists saying you can’t have anchovies and tuna together. In England, the preference seems to be for canned tuna while here (and in the USA) we seem to relish the seared tuna.

All the arguments though, which probably apply in some shape or form to all traditional dishes, were far from our minds as we tucked into this splendid Nash 19 version which also featured the traditional hardboiled egg and one of the freshest and crispest salads you are likely to find. The tuna, by the way, was perfectly cooked, tender and moist, and polished off with some relish.

The French theme continued right to the end and dessert, a luscious Apple Tarte Tatin, was a superb example of the type. Apparently it was invented by a lady called Tatin by mistake. Jamie Oliver tells how: it was invented quite near where I was staying by the Tatin sisters. The story goes that one of them was making an apple tart but, for whatever reason, made a mistake and left it too long in the oven. However, she thought she could salvage it, so she ended up turning it upside down and her guests went mad for it.

Actually Jamie has a recipe for it here.  Don’t think that Nash 19’s Donna will need to look it up though. Her Tarte Tatin is perfect!