Meitheal on the Mall. EAT Waterford.

Meitheal on the Mall

EAT Waterford

The Starter

Waterford, Ireland's oldest city, has probably seen many a meal in a tent over the centuries but the weekend event in the Marquee on The Mall highlighted local produce and we were treated to five courses of delicious food, all prepared by a meitheal of local chefs and a big crew of helpers.

Indeed, the whole Harvest Festival, which ran from Friday to Sunday, had local produce at its heart as producers in the various markets, SuperValu with their food academy, bars who had no shortage of craft beer and other local drinks (Blackwater gin and Muldoon whiskey for example) and especially the GIY locations around Blackfriars, all embraced the idea of locavoring.

Hake

The practice of sourcing locally grown food has much going for it: freshness (so nutritional superiority), better taste, avoids trucking and air transport, biodiversity, and perhaps most importantly, supporting the local economy.

EAT Waterford is an association of 25 of the city's restaurants, restaurants that produce a great diversity of styles based on produce from the local farms and producers and, of course, all that fresh fish from the nearby seas, You’ll see their brochure at many places, including tourist offices, all over the city. Pick one up and you’ll enjoy your stay all the better.

Lamb

Dessert x3!

The weekend Tasting Menu in the Marquee highlighted the excellence of both the food and the chefs. Five restaurants were involved in this year's effort and the people that got together to work their culinary magic were Christine and Eric (La Boheme), Stan, Mailo and Kelly (The Athenaeum), Donagh and Daithí (Loko), Arnaud and Patrice (L’Atmosphere), Tony (Bellissimo), and all their restaurant teams.

There were six opportunities to enjoy the meal. I came to eat at lunchtime on Saturday and enjoyed it immensely. I still think that the hake dish was the tops but all were excellent and we had a surprise glass of Muldoon Whiskey Liqueur as the finalé. The night sessions were sold out and it looks as if there will be more of them in 2016. A great idea and well done to all at EAT Waterford and to their producers.

Some of the chefs, gazpacho, the Muldoon surprise.

Also on this trip:

Celtic Chef at La Boheme

Bodega, good food, good fun

Interesting Tour of Waterford Glass

Harvest Days in Waterford. Visiting the Viking City

Amuse Bouche

There would be pleasant stops for a drink or food: the back bar of Jammet’s; the Dolphin with its delicious grills; the Red Bank restaurant, which for years as a child I had thought was a bank, when my father used leave me in the car and nip in; Neary’s pub with the bowls of gas along the counter; Davy Byrne’s, the pub James Joyce writes about in Ulysses; and others. We met friends of Arland’s including Brendan Behan, who seemed very fond of him. They joked and talked together, often in Irish.

from A Taste of Love by Theodora Fitzgibbon (2015)

L’Atitude 51 for Wine. Ratatouille. Movies & Music

L’Atitude 51 for Wine

Ratatouille. Movies & Music

Called into L’Atitude 51 on Union Quay for lunch midweek. Looked at the blackboard and went for the headline dish: Ratatouille with Chicken Skewers (€9.50). It was a good choice, the bowl packed with that high class Ratatouille, full of colour, flavour and texture. Indeed it was so good, that one customer specified Ratatouille on its own.

It is a small enough menu but you may have anything from a half sandwich to the top hot dish. Some recent examples of the latter are Tuscan Sausage & Bean Stew; Baked Longueville Apple Cider Chicken with Mustard Mash;  Tagliatelle with Lemon Pork Ragù;

and Couscous: Moroccan Stew with Chicken and Merguez Sausage.

If I hadn't wanted the Ratatouille, I could have had picked from Salad: Insalata Caprese with Mixed Leaves, West Cork Tomatoes, Toonsbridge Buffalo Mozzarella & Basil (€9.50);
Soup: Cumin, Carrot, Potato €4.50.

Sandwiches:

- Ummera Smoked Chicken and Creme Fraiche

- Local Tomato, Tuna and House Mayo

- Roasted Potato with Oregano, Feta and SunDried Tomato

Full Sandwich: €6.50

L’Atitude, run by Emma Lagrande and Beverly Mathews, is best known as a wine bar and indeed won the Georgina Campbell Wine Award for 2015. It is set in a historic building, formerly home to the famous Lobby Bar.

Wine tasting via Skype at L'Atitude

They have an extensive selection of wines from every corner of the globe, all carefully sourced, with over 50 available by the glass. They also serve great craft beer and cider, superb locally roasted Badger & Dodo coffee, homemade pastries freshly baked each morning, and more. Importantly, they use the best artisan ingredients, sourced locally where possible.  

The  Wine Workshop hosts a variety of exciting events focusing on the fun side of wine, from tastings and masterclasses on wine, beer, whiskey and sherry to movie nights, and much more.

By the way their Cine Cafe series for this season starts up next Wednesday evening

with "A Year in Burgundy". Part journalistic documentary and part contemplative art film, it follows seven winemaking families in Burgundy throughout the course of a year. Burgundy Wine Specialists Le Caveau, Kilkenny, will provide the "tastes" for the movie.

Wednesday 16th September 8pm. Tickets €12. Booking Essential.

Being in the old Lobby Bar, it was inevitable that music would play a part in L’Atitude. There is no shortage in the famous room upstairs where you’ll see some of Cork's finest musicians. Keep an eye on the website and on their Facebook page.

L’Atitude is a bit like their blackboard menu - lots of good things packed into a relatively small place!

Taste of the Week. Martin’s Whiskey Marmalade

Taste of the Week

Martin’s Whiskey Marmalade

How about whiskey in a jar? Whiskey for breakfast? An early morning Hair of the Dog maybe?

Martin’s Homemade Jams and Marmalades, from Mallow, have started making a whiskey marmalade with the whiskey coming from St Patrick’s Distillery of Douglas. It is quite different to other versions, with a lovely aroma and surprisingly delicious flavour and is our Taste of the Week. Indeed, one non-marmalade eater here has been converted.

The marmalade is available at the Friday Market in Mallow, at Danno’s SuperValu and Lucey’s Butchers (both in Mallow), at Bradley’s of North Main Street (Cork) and at Roughty Fruit (English Market).

See more about St Patrick’s Distillery here.

Burgundy Bourgogne. Five of the Best

SuperValu Feature Burgundy
Some of Bourgogne's Best

The French Wine sale is underway at SuperValu until the 23rd of the month (September). The focus here is on Burgundy (Bourgogne) and indeed mainly on the whites of the iconic area.

Burgundy and Bordeaux are perhaps the best known wine areas of France but there are major differences. Bordeaux is the area of the the big chateaux, the extensive vineyard. But Burgundy is the land of the small holder.

In Bordeaux too, they blend both reds and whites. In the Bourgogne region, the wines are mainly single varietal. This “purity of expression” means that each plot gives each vintage its own personality and unique characteristics. Chardonnay (48%) and Pinot Noir (34%) are the most widely grown here.

The current sale gives you, and me, a great opportunity to sample the superb wines from the region. Andre Goichot, best known as a negociant but who is also a producer, has been here since 1947 and all the wines below are his.

Maison Andre Goichot Mercurey (AOC) 2013, 12.5%, €18.00.

Colour is a light, and bright, red while the aromas give you a nice mix of raspberry, cherry, strawberry. Red fruit flavours, cherry prominent, on the palate, light as you'd expect, the lightness of a classic youthful Pinot Noir; acidity and tannins combine well as you go into the dry finish. Very Highly Recommended. You’ll be hard pushed to find a better example at or about this price - if you do, let me know.

Don't think I'd go as far as to say it's a divine wine but the village of Mercurey is named after a local Gallo-Roman temple to Mercury, the messenger of the gods.

Did you know that Pinot Noir juice is clear? The grapes must be macerated in vats to put the skins in contact with the juice. The colour is in the skins and, without this maceration, the Pinot Noir would produce a white wine. Pinot Noir accounts for about a third of the Burgundy harvest.

Maison Andre Goichot “Les Petit Meix” Chablis 1er Cru 2014, 13%, €18.00.

This, of course, is a Chardonnay, dry and fresh. If this is your first Chablis, you’ll probably find it much drier and fresher than the non-burgundian Chardonnays you've been drinking. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the wines of Chablis are surely the most flattered in the world - according to DK's French Wines 1999.

Colour is pale gold and it has the characteristic mineral aromas that hint of the dryness and freshness to come on the palate. It is quite a gorgeous mouthful, fruit and acidity in good balance and a super dry finalé.

Matches indicated include fine poultry, oysters and veal in a white sauce. But this is a complex wine, very versatile (you'll have no problem with duck or pork) and Very Highly Recommended.

Maison Andre Goichot Meursault (AOC) 2014, 13%, €35.00.

Colour is a greenish gold, limpid and brilliant, and here again the fruit and acidity match up in an exceptional balance. Fresh and smooth it has an excellent refined mouthfeel with a streak of minerality and a long finish that keeps giving.

On the area’s website, I read: “Nowhere in the Côte de Beaune does the Chardonnay grape do better that its does here”. Maybe a little early with this one, as they say “it is a great white wine for laying down”. It is indeed excellent now, and Highly Recommended, but whether it is twice as good as the Chablis or Montagny is debateable. Perhaps its best days are in the future! So maybe I’ll buy a few of these for that special occasion in a couple of years and lots of the Montagny for the here and now!

Former US president Thomas Jefferson once visited the region and reported: "..at Meursault only white wines are made, because there is too much stone for the red".

Domaine Les Guignottes, Les Resses Montagny 1er Cru 2014, 13%, €20.00

Not too much to say about this - just go out and buy and enjoy! This classic Chardonnay has beautiful intense white fruit aromas, peach the most prominent. Colour is a bright gold and there are amazing fruit and nut flavours, some spice too. The acidity too is outstanding. Fresh, with  a gorgeous mouthfeel and a long finish. Very Highly Recommended.

Domaine Les Guignottes, Montagny Les Guignottes, 13%, €18.00

Falling in love with Montagny, for sure. Tried this out with a trio and they all loved it as well, its amazing colours, brightness and aromas but above all for the outstanding flavours and acidity and that long finish. Great value too. Very Highly Recommended. 

Montagny (in the Chalonnaise region) produces white wines only - fresh, young, alluring classic burgundian. Very versatile as a food wine, including seafood, many cheeses (including goat) and it won't be intimidated by paella.

In Spiller’s Lane. Choc And Aah!

In Spiller’s Lane

Choc And Aah!

Allison, on her bike, with her Clonakilty Chocolate

Clonakilty hotels and restaurants were out in force as A Taste of West Cork festival kicked off in the town’s Spiller’s Lane on Saturday. The sun came out too and so did hundreds of punters as the local mayor opened the event.

With music playing, we sauntered up and down the narrow lane and started off with a delightful cocktail from Fernhill Hotel. Ingredients were mostly local, of course, and the "Corktail" included service with a smile. Neighbouring stall saw the Emmet Hotel dishing out loads of delicious small bites. We sampled canapés featuring Union Hall Salmon and Chicken Paté, both excellent.

An Sugan (top)
and Richie's bun.

A beetroot salad? The offer came from the man at the Baile an Ard Foods Stand and, of course, we said yes. It was very impressive. He told me the salad, along with quite a few others, may be bought in local shops and supermarkets and that they also do catering for events such as Communions, Confirmations, parties, even Christmas. So now you know.

An Sugan had quite a menu on offer and we picked their Scallops with a parsnip and potato puree. Three big juicy scallops, for a fiver! 

And we did well next door too with Richy’s Bistro where the man himself served up their Steamed Pork Bun, based on a dish by a top New York chef. Ricky took a while to figure out how to reproduce it but it was worth the wait as it is a beauty, another gem for a fiver.

The Lettercollum Project

On the way back down (maybe up!), we stopped for the speeches alongside the Clonakilty Black Pudding stand. And then there was ice-cream from the lady at Clonakilty Homemade Ice Cream. The Honeycomb was delicious and a reasonable two euro for a boule. They have a shop in the town and do outdoor events and supply to restaurants and hotels around West Cork. They’ve been doing it for the past ten years and all the ice cream is made on the premises.

We had lots of other samples as we made our way around but our final stop was at Clonakilty Chocolate where Allison was not alone displaying her range of freetrade bars but also the newest addition to the family, the baby sleeping soundly despite the crowds. No need to sample here, we know how good her chocolate is.

We did buy a few bars, including the favourite Mo Milk Chocolate. This includes goats milk and Coconut Blossom Syrup, a creamy compromise between the bean and milk. Enjoying it now as I write this. Tough going!

• A Taste of West Cork continues all this week with events, big and small, taking place across the area. Get your hands on the brochure or check it out here .

Amuse Bouche

Then Pla intervened. ‘Don’t even think about bringing us an Alvariňo… We’ll have a Blanc D’Anjou,’ he said to the waiter.

Shortly afterwards, the waiter brought a serving dish laden with seafood: cockles, clams, oysters, shrimp, crayfish, even two lobsters were piled up on a mountain of ice. Such merchandise was usually only obtained on the black market. At the summit of the seafood mountain an enormous spider crab lifted its pincers towards Pablo and glared at him with its dead malevolent eyes. Pla helped himself to the largest lobster and opened it with a surgeon's precision.

from The Whispering City by Sara Moliner (2013)

Five restaurants, five chefs, one meal, one venue. EAT Waterford

Five restaurants, one meal, one venue.
EAT Waterford 11-13 September

Getting ready: Paul Power, Head Chef, Bellissimo and Emma Lye (11) 

Here’s a heads-up if you like to eat out. Five restaurants, five chefs, one meal, one venue. It’s all happening during the Waterford Harvest Fest the weekend after next, from the 11th to the 13th of September.

That meal will be served five times, once on Friday, three times Saturday and once on Sunday. See all the details here. Venue is a big marquee on the Mall, alongside the Waterford Glass complex. Based largely on local produce, the meal is high quality and very good value.

I had a sneak preview in La Boheme, one of the participating restaurants, during the week and can vouch for the quality. The midday rehearsal proved that when produce of high calibre meets chefs of this skill, all focussed on making this a memorable meal, then you are on a winner.

The chefs (including three from France) got on very well together. The other restaurants involved in the meal are Loko,  Zak’s, Bellissimo and L’Atmosphere.  Get those tickets before they are all gone!

The dress rehearsal began with Grantstown Nursery Local Tomato Gazpacho with Blackwater Gin, delicious when slipped slowly through the provided straw!

On then to the gorgeous starter: Tom Cleary & Ballybeg Greens, Beetroot Salad, Candied pecan, and Knockdrinna Goats Cheese. Colourful and overflowing with flavour. The five in the kitchen obviously knew their stuff!

And the collaboration just got better with the fish dish. Never had hake like this before: Dunmore East Hake “Pastilla”, fennel & leeks, Dillisk and Lemon Butter. An amazing innovative combination of impeccably matched flavours and textures.

I said Check it out, not just check, mate

And then came the meat: Slow Cooked Forequarter of Lamb, raisin, braised white turnip with cumin, potato fondant, natural jus. I often consider the small things on the plate, the turnip in this case. It was perfect and indeed so was the whole dish, the lamb itself a tender delight. If the small things are right, then generally so too are the bigger elements.

And it was the humble granita that caught my attention in the Trio of Desserts: Black Forest Verrine, Meringue Souffle, Muldoon Chiboust & Lime and Basil Granita. That little glass of granita was packed with aroma and flavour, emblematic of the dessert as a whole, a lovely end to a lovely meal. Book those tickets folks!

While this particular Festival event highlights five restaurants, the others (25 or so in all) are helping behind the scenes. Eat Waterford is a collaborative initiative by the restaurateurs of Waterford City, and is aimed at helping food lovers to find the best places to eat in Waterford. The friendly walkable city has a variety of cuisines, from French, Asian, Mediterranean, Irish and beyond. Try something new today, Eat Waterford.

One for all. And all for you!

Press release below:

Waterford served up on a plate at Waterford Harvest Festival

With a tasty, jam – packed programme of events scheduled for Waterford Harvest Festival (September 11th to 13th), an exciting collaboration of Waterford restaurants is flying the flag for local producers.

The premise of this year’s Harvest Festival is Waterford Food Heroes and “EAT Waterford”, a collective of Waterford restaurants and hotels will champion the best of local produce.  Set in the Marquee on the Mall, in the heart of the Viking Triangle, diners will be able to enjoy a five course tasting menu, prepared by the participating restaurants using fresh, seasonal ingredients, sourced from local producers.

Paul Power, Head Chef with Waterford’s Bellissimo Restaurant, a member of EAT Waterford, outlined the group’s food philosophy and how EAT Waterford is committed to shining the spotlight on Waterford as a burgeoning food tourism destination.

“The last ten years have seen an exciting, passionate food movement in Waterford.  There has been the development of a food philosophy that values local and regional produce and from that ensures the best dining experience for customers.”

“Waterford and its surrounds are spoilt with a fantastic array of great growers and producers and, of course, natural resources, so there is no excuse for restaurants to provide sub-standard dining experiences.”

All of the EAT Waterford restaurants are ardent supporters of artisan producers and there is currently an exciting cohort of such producers in Waterford.  The home of the blaa, rashers and even the humble cream cracker has inspired a generation of local producers of great meat, seafood, breads, vegetables, beer and spirits.

“In the last decade, Waterford producers, growers, chefs and restaurants began to sing from the same hymn sheet.  Working in tandem, from grass roots level to the dining table, has resulted in a more enjoyable, positive, memorable experience for diners in Waterford city.”

“EAT Waterford was formed earlier this year to harness local restaurants that adhere to a similar food philosophy and those that recognise the value of working together to raise the profile of our vibrant restaurant scene.”

The EAT Waterford Marquee on the Mall takes place throughout Waterford Harvest Festival with sittings at 7pm on Friday, September 11th, 1pm, 5pm and 8.30pm on Saturday, September 12th and 2pm on Sunday, September 13th.

Participating restaurants include Loko, La Boheme, L’Atmosphere, Bellissimo and Zak’s Restaurant (Athenaeum House Hotel) and tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.ie

Not only will Waterford Harvest Festival be the home of the Marquee on the Mall dining experience, there is an emphasis on all things fun, food and family.  

The wide and eclectic programme of free events for all includes the Festival Market on the Mall, Farm to Fork, The Big Taste, Enterprising Food Market, Trad Craft Corner, Harvest Time in the Garden, The Ballybricken Festival Fair, Harvest Kitchen, Picnic and Play in the Park.

This year’s festival promises a congruence of sights, sounds, tastes and aromas with cookery demonstrations, foodie films, tastings and workshops, all making Waterford City one big street party for Harvest weekend.

All roads lead to Waterford from September 11th to 13th

Mabel, Matriarch of Loughbeg Farm. Meet Ginger & Biscuit. Black & Decker too.

Mabel, Matriarch of Loughbeg Farm

Meet Ginger & Biscuit. Black & Decker too.

Mabel (left) and one of her possible successors.

We are high on a hill on a farm in Lowertown, Schull, County Cork, and have a 360 degree view.

Looking out to the Atlantic we have a splendid view. It is the last day of August and here, as it often is, the sky is clear and we can see, to our right, the Sheep’s Head Peninsula and the long blue of Dunmanus Bay; Dunmanus Castle (near where there a sea urchin producer operates); we can see, to the left, all the way over to Cape Clear island. Beyond Sheep’s Head, Hungry Hill, blue/grey in the distance, rises into the sky on the Beara peninsula (where there is an abalone producer).

Decker and her litter

And, if we shift position a bit and head towards the pure bred Connemara ponies on a neighbouring farm, we can even spot the Fastnet Rock in the distance.

Behind us, the mountains, including Mount Gabriel, match the sweep of the sea in front of us. And immediately below and around us, lies the farm where Walter and Josephine Ryan-Purcell raise their pigs and goats, soon to be joined by a Dexter cow or two; here they grow their vegetables and do much more besides.

Dunmanus Bay and, beyond, Sheep's Head

In the mountains, you note the ridges of rocks crowding together like the bonhams feeding! The pattern is repeated as the rocks continue through the farm and onwards. On the farm, the gaps get a little wider, allowing some grass to flourish, but still narrow, and the gaps get a little wider (sometimes the width of a decent field) nearer the coast. There are some good fields in the vicinity but this farm is not so lucky. Still, the rough land, bushy and scrubby and sometimes marshy, is an ideal spot for the chosen animals.

Connemara pony and Ginger and Biscuit

 It is an open farm and a  lovely place to visit but the open season has just ended and so you’ll have to wait until next summer. There were some visitors on the final day and their small kids were entranced by the goats and the sheep, mostly by the ten piglets that Decker had produced just three days earlier.

Decker and her pal Black (who is due to give birth to her litter any day now) are Duroc crossed Large Black while the dad Bubba is an Gloucester Old Spot. We also met Ginger and Biscuit, a happy pair of pure Tamworth pigs.

Waiting time. Black in the mud.

 Decker’s recent litter has put the spotlight on the pigs but it is the goats that have and are a symbol of Loughbeg Farm, more or less since Walter and Josephine settled here less than ten years ago. So Mabel, the matriarch of the herd and the best known goat in West Cork as she appears on all their labels, may be feeling a little put out. But not a bit of it. She was in good form as were the rest of them. Walter told me they hope to have 14 goats milking next year.

But, for all the animals, Loughbeg is now best known for its bread, for its Oat Bread in particular. Loughbeg benefited from the Supervalu Food Academy and now you can find the hugely popular loaf all across Cork and Kerry. And maybe further afield in the near future. And if you do come across it, ask too about the delicious Oat Tea Break (soaked in tea and cider!).

 Such has been the success of the Oat Loaf this year that Loughbeg now employs nine, including six full-time. Walter hasn't had as much time to concentrate on other aspects of the farm including his Loughbeg Watering System. He is developing this using drainage pipes with slots for his pots and the water in the pipes keeps the plants irrigated. He never stops! And neither does Josephine. As we were galavanting around the farm with Water and Munich based food writer (and translator) Natascha Afanasjew, Josephine was getting hundreds of loaves of bread packed.

We finished up with a lovely lunch of local produce. The bread and the brack featured, of course, as did some of their own chutneys, ham from Gubbeen, tomatoes and cucumbers from their greenhouse, and cheese, a new one, from Sean O'Brien of Ballingeary. Lovely food and good conversation.

We were joined for lunch by Bruno, here to improve his English and, like Natascha, staying in a newly built cottage on the farm. You may rent a room or rent the cottage, check it out on Airbnb, and then you can really take your time as you take in the fabulous views and indeed everything else that goes on in this remarkably productive piece of West Cork.

• Just keeping this down the bottom (maybe the little piggies won’t see it). There are plans to add to the Loughbeg Range with rashers, sausages and puddings likely to appear in the near future.

Walter, under glass.

Taste of the Week. Goatsbridge Barbecued Trout Paté

Taste of the Week

Goatsbridge Barbecued Trout Paté

This Taste of the Week is delicious and easy to make. And we even have the recipe (below) for you! Your main ingredient is Barbecued Rainbow Trout from Goatsbridge in Kilkenny. Just follow Mag’s recipe and add the Paté to a quality toasted sourdough, Pana was the bread used on this occasion. For more about Goatsbridge products, and more recipes, visit their website and online shop.