Cliff House Hotel. New Menu. Bar above. Sea below.

Cliff House Hotel. New Menu.

Bar above. Sea below.

Salmon

Some people wanted a table in the sun. Some preferred to be in the shade. And a few stayed indoors. We were on the terrace at The Bar in the Cliff House on one of the sunniest days of this sunny summer. Earlier we had been walking on the Waterford Greenway and so we two settled for a place in the semi-shade to try out the new bar menu at this superbly situated hotel.

Looking out to sea

A glass of Rebel Red and lots of water helped cool things down as we studied that inviting menu, divided into sections: From the Garden, From the Land, From the Sea, Irish beef from McGrath’s and Sheelin,  Small Bites and Snacks, Sides, and Desserts. And also a Dish of the Day. This superb well-priced menu is served 12 noon to 4.00pm and 6.00pm to 9.00pm.

Service, we noticed, is rather leisurely here. In any case, it is the kind of spot you come to slow down, take in the fantastic views out to the ocean and back towards the curve of Ardmore beach. A “school” of young wanna-be sailors gather below at the base of the cliff and add a riot of colour. Who’s in a rush?

Asparagus

Spring rolls

So, eager to try out as much as possible, we pick and choose from under the various headings. My Green Asparagus Peperonata, Burrata, Almonds (9.75) comes from the Garden, maybe the Garden of Eden it is so tempting, so delicious.

Oysters, Iberico Ham and Organic Olives come under the Small Bites and Snacks section. So the Official Blog Chef (OBC) gets a surprise when she sees no less than three Skeaghanore Duck Spring Rolls (7.50) arrive. And they are packed with that renowned duck meat, rich and satisfying. She feels the energy lost on the Greenway flowing back!

Below the bar's terrace

A bit of a gap between round one and two. But the second phase is just as impressive. My pick, From the Sea, is the Organic Irish Smoked Salmon (12.50 small & 21.50) Mi-Cuit, Buttermilk, Dill Oil, Radish. I take the starter portion. The quantity is enough and the quality is off the charts. Just superb and the buttermilk, dill oil and radish make a great match with the warm flaky flavoursome fish.

Terrine

View from Table 40
Table number on the stone!

And it’s thumbs up at the other side of the table also as OBC tucks into the well presented (they are all well presented) Guinea Fowl Terrine Pickled Vegetables, Brioche, Parsley, Mayonnaise (9.50) that comes out of the Land section.

The Lemon and Cream pot with Blackwater Gin was calling me from the dessert menu but, having enjoyed a hearty breakfast earlier in the Granville in Waterford, we had had enough and so reluctantly bade goodbye to the lovely crew at The Bar. 

With so much much delicious food on that menu, we promised ourselves a return visit! After all, the hotel is just 53 minutes from the eastern side of Cork City (and Google Maps often over-estimate). No excuse.

Also on this trip:
The Candied Hazelnut
Everett's New Waterford Restaurant

Getaway to the City of the Tribes. Two Days in Galway.

Getaway to the City of the Tribes. 

Two Days in Galway.

Banners of the tribes

Galway city centre is compact and it is often packed. Finding parking can be a problem so we’re happy when our guesthouse suggests we park there on College Road and stroll into the centre even though we arrive well before the given check-in time. 

Eight minutes after leaving the car we arrive in sunny Eyre Square, so sunny in fact that people are seeking shade. A group of French students have gathered under one particular tree and have squeezed into the roughly circular shadow underneath.

Wine bottles in museum

The sun is at its high peak, signalling time for lunch. We exit the square and head for the pedestrian area, amble right down to the Spanish Arch and a lovely restaurant, simply called Kitchen, attached to the Galway City Museum. Enjoyed the meal here. 

Later we take a walk by the waters and find our own patch of shade for a siesta of sorts before heading back to the museum. Opened in 2006, and still a work in progress, the museum proclaims itself as a “collecting museum”. So you see many objects associated with the area, some donated by locals and friends (not mutually exclusive) and quite a few shared by the National Museum. 

Galway Hookers in the museum - not the life size one!

There are six main headings: Prehistoric, Medieval and Post medieval, World War 1, The 1916 Rising and aftermath, Pádraic Ó’Conaire, 19th and 20th Century Galway. Objects include some beautiful old wine bottles (probably 17th century). Galway had a shell factory during the Great War and there is a shell on display here.  You’ll also see some old clay tobacco pipes (dúidíns). 

In the mid 1960s, Galway won three All-Ireland football titles in a row and that feat is enthusiastically celebrated. The bigger items include an Ó’Conaire statue and the biggest is what looks like a full size replica of a Galway Hooker. No, not a pint of the local brew, but the famous work-boat of the area. Admission is free. Details here.  

Rear of the restaurant Ard Bia at Nimmo's

After that, we retraced our steps, more or less, under the Spanish Arch, up through Quay Street, High Street and Shop Street, shuffling along with and against the other pedestrians, listening to and looking at the various buskers and street entertainers, and finding ourselves back in Eyre Square. We had a seen an illustration of the Tribes of Galway in the museum and in the square they are commemorated with a series of large banners.

The tribes were the families that effectively ran the city from the 15th to the 17th centuries. They were: Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darcy, Deane, Font, French, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martin, Morris and Skerret. In 1493, the mayor and magistrate of Galway James Lynch FitzStephen, condemned and hanged his own son, an incident that is quoted as giving rise to the term “lynching”. The building, Lynch’s Castle, still exists and is now used by AIB. 

Students in the shade

Fishery Watchtower

Later we were back in the city centre for dinner at the Michelin starred Aniar, details here,  and then it was time for a night at our excellent base, the Ardawn House. Here, we had everything we needed, including that private parking!

Mike and Breda are exceptional hosts, always willing to go that extra mile, so that their guests enjoy themselves, not just while they’re in the house, but also when they go out and about during the day. Nothing is a problem here - they’ll give you all the local information you’ll need but in such a way that it’s your choice. In other words, they’ll give you the info but won't force their opinions on you. And, by the way, you’ll also have an excellent breakfast before you’ll leave their friendly place.

On the second day, we visited the very small fisheries museum, tracing the fishery story from 1283, in a restored Fishery Watchtower at Druid Lane. 

The highlight though was our cruise on the Corrib Princess. You join the boat in the Woodquay area and head up-river passing the cathedral, the university campus, a couple of castle ruins (Terryland and the more impressive Menlo), before reaching the impressively expansive Lough Corrib, the biggest lake in the republic. It is a very pleasant trip, especially in the exceptional sunshine, and out and back takes about 90 minutes.

We had lunch earlier, and a very nice one too, at McCambridge’s, a Galway icon, details here.

And later, we called in to Sheridan’s, the famous cheese mongers and picked up a few bits and pieces, cheese not so much as most of it is available in Cork. 

Dinner would be at the King’s Head Bistro, a delicious meal based on local produce including fish of course. And we then adjourned to the lively King's Head bar in a medieval building, But nothing medieval about the food and drink here, lots of craft drinks (including Galway Hooker), cocktails galore, music (after the World Cup game) and lots of craic. Read about it here. A terrific evening to remember a terrific visit by. Slán go fóill!

SUP: On the Corrib river, and below

Menloe Castle ruins

Amuse Bouche

Joan’s lemon meringue pie was one of the most glorious things I had ever put in my mouth: warm, painfully sharp lemon filling, the most airy pastry imaginable and a billowing hat of thick, teeth-judderingly sweet meringue. She squeezed the juice of five lemons into the filling, enough to make you close one eye and shudder. The pie was always served warm, so the filling oozed out like a ripe Vacherin.

from Toast by Nigel Slater (2003). Highly Recommended.

Sunday Lunch Supreme at Barnabrow

Sunday Lunch Supreme at Barnabrow

Smoked salmon

When you think of Barnabrow, I bet you think of weddings. They are good, very good, at weddings here. But they do much more besides, including a tremendous Sunday lunch, local produce superbly cooked and presented by Head Chef Stuart Bowes. At twenty four euro for two courses and twenty eight for three (with tea or coffee also included), it is also excellent value.

We were back there last Sunday, the first wet one in a long time, for a lovely leisurely lunch. Not so leisurely though for the chef and his crew. Barnabrow is getting quite a name for its breads. The preparation started on Saturday and the sourdough was finished off on Sunday. I can tell it was well worth the wait, as good as you’ll get anywhere. Though you may not get it exactly like this anywhere else as Chef Bowes, reckons local kitchen conditions play a part in the final outcome.

And local plays a big role here. When Stuart arrived here over six years ago from the Hayfield Manor, he began to revitalise the walled garden and that is now a key supply source for him. And he relies on local suppliers for much of the rest, including meat and fish.

Black pudding

As we sample the sourdough, we take a look at the menu. There is a choice of four starters, four mains and four desserts. There’s Whipped Ardsallagh Gloats Cheese listed and also a Potato and Leek Soup with truffled cream.

My pick though is the Oak smoked salmon with Garden Beetroot, caper and herb dressing and vegetable crisps. The salmon is top notch, moist and smooth and full of flavour and is enhanced by the dressing and also by the combination with the crunchy chips made locally by farmers Sandra and Joe Burns. A lovely dish.

The Clonakilty Black Pudding Salad, with crispy potatoes, Feta, apple and semi-dried tomato dressing is quite a plateful but OBC makes short work of it, enjoying the flavours and the textures. This dish is very popular at wedding dinners and we can see why!

Beef

Courgette are now in season and feature on the mains menu, served with new potatoes, sauce vierge,  garden basil pesto and Parmesan cream. The fish option is Seared fillet of Seabass with Garden Courgettes, sauce vierge,  garden basil pesto.

OBC goes for the Chargrilled Chicken Supreme, new potatoes, garden herbs, Ballyhoura wild mushrooms and Parmesan cream. Another delicious combination.

Chicken

My pick is the Roast Sirloin of O’Connell’s beef, with horse-radish creamed kale, roast shallots and red wine jus. Magnificent. Cooked to perfection with unreal flavours and that creamed kale was something else. 

Dessert

And, speaking of something else, the side dishes were also superb, beautiful roast potatoes (nicely judged fat and salt applied) and outstanding vegetables (enhanced with a scatter of chopped almonds). Nothing went back, not even a sliver of an almond!

And dessert? We could have had Red Wine Poached Pear stuffed with Praline, Valrhona Chocolate Marquise with summer berry, or a selection of ice-cream and sorbet. But we could manage just one between us and enjoyed the Roast Peanut Parfait, with strawberry sauce and (very tasty) marshmallows.

Coffee followed as did some gorgeous rum and raisin petit fours. As we drove home, we were thinking that the excellent meal might have had one or the other nodding off during the World Cup final but no danger of that as France and Croatia served up a goal fest.

Lopez de Haro. The Classica Collection from Rioja.

Lopez de Haro. The Classica Collection

On the outskirts of Haro

Lopez de Haro are based a short drive east of Haro, a historic wine town in Rioja. You’ll also hear La Rioja used but that refers to the administrative area rather than the wine region.

Wine has been made here for over 2,000 years. While Haro may not trip off the lips, as would St Emilion for example, it is still a hive of activity and, with so many bodegas there, it will drive your Sat-Nav crazy, not to mention the driver! 

However, even with Sat-Nav Susie confused, it is very easy to find an interesting bodega, almost by chance. I certainly enjoyed my visits to Bodegas Lopez de Heredia/Tondonia with their old timber buildings and modern bar and, across the road at Bodegas la Rioja Alta, well known for their Arana and Ardanza reds.

For all that the bodegas and wine activity, Haro is a small enough town with a population of around 12,000 people. The completion of the train station in 1880 led to the concentration of wineries here. When very few European cities had electricity, Haro (and Jerez) had it. In the way that every street in France seems to have a pharmacy, every street in Haro then had a bank. 

Aside from the practical benefits of railway and electricity (and banks), the town also benefits from the soil of the region, a combination of soil and clay that deliver complexity, according to the Finest Wines of Rioja, a recommended book that concentrates on the top producers not alone in Rioja but in NW Spain. 

For more on Haro, and Rioja in general, you could do worse than get your hands on the easy-reading The Wine Regions of Rioja by Ana Fabiano. And for more on its wines, why not start with this excellent trio, new to the Findlater portfolio and all available at Bradley’s of Cork. Good value too.

Lopez de Hara Rosada Rioja (DO) 2017, 13.5%, €14.95, Bradley’s Cork.

This rosada is a blend of Garnacha and Viura (the Riojan white grape) picked from low producing old vines in Rioja Alta and like the other two here is part of their Classica Collection.

Colour is a clean pale salmon. Red fruits, and banana notes, on the nose, floral notes too. There is an unexpected depth of flavour on the palate with a touch of sweetness, a pleasant mouthfeel, well balanced, fresh and lively and a lip-smacking finish. Highly Recommended.

Lopez de Hara Rioja blanco (DO) 2017, 12.5%, €14.95, Bradley’s Cork.

The main grape is Viura (also known elsewhere in Spain as Macabeu), again from old vines. There is a small percentage of other local grapes blended in and the wine is matured for 3 months in French oak barrels.

Colour is a pale straw, light and bright. Ripe fruits feature on the complex nose. Palate is amazingly fresh, edgy fruit and tart acidity combine all the way to a long finalé. Subtly oaked with a lip-smacking farewell, this wine is a steal and Highly Recommended.

Lopez de Hara Rioja Crianza (DO) 2015, 13.5%, €14.95, Bradley’s Cork.

From old vines, in a privileged location between the River Ebro and the Sierra de Tolono, comes this crianza, mainly Tempranillo but with Garnacha and Graciano also in the mix. It has spent 18 months in French and American oak.

Colour is a dark cherry. Aromas of ripe red fruit, liquorice, and vanilla from the oak. Warm and rich with a soft mouthfeel, tannins silky (little grip), hugely impressive on the palate, elegant and accessible through to the finish. No wonder Decanter put this multi-award winner in its Top 50 Best Buy Rioja in 2016. This skilful harmonious combination of fruit and wood is Very Highly Recommended and, by the way, great value as well.

Taste of the Week. Cherries from the Apple Farm

Taste of the Week

Cherries from the Apple Farm

No need to say too much about our current Taste of the Week. The sweet delicious cherries grown on Con Traas’s Apple Farm are simply superb!

Easy to appreciate these juicy beauties. But not easy to grow. If that were the case, you’d find them in every farmers market. When grown in Ireland, cherries need protection for a number of reasons, and typically most growers use some form of simple tunnel to grow them in. 

The Apple Farm explains: This is because cherry flowers are susceptible to cold winds when flowering, and the cherries themselves are liable to crack and get diseases due to rainfall, and then if they survive all this, are a favourite food of many birds. A plastic tunnel can protect the trees and fruits from all these problems, meaning that instead of getting a good crop one year in five (or ten if you live in the wetter parts of Ireland), you can rely on a crop each year.

Thanks to Con and his team for making the extra effort. Put these cherries on your list if you’re anywhere near the Apple Farm, just a few minutes off the M8 on the N24 (Cahir-Clonmel Road)! Lots of other fruit available too, in season.

McCambridges. A Galway Icon.

McCambridges. A Galway Icon.

Ask anyone from Galway where’s best for lunch and you can be sure that city centre McCambridge’s, operating since the 1920s, will appear on the shortlist. This busy spot keeps the standards high and the customers keep coming back.

Spread over the space of two shops, McCambridge’s is basically operating on two levels. Downstairs it is mainly a Food Hall with a full grocery range (mainly local produce),  a large sandwich bar, a self serve salad bar and olive bar, a deli counter stocking the best of cold meats and cheese, a well stocked wine and spirits section and a full coffee bar.

Some sandwich!

There are a few tables and chairs on the street outside for when the sun shines, but mostly the restaurant operates in the spacious and bright room at the top of the wide stairs. Here, if you are lucky enough to have a seat near the windows, you can watch the bustle of the city while enjoying a glass of wine. 

Only the finest of  ingredients are used, with a strong preference for local and artisan produce. It is a casual atmosphere with great food.  An All Day Menu is served from Monday to Saturday, with an All Day Brunch being served every Sunday.  You can also enjoy a wide range of wines, craft beers and cocktails with your food.

We are spotted as we reach the last few steps of the stairs and quickly directed, with smiles and courtesy, to our table. The menu is soon at hand. The place is busy but the service is good. I’m looking at the Ceapairí, that’s sandwiches for you non-gaelgeorí, little knowing that the one I pick will be a champion, one of the best ever.

Here is the mix: McCambridge’s Baked Ham, Janet’s Country Fayre Beetroot Blush Mayo, Coolatin Cheddar, and red onion served on a toasted Roundstone sourdough (9.95). Nothing very mysterious there but all good quality ingredients all together in a superb sandwich.

The OBC is not looking for anything big today so settles for something from the starters: Chicken Liver Paté, McCambridge’s Red Onion marmalade and toasted brioche (5.95), plus a side of leaves (3.95). Happy enough with that. By the way, you may buy quite a few of these ingredients downstairs in the deli.

In the deli

A pot of Campbells Tea and a glass of Sparkling Elderflower (dear enough at 3.95) brought the total to €26.30. Soon we joined the throng in the pedestrianised Shop Street outside, the buskers playing, onlookers delaying, and made our way down to the fresh air in the Nimmo’s area.

McCambridge’s 

38/39 Shop Street

Galway

091 562259

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McCambridges/ 

Also on this trip: 

Also on this Galway trip:

Aniar

The King’s Head Bistro (and bar!) 

Kitchen, at Galway City Museum
Getaway to the City of the Tribes. Galway

Dooks Fine Food. Fethard’s Medieval Walls. And a call to the Apple Farm.

Dooks Fine Food. Fethard’s Medieval Walls.

And a call to the Apple Farm.

Salmon and salads at Dooks in Fethard

My latest trip to Tipp saw me take a walk along the medieval area of Fethard, lunch in Dooks restaurant, and call to the Apple Farm, near Cahir, on the way home. 

People go to Fethard to mostly visit the Coolmore Stud and dine or drink or both in John McCarthy’s famous establishment on the Main Street but I did neither, holding them back for the next trip! McCarthy’s, by the way, is a busy spot. It is one of Ireland’s oldest unchanged pubs, is also a restaurant and, believe it or not, an undertakers. Be careful which menu you ask for.

No such problems at Dooks Fine Food which has a prime position at the bottom of the main street, alongside the Clashawley River, at the junction of the Clonmel and Urlingford roads and opposite a large car park. Richard Gleeson’s restaurant and deli is spacious and bright, lots of local food for you to enjoy inside, or on the seats outside and, of course, at home if you shop at the deli.

Chicken and salads at Dooks

Fethard, by the way, is hardly an hour from the east side of Cork city - you have the M8 motorway for the majority of the way and that leaves just about 16 kilometres on secondary roads.Take the Cashel exit and you’ll have no problem finding the little town. And no problem finding Dooks either.

Richard was preparing a large plateful of a colourful Mozzarella salad when we arrived. It was eye-catching and tempting and featured in our lunch, well at least one serving of it. Dooks had opened long before that of course as they do breakfast here, served from 7.30am. Quite a choice including a very interesting looking fry of Rosemary, orange and fennel sausage, oven roasted tomatoes, fried eggs and Dooks white yeast toast.

The walls of Fethard

But back to the lunch. My pick was the Roast salmon fillet, with horseradish cream and pickled shallot and that came with my choice of two salads: Roasted aubergine, balsamic reduction, toasted mixed seeds, feta and mint, and the second one of roasted carrots, toasted sunflower seeds, pickled shallots, Dooks ricotta and tarragon. Quite a plateful (for 13.50), full of good stuff, even those seeds a lovely feature.

It was the OBC (official blog chef) who got the delightful cherry tomato, Toonsbridge Mozzarella and basil salad. She also choose the Roasted aubergine and her meat was the Lemon, Garlic and Buttermilk marinated chicken supreme with rocket pesto, another plateful of well cooked produce, well presented and well dispatched.

North Gate in Fethard

We did have a look at the short but “well-formed” wine list, spotting some favourites there such as the Bodegas Menade Verdejo from Rueda and the Domaine Chaume Arnaud Vinsobres from the Rhone. But we stuck with the non-alcoholic, a refreshing Sparkling Elderflower by local producers Irish Hedgerow. With the sun beating down outside, we also skipped the coffee and were a little sorry for that omission when we spotted some delightful pastries as we paid at the counter. Next time!

Apple Farm

We had walked around the very impressive medieval remains, before lunch, following the long stretch of wall (parts dating from 1292) by the river and moving by the various gates, Water Gate, East Gate and, most impressively, North Gate, also the cluster of two castles and the old Holy Trinity Church (key available at O’Sullivan’s pharmacy).

The Fethard Town Hall (right)

Holy Trinity Church
Fethard

The Town Hall has had variations and alterations and various functions since its 16th century beginning and is now in use for tourist purposes. Here too you will find the Fethard Horse Country Experience and from here you may arrange a tour of Coolmore Stud. Check it all out here.  I’ll be doing just that the next time I’m in Fethard.

On the way back to Cork, we made a short detour from the M8 to the Apple Farm on the Clonmel road. And stocked up on jams, cider, and fruits, including some of the delicious juicy sweet cherries. It is a busy spot but the drought is taking its toll and plums, we heard, may not be as plentiful as last year when the harvest comes in.

Indeed, a day after our visit, owner Con Traas was tweeting: The last rain fell at our farm on 19/6, a mere 0.2mm drizzle. Since May 11th (2 months to the day) we have recorded 23.2mm total (about a weeks rain here in normal circumstances). We have exceeded the criteria for both absolute drought and partial drought.

I know the constant sun has been great this year but we could do with some rain now! Wonder what the weather was like in Fethard when those Norman builders were hard at it all those centuries ago.

Recent Tipp calls:

Mikey Ryan’s Cashel 

Stef Hans Thurles 

French Quarter Tipperary town 

Holycross and Farney Castle 

Not so recent:

Glen of Aherlow 

Swiss Cottage Cahir 

Cahir Castle 

The Vee 

Rock of Cashel 

The Lakeside Hotel Ballina 

The Grubbs. Blessed be the cheesemakers. 

The Apple Farm Cahir 

Aherlow House Hotel 

Amuse Bouche

She opened the top and the smell of bacon and warm bread billowed out. Her stomach growled.

‘It’s good,’ the man said. ‘I had one earlier. Eat.’

Andra knew she shouldn’t. He could have put anything in it. But the smell. And she was so hungry. She reached inside the bag, pulled out half a sandwich, took a bite.

‘Why don’t you sit down,’ he said. ‘Give me five minutes to explain.’

She perched on the edge of the bed, chewed, swallowed. ‘You’ve got till the end of this sandwich,’ she said. ‘Now talk.’

from Here and Gone by Haylen Beck (2017). Very Highly Recommended.