Dining NOW Guide. Update #2. This Week's Choices In Cork.

 Dining NOW Guide. This Week's Choices In Cork

(Contact me before 1.00pm Wed with a sentence, a pic and a link to menu, plan to update regularly)

 w/e 11/4/2021 Update #2

Click and Collect. At Home. Takeout. Takeaway.

Let Bonnyconnellan's Super Indian Chef Sort Out Your Weekend Dining!

Cook&Home with us this weekend. Order by 3pm Thursday tomorrow for collection Friday 9th or Saturday 10th. Email info@bunnyconnellan.ie & please include your phone number. Happy Wednesday! See menu on our social media inc Instagram here.

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Dockland Delights 

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Iyers on Popes Quay

Photo taken 07.04.2021

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Isaacs Restaurant

Take Your Pick!

Take away menu for this week... available on click and collect... phone lines open from Wednesday 021 4503803

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O'Mahony's Stay in the USA🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽

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Da Mirco has the beef for you. And the wine!

We hope that you had a great Easter weekend and that you had plenty chocolate.

We had some glorious weather but forecast for the weekend is going to be chilly.
Don't panic because we are warming you up with Guancia al Barbera on our Italian Feast Menu (3 courses for 2 at 50€).

(I had this in February - fantastic!)

Some of you were lucky to taste it back in January and February: O'Mahony's Beef Cheek slow-cooked in full-bodied Barbera wine, served with creamy mashed potatoes. Check the rest of the menu here.

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L'Atitude continue their travel with a trip to Normandy next weekend. More details here

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Paradiso

Some small changes to the menu this week. paradisoathome.com will be open from 10am Tuesday for meal kits, Friday and Saturday.

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Afternoon Tea or the Full Three Courses

Check out Vienna Woods. Menus here.

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Greenes continue with Picnic Box and more

This Week's Menus #greenesathome #clickandcollect  NOW ONLINE. We are continuing with the Picnic Box & Tasting Menu & have some cracking new dishes this week including Rack of Macroom Lamb. Our Fantastic Wines & Cocktails.
Visit here to order.

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Lots of us can't be spending big money on food all the time...

then your local butcher, such as Sheehans of St Luke's, can come up with the goods!

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Goldie Encore With Bosca #4

With overwhelming demand last week we’ve decided to do Bosca na Farraige #4 again this weekend .

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Superb Prize to celebrate one year of 

 ‘The Glass Curtain at Home’  

We are giving away 3 Meal kits for 2 People plus wine pairing for the weekend of the 16th-18th of April 🥂

For a little fun we are going to make you work for it, get your thinking caps on and solve our riddle. The missing words will be released over the next 5 days, Monday 5th - Friday 9th, via our Instagram stories. Words will be released in a random order. Once you receive all 5 words on Friday, the first Three people to DM us on Instagram the correct answer to the Riddle will win

To be in with a chance to win you must also like the Related Post on Instagram and tag 3 people you want to bring to the restaurant when we are open and don’t forget to send your answers in private messages!

GOOD LUCK.

This week's menu now online here

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Another competition: from Cobh's Wild Rose Artisan Cakes

Find it on their Facebook ** GIVEAWAY COMPETITION TIME **

As a thank you for all the loyal, supportive and new followers, we are giving away a 6" celebration cake!!!

You can choose one of our delightful flavours and it will be beautifully decorated with homemade macarons, fruit and edible flowers!

Just a few simple steps to WIN:

* LIKE THIS POST

* FOLLOW

Wild Rose Artisan Cakes

* TAG 2 FRIENDS who also would love to win our delicious cake!

The lucky winner will be picked this SATURDAY!! Good luck!!

Co. Cork only!

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Ferrit & Lee

Midleton's Ferrit & Lee have their weekend Click & Collect menu up and running here.

That Royal Chocolate Mousse with honeycomb could be quite the finalé!

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Taste of the Week. Shines Irish Tuna

Taste of the Week

Shines Irish Tuna

You can rustle up a lovely lunch in no time at all if you are lucky enough to have a jar of Shines Wild Irish Tuna in your house. This is just one product in an impressive and increasing range from the Donegal family firm and is our Taste of the Week.

This tempting dish is easy to prepare. Looks and tastes amazing! It is based on a recipe by Ciara Shine, one of many on their website. Most of the ingredients on the plate came via NeighbourFood.

The leaves, a lovely mix, came from Purple Squirrel Farm. From Olives West Cork came Freshly Marinated Koroneiki Olives (big plump and superb) and Semi Sundried Tomatoes (big juicy Sicilians that had to be cut down to size with a scissors).  One that didn't it make the photo-call was the marvellous Sweet Pickled Onion from ORSO and it added a delicious kick. 

We'll have more on Shines and their products over the next few weeks. The jars and cans are widely available and you can also check them out on their website here.

Springtime at Fota Gardens and Arboretum

 Springtime at Fota Gardens and Arboretum

Photos 3rd April 2021

An 1984 Cork Oak tree (close-up of cork bark below)

Irish Malt and Brewers Best in World

Fergal of Dublin City

Irish Malt and Brewers

 Best in World

BeoirFest 20.03.2021

Lager and Red Ale

It didn’t quite show on the screen but Craft Bear’s Phil must have been blushing during the recent Online event organised by Brian of BeoirFest. Lager and Red Ale were the subjects discussed and when Phil’s Red Ale “Bimbos” came up for tasting, the other two dished out the highest possible praise.

Dublin City’s experienced Fergal and Brendan of Four Provinces combined in the gush: “ ..gorgeous.. great beer..amazing.. doesn’t taste like 8%, it’s got the body, it’s got the velvet texture”. There was a suggestion that this stunning beer could be even better with longer conditioning.

Phil, who admitted his beer names are “a bit out there”, said he created it in August. “I latched onto Cashmere.......... there is very little bittering............and the conditioning is 7 weeks.” Earlier Phil told us he started brewing properly in 2018. Before that it was just a hobby. The transition was quick and something of a roller coaster. “The hobby got out of control and before I knew it I was head over heels - in debt! But the results in the kitchen were good and getting better. I got a tap at a wedding and that was a good indicator. Did an IPA first, a West Coast style. I gave it a right go and it became very popular, so popular it tied us up for a full year.”

Just highlighting the praise for Bimbos there, as quite often Irish brewers are somewhat shy in pushing their own beers and breweries. Fergal, who has worldwide experience, said we should be proud of our brewers. “We’re as good as any market in the world, outstanding. And I have judged around the world.” And still there was some frustration in his remarks. “We can make the best beers on the planet but we can’t get in the door here because of the system.”

Funnily enough, Fergal had great praise for the brewers in James Gate. “I got great training in James Gate, the Harvard of beer.” And Brendan too acknowledged that mainstream brewers and beers have their place. “In our pub, we do our best to support all local brewers and distillers. You do need them to lure customers in and they’ll move to craft but they won’t start with craft. You also need to have a beer similar to what they are used to drinking.”  

Brendan

I myself saw much the same going on when the local pub Cotton Ball began brewing and earlier in places like Franciscan Well and Brewhaus - but you do need to have your staff trained to help customers take that first and crucial step.

Fergal said we have a supply of the greatest malt here. “You don’t have to compare yourself with Munich, Prague, or Denmark. I make two of the best lagers in the world here (and he is prepared to prove it in any head to head!). With the greatest malt here and the best brewers, make your own lager and call it Irish Lager.”

Moderator Brian O’Connell ventured that “lagers don’t get the respect they deserve” and asked why. Brendan suggested that “lagers are associated with the past, a period when there wasn’t much of a choice”.

Next session, today 3rd April 3.00pm

Dublin City’s lager, Liberator, was now being sipped. Fergal: “Liberator is a light lager, hard to do, all the things that can go wrong. But this is simply to satisfy your thirst on a summer’s day in the garden, a session drink, a sit back and relax one, refreshing with a tiny hop character to balance.”

Lagers are like that in general, have two or three and enjoy the atmosphere. “Brewing is finding out what your customers want”. And he repeated what I heard a few years back from Eoin Lynch of the Cotton Ball, that seven of ten drinks consumed are lager. Eoin took his own advice of course!

Four Provinces

Brendan of Four Provinces: “Our lager was the one that sold, nothing wrong with that (not that anyone challenged him!). To be honest, I’m more comfortable with our lager and putting out the odd IPA. People can be easily persuaded to drink our lager.”

And Fergal agreed: “You don’t have to do something extra special but you gotta have the one that delivers the money. Then, once a year, throw out a seasonal or a special.”

Moderator Brian asked about IPAs and hops and queried if there’s a little niche there that talks to itself. Can that be a bit off-putting to potential drinkers of craft? Phil did agree there was  a certain fashion in hops, that they have their season, that Cashmere for instance was all the rage in the months before Christmas. But “it’s great to see labels with fuller descriptions to encourage people to know their beers.”

Fergal urged “..be a bit cautious and careful. Exotic drinks sound great but may not sell. And Brendan emphasised that the margins on IPAs are significantly lower. Phil pointed out that lager is harder to make and takes longer while Fergal pointed out that “stout is never easy to do”. 

Three straight-talking brewers shared their insights and kept us well informed throughout the hour or so. A session on cider today (3rd April) and then the next event on beorifest.com is April 10th with Lineman, Killarney Brewing and Bullhouse.

Spring at Blarney Castle Gardens

Spring at Blarney Castle Gardens

31st March 2021

The Ice-House, and wild garlic

The walled garden

Highly Recommended Wines from The Rhone and The Danube

Highly Recommended Wines from 

The Rhone and The Danube

We've got two lovely wines for you, red from the Rhone and white from the Danube. Organic wine-maker Jacques Frelin has vineyards all over France from the Languedoc (where he is headquartered) to the Loire. The Diwald vineyard is about 20 minutes from the Danube; they have been pioneers in organic wine in Austria and are well-known for their Grüner Veltliner.

Contrefort du Delta Côtes du Rhône (AOP) 2018, 14%

€15.62 - Widely available, Fields Supervalu, Skibbereen; Scally’s Supervalu, Clonakilty; Organico, Bantry; Taste, Castletownbere; Quay Co-Op, Cork; Bridge St. Kenmare; O'Donovan's Off Licence; The Grainey, Scarriff; The Connemara Hamper, Clifden, Mary Pawle Wines. 

Colour  of this C-d-R is ruby, slightly lighter towards the rim. Aromas are not shy and speak strongly of soft red fruit. And that pleasing red fruit is found in the soft and velvety mouth, a confident true expression of the grapes and the region, with round tannins and a persistent aftertaste. Highly Recommended.

The label is brief but gives quite a lot of info: No sulphites. Organic wine. Produced by Jacques Frelin. Well rounded and aromas of red fruit. Matches well with red meat, spaghetti Bolognese or cheese. Serve at 18 degrees.

Frelin, whose company is called Terroirs Vivants has, for over thirty years now, been at the forefront of the organic wine movement in France. While organic is often associated with small, this is not the case with Frelin who has vineyards all over the country, in the Languedoc (where he is headquartered), in Bordeaux, in Gascony, in the Rhone and Provence and the Loire.

Many of the wines reviewed on this blog are organic and I often take for granted that everyone knows what organic is. Just in case you don’t, here’a a pretty good definition from the producer website:

Organic wine is made from organically grown grapes in accordance with the rules of organic farming, which specifically excludes the use of artificial chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

The winemaking process must then comply to European regulations, which limit the use of SO2, ban certain physical processes and insist on the use of organically-sourced materials. All organic producers are audited each year by an independent body, which makes the European organic logo a trustworthy seal.

Diwald Grüner Veltliner Alte Weingärten Wagram 2014, 13%  

€27.00 - Organico, Bantry; Mary Pawle Wines.

Light straw, with a touch of green, is the colour of this 2014 Grüner. Spice notes in the aromas, white pepper and rocket. Vivacious on the palate where’ll you again meet the spice, also fresh flavours of apples and pears. Complex, elegant and precise and Highly Recommended.

Mary Pawle: “These vines are about 30-40 years old and the grapes are harvested in November. Would work very well with roast pork or asparagus”.

The Diwalds (Paula and Hans) are pioneers of organic wine-growing in Austria (1980), with their roots in the region of Wagram, and the younger generation is now running the show. The Alte Weingarten is Martin Diwald's top Grüner from the oldest vineyard in the village. Painstaking selection of the best grapes all the way into October pays off with this gem.

Today, the Diwald wine style follows a simple credo: the wines – whether white, red, rosé, orange or cloudy – should be lean, elegant and cheeky, but still offer depth and body. They are individual wines which speak to our – and your – taste buds…. this Gru-Vee is just one example. By the way, their other wines from this grape are also excellent and Mary Pawle has quite a few on her list.