Kenmare leading the way in food
The Menu has been dining in the beautiful town of Kenmare for more years than it cares or is even able to remember, knocking back fine Irish food even in the dark days before the Great Culinary Conversion began on the Oul’ Sod. So it finds it strange next weekend’s Kenmare Food Festival (July 13-15) is the inaugural event. With the town permanently en fete and the food culture long in situ, perhaps this is simply a matter of formalising a longstanding arrangement. A splendid family-friendly programme includes demos, tastings, markets, pop-up restaurants, debates and exhibitions, along with entertainment for all ages. Highlights include: James Mulchrone’s pop-up restaurant; Food Photography Exhibition at Skyline Gallery; Ballyhoura Mushrooms Supremo Lucy Deegan’s Wild Mushroom lecture (and perhaps a sneaky sample of her new ‘Mushroom Ketchup’); Whiskey Voyage Masterclass at the Park Hotel; all fuelled by regular top-ups from the Taste Kenmare signature dish nibbles available all around town. kenmarefoodcarnival.com/
During one particular confinement, eventually yielding a splendid boy child, The Menu’s Dearly Beloved chose to exist solely on Sushi, The Menu becoming quite the dab hand at knocking out a quick roll of Nori and rice-encased seafood and vegetables. Furthermore, this most excellent swift snack or even meal also earns the approval of the health and nutrition bods in the white coats. Shermin Mustafa and Darina Allen offer a Sushi Made Simple day-course on Wednesday July 11, light lunch included. www.cookingisfun.ie
With too many young Gaels labouring under the misapprehension that meat is some class of substance only found shrink-wrapped on a supermarket shelf, they would be well advised to pass an evening in the company of renowned craft butcher Pat Whelan at one of his demos in Avoca Monkstown, in Co Dublin, learning knife skills (with a free knife!) and beef and pork butchery, including the lesser known but equally tasty cuts such as Jacob’s Ladder, Feather and Bowler Steaks. www.jameswhelanbutchers.com/info/butchery-demonstrations/
Marc Kingston in recent years has graduated from barista par excellence to one of the finest roasters in the country. He rarely bothers with blends, these days, preferring to pursue superb single estate beans and coax them gently through the roasting process with an uncanny instinct for knowing when perfection has been achieved and to stop right there. Largely favouring South American beans and roasting in small quantities, Kingston always opts for subtlety —there are no over-roasted oral assailants to be found in the Golden Bean stable, rather light, nutty/fruity nectars with sublimely judged acidity and sumptuous chocolate and caramel tones. Hit me again, cries The Menu! Mahon and Douglas Farmers’ Markets.
