The menu: Where dinner is centre stage
Broken Crow Theatre Company present period drama Madame Chavelle (Oct 26/27), while Ballyvolane supply the three-course dinner (€55 pp, 10% discount for tables of 10), www.ballyvolanehouse.ie. But as the diners push back chairs after their feed to indulge in some cultural sustenance, food blogger Paul O’Callaghan will be coming to the tail end of his attempt to run a half marathon in each of the 32 counties in aid of Aware. Having himself bounced back from depression, ‘Calso’ will begin his clockwise circuit of Ireland in Clare on Oct 18, finishing up in Limerick 12 days later having run the equivalent of 16 marathons. www.mycharity.ie/event/calsocooksontherun/
One of The Menu’s finest ever breakfasts starred Caroline Rigney’s stunning Curraghchase White Pudding cooked on the still-glowing embers of the previous night’s campfire as the early morning sun stretched sleepily over Dunmanus Bay. So The Curraghchase Slow Food Celebration, in Co Limerick (Oct 14, 12-5pm), comes most highly recommended, a family-friendly event with food and craft demos and plenty of Caroline’s sublime free-range pork products to scoff down. www.rigneysfarm.com
And if you entertain notions of crafting your own puddings and sausage and curing meats, then nationally-renowned butcher Jack McCarthy and son Tim offer a day-long pig butchery course in Kanturk (Oct 21), including lunch and gift pack. www.jackmccarthy.ie/shop/courses-main
The Menu will embark on yet another chapter in his ongoing philosophical struggle concerning the merits of Burgundy versus Bordeaux when he visits the Cornstore for a five-course tasting menu with matching wines (Oct 18) in conjunction with Curious Wines and Gavin Quinney of Chateau Bauduc, Bordeaux, suppliers of Gordon Ramsey’s house wines (€45 pp, booking: 021 4274777). After all his philosophical quaffing, The Menu shall head straight home to dig out his mycophagist’s kit for a splendid day of foraging (Oct 21) courtesy of Ballyhoura Mushrooms and Sage Restaurant, Midleton. It begins at 12pm sharp with a quick conflab over hot chocolate before heading in convoy to a secret location for several hours foraging before returning for a mushroom plate lunch with craft beer. (€30pp, booking: 021 4639682)
While The Menu gives his seal of approval to the Pearl Barley, Pomegranate, Celery and Dill concoction, just one of Rocket Man, Jack Crotty’s superb salads available in Mahon and Douglas Farmers’ Markets, it is his cordials to which The Menu is currently most wedded. A drink for all seasons.
Said it before, and I’ll say it again: much as there’s lots to love in the lagers of the world, the ales, porters and stouts native to these islands are really where it’s at. There’s a heap of really good ones being made from Dingle to Carlow and Cork to Kilkeel, Co Down where Whitewater Brewery makes today’s treat. By ‘dry’ they don’t mean tart and austere: It actually wears a generous Christmas cake of a scent along with secondary whiff of coffee and cocoa, a gorgeous foil to its dark liquorice hops. Whitewater’s range including this and the estimable Clotworthy Dobbin is widely available including specialist off-licences and Tesco.
Blake Creedon
