The Menu: January food festivals to look out for this month

According to TS Elliot himself, April is the Cruellest month but the bould Tomás obviously never put down a January round about The Menu’s neck of the woods as, post-festivities, all about don contritional Lycra hairshirts and take to diets of seeds and water. 

Luckily, The Menu is able to fall back on his mongrel heritage (including a large slice of Scottishness) to find other occasions for celebratory antics, a Traditional Burns Supper in the Celtic Ross (Jan 25) in lovely Rosscarbery, being just the ticket.

Diners will be summonsed by the stirring wail of pipes to feast on a fine five-course Scottish banquet including traditional Haggis, the evening punctuated with traditional song and recitals including the official Burns night address.

Celtic Ross Hotel offer dinner & full overnight B&B €75.

While The Menu can lay no claim to Chinese extraction he expects a similar welcome to the Dublin-Chinese New Year Festival 2017 (Jan 28 – Feb 12) and the opportunity to discover splendid examples of one of the world’s great cuisines, available in Ireland when you stray from those more familiar menus that have been adulterated to suit Western palates.

A Cookery Masterclass (Jan 29) at the Cook’s Academy delivered by top Sino-Hiberno chef Kwanghi and The Menu’s old chum American-Chinese food writer Mei Chin promises a taste revelation.

The Asian Flavour Lazy (electric) Bike Tour (Jan 29) visits several Chinese restaurants to sample authentic dishes.

Visit the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival website here.

Cork continues to grow as a coffee drinker’s paradise. The thriving local, independent coffee houses and cafes will join forces once more for Cork Coffee Weekend (Jan 27-29) to celebrate the Blessed Bean and to support the local economy.

A labour of love commendably organised by Eoin Kennedy (Digital Zone) and barista Caroline O’Keeffe, there are a range of caffeine-fuelled events to appeal to all coffee fans, from recovering Maxwell Housers to hardcore bean-freaks with local hero DJ Stevie G brewing up suitable beats at multiple events, free to all.

See the Cork Coffee Weekend Facebook page here.

Those seeking a libation more potent still may be of a mind to sample cask ales, at the Franciscan Well’s Cask Ales & Extraordinary Brew Festival (Jan 26-28) featuring a range of leftfield brews from Irish brewers, a Meet the Brewer Q&A and the Beoir Cask Competition.

See the Franciscan Well Facebook page here.

The man with the goldie-looking chain, Lord Mayor Des Cahill, launched the inaugural Cork Food Policy Council Sustainable Food Awards at Cork City Hall this week, recognising and acknowledging the efforts of three splendid applicants from a wide range of entries in three categories, Education, Not-For-Profit and Commercial.

Bessborough’s Horticulture Local Training Initiative (Education) is a community based horticulture training programme designed to support people who are at a disadvantage in accessing the labour market or mainstream education/training.

The Churchfield Community Trust (Not-For-Profit) is a Community Based Organisation offering training, work and enterprise skills to their clients including running the very lovely Garden Café, in Blackpool.

The Menu always relished his stays in Lettercolum House in years gone by and though no longer a hospitality venture, it’s walled garden supplies produce grown to organic principals to be cooked in their excellent food shop in Clonakilty.

The very excellent Cork Food Policy Council is a non-statutory group of food system representatives from both public and private bodies, all working towards an inclusive, fairer, healthier and more sustainable food system and it is the first such initiative in this country.

See the Cork Food Policy Council website here.

Tickets for Ballymaloe Litfest (May 19-21) have gone on sale at www.litfest.ie with top attractions including a pop-up from Robin Gill, the Dublin chef who has taken London by storm and two of The Menu’s great heroes, food writer Claudia Roden and food writer and investigative food journalist Joanna Blythman.

TODAY’S SPECIAL

With the impending Cork Coffee Weekend in mind, The Menu was delighted to hear of another new Irish micro-roaster, this time, 9th Degree Coffee, whose proprietor, James McCormack, founded the Dublin Barista School, in 2011.

The company’s name refers to the 9th degree of latitude, the location in Ethiopia of the coffee farm where they first sourced beans and The Menu very much enjoyed their Ethiopian Moata, notes of dusky cocoa, floral and tropical fruit, all very mellow and nutty on the palate and a most fine cup of ‘joe’ indeed.

See the 9th Degree Coffee website here.