The Menu: A new tea room at Muckross; and a pairing of farmhouse cheese and stout
The Tea Room, at Muckross Park Hotel, in Killarney
The Menu can’t help feeling that an entire weekend ‘abroad’ in Killarney is very much on the cards one of these fine days as it is certainly shaking its hospitality tush in the most enticing fashion.
Recently reopened is the iconic O’Donoghue Public House, on College Street, sporting a natty yet tasteful makeover reflecting its traditional antecedents. They also have a traditional menu using premium local suppliers, and an additional ‘grocer’s’ deli section selling some fine Irish provisions to complete the offering — very much embodying the changing face of Irish pubs.
The Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder, in Killarney, has been on The Menu’s radar for some time, more so since the arrival of young chef Jason Nolan last year who has injected the menu with some much-needed pizzazz with a menu that cleaves different path to some of the more humdrum affair on offer in similar ‘gastropubs’. It includes a well-sourced range of produce from The Kingdom, along with a quite superb array of whiskeys and craft beers. A special tasting menu dinner (Nov 27) sounds like a perfect introduction to Nolan’s talents.
celticwhiskeybar.com and email: jason@celticwhiskeybar.com
Muckross Park Hotel & Spa, where The Menu has previously enjoyed most charming Irish hospitality, has launched an exclusive Tea Room, a deliciously decadent and dramatic space in which to extend pinkie while quaffing finest Ceylon from bone china. Two menus, one classic, the other vegan/gluten-free and entirely without sin, showcase an elevated afternoon dining experience including sandwiches, scones and exquisite desserts along with superb loose leaf teas, and Veuve Clicquot for those fancying the fizz as well. Also open for pre-dinner evening drinks.
As the entire concept of Black Friday leaves The Menu rather cold, he will instead highlight two tasty Leeside accommodation deals, for selected dates in 2021 and throughout 2022: B&B for two, Cork International Hotel, €99; B&B for two, The Metropole, €109, including dinner, €159. (Booking between Nov 19-29).
It is an ongoing pleasure for The Menu to be afforded the opportunity to celebrate Irish food and food producers and the incredible people working in our hospitality sector who deliver it all up on the plate. The inaugural Irish Food Writing Awards 2021, held last week in Fallon & Byrne, in Dublin, are so important to all who work in the industry, writing and broadcasting content about some of the finest food to be had anywhere in the world, as they enable us to continue to spread the gospel about all that is wonderful in Irish food.
It was especially gratifying that the international panel of judges included some of the most trusted and respected names in world food, amongst them, Rene Redzepi, Joanna Blythman, Tom Parker Bowles and Jay Rayner, and IFWA founders, Irish broadcaster Suzanne Campbell and Paul O’Connor, are to be thoroughly commended for establishing what is surely set to become an important fixture in the future Irish culinary calendars.
The Irish Examiner has always had a fine tradition of supporting Irish food, no more so than in the work of Darina Allen, one of the greatest of all Irish food champions, but the editorial team continues to promote other voices in Irish food and so it was that five Irish Examiner writers were nominated: Leslie Williams, for wine writing; Colm O’Gorman for his recipe column; regular food features writer, Caroline Hennessy, who won the Online Writing Award category; Michelle Darmody, who won the Sustainability in Irish Food Award.
And The Menu himself was genuinely knocked for six to win the Restaurant Writing Award. Most of all, he would like to thank the wonderful readers for their continued support and encouragement over the years.
Before heading off to the Big Smoke for a week of wining, dining and various awards ceremonies, The Menu encountered Dan Hegarty’s head cheesemaker, Jean-Baptiste Enjelvin, in the English Market dropping off a consignment of stunning Hegarty’s Templegall (Teampall Geall) cheese to On The Pig’s Back, from the same batch recently dispatched to gorgeous Kilruddery House for the CÁIS Irish Cheese Awards 2021.
Following JB’s sound advice, The Menu procured a healthy slab of what is one of his most favourite Irish farmhouse cheeses. Sampling later that evening, The Menu found it to be the finest iteration to date of this comté-style creation from just north of Cork city — and it was no surprise to learn it picked up the CÁIS Supreme Champion award just days later. Firm yet yielding and a joy even melted on the tongue, this sweet, nutty cheese pairs well with all manner of beverages, including champagne. And The Menu has been enjoying it with another wonderful discovery, Porterhouse Brew Co’s Around The Clock #3 — a barrel-aged imperial stout that comes in a limited release of just 10,000 bottles. This combination of seven different malts and seven different hops, is boiled for 24 hours and then matured in freshly emptied bourbon casks from Dingle Distillery for 250 days, resulting in a remarkable brew that is beer’s riposte to a fine Côtes du Rhône, its chocolate, caramel, vanilla and raisin notes, proving a perfect companion for endless elegant slivers of Templegall.
