Restaurant Review: Fine fare in Sham's Roscommon kitchen
The downstairs of Sham Harifa's My Kitchen
- My Kitchen By Sham Hanifa
- Carrick Retail Park, Sligo Road, Carrick On Shannon, County RoscommonÂ
- Tel: 071-9616360
- Mon-Sat - 8am-8pm; Sun - 8am-6pm
An excellent new place to dine in Co. Roscommon is not a sentence we read very often. Sham Hanifa of the (excellent) Cottage Restaurant in Jamestown in Leitrim is the man behind it, and I’m cross with myself that I didn’t get to tell you about it sooner.
My Kitchen opened late last year and the large, light-filled, airy room immediately felt welcoming and warm. Upstairs is a similar-sized room which will serve as Sham’s new cookery school and function room. There were families, couples, groups of friends, lone diners, and a general atmosphere of happiness on the day we visited - helped by welcoming smiling staff.
On arrival, I snuck a look at the provisions section and as expected there was wine, kombucha, pasta, local cheeses and brands such as Shines Tuna. What pleased me more was spotting less common items such as Kataifi pastry, Ketjap Manis, Mirin, Tamarind and panko breadcrumbs - not to mention a range of quality kitchen knives made by Dick in Germany.
My Kitchen’s menu includes a breakfast section (Eggs Benedict, Full Irish etc) and sandwiches, but then jumps into a tour of the Pacific and South East Asia including Bibimbap (Korea), Poke, Buddha Bowls (with Tofu Ragu and Peanut Rayu), Asian Salads, Noodles and Kari Mee (Malaysian curry). Daily specials offered a curry and pasta of the day: Thai Green Curry & Chicken & Mushroom Penne.
There were five hungry curious adults for dinner so we opted to share as much as possible. Thornhill Duck Salad (€13) had a generous portion of shredded tender duck leg sitting atop good quality leaves in a tangy orange and mustard dressing. A handful of toasted cashew nuts added crunch, and best of all, peeled orange slices and pickled cucumber added sweet-sour freshness that cut through the richness of the duck. A virtually perfect salad.
Thai Beef Salad (€14) was equally well balanced with sweet-spicy, beef, vermicelli, roasted peanuts, and a perfect Asian Slaw which included lots of zesty-tart green mango - a rarely encountered ingredient in Ireland. The balancing of the beef with the peanut crunch, the green mango tartness, and the umami focused sesame and ginger dressing made this arguably my favourite dish of the meal.
Pork Miso Noodle Soup (€14) arrived in a large blue bowl which highlighted the richly coloured egg noodles in their light clear pork broth. The pile of slow cooked crispy pork belly was the highlight here as the noodles and broth were much too mild for my taste - a generous dollop of Sham’s Chilli Ketchup soon fixed this. I later discovered that the kitchen has had to curtail their use of chilli to satisfy local tastes, but would have loved to have added extra to mine. Staff promised to let future customers know this in advance!
Malay Beef Rendang (€15) is a Malay version of the Indonesian classic and Sham’s version is already legendary (I must have had it ten times) - rich, complex and warming it is another must-try dish on this menu.
Buttermilk Chicken Burger (€14) was as you would hope - crispy outside, tender chicken inside - and the chips were fresh made wedges with decent (rather than exceptional) crunch. And finally the Thai Green Curry Special (€13) had a good balance of creamy coconut, earthy coriander and light heat from green chilli peppers.
The wine list is short and fairly priced, but I’m told new wines are on the way. Our bottle of l’Herbe Sainte Pays d’Oc (€25) Merlot was light and fruity and worked well enough, but I think the bottles of SynerChi Ginger & Lemon Kombucha (€3.80) from Donegal worked even better.
For dessert we chose four of the house made cake options with a white chocolate raspberry sponge and a chocolate orange cake probably in top spot, followed by the Cookies & Cream Cake and the Green Aero Cheesecake.
My Kitchen is a Café/Restaurant that would thrive anywhere, but I love that it is in this often-overlooked corner of Romantic-Roscommon/Lovely-Leitrim. Make a pilgrimage.
Dinner for 5 including 6 mains to share, a bottle of wine, three kombucha and 5 desserts cost a very reasonable €137.00
- Food: 8.5/10
- Wine: 7/10
- Service: 9/10
- Ambiance: 8.5/10
- Value: 9/10
- In a Sentence: A brilliant, eclectic, Malay-Asia-Pacific focused Café/Restaurant in Roscommon serving tasty delicious food.
