The Menu: Feast on the finest Leeside fare at Cork on a Fork festival

Aishling Moore, chef and partner at Goldie restaurant, and Brian Murray, chef and owner of The Glass Curtain join Caoimhe (7) and Naoise (5) O’Leary-Kinnerk (from Castlemore) to launch the programme of events for the upcoming Cork on a Fork Festival. Pic: Joleen Cronin

This year’s Cork on a Fork is commendably proving to be infinitely more ambitious and wide-ranging than last year’s more tentative inaugural event which arrived when the lingering influence of the pandemic on Irish hospitality was still very much in evidence.

Ongoing over the course of the weekend, The Menu himself is up to his oxters in several events today (Aug 19) and would very much welcome any readers along, including a stint in the Cooking Demo Festival Marquee on Emmet Place where he hosts Only in Cork Mystery Box Cook-Off, what promises to be a riotous on stage cook-off between renowned Cork chefs Ali Honour (Sketch, Imperial Hotel), Brian Murray (Glass Curtain) and Darren Kennedy (most recently Sage Midleton), charged with creating a compelling dish from the Rebel County Mystery Larder Box.