The Menu: Live-fire cooking burns at The Glass Curtain

Plus: supper club Dunowen Pilgrims; a look at bespoke dinners around Cork; and West of Dingle sea salt

Sat, 07 Oct, 2023 - 02:00

Joe McNamee

Crackers about pop-ups

The Menu is on the water and cream crackers, honing a keen edge to an appetite already razor sharp on learning of a splendid collaboration, set to be one of Leeside’s finest dining events for many a moon.

One of Cork’s very best restaurants, The Glass Curtain, and San Francisco’s Michelin-starred 100% live fire cooking Osito, who bring their team to Cork, host a three-day collaborative pop-up (October 19-21), as part of the Glass Curtain’s Swiss Roll Sessions.

With both firmly committed to local sourcing of premium produce, the five-course menu of 11 servings will be a showcase of Cork’s seasonal bounty and the culinary chops of both kitchens.

In addition, Oisin Wolfe, late of Paladar, and now leading Glass Curtain’s cocktail bomb squad, will be joined by Osito’s beverage directors, Uzziel Pulido and Grace Ackerman, to create exceptional cocktails on the night.

theglasscurtain.ie

Mark Jennings and Sadie Pearce will be cooking a series midweek suppers at Dunowen House

Supper club collaboration

Upon recently meeting Dunowen House proprietor Kela Hodgins, The Menu was greatly impressed with the multiplicity of plans she has afoot for the autumn.

First up is a a series of supper clubs, Dunowen Pilgrims, a collaboration that sees two of The Menu’s favourite people in Irish food, Mark Jennings and his partner Sadie Pearce revive the spirit of their late and much lamented Pilgrims restaurant, in Rosscarbery, for a series of midweek private supper experiences (from October to December), intimate six-coursers.

If that has whetted your appetite then here’s one to fire up your dreams and it certainly had The Menu pondering what he might get for a kidney or two from the Progeny if he were to put them up for sale on the dark web, for Kela’s week-long culinary and wine- tasting retreat in the undulating, verdant hills of Tuscany (October 27-November 3) in the historic Villa Burlamacchi, dating from the 1500s, sounds a quite magnificent way to ease a body into the worst of winter.

With limited spaces, a small group will learn how to make gnocchi, ravioli, wood-fired pizzas, and a range of Italian sauces and desserts from Villa Burlamacchi’s resident Chef Attilio Petrella, while also leaving sufficient time to explore local wineries, towns, and restaurants as well as checking out the villa’s pool and spa, and non-cooking guests, are equally welcome.

To be honest, Progeny kidneys will most likely survive the winter this time around so The Menu would gladly settle for a little bit of Italy closer to home, in Dunowen House itself, where Kela is to host an Italian cooking series this winter with midweek and residential weekend cookery classes, as the Burlamacchi Villa team travel to West Cork to offer expert culinary tutelage over two weekends (November 24-26, and December 1-3) as well as two day-courses (November 28-29).

dunowenhouse.ie

Wine and dine

The Menu recommends The River Lee Hotel’s fourth in a series of exclusive wine dinners, with Warren Gibson, of New Zealand’s Trinity Hill Winery popping up on October 11.

Something similar takes place in the small but mighty Blue Haven, in Kinsale, where an evening of Moet & Chandon Champagnes (October 13) is hosted by sommelier Julie Dupouy while chef Meeran Manzoor responds in kind with a seasonal five-course tasting menu from the Rare restaurant kitchen.

Bubbles also feature at an exclusive wine dinner (October 11) in The Saddle Room at The Shelbourne celebrating the Champagnes of Laurent-Perrier, including a special champagne reception followed by a five-course dinner in the Saddle Room.

L’Atitude 51’s Cinecafe returns with Babette’s Feast, one of The Menu’s most beloved films, where a screening is accompanied by matching tastes from the L’At51 repertoire. Tickets €32pp for movie and matching tastes. Email info@latitude51.ie to book.

West of Dingle's hand harvested sea salts include versatile Black Garlic Sea Salt.

TODAY’S SPECIAL

West of Dingle is a new enterprise offering an excellent range of Irish sea salts, amongst the very best The Menu has tasted to date.

Their “starting point”, the 100% Natural Sea Salt isn’t quite as bone dry as Maldon but the salty crystals come with a similar restrained level of potency and a quick tasting soon gives an idea of the required amount for a finishing sprinkle and not just over savoury dishes —The Menu paired them with caramel brownies and the effect was sublime and it is quite excellent on top of bread before baking, especially focaccia.

Lemon and Rosemary Sea Salt has a high, bright citric note that almost leaves the more astringent rosemary in the ha’penny place but the trick is to both cook and finish with it, which tends to level out the flavour playing field—again, it is quite excellent with any dish that would normally welcome such a pairing, including fish, chicken, lamb and roasted veg, and it makes a very nice frosting for the rim of a margarita glass.

Whiskey Smoked Sea Salt is flush with the potent acridity of oak smoke and, curiously, while it is an obvious partner for hefty stews and casseroles, it works equally well with more “effete” creations — for example, it is a revelation in creamy, lush and barely scrambled eggs, adding entirely new layers of flavour.

Best of all is the Black Garlic Sea Salt which incorporates the intense sweet umami of black garlic as a grace note that only rises after the first pop of salinity and The Menu spent more time trying to work out what it wouldn’t go with than what it would because as far as he can make out, there are no limits to where this might be applied but, in the heel of the hunt, keeping it simple is the most effective route of all—some fresh, crusty baguette, a very good extra virgin olive oil, crisp, green salad and a tin of premium sardines, with the West of Dingle Black Garlic Sea Salt as MC, chivvying all edible entrants into the finest flavour expression of themselves.