The Menu: Remembering Cork restaurateur Dave Halpin

Our food columnist recalls formative memories at Halpin's on Cook Street - and its coffee refills

The late Dave Halpin: some man for proper coffee, says Joe MacNamee. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

The Menu was greatly saddened to learn of the recent death of restaurateur Dave Halpin, of Eco’s, in Douglas, and Webworks, on Winthrop St, for not only was Dave a hospitality innovator in his time but was also a gentleman. 

The Menu’s first memories of Dave stretch back much further than the above-mentioned venues for he recalls when Dave first came to Cork and opened his legendary Halpin’s café/restaurant, on Cook St, just off the South Mall, selling what was undoubtedly proper coffee, then something of a rarity around these parts, and, what’s more, offering refills during off-peak hours, a boon to a penniless schoolboy trying to pass himself off as a Left Bank Parisian existentialist. 

They were different times indeed, so much so that Dave’s claim to have brought coleslaw to Cork is not beyond the bounds of possibility, but he most certainly introduced a laid-back and casual vibe that had a profoundly democratising impact on local dining. 

The Menu sends condolences to his family and many friends.

Farm fresh

The Menu has long sung the praises of Cork’s English Market but equally has long tempered his encomiums with the knowledge that while meat, fish and so many other fine foodstuffs are of the highest order, the market has been much more laggardly when it comes to retailing freshly grown local Irish produce, instead focusing largely on imported produce from elsewhere in the world, with the few additional vegetables on the My Goodness vegan food outlet often representing the bulk of native produce available in the hallowed halls. 

Well, a mighty change is afoot, one The Menu believes will herald a new revolution in the market’s history, akin to the huge changes that were set in motion in the early 90s with the arrival of the Real Olive Company, On the Pig’s Back and Iago (since moved to just outside the market, on Prince’s St), as one of Leeside’s great food innovators in recent times, Brian McCarthy, becomes the latest new stallholder selling superb produce from his Cork Rooftop Farm, a second outlet to buttress the sterling work of his mothership, round the corner on the Coal Quay, and also retailing produce from the farm’s market garden, just outside the city in White’s Cross. 

Now it will be genuinely possible to go into the English Market and emerge with all the makings of a very fine Irish meal. The Menu urges readers to go in and support the new arrival early and often and, while at it, continue the shopping spree around all the other stalls, more than a few of them offering some of the finest fare to be had in all of Ireland.

Lamb on demand

The Menu has been eating some very fine Irish lamb of late, including a quite delicious slow-roasted lamb shoulder, and it is all coming from Calvey’s of Achill, one of the truest exemplars of the farm-to-fork philosophy in Irish food, their own mountain lamb then butchered and prepared in their own abattoir before being sold in their butcher/victualler retail outlet on the island. 

Before you take to chiding The Menu for expecting you to ‘nip out to Achill’ for the Sunday dinner, he is delighted to announce Calvey’s current special offer of two multi-award winning Achill Mountain Lamb prepared carcasses are available for nationwide delivery for €250, while a single carcass is available for €150 plus €20 delivery. 

It is fully butchered, packed and labelled for immediate use or for the freezer and includes legs, shoulders, racks, centre-loin and loin cutlets, gigot chops, necks, breasts, a diced lamb for versatility, and fresh offal (livers, hearts, kidneys).

• achilllamb.ie

Keane on Mayo

Jonathan Keane, Executive Chef, Lodge at Ashford Castle

Speaking of Achill, chef Jonathan Keane, of the Lodge at Ashford Castle, is leading guests on a day trip to meet some of the hotel’s local producers, including Achill Mountain Lamb, Achill Island Sea Salt and Kelly’s of Newport, all part of a special package, Keane’s Culinary Excursion (Oct 20-22), which sees Keane guide guests on a daylong tasting tour, to celebrate the food heritage of the Mayo region. 

The tour, including a visit to the hotel’s own kitchen garden and poly-tunnels and lunch in Kelly’s Kitchen, in Newport, is all part of a weekend break which includes two nights B&B, dinner on one night in the hotel’s Wilde Restaurant and, on the other night, in the hotel’s Quay Bar, offering local delicacies including Bar Rua and Cnoc Dubh cheeses and Dooncastle Oysters, all for €397.50pps.

• thelodgeac.com

TODAY’S SPECIAL

Graham's Wholegrain Mustard: part of an excellent of The Menu's lately

Returning late one evening from his gallivanting on the highways and byways, The Menu found his cupboards so bare that even old Mother Hubbard herself was of a mind to organise a whip around. 

What’s more, The Menu had a guest for supper who’d be requiring fare more elevated than might emerge after a plundering of the dry goods section of his larder, so off with him to his local independent shops, first to O’Driscoll’s, of Ballinlough, for Skeaghanore West Cork Farm confit duck legs and brioche buns and then on to Menloe Stores, in Blackrock, for salad greens and a tub of Willie Devereux’s excellent Scúp gelato. 

While The Menu whipped up a bit of homemade mayonnaise, using West Cork eggs, souped up with a dollop of Graham’s Wholegrain Mustard, the duck legs sizzled for nine minutes on each side in the pan. 

When cooked, The Menu shredded the meat and mixed it in with the leaves and served it up with the mustard and a handful of homemade French fries. 

For dessert, he smeared the brioche with a spoonful of Veronica Molloy’s splendid Crossogue Preserves Raspberry Jam and several scoops of the aforementioned Scúp, creating a divine ice cream ‘sandwich’. 

All washed down with a fine bottle from his cellar, The Menu’s guest was wildly impressed with this fine Irish feast and the alacrity with which it was rustled up, cooking time for the entire meal under 30 minutes. 

It was at that point that The Menu clambered up onto his soapbox and began a hymn of praise to the splendours of Irish produce and the value of the independent food stores, the true stars of the retail sector, who do so much to promote it.

• skeaghanore.ie
• scupgelato.com
• grahamsmustard.com
• crossoguepreserves.com