The Menu: Dingle Sea Salt's 'saltscription' service brings a pinch of innovation

Plus: Pop-up dining at Sheen Falls Lodge; the unforgettable Michelin-star stylings of Terre; and the art of Spanish cuisine

Sat, 11 Nov, 2023 - 02:00

Joe McNamee

Pop-up at Sheen Falls Lodge

One of The Menu’s more pleasant memories of rising from his slumbers in the Kingdom came after a wonderful night at the late, lamented Kenmare Food Festival when, having checked in very late to his room at Sheen Falls Lodge, he drew back the drapes the next morning to reveal a stunning vista, including aforementioned and most torrential ‘falls.’ So the prospect of a return to the divinely located hotel is further enhanced by that such a return would also include a splendid restaurant takeover pop-up dinner (November 20) from chef Kevin Burke of Dublin’s Library St, a restaurant on The Menu’s radar.

Burke will deliver a set menu in his signature style featuring super fresh, locally sourced produce with an optional wine pairing from the ever-wonderful Le Caveau, and why not go the full hog, says The Menu, and opt for an additional overnight B&B package.

sheenfallslodge.ie

The unforgettable Terre

In his haste to meet deadlines for his recent scoop of the news that Takashi Miyazaki, chef-proprietor of Michelin-starred Ichigo Ichie, is to swerve away from the upmarket fine dining formula that first earned him the star, The Menu failed to include Terre restaurant at Castlemartyr Resort, under the very talented head chef Vincent Crepel, in his list of other Michelin starred restaurants in Cork county, an egregious error for which he most humbly apologises, not least because the eating in Terre is very fine and quite unforgettable indeed!

So news that the aforementioned Kevin Burke is to take his ‘touring’ rendition of Library St on to Castlemartyr Resort’s Canopy Restaurant for yet another pop-up dinner (December 4) is very welcome indeed, and The Menu goes further again by recommending that prospective diners go all out and turn it into a two-night affair, staying over at the luxurious East Cork hotel and dining on the other night in Michelin-starred Terre.

castlemartyrresort.ie

A fusion of arts

One of The Menu’s great friends in Irish food, Spanish ‘culinary ambassador’ Blanca Valencia, also co-author of Blasta Books’ Soup and one-third of the award-winning Spice Bags podcast is participating in an event at the National Gallery (November 16) that is right up The Menu’s artistic alley, an evening dedicated to Spanish art which includes a screening of art documentary Zurbarán and His Twelve Sons, a tour of the collection’s highlights (including Goya, Valasquez, and Picasso), led by curators Aoife Brady and Lizze Marz, performance by harpist and singer Pilar Paradela and, feeding both belly and soul, the evening will be capped with a food and wine tasting and talk from Blanca herself, as she pairs tastes with artworks from the gallery’s collection.

nationalgallery.ie/whats-on/thursday-lates-spanish-art-and-culture

West Cork Food Experience

Head chef Eddie Attwell, at the ever-charming Eccles Hotel in Glengariff, will be delivering a delightful eight-course tasting menu paired with wines in the hotel’s Garnish Restaurant as part of a West Cork Food Experience deal (November 17/18), which includes two nights bed and breakfast and a splendid three-course dinner on arrival on the Friday night.

eccleshotel.com

Calling Peter Pan fans

If ever heading to a match at Croke Park, there can be few hotels more perfectly located than the Croke Park Hotel itself, whose front doors look out to the Hogan Stand side of the great stadium.

But even if not attending a game, The Menu himself can equally testify to the wonderful welcome and service from the lovely staff, so news of their partnership with The Gate Theatre adds a further string to the hotel’s substantial bow, with a city escape including tickets to JM Barrie’s classic Peter Pan, in a new adaptation by Roddy Doyle, running from November 4 to January 12. Guests enjoy an overnight stay including breakfast and pre-theatre dinner in the hotel’s Hawthorn Restaurant, two tickets to an evening performance, a signature Peter Pan-inspired cocktail after the show, with a signed programme by Roddy Doyle in each guestroom on arrival. There is also a limited family offer for weekend matinees, with dinner in The Sideline at CPH and tickets to the show.

doylecollection.com/crokepark

TODAY’S SPECIAL

In a case of Dingle déjà vu, The Menu returns once more to the venerable West Kerry peninsula to cast an eye over and dip a pinky in Dingle Sea Salt, another locally-produced premium salt, and he makes no apologies at all for so doing, reasoning that you can never have too much of a good thing—and a good salt is a very good thing indeed!

Updating traditional practices, Dingle Sea Salt co-founders Tom Leach and Moe McKeown employ a combination of sun and wind to create a sustainable off-grid solar evaporation process which slowly extracts a very fine salt from the waters of the surrounding ocean, resulting in a potent, punchy condiment with a rich, creamy minerality—it comprises higher than usual levels of magnesium and calcium—and a gentle, poised, even sweet finish. It is also lower in sodium than most industrially-produced table salts, which means salinity is nicely balanced, and it isn’t tarnished with any of those heinous additives, designed to facilitate ‘free-flowing’.

The Menu is inclined to use it to ‘finish’ dishes, it being excellent for the final salting of a sauce before serving or especially good in a salad dressing or homemade pesto, though the rather powdery texture means it is best applied through a small sieve to cooked meats or fish before serving lest overly generous servings cascade down and over-salt a delicious dinner.

The Menu was especially taken with the gorgeous packaging, a cork-lidded, black ceramic re-usable jar that will most definitely remain a fixture in his kitchen, most especially as the award-winning producers have launched a ‘Saltscription’ service, delivering their excellent salt in 100% compostable refill pouches to the door throughout the year.