The Menu: How to get fired up for summer cooking with the English Market
Donal and Virginia O'Gara, owners of My Goodness in the English Market, Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane.
When the sun does choose to shine down on the Oul Sod, as it has chosen to do in recent times, all notions of time go out the window and life becomes a perpetual long weekend, Monday being the new Friday.
Should yet another balmy evening demand us all to cluster around the barbecue with a cold draught to hand, there are few better one-stop shops than the English Market for fabulous foodstuffs to throw on the grill or lay out on the table, buffet-style.
On The Pig’s Back has cheeses, charcuterie, dips and crackers, with nationwide delivery (onthepigsback.com). The Menu uses the Terra Ignis range year round but their condiments are especially fine with grilled meats and fish (terraignis.ie).
Barbecue does not always mean meat and vegans should look no further than My Goodness Foods for a superb range of salsas and dips that work equally well with meat, as well as their kefirs and kombuchas for superb summer sippers sans alcohol.
The Menu is not alone in believing O’Mahony’s Butchers to be one of the finest independent craft butchers in the land, with superb meats on offer, including porterhouse, tomahawk, sirloin and rib-eye steaks aged for up to 60 days in their dry ager, as well as a stunning and innovative range of in-house-created burgers (omahonysbutchers.com).
O’Sullivan’s Poultry And Game and the Chicken Inn are good spots to pick up fowl for the firepit, with the former also carrying game birds.
O’Connell’s Fishmongers and Ballycotton Seafood, along with Hederman’s Smoke House, are guaranteed to furnish fine fare for fish lovers.
Putting a little caffeinated pep in your summer step is the first Birdhill Coffee Festival (July 6/7) in Co Tipperary.
The Old Barracks Coffee Roastery launches this celebration of the Irish coffee world in an adult-only event featuring guest speakers, coffee-roasting demonstrations, educational master classes, food trucks and brewing and tasting stations.
Daniel Horbat, of Sumo Coffee Roasters, the only Irish-based World Cup Tasters Champion, hosts cupping and triangulation sessions at the festival.
And if you fancy a little pick-me-up in your regular caffeinated pick-me-up, The Boozy Bar offers coffee cocktails, Irish coffees and fine wines, while the SISU Wellness Area caters for the more abstemious with wellness shots, organic Kombucha and cold-pressed juices, as well as hosting Yoga In The Park on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
And if you fancy upping your latte art game, The Milk Masters are on hand to teach attendees, while the Oatrageous Latte Art Throwdown is an open invitation to baristas across the country.
- eventbrite.com
When one of Ireland’s best restaurants, possibly the best in the country, Dede at the Customs House in Baltimore, spawns an offspring, you’d be inclined to look very favourably on said culinary scion.
So, news of Baba’De Baltimore being opened by Dede co-owners Maria Archer and Ahmet Dede sends more than a frisson of joy dancing across The Menu’s heart at the prospect of this new arrival.
It’s located in the premises that formerly housed Mews Restaurant, where Dede earned his first Michelin star, and will serve unique flavoursome dishes, wines and cocktails in a supremely relaxed ambience.
- Instagram: @babade_baltimore
A couple of new openings have caught The Menu’s eye of late. Kitchen Stories, the little culinary store in wonderful Ballydehob, has pivoted and now offers a wine bar-style menu with appetising treats on the plate and a concise wine list.
And anyone who knows The Menu knows well that he will never turn down any excuse to return to the ’Hob, especially if there is eating to be committed.
- Instagram: @kitchenstorieswestcork
Of late, The Menu and his progeny have been putting away substantial quantities of Flahavan’s new range of granolas (including Original Fruit & Nut, Red Berry, Toasted Nut and Raisin & Cashew) from early morning until late at night.
It’s a fine product, most especially the clusters of toasted oats, not overly sweetened.
He particularly enjoys adding it to his whipped frozen yoghurt recipe for an infinitely healthier yet still delicious take on cookies and cream ice cream.
