Irish Examiner Eats Club brings the Glass Curtain down on another tasty Cork on a Fork fest
Glass Curtain front-of-house manager Wesley Triggs; Irish Examiner wine columnist Leslie Williams and senior food writer Joe McNamee; head chef Brian Murray, and Irish Examiner marketing lead Claire Power at the Irish Examiner Eats Club dinner, the final event of the 2025 Cork on a Fork festival. Picture: Chani Anderson
The Irish Examiner Eats Club was the closing event last night after five days of fun, frolics and feasting at the 2025 Cork on a Fork food festival as 40 lucky diners enjoyed an evening for subscribers in The Glass Curtain restaurant, on Cork’s MacCurtain St.
The fourth outing for this exclusive dining club saw chef/proprietor Brian Murray and his team pull out all the stops to serve up a bespoke five-course menu especially created for the evening, in one of the city’s very best fine dining restaurants.
The Glass Curtain opened just before the advent of the pandemic which meant some especially turbulent years for Irish hospitality.
However, Murray and his team not only weathered that storm but set about building what has become a national reputation for the highly creative delivery of superbly-sourced local produce, with some tremendous live fire cooking at the heart of their offering.
Guests were greeted by front of house manager/sommelier Wesley Triggs and his service team serving up snacks and a ‘Cork cocktail’ especially created for the night, featuring West Cork Whiskey, Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur, and Barry’s Tea, before they were then seated.
The delicious sharing menu kicked off with focaccia, house ricotta, and tomato confit, followed by red mullet crudo, Bushby’s strawberries, sea spaghetti; smoked aubergine, miso butter, buckwheat tabouleh; and warm tomato and mussel escabeche.
The main course was Glenbrook Farm free-range pork, with green olive jus gras, shoulder lasagne, black garlic, warm salad, beets, and whey, with city farmer Peter Twomey’s pork — a breakout hit of the festival, featuring in several events dinners — especially appreciated on the night.
Dessert was summer berries, almond cake, and verbena.
Guests included Cork on a Fork festival director Niamh Murphy and her slightly battered but utterly buoyant crew, quite spent after five hectic days and nights of work but in the mood to celebrate their spectacular delivery of this annual celebration of Cork food and food culture.
The team were in attendance, with wine writer Leslie Williams and this writer hosting the evening. And, at evening’s end, another group of delighted Irish Examiner Eats Club diners headed off into the night with their Cork drinks goodie bags, featuring some of the Rebel County’s finest libations including West Cork Whiskey, BKultured Kombucha, Blarney Brewing Co beer, and Barry’s Tea.
