Weekend Break: Foody paradise at Kevin Dundon's Dunbrody Country House
IT’S one thing to be plonked on the couch, along with half the nation, obsessed with watching cookery programmes and fantasising about those mouth-watering dishes I aim to whip up effortlessly... sometime!
It’s another matter altogether to be sitting in a tall chair in a high-spec stainless steel kitchen, face-to-face with a French chef, and getting a bespoke day-long lesson on how to spice up my life – my culinary one, of course.
“It gives a leeetel kick to it....very nice!” says Nantes-born Julien Clémot, as he suggests grating a little ginger or lime zest into a Vietnamese soup we have just learned how to make.
The course is called A Touch of Spices, inspired by dishes created by celebrity masterchef Kevin Dundon, for whom Julien has been working for the past decade.
And although adding some shavings of ginger or citrus peel is far removed from our traditional pinch — or ten — of salt, that’s why we were there; to learn how dishes can be transformed culturally by the combination of spices specific to a country.
The setting was far removed from my humble couch at home also; the cookery school kitchen is a few paces away from Dunbrody Country House, a Georgian property owned and run by Dundon and his business partner wife, Catherine, in Arthurstown, on the Hook Peninsula.
The couple chose their location wisely 21 years ago, before transforming it into a four-star hotel and restaurant; nearby they have access to the produce from the lush land and surrounding sea of the Hook Peninsula.
As Ireland goes, it gets the weather too; it is the “sunny south east”, after all.
The award-winning chef has a policy of using only indigenous ingredients from the locality and also his own organic garden on the 20 acres.
I got a chance to taste that simple philosophy of under-stated but delicious food, in the hotel’s Harvest Room restaurant, where I had a salad of Autumn Garden Root Vegetables with a sherry dressing, presented with instagram-worthy perfection, followed by a main course of Black Sole Fillet, with Confit Garden Tomato & Compote, Thyme & Saffron Butter.
That was the night before my cookery lessons, of course, because tasting a variety of dishes throughout the next day, as well as our Naan Bread, hot-from -the -oven Caribbean Cake and Moroccan Cookies, does not leave much room for further irresistible delights.
The cookery course can be tied in with a one or two-night stay package in Dunbrody Country House Hotel, which really is the icing on the cake, so to speak.
The grounds at Dunbrody offer an opportunity to walk off the excess.
We stepped it out around the perimeter which faces on to the estuary where the three sisters, the Nore, the Barrow and the Suir, meet the sea, offering an intoxicating sensual combination of sea breeze, musty woodland and farm manure, all at the one time – if only it could be bottled.
Dunbrody House – like its owner – has won many awards over the 20 years since its takeover.
But two decades later, the Hook Peninsula’s star is also rising.
Although it has been reported for instance, that the number of British visitors is down, this was not evident around ‘the Hook’ as its colloquially known.
The proprietor of The Hollow Bar and Restaurant, Mary Murphy where we ate the most delicious fish, which she gets fresh from Kilmore Quay and local Duncannon pier, says she had lots of British customers among those now thronging to the area.
Of course branding the Hook Peninsula and its surrounds — with its rich Viking and Norman heritage — as Ireland’s Ancient East, has shone the spotlight on its many attractions, apart from the weather, food and stunning coastal landscape.
We did not get to the sixteenth century Duncannon Fort as it was closed for the winter, but I have definitely earmarked it for my return visit, having seen it impressively sited on the rocky headland while doing The Ring of Hook drive around the stunning peninsula.
Seemingly this historic structure has gathered countless intriguing and awe inspiring stories over its 450 year history.
Guided tours are offered under licence by Hook Rural Tourism, a community organisation working to promote the Hook Peninsula since 1966.
Tickets can be purchased in advance when it re-opens.
We had time to stop off though at the Hook Head Lighthouse where the entertaining tour which includes hologram characters and videos of former Irish occupants was topped off by enthusiastic guide Noel Lynch.
As we admired the panoramic view from the balcony after climbing 115 steps, Noel informed us that the phrase ‘by hook or by crook’ is derived from a vow by Oliver Cromwell to take Waterford by Hook (on the Wexford side of Waterford Estuary) or by Crook (a village on the Waterford side).
It was off then to the Cistercian Tintern Abbey (a sister abbey of Wordsworth’s abbey of the same name, in Wales) where we were absolutely wowed by the Colclough Walled Garden in the grounds, which has been reclaimed from a wasteland and reinstated as it was in the 1830s, over the past six years by Hook Tourism, with the garden’s project manager Alan Ryan, and with local volunteers, including enthusiast David Bawden, now head gardener, who gave us the tour.
The 2.5 acre stone/brick walled site is divided into an ornamental and a kitchen garden.
A lovely touch is that the produce from the vegetable plot is laid out on a wooden table at the exit gate so that visitors can drop a donation into a pot and help themselves.
Just another bountiful example from the sunny south east.
You can find out more about the Cookery School packages and other offers and facilities at Dunbrody Country House Hotel at www.dunbrodycountryhousehotel.com
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