Friday, August 22, 2014

The Workshop. Pairing Teas and Desserts!

The Workshop

Pairing Teas and Desserts!

Had an unusual pairing exercise at the lovely Workshop Tea Rooms near Cork Airport on Tuesday. In the “gap” after the mains, I was trying to match teas with desserts. That's a new one! It worked out well though and indeed the excursion into the narrow country road at the rear of the airport proved well worthwhile overall.

The Workshop itself, in an old carpentry workshop, is a little bit unusual. True, it is a restaurant, tea rooms and coffee shop but it is also a display of vintage and antiques, everything from old style cups and saucers to a cart full of flowers, writing boxes to antique chairs, even including a large poster of Bertie Ahern. Everything, or almost everything, is for sale here!

Having passed the old family pram on the way in, you’ll have a warm greeting and then realise that that is really a record player in the corner playing some old style music. As you visit the bathroom (do, whether you need to or not) you’ll enter through a pair of haberdashery doors (from East Cork in the 1820s) and you’ll wash your hands in an old ship’s sink. And do check in the vampire mirror before you exit!
The Workshop, just a year on the go, is busy for lunch and soon we see why. Some great sandwiches here and you may get a cup of soup and and a sandwich for just €7.50.

We ventured a little upmarket! I went for the special of the day, a chicken pie (8.50) while CL took their Tapas, really a chicken salad (8.00). The Pie was top notch, lots of very flavoursome chunky chicken pieces topped with creamy potato and a couple of slices of Arbutus bread on the side. Arbutus too with the excellent chicken salad, another very attractive dish.

Coffee is by Badger & Dodo, so that spells quality. They have a lovely list of teas and, as I hinted above, we took our time picking ours. Mine was the Workshop Cream (roast coffee beans, jasmine flowers and natural aroma). “It’s creamy,” they say, “with a pleasant coffee/Bailey’s taste.” In any event, it went very well indeed with my perfect slice of Coffee and Walnut cake.
And the second match was also spot-on! The tea here was the Rain Forrest (named after their mom's family). It poured red, and exotic flavours were provided by hibiscus, apple pieces, currant, candied mango, pineapple and banana chips. A superb drink and went ever so well with the really well made Apple Crumble, complete with real fruit chunks and real crumble.

Desserts costs €4.50 each and the teas came in at €3.50 for a large pot each. We thought we were getting a cup each so I'm afraid we left a lot of tea behind. We’ll know better the next time. And there will be a next time as we very much enjoyed the whole experience, including the unusual setting and friendly service.

The Workshop
Lios Cross
Ballygarvan
Co. Cork

Phone
Call 021 2373033 or text 085 7666755
Email
theworkshopcork@gmail.com
Website

Hours
Tue - Sat: 10:00 am - 5:30 pm
Sun: 11:00 am - 5:30 pm


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