Showing posts with label Chapel Steps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chapel Steps. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Chapel Steps Three Years On. Tempting New Menu.

Chapel Steps Three Years On
Tempting New Menu
Monkfish

Bandon’s Chapel Steps celebrated their 3rd birthday in September and confidently moved into their fourth year with a brilliant new Autumn Menu, full of great choice and sprinkled with innovation too. All well cooked and also well served if our visit last week is anything to go by.

The lovely room, the centrepiece of the O'Reillys’ restaurant, will still see orders for fish and steak. These have been on the menu from day one, the fish from nearby Union Hall, the black Angus beef from even nearer home.

Pork

There were at least three different fish dishes on the menu when we called and, indeed, one of the specials allowed you to taste all three on the one platter. Our choice was the Medallions of curried scented monkfish in a tempura batter with saffron yogurt and tangy couscous. This was delicious, the fish not smothered by the thin veil of batter, and the tangy couscous was a terrific match.

And my choice? Not an easy one. Even after the fish and steak, there was still a Butternut and Feta Gratin, their Beef Burger, Duck 2 Way, Blade of Beef and chicken. The one I did pick was the Celebration of Pork: pan-fried pork belly, Rosscarbery black pudding croquette, smoked pork cheek, celeriac puree, salsify, apple and pear jus. Quite a long description but just a short one to sum it up: excellent. That smoked cheek came in its own mini-pie and was quite a treat. A quality dish indeed.
Mackerel Smokie

Back to the starter now and again the thing that strikes me is the great choice on the list. You can actually see the full menu (aside from specials) here. I don’t think I’ve ever had a mackerel smokie before so I went for it: diced smoked mackerel, tomato concasse, and topped with parmesan herb crust. Full of texture and flavour and a great way to start.

Our other starter was the Chicken liver paté with fig and apricot compote and warm toast. Easy enough to put out a slice of top notch paté but matching it with this particular compote made it a winner.

Tart

And another winner came at the end. We were facing defeat though when the dessert list was presented but made one last joint effort and ordered the Warm Treacle Tart, with praline, honeycomb, quince, caramel sauce and caramel ice-cream. Don't often see this on a menu. More's the pity as it was terrific. Next time though, we might manage two between us, this and perhaps the White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake!

And the good news is that the Treacle Tart features on the Chapel Step’s Christmas Menus, both lunch and dinner. The menus feature a mix of seasonal dishes (including Christmas Pudding of course) and some of their regular favourites. Prices are good: €22.00 for lunch, €30.00 for dinner.

We had a lovely meal the other night, trying out the new seasonal menu as guests.

Photo courtesy of Chapel Steps
Chapel Steps
(023) 885 2581

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Top restaurant posts 2013

Top restaurant posts 2013
Aubergine & Roast Pepper Parcels at Chapel Steps

For the second year running, Bandon's Chapel Steps tops the restaurant charts. This year's post didn't score quite as high as the 2012 review but still, thanks to the many fans of this lovely restaurant, came out ahead. Good performances too from newcomers like Brendan Cashman's Gallo & Galettii in Wilton, Finn's Table in Kinsale, and the Greenroom at Sage in Midleton. Electric is tops in city centre, Cafe Gusto is leading cafe while the Sultan is best ethnic.

Top Drinks Posts
Kinsale's Black Pig Wine Bar is the place to go for a glass of wine (and a meal), the newcomer quickly establishing itself at the head of affairs. This was the Year of the WineGeese and great to see the visit of Cullen Wines to Cafe Paradiso featuring as does the series' opening night at L'Atitude 51. The rise of craft beer is underlined by the popularity of the post on the Cotton Ball, Cork's newest micro-brewery; this post, just up a week or two, is gathering in the hits even as I write.

Most popular restaurant posts
1
Speciality Nights at Bandon's Chapel Steps
2
Brendan is back
3
Electric. Easy to Book. Hard to Leave.
4
Magic at Myrtleville
5
Al Fresco dining at the Titanic Bar and Grill in Cobh
6
Old Friend's at Finn's Table
7
The Sultan of Penrose Wharf
8
Tapas in the Greenroom
9
Grazie Cafe Gusto

Most popular drinks posts
1
The Black Pig Wine Bar in Kinsale
2
On the tapas trail with Campo Viejo
3
Cullen Wines at Cafe Paradiso
4
Wine Geese Heading Home
5
Happy New Beer at the Cotton Ball
6
My Curious Case

Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Chapel Steps Celebrate

The Chapel Steps Celebrate
Bandon’s Chapel Steps marked their first anniversary as a full blown restaurant with a special celebratory menu over the weekend. The most popular dishes of the past 12 months, created by Chef Kevin O’Regan and his team, were featured and a glass of bubbly was presented to all diners.

It was busy last Friday evening when we called but soon we were at our table with that tempting menu in front of us. Recognised quite a few of the dishes and had to think about our choices!


Our Starters:

Salt Cod Fritellas with pickled cucumber, aioli and mixed leaves.
Home smoked duck with beetroot, port and burnt butter vinaigrette.
The Fritellas were new to me and I thought it might be a bit salty. Bot not a bit of it. Just a gentle tang and overall very pleasant indeed. The duck dish was absolutely gorgeous,a great combination of flavours and texture.

Our Mains:
Roast Cod with roast peppers, chorizo, tomato and olive ragu
10 ounce black Angus sirloin with saute mushrooms and onions, handcut chips and steak sauce.
Head Chef Kevin may well be from land-locked Tipperary but he sure knows his fish, how to cook and present them and that was underlined with the Cod dish. Lots of lovely flavours to enhance the fresh fish. The steak was another winner, the mushroom and onions, not to mention the chips, all playing a part in making  it an enjoyable experience. And must mention that that steak sauce was pleasantly piquant!


Our Desserts:

Caramel and marshmallow cheesecake with crackling praline
Sticky Toffee pudding with toffee and vanilla sauce, rum and raisin ice-cream.
Both desserts lived up to expectations. Both soft and delicious and dispatched without the least bit of bother, the only delay in doing being imposed by good manners. A sweet but far from overly so conclusion.

Christmas Menus
If you did miss out on the anniversary weekend (the menu is on again this Saturday evening), you can renew acquaintance with quite a few of the dishes in the Chapel Step’s Christmas Menus. The Lunch  has four courses and, for a very reasonable €22.00, has a great choice and features the Cod Fritellas, Black Angus Steak and Sticky Toffee Pudding.


The Christmas Dinner Menu also promises many good things, including value (€30.00 for four courses) and music on the 5th, 7th and 12th of December. Great choices here too including Smoked Duck and Fritellas in the starters, Pheasant Breast and Pan-fried Skate in the mains, and a delicious Warm Chocolate Cake lurking among a half dozen desserts.


And you can try them all again on Little Women’s Christmas Weekend (4th, 5th and 6th of January) with music by BIlly Crosbie.




Monday, September 30, 2013

Chapel Steps still at the top of the posts

Chapel Steps still at the top

Just been checking some of my Google stats and amazed to see that last November's post on Bandon restaurant, The Chapel Steps, is still topping the poll with almost five and half thousand hits.

The Top Five Posts

1   The Chapel Steps
2    Toonsbridge Dairy Shop
3    Rico's
4    Sharkey meets Ike. Ex US President in Cobh
5    Glounthaune Days
  

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Australian Chardonnay and Bandon's WineGeese Event!

Lighter, fresher Chardonnay from Australia


During the 1990's Australian Chardonnay was one of the great recruiters for the ABC (Anything but Chardonnay) movement, based on our over oaked and over here style of Chardonnay.

However if there is one variety that has change dramatically over the last number of years from Australia, it's Chardonnay.
Cooler vineyard sites, more sensitive winemaking have contributed to a lighter, fresher style of Chardonnay from Down under.
Join Wine Australia's John Mc Donnell and Bernard Hickin, Jacob's Creek wine maker to discover this change (and be ready to hand back your ABC membership card!)
The Details
Venue: The Function Room at Fallon and Byrne, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2
Date & Time: WWednesday 19th June, 6.45pm - 8.30pm
Cost: 20 Euros per person for tasting and delicious nibbles.
To Book: Direct with our office on ireland@wineaustralia.com


WineGeese in Bandon!
On Thursday June 27th at 7.30 pm Barry O'Farrell of the Bandon Wine Club joins forces with Anthony Tindal of Tindal Wines for a Wine Geese Dinner in Chapel Steps Restaurant & Wine Bar, Bandon to give a brief history of the Irish connection with Bordeaux and a tasting of some well-known Wine Geese Wines:
Chateau Talbot
Chateau Lynch-Moussas
Chateau Phelan-Segur
Chateau Leoville-Barton
The evening includes a 5-course tasting menu presented by Chef Kevin O'Regan
Image
Booking is essential. To book, please contact Chapel Steps Restaurant on +353 23 8852581 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Speciality Nights at Chapel Steps

Speciality Nights at Chapel Steps
Rosscarbery Black Pudding
 If you haven’t been to one of the Speciality Nights at Bandon Steps, then you’re missing out on great food at a great price.

Wednesday is the night for steak lovers. You have the choice from an 8oz Fillet, a 10oz Rib-eye or 12oz Sirloin with all the trimmings for just €20 per dish ... All Night, every Wednesday Night!

Fishcake
 I was there recently on a Thursday and that is the night for the fish bargains. Choose from Herb Crushed Hake, Roast Fillet of Cod, Beer Battered Haddock or Kevin’s Thursday night Fish Special for only €15.00 per dish. Kevin, of course, is Head Chef Kevin O’Regan.

CL choose the fish special that evening and it was superb as was my own main course: Caramelised Duck Breast with beetroot, lavender and butternut squash.


Delicious duck
 The fish comes from the nearby coast and indeed most of the food is sourced locally. One of our starters was Pan Seared Rosscarbery Black Pudding with crubeen croquette, chilli jam & smoked pancetta. A great combination and one of their most popular starters.

Glass of Rioja
Thought my own starter had the risk of being on the salty side but not a bit of it. This was Traditional Salt Cod and Fresh Crab Fish Cake with lemon aioli, pickled cucumber & mixed leaves, also available as a main course. Had a little tangy edge for sure but overall it was well balanced and I loved it, finished every little bit.

If you like live music as you dine, then head to the Chapel Steps on Saturday. Don't forget that Sunday is family day there and they have a “fun family value menu which will include sharing and family style service dishes with all the favourites for big and small family members!”.

For all the latest, check out their website

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Nine most popular restaurant posts 2012

Nine most popular restaurant posts 2012
Many of you will miss
dining in the garden of
O'Brien's Chop House.



Amazingly, a restaurant review from November has taken more hits than any other this year (2012) and the review of the Chapel Steps in Bandon is our top post for the year. It has taken around 2,200 hits and that puts it well ahead of the others. Chef Kevin O'Regan can take much of the credit. He is helping upgrade Chapel Steps from a cafe to a restaurant and his previous restaurant, Electric, is number two on the list!

Sad to see that two of the nine, O'Brien's and Augustine's, are no longer open but newcomers such as Chapel Steps and Electric are wasting no time in claiming their places among your favourites.





1 - Chapel Steps (November)
2 - Electric (June)
6 - Stuart Bowes at Barnabrow (November)
7 - Jacobs on the Mall (October)

Monday, December 31, 2012

Chapel Steps top of the 2012 posts

Chapel Steps top of the 2012 posts
Home smoked duck at the Chapel Steps.
Popular chef Kevin O'Regan figured in no less than three of the top six blog posts this year....

In May, Electric chef Kevin O'Regan was dishing out gorgeous slices of freshly cut Iberico (top left pic), the top ham of Spain, perhaps of the world at the Murphy's Food Event in South Main Street. And then he took to the stage and delivered a delightful demonstration of how best to cook the humble pig’s trotter, perhaps better known as the crubeen.

In July, he was busy on the Electric stand at the Cork Food Fest in the Mardyke. By November, Kevin had made the big move to the newly upgraded Chapel Steps in Bandon. It was a miserable November evening when I walked it but the place was busy, a great ambience and great food on the table. The account of that meal went on to accumulate over two thousand hits and was my most popular post of 2012.
Bluegrass in Cobh

1 - Chapel Steps (November)

2 - Sun Shines on Cork Food Fest (July)

3 - Velvet Blue and American How-downers light up Cobh (July)

4 - New Cafe at Toons Bridge Dairy (September)

5 - Family Fun Day at Tramore Park (August)

6 - Electric go the Whole Hog (May) 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Christmas Lunch in Bandon

Christmas Lunch at Chapel Steps in Bandon

Bandon (clockwise from top left): Hake, tempting window in butcher's shop,
aubergine and roast pepper parcels, warm salad of Butternut squash, Pavlova,
Chicken liver pate, swollen river, URRU, and
delicious warm chocolate cake
!

Enjoyed a terrific Christmas lunch at the very busy Chapel Steps in Bandon yesterday. Very good value too at €20.00 for four courses with good choices. Well worth checking out in the few days left in the run-in to Christmas. Took a stroll around the town too and did a little shopping in the marvelous URRU shop and also at Matson's Wine Store, another busy spot.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Busy at the Chapel Steps

 Busy at the Chapel Steps

Outside it was gloomy but inside (left) at the Chapel Steps  it was bright and busy. This is Bandon’s newest restaurant, just 8 weeks after its upgrade from cafe status. The signs are promising. It is a lovely space and a big crowd was in last night (Thursday) and great food on the table.

And no great surprise with the top notch food when you are learn that the Head Chef is Kevin O’Regan (ex Electric) and that he is concentrating hugely on the marvellous produce available in the area.

Kevin, along with the owners Sean and Siobhan (her Dad, along his brothers, ran the place as a butcher’s shop from the 1960’s), have instigated a series of speciality evenings.  Wednesday is a great night for steak lovers - choose from an 8oz Fillet, a 10oz Rib-eye or 12oz Sirloin with all the trimmings for only €20 per dish. Thursday is fish night and I took advantage!

 But back to the start and a very warm welcome as we came in from the dark and the wet. Had a chat with restaurant manager Caroline O’Flynn as we settled to the table. We had already been told about the wine special, supplied this month from the McHenry Hohnen vineyard in the Margaret River Region of Western Australia.

Having met founder David Hohnen (he also founded New Zealand’s famous Cloudy Bay and is busy now preparing his Porker legs for the Christmas trade) hardly a month back in Ballymaloe, we naturally went for his wine (Sauvignon blanc Semillon).


Quite a choice of starters and appetisers here. CL went for Pan Seared Rosscarbery Black Pudding - with crubeen croquette, chilli jam and smoked pancetta. Chef Kevin loves his crubeen and this was a great combination to get the meal underway. And so was mine: Home Smoked Duck - with beetroot, port and burnt butter vinaigrette.

Fish, collected early in the morning in Union Hall, is a regular on the menu and there is a good daily choice but an even better one on Thursday. I went for that special: Spiced Monkfish, butternut squash puree, with roast vegetables, chilli, lime and parsley emulsion. Just enough spice to liven it up without dulling the fish flavour. Just loved it, the freshness, the flavours and the combination of the various textures. All for €15.00. A special for sure.

 CL also enjoyed great value even though her €17.00 dish wasn't a special but a regular part of the menu. It was Roast Cod with roast peppers, chorizo, tomato and olive ragu. Another really lovely fish dish and another with a smashing super tasty sauce. Healthy also.

After all that good eating, we treated ourselves to dessert at a fiver each. She really loved the lively flavours of her Autumn Berry and Lemon Roulade with berry coulis and sugared almonds while I was equally happy with my well made Sticky Toffee Pudding with toffee and vanilla sauce, rum and raisin ice cream. This was a piece of real pudding, the sauce an enjoyable addition rather than a disguise.

 Then we met Siobhan who told us about the history of the place and the apprehension ahead of their big step-up from cafe to restaurant. Two months in and it seems that the big step is worthwhile. Early days yet of course but a good start is half the battle. Best wishes for the future then to Kevin, Siobhan and Sean. The Chapel Steps is just a short trip from the city and one that is well worthwhile. No penance here!