Showing posts with label Nash 19. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nash 19. Show all posts

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Nash 19. Meet the Producers, on a Plate

Nash 19
Meet the Producers, on a Plate
I met some of the top local producers, all in the space of a few minutes, last Wednesday. Not personally, of course. But they were all represented on my plate.

Nash 19, a lovely buzzy daytime restaurant in the heart of Cork City, has a regular Producers Plate on its lunch-time menu. I didn't have it with a while and, as it changes from time to time, decided it was time to get re-acquainted. In fact, we both did and were both delighted with the amazing food, almost a dozen tapas style offerings.

Check the photo against the list below:
Cod (Kay O’Connell)
Smoked salmon (Hederman)
Smoked butter (Hederman)
Paté (Nash19)
Salami (Gubbeen)
Black pudding (Jack McCarthy)
Aged beef (Jack McCarthy)
Spiced beef (O’Connell’s)
Beef with celeriac and horseradish remoulade (O’Connell’s)
Mature Cashel Blue with Sheridan’s crackers
Warm Ardsallagh croquette and beetroot.

Really enjoyed going through all that, lots of highlights between the smoked fish umami and the soft and delicious Ardsallagh. And the good thing is that all these products are showcased throughout the menu.

The cod, in the gorgeous Longueville cider batter, is the heart of your fish and chips and the Ardsallagh features in a lovely salad. At the moment you may have the Aged sirloin of beef with a Christmas red cabbage - I had that this time last year and it is a classic.

The braised lamb shank in a Tuscan tomato stew seemed to very popular as was Donna’s Cottage Pie with its cheesy potato topping and Waterfall Farm greens. Great variety on the menu that changes daily.

Author Trish Deseine was a recent visitor.
Impressive starter choices too, including the Hederman Smoked Fish platter that recently featured on the Late, Late Show and you could also have their own Chicken Liver Paté with pickled plums and toast. We knew we were having those on the main plate, so decided on the Tomato, Roast Pepper and Orange Soup (available by cup or bowl). It is that little bit different and quite a delicious delight.


And we had a good wine as well, from their Winter List, much of it available by the glass. Our pick was the Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, Tollo "bio", Italy 2013 organic, fruity and fresh and seven euro a glass.  


It was a day that we agreed on most things so no surprise that we shared the Warm Aged Christmas Pudding, packed with fantastic fruit and nuts, an amazing combination and probably the best Christmas pudding I’ve tasted. Considering this is just a daytime restaurant, there was a choice of no less than 12 desserts, including the famous mince pies (that I got to enjoy with a coffee the following morning).

Always enjoy the welcome and the food here. Very Highly Recommended.


Nash 19
19 Princes Street Cork
(021) 427 0880

Monday, November 30, 2015

Visit Terriors and taste NASH 19 Aged Plum Puddings

Visit Terriors and taste NASH 19 Aged Plum Puddings


All of our Christmas expectations are shaped by family traditions and our Christmas culinary expectations are no exception. At Nash 19 when we say ‘traditional’ we mean recipes and produce we have created and improved and you have established as firm favourites.


Christmas Hampers full of soggy foam fillers, strings of empty padding and shocking baskets inspired us to introduce our Christmas Hampers some years ago. The Nash 19 Pudding is a must in all our Christmas Hampers. They are aged beautifully, whole fruits selected from Peter Ward and imagine NO butter, lard or fat. The whole cherries soaked in Hennessy Brandy are the surprise.
You will have to add your own!


This year we are again delighted to stock our Aged Plum Puddings in Terroirs Fine Food and Wine, 103 Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.
Claire Nash will be in Terroirs on Saturday the 5th of December from 12 noon to 5pm for an exclusive tasting for all our Dublin customers of our pudding’s brandy butter and mincemeat.
Meet Trish Deseine in Sternview Gallery, Nash 19
Nash 19 Restaurant, Cafe and Food Shop are delighted to have Trish Deseine sign her new book “Home” in Sternview Gallery at Nash 19 Restaurant, Princes Street, Cork City on December the 9th from 10.30am.

“Home” is a fantastic addition to the Nash 19 food hampers this year.


Call in on Wednesday the 9th to meet Trish, sample Nash 19 Aged Plum Pudding and their Christmas treats.

Nash 19 Restaurant, 19 Princes Street, Cork City 021 4270880













Monday, September 21, 2015

Taste of the Week

Taste of the Week
Black Pudding with Teeling Whiskey
 by McCarthy's of Kanturk
 The picture below shows most of the ingredients you need to make black pudding. Add water and blood and you have it. But if you want something extra, then add some special ingredients just like McCarthy's of Kanturk did as they made this one (left), our Taste of the Week. As well as the blood and water, cream and some of the superb Teeling's whiskey were mixed in. We had a taste in Nash 19 on Culture Night and will soon be getting more. It is soft and flavoursome, spicy but not salty, crumbly and moist, just irresistible!


Saturday, September 19, 2015

Culture Night. Paintings and Plates

Culture Night

Paintings and Plates
Silvia of La Cocina
The Crawford Gallery was the first stop on Culture Night (18.09.15) with particular attention paid to two paintings. The first encountered featured Hugh Lawton, a direct ancestor of current Bordeaux negociant Pierre Lawton, who was Mayor of Cork City in 1776, and his enormous portrait hangs above the main staircase in the Crawford. Hugh would have quite a few more visitors later on as the L’Atitude 51 Wine Walk had the painting marked as one of their stopping points.

My second painting of interest was another large one, the Men of the South by Sean Keating. This features a group of rather good looking IRA men who, but for the rifles and pistols, could be on their way to a match or a dance even. But you can see the tension as they patiently wait to carry out an ambush. Perhaps I gave this painting more attention than usual because of the state funeral, earlier that day, for executed 1916 rebel Thomas Kent.
Hugh Lawton

For me, there is always a food call or two during Culture Night, usually to the English Market. But the Crawford Gallery Cafe were offering an intriguing menu, with a touch of Swiss and Spanish, and here we stayed for a pleasant while.

My fondue was based on a humble cheddar from East Cork but, enhanced by the kitchen, it proved a gem. Meanwhile CL tucked into a plate of Tapas that featured Rosscarbery Black Pudding and Gubbeen chorizo among other interesting flavours.

And La Cocina proved a very sweet ending indeed, “not too much sugar” though. From quite a selection we picked and shared a wedge of No Flour Almond and Lemon and a luscious custard cake (almost like a profiterole). Believe it or not, each went well with the last of the Biohof Pratsch Riesling.


Tapas
More art and food next at Nash 19. Indeed, both are always on the menu since Claire Nash opened the Sternview Gallery about a year ago. Rebecca Bradley’s Provisional View is the current show (until October 15th). The Irish Times critic Aidan Dunne summed it up as “Outstanding textural paintings based on landscape”. It is just that the landscape - suburbs, coastlines, fields and bogs - is never quite the same, “our sense of place not certain” as the handout says.

Time then for more food and with a goodly group of her producers on hand, there was no shortage. Got some lovely tastes of Hederman’s pate and Ardsallagh cheese from Claire. More cheese from Tipperary with Cashel Blue and Crozier Blue (my slight favourite) on hand.

Restaurant manager Mairead was handing out samples of the outstanding Longueville House cider and nearby the O'Connell’s were generous with their spiced beef, now in demand all year round.

All smiles: Champion pudding and spiced beef

 Kanturk’s Timmy McCarthy, not for the first time, had mixed booze and blood to great effect.This time the Premium drop was Teeling Single Malt and the result was top class. We also tasted the Jack McCarthy Smoked Air Dried Beef that last week won the Supreme Champion Award (and a lovely trophy) in the Speciality Foods Competition and the McCarthy’s were similarly awarded for the White Pudding in these Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland awards.

Timmy is rarely puzzled but he did have a quizzical look on his face as he spoke to three Danish visitors. They didn't know what black pudding was, saying they don't have blood puddings on Denmark, once the leading producer of bacon. Different cultures on culture night!


  • If truth be told, our first stop of the evening was at a No. 208 bus stop. It turned out to be a long wait. Two scheduled bus times came and went, without a bus in sight, before we finally set out some forty minutes later, very poor service for around four o'clock on a Friday. It was no much better coming home, with two arriving together after another forty minute wait.


Friday, January 2, 2015

Ten Top Dinners. And Lunches. 2014 Highlights

2014 Highlights


Excellent for Dinner
Oysters at Au Mille Saveurs


Le Flora (onboard Pont Aven)*
Ravioli. Le Flora
Sage*  
Zuni (Kilkenny)*
Sage. The 12 Mile Plate

Amicus
An Canteen (Dingle)
Blair’s Inn
Brook Inn
Cafe Gusto
Cafe Serendipity
Church Lane (Macroom)
Club Brasserie
Cornstore
Electric F
ely Wine Bar (Dublin)
Fleming’s
Greene’s
Huguenot
Jacque’s
La Dolce Vita
Market Lane
Mitchell’s (Clifden) F
O’Connor’s (Bantry) F
Oysters F
Pier 26
Rising Tide F
Star Anise
The Square Table
Tuscany Bistro (Ballina, Tipperary)
West End (Killarney)


Excellent for Lunch
Barnabrow




Bakestone Cafe
Ballymaloe Cafe
Bramley Lodge
Bula Bus U
Castle Cafe
Greenbarn (Killeagh)
Griffin’s Spinning Wheel
Isaac’s
Iyer’s
Pie Cafe (Dingle)
Sage (Youghal)
The Workshop
Toons Bridge Dairy


Excellent Hotel Dining Rooms
Cork International Hotel
River Lee Hotel


Newcomers to Watch
Aroi
CoqBull
Heather (Gap of Dunloe)
Huguenot
Pho Bar
Square Table


* Exceptional meal on visit
F  Great for fish
U  Most unusual lunch venue (in a parked bus)


All above visited last 14 months. Lots of other good places out there. If I didn’t get to your place last year, maybe we’ll meet in 2015! Hard to keep track - might need a reminder!








Saturday, December 20, 2014

Nash 19. Special at Christmas, and All Year Round

Nash 19. Special at Christmas, and All Year Round
Sweet!

Mentioned some time back that Nash19 pay attention to detail, to the small things on and off the plate. Was reminded of that last Friday when in for lunch. Two of those small things stood out: their delicious crunchy brown bread and the scrumptious roast potatoes. Roast potatoes? Yes indeed. Some establishments around town serve up roast pops that you could use for a score of bowls.

It was very busy in the Prince's Street venue, even the gallery at the back was full. But service was still top class, as efficient and friendly as ever. That, and the food of course, makes Nash 19 a top restaurant all year round.
Hederman platter
Isn't it great to take a menu in your hand and say immediately: “I could eat everything there.” Well it could take you a week or two to work your way through it. So, on the day, you have to choose. You could perhaps take the Producer Plate as a shortcut and you wouldn't go wrong with that choice.

But, on Friday, I went for the Frank Hederman Smoked Fish Plate as my starter, various versions of his famous smoked mackerel and salmon. Swapped a few pieces for a couple of large spoonfuls of CL’s Soup (Red Lentil Dahl topped with Riata). It was a fair exchange. The fish was excellent, as we’ve come to expect, and the soup was terrific, the spices provided by Green Saffron, and, all the while, the brown bread was going down well. The white bread, moistened (should really say soaked!) with their excellent olive oil, was long gone.

St Tola
Time now for the mains. The Tim McCarthy Lamb Shanks had all been eaten but there was considerable consolation in the O’Connell Spiced Beef Rump with Christmas Casseroled Red Cabbage, a perfect combination enhanced by the perfectly cooked vegetables (including those spot-on roasties).

Ten out of ten for that and CL was also thrilled with her dish: St Tola Goats Cheese Warm Salad with Spiced Almonds, and Beets two-way, and also pickled plums, a terrific blend, well thought out and well dispatched. Two empty plates went back to the kitchen.

Souped-up with Green Saffron spice
But just one dessert came out. We were getting full so decided to share the Winter Berry Tart, hot, with cream and custard. Tart and sweet, a lovely warm finalé to a hugely satisfying meal, the earlier courses washed down with Heritage des Cedre Malbec (France 2011), rich, fruity and fresh, sending out a message that Cahors is not about to roll over to Argentina in the battle on for Malbec supremacy.

The meal overall illustrated that Nash 19 is sticking to its guns, supporting local producers all the way. Suppliers, in addition to those already mentioned, include: Little Milk Company Cheese, Ummera, Waterfall Salad Leaves, Horizon Farm, Crowe’s Meats, Lismore Food Company, Hans Sloane Chocolate, Kitty Colchester Rapeseed Oil, Llewellyn’s Cider Vinegar, Arbutus Bread, Sheridan Cheese Biscuits.

Spiced Beef

Christmas Opening Hours at Nash 19

Mon 15 Dec to Fri 19 Dec 7.30 am to 4pm
Saturday 20 Dec 8.30am to 4pm
Sunday 21 Dec 12 to 5pm
Mon 22 & Tue 23rd Dec 7.30am to 4pm
Christmas Eve 7.30am till 1.30pm
Opening after Christmas on January 2nd @ 7.30am

021-4270880







Monday, October 20, 2014

The Square Table Launched

The Square Table Launched
Big Night for Coolea Sisters


Top left: Graham Neville (l) with Lucy and Mark of Ballyhoura Mushrooms.
Top right: Cheers! Martina and Yours Truly.

“I wish the two sisters all the best. They have shown great courage,” said Michelin Star chef Ross Lewis as he helped officially launch The Square Table restaurant in Blarney last night. The two sisters are Patricia and Martina Cronin, both originally from Coolea and now well experienced in the restaurant world. Patricia is front of house while Martina (who has worked with Ross) is the head chef.

Martina has also worked with Graham Neville, Head Chef at Restaurant Forty One, who also spoke at the opening. Graham is rather modest and it took Ross to step in and remind us all that Neville is the reigning Food and Wine Magazine Chef of the Year.

The two girls also spoke and their first priority was to say a big thank you to the people of Blarney for their support over the past few months. Martina said they simply wanted to present good well sourced Irish food and had big thanks for three mentors in particular: Kieran Scully (Bayview Hotel), Ross Lewis (Chapter One) and, of course Graham Neville.

Their suppliers too came in for praise as did their local staff (“absolutely fantastic”), all their friends, family, especially Mum and Dad.

Ross Lewis, from Cork himself, said he knows the Cronins well! “The heroes of today are those who employ people. I started in 1993 and I know that success will come.” But he warned that staying power was needed to deal with the special demands of being an employer, including PAYE, PRSI, banks, teaching employees.

“The complexities are enormous. It is a very daunting task. But I know the Cronins are determined. Martina has the doggedness of a lion. It is amazing and great to see people that we’ve worked with get out on their own”.

The sisters were hardly on their own last evening. There was a terrific turnout. Suppliers present included River Wines, Ballyhoura Mushrooms and Pat O'Connell. The media and blogger world was well represented by Joe McNamee, Jack Power, Caroline Hennessy, among others. And no shortage either of fellow restaurateurs, including Nash 19 and Jacques.

The family were naturally up in force from Coolea and customers were also among the attendance. And, after the speech, Matina was back in the kitchen sending out a stream of gorgeous little bites including Durcan’s Spiced Beef, Ardsallagh Goat Cheese, Liscannor Crab, Michael Twomey’s Wagyu Rib-eye, Ballyhoura Mushrooms, and Old Millbank Smoked Salmon.

On the sweet side there were Macaroons, Poached Blackberries, Chocolate Brownies and a Lemon Cream and Blueberry meringue, all gorgeous. And no shortage of wine to wash it all down.

Thanks for the invite ladies and the best of luck in Blarney!


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Taste of the Week: Nash 19 Olive Oil.

Taste of the Week: Italian Olive Oil at Nash 19

On the lookout for a good Olive Oil? Then check out this excellent Italian Single Farm Extra Virgin Olive Oil, sourced by Country Choice in Nenagh and available at Nash 19 in Prince's Street for €11.95. 

Once, in Tuscany, a wine and olive oil producer told me the best way to make olive oil is to immediately cold press the just picked olives. He was scathing about the big companies who dragged in olives from all over the Med and were still able to claim that their oil was on a par with his. The longer the olives are hanging around (or in transport) the more the acid is a factor. Some big producers filter out the acid but also much of the goodness.

Be careful where you buy your oil and, once you have found a good source, stick with it. This oil, in the familiar gold wrapper, is a regular on the tables in Nash 19 and is our Taste of the Week.