Chef Bryan up for Greene's Challenge

Chef Bryan up for Greene's Challenge

Wine and Waterfall

West Cork chef Bryan McCarthy is back in Cork and at the helm in Greene’s in McCurtain Street. And he is looking forward to the new challenge. You can expect to see foraged items on the menu but his aim is for “simple food from the best of ingredients, cooked in a contemporary Irish style”.

Bryan is something of a forager himself but he will rely also on Ballyhoura Mushrooms and on Michelle Walshe for sea foraging. Greene’s have long used top local suppliers such as Ummera Smokery and Ardsallagh Goat Cheese and they continue to feature on the menu. The newly installed head chef has added Jack McCarthy (pork, bacon, including the famous black pudding, of course) and is looking forward to using even more of the fantastic vegetables from Waterfall Farm.

Jack Mac certainly stood out in my starter during last weekend's visit. Here the Black Pudding and Pork Belly featured with scallops, all served with apple and cider in a flavoursome combination.

Our other starter was also top drawer, featuring the Ummera Smoked Salmon served three ways, with Lemon, Beetroot, Crème Fraiche, Cucumber and Organic Leaves enhancing the superb West Cork product.

Bryan McCarthy is almost synonymous with the slow cooked Feather Blade of Hereford Beef in these parts and, served with Onion, Shiitake Mushroom and Mashed Potato, this tender tasty treat was impossible to resist and was as good as ever.

Pork Belly, Scallop and Black Pudding.

A superb dish also was the Duo of Lamb, with Beluga Lentils, Chorizo, Ballyhoura Oyster Mushroom and Ardsallagh Goat Cheese. By the way, in case you are getting worried, the menu still features a selection of fine fish dishes (after all, Bryan is from Leap). Poultry too, including Skeaghanore Duck, and Pigeon was introduced last Sunday!

No shortage of choice here. And they have a great Early Bird deal going, €27.00 for four courses up to 7.00pm at the weekend and all night earlier in the week. Service here is friendly and quite informed about the food. Helpful also. Just a small example. When we ordered herbal tea, they brought a whole box over to the table so that we could choose at our leisure.

We got a nice table by the floodlit waterfall and indeed there were two groups that got even closer, choosing to dine outside as the night was so mild. Almost forgot to tell you about the Amuse Bouche, well detailed by our helpful server. It was a Spinach Mousse with Smoked Duck. A good start to an excellent meal.

Tapas in the Greenroom

The Greenroom at Sage

Called down to Midleton last Tuesday evening to sample the food at the Greenroom, the new all day late night cafe under the ample wing of the adjacent Sage Restaurant. Spotted the 12 Mile Tapas board and immediately saw familiar producers of quality including Woodside Farm, Ardsallagh and Tom Clancy. Five tapas on the board, so we ordered all five.

Next question was what to drink. Easily answered by looking at the next board. Lots of local beers here and also Stonewell cider. Could hardly drink all the beers so settled for the Barefoot Bohemian Pilsner from Eight Degrees and two new Cork beers, both pale ales, the Mountain Man Green Bullet and the Kinsale Pale Ale, each dangerously drinkable!

The tapas are top class, all the dishes perfectly executed and, at seven euro each, very good value. Take the humble Organic courgette and apple fritters with dehydrated goat yoghurt. Didn’t sound the most promising of the five but the tangy yoghurt made the fritters sing.

The Organic baby carrot and Ardsallagh goat cheese with organic leaves and pickled beetroot was another successful combination of taste, colour, flavour and texture. While the cooking here is creative, the food is allowed to speak for itself and this was perhaps best illustrated by the Woodside mini Pork Pie with peas and gravy. The pork flavour and texture were incredible.

The monkfish, coated in the most delicate batter and served with crispy bacon and organic roast garlic aioli, was lyrically light, crunchy and gorgeous and probably CL’s favourite.

For me, the outstanding bite was the first one into those Thomas Clancy free range chicken livers with sourdough and salsa. Honest food so well handled all the way to the table.

The dessert, Red Velvet Cappuccino cake with Bailey’s Ice Cream, was so smooth and seemed designed to put us into a good mood. But, after those brilliant tapas, we were happily already in that zone!

All in all then,  honest food, flawlessly cooked, just perfect. And obviously widely appreciated as the Greenroom was more or less full.

Sage itself was also full. It has gained some extra seating and a different entrance (via the courtyard) after the recent building works that gave us the Greenroom. And the local producers are lauded here in Sage and not just on the tables. On one of the walls there is an excellent photo display of the producers going about their daily work. Well done to Kevin and Réidín for their dedication to their local suppliers!

While it is full steam ahead for Sage, the recently opened Greenroom too has been finding itself quite busy in these early days. It opens at nine and, during the morning, you can pop in for a freshly ground coffee and a freshly baked treat. At lunch time, you’ll have great choices of Salads and Sandwiches and, in the evening, the tapas come into their own.

The new Greenroom, they call it Sage’s little sister, is also proving useful for a pre-meal drink for those booked into Sage or maybe waiting for a table. And, when the sun shines, the courtyard outside is abuzz.

Greenroom details

Opening hours: Tue - Sun: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm.

Address: 8 Main St, Midleton, Co. Cork.

Phone: (021) 463 9682

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/www.sagerestaurant.ie

Excellent Lunch in Pat Shortt’s Bar

Pat Shortt’s Bar
Lunch in Castlemartyr

 It was just about lunch-time when we arrived in Pat Shortt’s Bar in Castlemartyr last Saturday. The place was packed inside. Luckily, there were seats in the outside area by the local river, the Kiltha, and so, for the second time in eight days, we dined al fresco in Ireland!

And we got good stuff. The starters were terrific. I got an ample helping of Bill Casey’s Oak Smoked Organic Salmon served on a lovely brown bread (€7.50). Bill is just down the road; chef Mike Hanrahan told me he collected the fish that morning. It tasted gorgeous, really impressed.


The local theme is strong here and was again well illustrated in CL’s starter: Ardsallagh Goat’s Cheese, black pudding, and pear salad, served on a bed of leaves with roast peppers and Ballymaloe Relish (€6.50). A terrific well balanced combination of textures and tastes.

Had more than enough fries earlier in the week so had to give D’Unbelievable Burger a miss. Settled instead for the Chicken and Chorizo penne pasta in a tomato and herb sauce (€10.75). Quite a bit of chicken and it was first class, the real thing, and the sauce was brilliant and gave the dish a nice lift.


Polished it off in the sun and then crossed the road to the Village Greengrocer where Shortt’s get their veg. Just a few yards up is Clifford’s, his butcher. It was a busy afternoon but soon everything stopped as dozens and dozens of motorbikes came through the village. It was the members of the Gold Wing Treffen driving their bikes from Cobh to Youghal. Just another talking point on a terrific day in the East Cork area. 

CONGRATS TO ARDSALLAGH!

Well done to all at Ardsallagh Cheese on winning gold at the Irish Cheese Awards this week. Their Ardsallagh Cranberry Roulade came tops in the New Cheese Section.Two other Cork producers also struck gold and quite a few were honoured. Well done to all. To see the full list click here

CORKER OF A MEAL AT FENNS QUAY

CORK ON A FORK

Local food, local lingo

Enjoyed a classy Cork on a Fork meal at the ever reliable Fenns Quay this week. This good value menu, even better now since the VAT reduction, includes mostly local food, such as spiced beef, and the menu card itself is “spiced “ up with some local lingo.

You are encouraged to have a starter by “Give it a lash boy” and a dessert by “Era, go on so”.

The food too is served with a smile and certainly put a smile on my face. Enjoyed my starter of Spiced beef and shredded beetroot. On the other side of the table, her regular Warm Chicken Salad lived up to expectations.

Mains for me was one of the evening’s specials: Baked Hake with herbed basmati rice, sautéed French beans, courgette with fennel and salsa rossa. A terrific combination, light and satisfying.

The other mains was Braised Irish Lamb Shank with Green Saffron Spiced Potatoes. The lamb was cooked to perfection and the spiced potatoes really added to the dish. As they say around here: “Savage Cabbage.”

We agreed on dessert: Lemon pudding served with Baldwin’s Ice-cream and a tiny jug of chocolate sauce. Presentation was inviting and the combination – that ice cream is gorgeous – went down a treat.

Wines were Pazos de Ulloa DO Ribeiro 2009 and Domaine d’Angayrac Costieres de Nimes 2008, each at €5.50 a glass.

Cork on a Fork: 2 courses €22.50; 3 courses €27.50.

ARDSALLAGH GOATS CHEESE CRANBERRY ROULADE

GOATS CHEESE ROULADE 

Had been on the lookout for Ardsallagh’s Goats Cheese Cranberry Roulade and spotted it in On the Pigs Back on a run through the English Market on Friday. 


Picked up some