Dining NOW Guide. This Week's Choices In Cork. Update #2

 Dining NOW Guide. This Week's Choices In Cork

(Contact me before 1.00pm Wed with a sentence or two, a pic and a link to menu, plan to update regularly) w/e 4/4/2021 Update #2

Click and Collect. At Home. Takeout. Takeaway.

The Metropole Hotel, Cork

has launched an Easter Afternoon Tea at home menu. 

 

The Afternoon Tea is available this Easter Weekend – from Friday 2nd April to Monday 5th April. 

 

On the menu is: 

Sweets: Mini chocolate mousse & berries, Easter cupcakes, Chocolate meringue nest with mini Cadburys cream eggs, Selection of macarons, Mini Chocolate brownie

Sandwich: Free range egg and cress, Chicken & cucumber with sun-dried tomato pesto,  Pastrami and rocket in a floury wrap, Open smoked salmon on soda bread with chive cream cheese & pickled red onion

Sweet scones: Freshly baked scones with whipped cream and a selection of fruit jam

The Afternoon Tea for two people is €50 and the hotel will require 24 hours’ notice to book. Delivery within 15km is also available for an additional €10. To order you can call (021) 4643700

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Check out Da Mirco's Easter Weekend Menu Here

That Homemade Cannelloni filled with slow cooked O'Mahonys lamb ragu, ricotta and pecorino cheese looks tempting!

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O'Mahony's Fly Stars & Stripes

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Check out Dockland menu here

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Vienna Woods Special

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Tom Durcan Will Bring It Home to You

Durcan’s Burger and wings artisan - Taste of #cork at home kit The finest local produce using Hasset’s bakery and Finders Inn dressing. Hand prepared on morning of collection by my son Harry. Order online and have it delivered to your door #nationwide #shoplocal @EnglishMarket More details at https://twitter.com/TomDurcanMeats

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Greenes Restaurant

Easter Menu's are now online, lots of seafood options, Macroom Lamb & our 6 course tasting menu. We have also added an Easter Picnic Box available Saturday & Sunday with everything you need included.

Visit www.greenesrestaurant.com/menus to order online.

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Metropole Hotel

DINE AT HOME

Our Dine At Home menus are available to order every evening from 5pm-9pm.

Enjoy a range of delectable dishes, cooked to perfection by our Head Chef, available for collection from The Metropole Hotel Cork.

See menus online here: https://www.themetropolehotel.ie/dining/menus/

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L'Atitude. On the road again

We’re heading south this week to the foothills of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. It might come as a surprise to some that wine is produced in Morocco, but wine has been made in North Africa for at least 2,500 year...

..Our Volubia red is a perfect ally for food. To say we are excited about this week’s destination would be a slight understatement. There are so many colourful ingredients and flavours to choose from, we’ll find it hard to narrow it down. As usual we will choose a selection that we think will marry best with the wine. 

Email info@latitude51.ie by noon Thurs if you’d like to join our adventure. €50 box for 2 people. Collection Friday 2 April from 5 -6.30

Celtic Ross Hotel

A Happy Easter - at Home

Be it Easter Sunday lunch or dinner for two over the long weekend, allow Chef Shane and his team to take care of the meal prep this Easter. Our Easter meal kit adds a sense of occasion to the weekend, showcasing delicious seasonal produce and the finest ingredients that West Cork has to offer. Treat yourself to a three-course dining experience in the comfort of home with all of the hard work and preparation  completed by the Celtic Ross kitchen team.

Menus and other details here

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LIBERTY GRILL

We have posted our Home Dining menu for delivery over the Easter weekend

We are also delivering a new “Slow Roast for 4”

Details from our website LibertyGrill.ie @libertygrillcork

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On the Pig's Back

Order online or by phone @ 021-4617832

Saturday Night Takeaway - Now Online!

3 Course Menu €30.00 pp

☆B.B.Q Prawns with Creamed Corn and Kale

☆Spiced Chicken Salad with Crisp Leaves, Cherry tomato, Red Onion, Ranch Dressing and Croutons

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☆Herb Crusted Pan-fried Hake, Corn Succotash, Baked Sweet Potato Wedges and Caper Brown Butter

☆Broiled Marinated Pork Chop, Buttered Savoy Cabbage, Fondant Potatoes with Mild Mustard Sauce

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☆Baked Raspberry Cheese Cake

☆Mississippi Mud Pie

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The Cork International Hotel Have An Afternoon Tea Off With A Twist!

The Cork International Hotel has launched a gourmet Seafood Afternoon Tea just in time for Easter.

The Afternoon Tea will be available for a limited period over the Easter Weekend – available from Thursday 1st April to to Monday 5th April. 

On the menu is: 

Sweets: Dark Chocolate mousse with raspberries, Carrot Cake topped in white chocolate, Coffee slice, Chocolate brownie.

Savoury: Crab and crayfish cocktail Chai Bao, Smoked Mackerel Pate on pressed puff pastry, Beetroot salmon gravlax and grape skewer.

Sandwich: Flaked salmon and pickled cucumber on white bread, open tiger prawn sandwich with garlic and lemon aioli, tuna, lettuce and chilli chutney pinwheels.

 

The Afternoon Tea for two people is €50 and the hotel will require 24 hours’ notice to book. To order you can call (021) 4549800

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Farmgate Ready to Feed the Family this Easter

We have spent the last few weeks thinking about the Easter break, so we can have it all organised for you with just one click of a button.

How about the perfect family roast? Delicious slow-cooked lamb (and more!) for a stress-free day and the opportunity to really enjoy quality time your loved ones. Let’s face it, who amongst us cannot claim to be sick of constantly cooking for hungry hounds?

Easter Sunday Feast - €70 for 2 / €120 for 4

Bottle or Red or White wine

Market Fish Plate, Farmgate Brown Soda Bread

Slow Braised Shoulder of Lamb, Ardrahan Cheese & Lamb Croquettes, Lyonnaise Potatoes, Buttered Spring Greens

Strawberry & Framboise Trifle

There's also an Easter Family Feast.  See all the menus and details here

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~~Easter menu is now live here~~

Phone lines are now open 0214277387. Get your orders in now for collection this Friday & Saturday

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Market Lane

There’s still time to order our heat at home set menu for Easter Weekend. Stock is limited and we've sold out in the past, so our top tip for today is do it now to avoid any disappointment.. Order from http://marketlane.ie by Thursday . #keepgoingcork

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The Glass Curtain

With Easter upon us, we have more yummy treats planned for the weekend. The following menu is available from Friday to Sunday:

You may order from 12pm tomorrow (Monday) via the following link: The Glass Curtain At Home

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Ferrit and Lee



This weekend'smenu now live, get your orders in for Easter Sunday   https://ferrit-lee.clickandcollection.com

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West Cork in Brief

West Cork in Brief

Stay: Celtic Ross Hotel 

Dine: with Michelin Chef Dede at Customs House, Baltimore.

Barleycove Strand, near Mizen

Visit: Spectacular Mizen Head 

Head for the islands - there are dozens of them

Check out the local "wild" life

Visit Clonakilty or one of the many other towns and villages

or just put your feet up!

Celtic Ross team all geared up to look after you well in Rosscarbery

Celtic Ross team all geared up

 to look after you well in Rosscarbery 

Union Hall (on the left) and Glandore (tucked away on the right) are just a few minutes from the hotel

A cool and welcome drink

Rosscarbery’s Celtic Ross was the last hotel we stayed in before the Covid hit and the first visited after the lockdown was lifted. And you could see the team here had worked their socks off to make the current experience as safe and as comfortable as possible for all their guests. No shortage of personnel to help you as you arrived and in the dining room later on.

The only place you didn’t see any staff member was in your room. That room had been sterilised by fogging machines prior to check-in. The room was then sealed until our arrival and no staff member allowed enter until we left. They have taken a myriad of precautions and you may see the full list here. 

The new normal

You’ll notice too that your room has been pared back - no hotel guide (but you can check it online via a QR code). Same with your dining table - no extras. Pared back perhaps but, masks or shields, there’s no cutting back on the welcome. It’s as warm as ever and we also had a terrific dinner and breakfast here.

Earlier, we had been driving around West Cork and were feeling the heat. A cool glass of water helped immediately on arrival and our order for a couple of Blacks Brewery Session IPAs was soon delivered to our room and we enjoyed them! Revived, we took a short walk in the direction of The Warren and watched some of the many seabirds that visit here as they fed on the incoming tide.

Sri Lankan Style Curry

There were some excellent choices on the dinner menu, though we both felt like ignoring the mains and eating through the list of starters. They were all very tempting indeed. And there were a few specials as well. We continued with the beers here, that Session along with the Roaring Ruby Red Ale (on draught) our choices.

Rosscarbery Pork Belly

Speaking of choices, my starter was Korean fried Rosscarbery Pork Belly Popcorn, Culture Food Co kimchi, Gochujang Korean style chili sauce, toasted sesame seeds. Very happy with that one, high in quality and not lacking in quantity either. And that local kimchi impressed very much indeed, so much so that I purchased a jar of it the next day in the deli in the Customs House in Baltimore.

Dessert

Local suppliers are always well supported here and CL’s choice was the Sun View Goats Cheese Salad Rolled in pistachios, heirloom tomatoes, pickled fennel and pinto beans, salsa verde cocida. That cheese comes all the way from Macroom! And was well used here in a delicious salad.

CL continued with Shannonvale Chicken Supreme (GF), Crushed peas, herb and potato cake, crispy onions and red wine jus, another local supplier well highlighted here, another excellent plate. We did call for a side order of fries but, to tell the truth, there was little need for them.

Breakfast pancakes

I stayed on an Asian tack, ordering the Sri Lankan Style Cashew Curry Chickpeas, potato, roasted vegetables, spiced pilaf rice. And I took the option of adding chicken, another piece from Shannonvale. This was one of the best curries I’ve eaten out, full of flavour but nothing at all extreme and indeed it would have been quite sufficient even without the added chicken (lovely and all as it was).

They have always prided themselves on their shielded breakfast buffet but that too has changed. Now you get a menu and a pencil and you tick your choices, like doing an exam our server joked. Worked quite well though and, while I know the Full Irish would have been gorgeous, we both decided on the pancakes. And they were top notch - might have been improved a bit with a few local berries (thinking Bushby’s here!) but “doused” with Maple syrup we enjoyed them very much indeed. 

Soon, we were heading out, having been seen off in style. Even if the desk was shielded, we had a lovely chat and all the details were correct. 

We were heading for lunch at the Customs House where top Chef Dede now operates. There was no rush so we decided to detour to Glandore and Union Hall (another place that doesn’t come up on our Sat-Nav, by the way). On the way to Glandore, we were asked to detour as there was a funeral on the regular road. So we did as requested and got some lovely views of the two villages and the water between them.

Eventually we got away on a narrow side road (with grass in the middle), only to find that blocked by a truck delivering fuel who had the little road blocked! Will we ever make to Baltimore in time? But, fortunately, he was nearly finished and soon moved off. A few minutes later we were on our way to a sunny Baltimore and a delicious lunch. 

Also on this trip:
Mizen Head Visit
Lunch with Chef Ahmet Dede at Customs House in Baltimore

Outstanding Dinner in Celtic Ross Kingfisher Restaurant

Outstanding Dinner in Celtic Ross Kingfisher Restaurant

Dome of delight. Irish Coffee Mousse.

There are some very accomplished chefs working in hotels and quite a few of them, Kevin O'Sullivan at the Garryvoe, Gemma Murphy at The Maryborough, Ciaran Scully at The Bayview and Stuart Bowes at Barnabrow are local examples that spring to mind, seem to fall under the radar, especially by comparison with their counterparts in standalone restaurants. I am thinking of this the other night in the Kingfisher Restaurant an the Celtic Ross where Executive Head Chef Alex Petit and Head Chef Shane Deane are offering their amazing West Cork Spring Menu.

It is short and tight, packed with local produce, and executed with top notch skill. The result is a meal that you’d be lucky to find in well-known standalone restaurants around the country. And not just one meal. Because, while the menu is short, there are enough combinations to enticingly engage you and your palate over multiple visits!

Monkfish

There are two evening menus in the hotel, one for the restaurant, one for the bar. We were heading for the restaurant and so picked from the West Cork Spring Menu 2020, which offers two courses for €31.00, three for €36.00.

Water, breads and the menu are quickly on the table and are soon followed by a pork based Amuse Bouche. They have a well balanced wine list but we hold off until we’ve chosen the food and we do that reasonably quickly. CL picks a red wine, a velvety soft and flavoursome Ciu Ciu Bacchus, Montepulciano, from the Marche in Italy. I’m on fish with different sauces for the night so take a punt on the rich Little Rascal Chardonnay from Victoria in Australia, a little cold at the start but soon warms up and blossoms into a little beauty as they might say down under.

Egg

This menu is available from Thursday to Saturday evenings and has four choices for each course. My starter is a good as anything I’ve eaten anywhere on the island in recent years. Poached monkfish in saffron with Beluga lentil caviar, fermented lemon aioli, charred Waterfall Farms broccoli, and radish. An amazing combination, pleasing to the eye, the palate and further down!

And CL feels much the same about her Sally’s smoked haddock Scotch egg - I reckon you’ll know Sally the smoker! It comes in a leek soup, curry oil, pickled golden raisins, and crispy leeks. Another imaginative combination! Other starters on the menu were Skeaghanore Goose Liver Parfait and The Waterfall Farm Carrot Dip.

Lamb

We’re on a roll now. And the high standard continues. My mains pick is Pan Roasted Cod (bouillabaisse, local wild garlic gnocchi, cavolo nero, saffron rouille). All the elements are spot on, each playing a part. Put them all together and you have a symphony of flavour sensations in the dish and it also looks well. Probably dish of the year so far!

Our other main course was Confit Drimoleague Lamb shoulder with puffed barley, carrot purée, charred pointed cabbage, reduced braising jus. The kitchen is playing a blinder here, scoring every time with delicious well-presented dishes. Other mains courses are Salt Baked Celeriac and Duo of Rosscarbery Sirloin of Beef and Featherblade.

Cod

Warm Orange marmalade pudding 

Time now for the boys to step back and allow Pastry Chef Alicja Samulik take the spotlight. Her new Irish Coffee Mousse is amazing, the perfect amalgam of white chocolate and Irish coffee, dark chocolate and hazelnut biscuit, honey and oat tuille and so much more.

We share that gem and also the equally delicious, if in a  different way, Warm Orange Marmalade Pudding with five spice créme Anglaise and rhum raisin ice cream, all excellent ingredients but superb in ensemble. Thumbs up all around for these two. Also available are Baked Lemon Tart and a West Cork cheeseboard that features Vintage Carbery Cheddar, Gubbeen, and Milleens.

As you can see, they’ve got quite a team assembled in that kitchen, and the results on the plate are up there with the best of them.