Something Special from the Stellar Crew at the Castle Café April 2017. A Tasty Blasta from the past!

First Published April 2017

A Tasty Blasta from the past!

Stellar Food and Crew at the Castle Cafe

Some go to Blackrock Castle to learn about the Universe, extreme life forms on Planet Earth and to explore life in outer space! Some go to explore the local food on their plate in the Castle Cafe. And it is very good food indeed as we discovered on last week’s visit where we enjoyed a delicious meal in a delightful venue.

Food

The  iconic Cork landmark dates back to the 16th century but the Castle Cafe is much younger than that. Indeed, the Market Lane group (which includes the cafe, Market Lane itself, Elbow Lane and ORSO) is celebrating ten years in business. And congratulations are in order!

It may be in a castle but the café is an easy-going informal place catering to locals and visitors alike. Service is friendly but very much on the ball. You have quite a selection of menus to choose from, including  A La Carte, Early Evening Offer, Set Lunch, Set Dinner, Children's Menu.

We were on the A La Carte, with quite a lot of choices. For the mains, I skipped the normal courses and the selection of salads and, for a change, went for a pizza.

City & Local Guides

From five, I picked the Goats Cheese, charred aubergine, soft egg, pecorino, spinach and truffle oil. Each and every element, even the baby spinach that had been added at the last minute, looked well and tasted well. And it was excellent overall.

CL’s choice was the Lamb tagine, sweet potato, pearl couscous, tzatziki and homemade flat bread. It was another excellent combination and she loved it and the portion was very large indeed.

 One good thing about the cafe is that they have their own Elbow Lane beers and I enjoyed a pint of the Wisdom Lane Pale Ale. No shortage of wine either and plenty of soft drinks too, including home-made lemonades.

We enjoyed two excellent starters. CL especially loved the broth that came with her mussels, full description: Local Mussels, Rosscarberry Black Pudding, shallot, cider and cream broth.

Baked Goods

Mine was the Bresaola, olive and anise tapenade, Gorgonzola and pickled kohlrabi. Delightful mix of textures and flavours, especially the kohlrabi.

Just room for a shared dessert: Mango and passionfruit sorbet with fresh fruits. It was a lovely finalé, not least because of the excellent mix of fruit. So it was two happy diners who took a lingering look at the castle as we strolled down to the nearby public car-park.

More info on the Castle Cafe website here.  

Harvey's Point take Supreme Award. Gold galore for Cork Hotels as Gold Medal Hotel Awards 2025 Winners Announced

Harvey's Point take Supreme Award. Gold galore for Cork Hotels as Gold Medal Hotel Awards 2025 Winners Announced.

See link to full list here

The team from Cork's Isaac Hotel celebrates its Gold Medal in Galway last night

The awards ceremony, which celebrates excellence in the hospitality industry, took place last night (January 27th) in Galway. See the full list of winners here 

There was gold for the Kingsley Hotel (Cork) winner of the Afternoon Tea category, with Youghal's Walter Raleigh taking silver. The gong for the Best Breakfast goes to Cork International Hotel at Cork Airport. Also in the gold was the Hayfield Manor named Best City Hotel.

Hotel Isaac's in MacCurtain Street was award Gold as Best Three Star Hotel and Gold also for Eccles Hotel & Spa (Glengarriff) in the tourist hotel category. Congrats to all.

The Farmgate Cafe. Where hearty tradition thrives

 The Farmgate Cafe. Where hearty tradition thrives

Beef Cheek Stew

The teenager remembers the table setting, especially those flowers floating in a bowl. She is sitting with her mother in a room overlooking the Front Strand in Youghal in the mid 1960s. It is the house of her mother’s friend and soon dinner is served. The meat was boiled leg of mutton and the 16-year old was given a bit of the nap of mutton as a treat. 

“I never forgot that meal,” Kay Harte told me some time back. “It was my first time at an adult meal and it was absolutely divine….That was my first realisation that plain simple Irish food can be so sophisticated.”

Kay couldn’t have known then that she would go on to found the Farm Gate Restaurant in Cork’s English Market in 1994 and that the restaurant would thrive on serving traditional Irish food and that particular tradition itself would thrive under her guidance. The Farmgate has now entered its 4th decade with Kay’s daughter Rebecca at the helm.

Cod

The cuisine here is not so much traditional as timeless. As long as local producers and growers maintain their high standards and as long as the café survives then these treasures of the ages will be available to visitors and locals alike in an uniquely Irish tradition, enhanced with new influences in this dynamic multicultural food market and port city experience.

Christmas Pudding

 “A restau­rant rooted in good things and fine tastes, all served with plea­sure and good nature”. Read the review here by famous critic AA Gill  

As it happens, we were in there last Friday week for lunch. We had of course booked in advance. Glad to report that that the good-natured service is still a key part of the experience here. Everyone we met from start to finish was calm, courteous and effortlessly efficient. And one or two were well able to introduce a little humour to break the ice and put the customer at ease.

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On our way up the stairs we read the short list of specials, the traditional stew, fish of the day, soup of the day (apple and celeriac) and also a quiche (which had sold out when we arrived at 2,30pm).

Apple Tart

Once seated in the glass-walled restaurant section, overlooking the floor of the English Market below, the staff filled us in on the specials again with some extra detail. We nibbled at a little bowl of Toonsbridge Atlas green olives and some of the Farmgate's brown soda bread. 

We had been hoping to get some of superb white loaf at the shop downstairs but we were too late. It is very popular towards the weekend and goes quickly! Quite a list of starters included Ardsallagh goats cheese ciabatta, balsamic roasted onions, kale and walnut pesto; Moroccan spiced chicken sandwich, ras el hanout mayonnaise & cucumber; and Toasted sandwich, loin of bacon, scamorza cheese, onion marmalade.

Sometimes you hear: Ireland’ has no food culture. - don't repeat that to Kay!!! Her more gentle response will be to ask you to read Humphrey O’Sullivan’s “The diary of an Irish countryman, 1827-1835 “. Humphrey was an “enjoyer of good food and drink”  and the book records the good food that was around at the time. The hot ticket of a Sunday was to stroll up to the local Parish Priest’s house, once you had an invite of course.  

The book is available in local libraries and, if my memory serves me well, they have a copy at the Farmgate. The main cultural exhibit in café though is “the poetry wall’, which is on per­ma­nent view in the din­ing room. This unique col­lec­tion of handwritten poems, by Cork, Irish and inter­na­tional poets, was com­mis­sioned by the Far­m­gate n 2005 to cel­e­brate Cork’s year as Euro­pean Cap­i­tal of Cul­ture.

Elderflower Fizz

Anyhow, time to return to our lunch. Our top class mains were the cod (Fish of the Day) and the Beef Cheek Stew and, as always, there’s a side of those balls of flour, potatoes from East Cork. Other mains on offer included: Irish lamb stew; Risotto - Ardsallagh Phantom Ash, pea, basil and hazelnut; Braised lentil pie with olive oil mash, roast root vegetables; Free-range supreme of chicken, fennel & lemon sauce; and of course, the old Cork favourite of Tripe and onions with Drisheen, also with Ladysbridge potatoes.

When it came to dessert, there was a surprising "extra" still on offer: Christmas Pudding and Custard. I gave that an immediate nod and it made for a superb conclusion to a lovely meal. By the way, their Bread and butter pudding is a regular and highly recommended.

Dining on the balcony

Ryes and Shine Dazzle Every Single Bake. Superb Sourdough Breads, Sandwiches and other Treats

Ryes and Shine Dazzle Every Single Bake

Superb Sourdough Breads, Sandwiches and other Treats

You never quite know what you’ll buy when you visit Angela Nöthlings at her stall at the Coal Quay Market (Saturday morning, 9.00 am to 1.00pm) and outside Henchy’s St Luke’s Cross (12.00 to 2.00pm Wednesday). But it does help to look out for the info on the changing menu that regularly appears on Angela’s Instagram ryes.and.shine.cork

I did just that this week before I called to St Luke’s on a very wet Wednesday. I noticed a new offering, the Irish Bloomer. The Mayfield based German micro-bakery specialises in rye sourdough breads.

Angela told me she gets the strong stoneground flour for this new loaf from Oak Forest Mill. It works well in sourdough and yeast breads and can be used also in pizza dough, pastas, pastry, banana breads, etc.

Emma Clatterbuck of Oak Farm: “We grow the grain pesticide-free on land that is now under conversion to organic….We produce the strong stoneground flour with full control from start to finish….All our flour is stone-milled at our newly built facility located in the Old Creamery building in the village of Piltown in south Co. Kilkenny close to Waterford City”.

Angela is delighted with it and reckons it will get even better as she gets to know its characteristics. It is a little darker than the usual, has an attractive nutty flavour and is high in protein, minerals and the B Vitamins. A great crumb and crust and our first Irish Bloomer won’t be our last!

Salami

Dubliner

She had a rapidly dwindling but attractive display of her focaccia sandwiches. She uses different fillings from time to time. There were two on offer this week. One was loaded with salami and rocket while the other featured Dubliner cheese and rocket. 

They cost €6.50 each and, lacking in neither quality nor quantity, made for a superb lunch - we certainly enjoyed them. By the way, for a couple of euros less, you can buy a portion of the focaccia and add your own filling at home.

I rarely leave the stall without making a purchase of Angela's cinnamon buns, a long-standing favourite in this house! 

Massaya Winemakers Ramzi and Sami Ghosn hope dynamic of peace will finally prevail in Lebanon in 2026.

Winemakers Ramzi and Sami Ghosn hope dynamic of peace will finally prevail in Lebanon in 2026

“Since the dawn of time, the people around Mount Lebanon have maintained a unique sense of humanity and developed a rich culture that has never been confined by borders.” So writes Ramzi Ghosn in the Christmas edition of the Massaya Vineyard newsletter.

Despite all the tribulations in the area, the newsletters are always brimming with hope. He lists some of those problems. “For Sami and me, those who reside on Mount Lebanon are the Guardians of the Temple. This edifice has suffered continuous shocks: occupation, endemic corruption, financial collapse, the Beirut explosion, and recent conflicts.”

“The slow, insidious erosion caused by corruption is eating away at the foundations, making our Temple fragile and vulnerable. We must find an anchor—a common ground to build shared institutions, a tangible sense of belonging, a solid Temple.”

He finishes with a call to restore the Lebanese spirit renowned for its “innate pragmatism, an infectious joie de vivre, and a rich, multicultural tolerance”. He hopes that, with fingers crossed, as they say, ‘that the dynamic of peace will finally prevail in Lebanon” and that it will be a peaceful year in and around Mount Lebanon.

And so say all of us! Let us raise a glass in solidarity with Massaya and wish the brothers and everyone there all the best in 2026. Hopefully, the newsletters will have better news in the months ahead.

Pic via roy-abi-saad-OPUCE2iGwiI-unsplash

* I first met Sami Ghosin, an architect who gave up the bright lights of the US West Coast to help brother Ramzi establish the vineyard back in 2012. He filled us in on the location and conditions at a lovely wine dinner, hosted by Conor and Ginny, in Star Anise in Cork. 

"Once peace reigns, Lebanon is a perfect place to make wine.The local conditions, no rain from April to September, but still moisture in the soil from the snow melt in the nearby mountains, the same mountains that hold back the rain clouds, plus the blue sky luminosity (a major factor in promoting growth) and the soil itself, lead to grapes of outstanding quality. Ninety per cent of the work is done for the winemaker."

Massaya Le Colombier 2021 14.5% ABV

€21.99 JN Wines 

Brothers Sami and Ramzi Ghosn continue to defy the odds and produce gems like this light and elegant red with a long finish.

A remarkable wine from a remarkable vineyard about 30 minutes drive from Beirut, yes that Beirut. Troubled Syria is also very close. Despite all the distractions, many of them dangerous, Sami and Ramzi, and partner Dominique Hébrard, continue to defy the odds and produce gems like this red blend of Cinsault, Grenache Noir and Tempranillo. Light and elegant, a little spicy and with a long finish, this easy-drinking red has it all. This door opener to the Bekaa Valley is Very Highly Recommended.

The Massaya winery and vineyards are nestled between the mountains and the Mediterranean at two locations, producing a wide range of unique wines and the local Arak of course. It is run by the two brothers, Sami and Ramzi Ghosn, in partnership with Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe and Dominique Hébrard.

Massaya Blanc Bequaa Valley Lebanon 2022, 13.5% ABV

€26.95 JN Wines 

The 2022 Massaya Blanc is crafted, according to the label, from Clairette 20%, Rolle 20%, Sauvignon Blanc 20%, Chardonnay 20% and Obeidi 20%, all cultivated in Massaya's vineyards in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley at an altitude of 900 to 1,200 metres. The Obeidi, a fragile, soft-skinned indigenous grape, “imparts a hint of easygoing eastern style” to this delightful white. 

Cradled in the shadow of the Lebanon mountain range, the rich clay and limestone vineyards are shielded from the heavy rain and snow that fall in the mountains to the west. Free of frost, the Bekaa Valley's long gentle summers, wet winters and average temperature of 25°c, have made it ideal for viticulture for over 5,000 years.

This beautiful golden hued wine has an inviting floral nose. Wonderfully fresh and vibrant.There is an almost velvety texture and it is fresh and elegant with citrus and white stone fruits hints with a good mineral balance. The finish is pleasant and silky. 

An unusual and outstanding wine, it is Very Highly Recommended. It will complement shellfish, baked fish, blue cheese and most hearty charcuterie. Light and deliciously approachable, the Massaya Blanc is always a pleasure to drink on its own. Serve at 10 degrees.