Taste of India on Cork’s Left Bank

Taste of India on Cork’s Left Bank

Mango Lassi

For a hundred years, from the late 18th century, Cork exported butter to the world (including India), the merchants building quay walls to facilitate the trade. Yesterday, facing one of those walls and just a  few hundred yards from the former Butter Exchange, I enjoyed the cuisine of South India in a tiny restaurant called Iyer's.

Gautham Iyer opened the restaurant in December 2012 and, aside from a few weeks out of action due to a broken leg, has has not looked back since. The customers have come regularly, the reviews have been good and of course all that is because the food is excellent and the prices are very keen indeed.

The menu is entirely vegetarian and, yes, there is spice. Some people are wary but the spice is not at all extreme and, indeed, if things are not hot enough for you, you are encouraged to ask for their pickle! Everything is prepared freshly on site, leading to long working days for the owner-chef.

Samosas

Vadas

Aside from a visit to a local Indian supper club, I know very little about Indian cuisine. Maybe you're in the same boat so here is a little Wikeipedia guide to what you may expect at Iyers. These are items such as the Vada, Samosas, and Dosas.

Iyers has all these and also some more substantial rice dishes. Best advice I can give is to go in and try them! The menu, on a big board behind the counter, changes regularly.

We started with a Masala Vada and also a Samosa (a pastry, normally triangular with a savoury filling). These were served with two sauces or dips (each on a small dish). One was Tamarind (Imli), the other Green Chilli. Both the Vada and the Samosas were very tasty, crunchy and savoury and nicely spiced and, no, we didn't ask for the pickles!

Dosa, with chutneys and bowl of Sambar.

Gautham came out from from time to time to see how things were going but, in any case, service was friendly and informative and there was no shortage of water. In addition, they have a range of drinks and I went for a lovely looking and great tasting Mango Lassi while CL picked the refreshing Apple & Mango Juice.

On then to our dosas. You may get a Plain Dosa but ours were the Masala and the Onion. Again we were sharing, so they held the second one back until we were finished with the first. Each was served with fresh chutneys, one tomato, the other fresh coconut. Really loved that coconut and we both preferred the Masala filling to the Onion. With this dish, you also get a bowl of Sambar (a kind of soup, changes from day to day).

The Dosas may not have looked that mighty large but we were quite full by the time we finished them. Well, maybe not quite. I had spotted a gorgeous looking cake on the counter on arrival. This was Banana, Mango and Coconut and it was absolutely delicious. The Pistachio and Rosewater Cake may not have looked as well but that too was a delight. All the baking is done by Caroline, Gautham’s wife.

Pistachio and Rosewater Cake

Just across the bridge from the Opera House, the restaurant is out of the hustle and bustle of the city centre but still quite close. On Wednesday, it was busy when we arrived at 2.30 pm and the few, very few, outside spaces were taken up.

The south-facing aspect and the nearby river gave an almost Mediterranean air. On days like this, Gautham wonders if he could expand to the larger footpath at the other side of the road but knows that sometimes if you get too big, that compromises may have to be made and you might well lose some of your integrity, a route he doesn't want to take.

For now, small and all as it is, let us enjoy this fabulous corner of South India on the banks of the Lee. Very Highly Recommended.

Banana, Mango and Coconut Cake.

Iyers Restaurant

• 38 Popes Quay
• Cork

Phone	087 640 9079
Email	iyerscafecork@gmail.com Hours	Tue - Wed: 12:00 pm - 5:30 pm Thu: 12:00 pm - 5:30 pm, 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm Fri - Sat: 12:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Taste of the Week.

Taste of the Week

Cratloe Hills Gold

Bought a wedge of this Sheep's cheese at Bantry Market last weekend. It is a beauty and compares with the renowned sheep's cheese of the Pyrenees. The Cratloe Hills Gold has great flavour and  is certainly creamier, that Irish rain and grass again! Sean and Deirdre Fitzgerald started making sheep's cheese on their Cratloe farm, overlooking the Shannon, in the mid 80s. The product is 100% sheep's milk using only a vegetarian starter, rennet and salt. It is a natural product manufactured in a traditional way with no additives or flavours.  It is our Taste of the Week.

* Sheep's cheese may have certain health benefits. Check out their site here

Marques de Riscal Tasting at Bradley's

Marques de Riscal Tasting at Bradley's

The Hotel Marqués de Riscal Elciego, built in 2006
(architect Frank Gehry)

In 1858, Marques de Riscal founded their winery in La Rioja. A few years earlier, Bradley’s had opened, as a dairy, in Cork. A glass of cream was a regular treat for lady customers of the time. Yesterday in North Main Street, the ladies, and some gentlemen, were tasting not cream but the superb wines of Marques de Riscal.

Riscal was one of the pioneers in Rioja and, over 100 years later, in 1972, became pioneers in Rueda when they produced their first white wines there. Ruth Sutton, their Sales Manager for Ireland and the UK, was in Bradley’s yesterday and started us off with a couple of whites from Rueda, both 2012.

First up was a refreshing Verdejo, quite characteristic of the variety, a variety that I rather like. The surprise came with the next taste, this from a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Quite  a complex nose, crisp on the palate and a good long finish. A very pleasant surprise indeed.

In Bradley's yesterday
with Ruth Sutton of Marques de Riscal.

On then to the reds, starting with the Ardo Rioja 2012, easy drinking and made from younger grapes. It has spent four months in oak. Floral and fruity on the nose, soft and pleasant on the palate and a longish finish with some pepper.

Moved up a notch or two for the next one, the 2008 Reserva. Really gorgeous aromas here with a fresh and soft introduction on the palate, quite pleasant and elegant and one to note for sure. As was the 2005 Gran Reserva, this even more silky on the palate with a long finish. A Reserva will normally have spent 12 months in cask while the Gran gets 24 months.

And then came the finale, the stunning Gran Reserva 150th Anniversary edition from 2001, a very good year! The deep red colour in the centre changes to to brick red around the edge though nothing too dramatic! But this is incredibly smooth on the palate. Irresistible! And selling now at 46.00, a reduction of over four euro.

Indeed, all the wines, distributed in Ireland by Findlater's, are reduced while stocks last. The Sauvignon, for instance, is down from 14.99 to 12.49. But you’d need to move fast as they were selling quickly even before the tasting began.

Amuse Bouche

Roarty was making an omelette from the mushrooms Eamonn Eales had collected in Davy Long’s park that morning. They were good mushrooms, medium sized and delicately succulent, just right for a special omelette, an omelette surprise. He had chosen the best mushrooms for his own omelette; the one he was making for Eales was special because it contained not only the mushrooms from Davy Long’s park but also a handful of obnoxious, black-gilled toadstools which he himself had picked on the dunghill... He was hoping that four of them would be enough to poison his lecherous barman....

from Bogmail by Patrick McGinley

Bantry’s Maritime Hotel is an excellent base

Bantry’s Maritime Hotel

The Maritime

Bantry is an excellent base if you wish to see the glorious scenery of West Cork and the Maritime Hotel is an excellent place to stay in the town.

Like toes on a foot, but much more pleasant looking, the spectacular peninsulas spread out from Bantry. Nearest is the Sheep’s Head (a paradise for walkers), to the East is the Mizen Peninsula and the formidable views at Ireland’s south-west tip, and to the west, you have the magnificent Ring of Beara.

The Market

Right in the town itself, you may visit historic Bantry House and estate. And nearby you have Glengarriff with its forests and inlets and Garnish Island. And there is so much more within reach, Schull, Castletownsend and Baltimore, all by the sea, and to the west the incredible Healy Pass towards Kenmare. Indeed, the regular Bantry to Kenmare Road, via the Caha Pass and a few very short tunnels, is also very scenic.

I was in Bantry for a short visit last Friday and the first call was to the local Farmers Market, which takes place weekly in the marvellous and spacious Woilfe Tone Square, one of the best squares of any town in Ireland. Then I headed for Sheep’s Head and a very rewarding walk to the little lighthouse.

Sheep's Head Penisula

Manning’s Emporium at Ballylickey, on the Bantry to Glengariff road, is a regular call when I'm in the area. And I headed there later on for a “tweetup” with Karen Kenmare Foodie (@KarenCoakley) Siobhain of Sheep’s Head Producers (@SHProduceMarket) and Andrew of Manning’s (@emporiummanning). Had a lovely chat about all things food, even drink, and more besides.

Manning’s may be just a country store but it is stocked with classy produce, much of it local. Indeed, Val Manning was one of the first to support the local producers. Being a country store, you might not expect to find the highest standards here. You'd be wrong!

Three Tweeps! Siobhain (left), Karen and me

After the walk in the peninsula I was looking for something refreshing from their Sherry Bar and asked for a Fino. But Andrew came out (yes, we were sitting outside last Friday!) to say the Fino wasn't as cold as he'd like and suggested a Manzanilla instead. How about that for professionalism and knowing your stuff?

After a most satisfactory meal that evening in O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant (see link below) on the square, we strolled the few yards back to the Maritime on the quayside. The hotel is long rather than high. It has lifts but you’ll be walking a bit! Service is excellent here, very friendly at reception and in the breakfast room (where we enjoyed your standard self service hot breakfast, cold options were also available and indeed they also had a few hot specials).

Specials at O'Connor's

Service is excellent in the bar too, quite an impressive bar with a huge back-wall, divided into “cubby-holes” that hold a massive collection of spirits. The man serving in the bar was very helpful and we had an informative discussion about the merits of the new versus the old Smithwicks. Later, I noticed they sell Eight Degrees beers and Stonewell Cider.

Our well equipped room was fine and spacious. They are a family friendly hotel and have large suites available, leisure facilities (including a pool) and a spa. Check out the details that might suit you here . They have their own underground car park and that is a big help. Both the area and the hotel are highly recommended.

THE MARITIME HOTEL

The Quay
Bantry, West Cork
Ireland

• +353 27 54700
• +353 27 54701.
• info@themaritime.ie

My recent Bantry posts

Stunning Sheep's Head Peninsula

Blue Sky Friday in Bantry

Hooked in Bantry! O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant

Hooked in Bantry! O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant.

Hooked in Bantry! O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant

Swordfish

We came to O’Connor’s Seafood Restaurant in Bantry for the fish. And we were soon hooked..

We were off to a winning start with a shared plate of oysters (from their tank).  These were a mix of baked oysters, some with Dungarvan Stout and walnuts, more with garlic and herb oysters with lemon, all delicious and all quickly dispatched. Almost an argument over the last one (we got an odd number!).

Amuse Bouche

It was a quiet night in the restaurant. Indeed a very quiet Friday (07.03.14) in the town, very few cars parked around the square, and most of the other restaurants that we passed on the way back to the hotel were not busy. It was, of course, just after the recent storms. Hopefully the numbers will pick up now that Spring has arrived. Bantry is a lovely place to visit and there are many attractions in the general area.

The O’Connor’s menu changes regularly, and each day the specials are decided by what comes in from the local fishermen. We were in luck. Swordfish and monkfish were on the menu and they were cooked and presented superbly while the service throughout was friendly and efficient.

I picked the Swordfish. The steak was chargrilled with pan-fried smoked sun dried tomato and served with a roast pepper polenta cake and, not mentioned on the menu, a basket of house-made fries.

Swordfish can be a dodgy choice as some restaurants cook it for too long and it comes out dry and hard. But this was moist and tasty and the polenta and tomato cake was a gorgeous and appropriate accompaniment. The fries too vanished quickly as indeed did the shared sides of vegetables and potato.

Monkfish

The other mains was also a delicious delight: Pan-fried fillet of monkfish wrapped in smoked bacon with a divine wild mushroom and baby-leaf spinach leaf risotto. O’Connor’s had two very happy customers on their hands at this stage, the happiness helped by a smashing organic Chardonnay by Langa (DO Calatayud), a surprisingly beautiful bottle for 24.75, intense and complex aromas, fresh and fruity with a long and pleasant finish and,by the way, an ABV of 14.25%!

Took a break from the wine then while enjoying a couple of excellent desserts, a Blackberry Fool and a Mixed Berry and Champagne Sorbet. Soon, we were back on the street and strolling to the nearby hotel.

Desserts and wine.

O'Connors Seafood Restaurant, Wolfe Tone Square Bantry, Co. Cork. Tel: +353 (0)27 55664 Email: eat@oconnorsbantry.com

http://www.oconnorseafood.com/

Once an employee, Pat Kiely is now Head Chef and Owner. You’ll also find him at Willie Pa’s Restaurant, Colomane Cross, Bantry. www.williepas.com  

O'Connor's are a Good Food Ireland member and other members among their listed suppliers are: Jack McCarthy, Shannonvale Chicken, Toons Bridge, Dungarvan Brewing Co., Ballycotton Seafood, Ardsallagh Goat Cheese and Cashel Blue.

See also: Stunning Sheep’s Head Penisula

Blue Sky Friday in Bantry Market

Bantry’s Maritime Hotel is an excellent base

Blue Sky Friday in Bantry Market

Blue Sky Friday in Bantry

Arrived at Bantry Market last Friday morning and the priority was to get a coffee. And, boy, did I get a good one as Coffee Mezzo came to the rescue. Shane uses just Badger & Dodo beans and soon I was happily sipping a two shot Macchiato. He tells me that the Cortado, a similar drink but with more milk, is also very popular, especially with Spanish visitors.

Shane operates in both Bantry and Skibbereen and will be in action at the Schull market during the summer months. Expansion plans are in train and you might well see him soon in Bandon and Clonakilty Farmer Markets. And he also does events, anywhere people gather. If you see him, know his coffee, Cortado or Macchiato or just plain Americano, is top notch!

Paul Phillips, a man of many pies.

A few weeks back, I got a terrific West Cork Beef Pie from Fresh From West Cork in the English Market, so I was delighted to come across Paul Phillips, the Schull based producer at his stand in Bantry. What a selection this man has: Pork Pies, Steak Pasties, Beef and Potato Pasties, Gubbeen Cheese and Feta Pasties, Quiche (with Goats Cheese etc.), Steak and Kidney Pies, Chicken and Leek Pies, even Scotch eggs and more. So keep an eye out for Paul's pies at the West Cork Markets and also at that stall in the English Market.

While the Bantry market is not all about food, far from it, you can get quite a lot there. Gubbeen of course have their cheese and smoked meats and there is another cheese stall as well where I picked up the superb Cratloe Hills sheeps cheese from County Clare, produced by Sean and Deirdre Fitzgerald. You can get eggs, potatoes and lots of other vegetables, not to mention fruit.

The Olive Stall

There are a few hot food stands as well, including the renowned WokAbout, busy long after the market closed. But I had already bought my snack from Liliane of Crêpe a la Francaise. She does Buckwheat galettes and French style Omelettes as well as Crêpes. Following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, Liliane is a Master Crêpiere and respects the traditional Breton recipe. We certainly enjoyed a couple of her crêpes, served in a chip cone! The cone may not be traditional but is very practical.

On the first Friday of each month, a fair is held in conjunction with the market in that magnificent town square under the gaze of Theobald Wolfe Tone. But, aside from a few hens, there was no fair to speak of last Friday but I was assured that it does have a big presence here as the year rolls on.

Aside from the food, you can buy carpets and other household items, lots of bric-a-brac and certainly lots and lots of tools. I think there were at least three stalls selling hand tools there on Friday and they seemed popular.This being Bantry, you will also find a stall selling fishing gear. Quite a varied market and one that will be getting better as the days get longer.

Liliane, making a crêpe. 

See also: Stunning Sheep's Head Penisula

Bantry’s Maritime Hotel is an excellent base

Hooked in Bantry! O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant.

César Saldaña on Sherry. And where the rain in Spain really falls.

César Saldaña on Sherry. And where the rain really falls.

The rain in Spain doesn’t fall mainly on the plain. That’s the story according to César Saldaña.

And he should know. He is an expert speaker on Jerez, its wines, food, culture and history and,since 2000, has been Director General of the Consejo Regulador de las Denominación de Origen de los Vinos de Jerez. He was in Little Island's impressive Radisson Blu Hotel on Wednesday, with Wines from Spain,presenting two information sessions on Sherry.

César says the rain falls mainly on mountain tops in the Jerez area.That rain is important to sherry as is the nearby Atlantic Ocean and the local rivers, especially  the Guadalquivir. They and 300 days of sunshine help make Sherry what it is. As does the local white chalk soil (the Albariza) that captures the water and also reflects the sun upwards to the fruit.

The harvest date is getting earlier, perhaps due to global warming. For the past eight years, it has started in August rather than September as previously. In any event, rapid harvesting is essential.

The protective veil of the Flor

Sherry, as you probably know, has many different styles, from pale to dark, from dry to sweet. The dry comes  from fresh grapes while the sweet comes from grapes that have been late-harvested or sun-dried.

He took us through the details after the harvest, from the 1st Yema onwards, including the making of wine alcohol (to be added later for fortification) and, of course the Flor, the biological aging method that most famously produces the Fino and the Manzanilla. Broadly speaking, the darker sherries come via oxidative ageing, though in the corridors of the Consejo Regulador it may be more PC to use the term traditional aging.

The process continues on to the unique system known as criaderas y solera, basically stacks of casks. The row on the floor contains the oldest wine and is called the solera, the rows above (the top one contains the youngest wine) are called criaderas. As sherry is taken out (for bottling) from the bottom, new wine is added on top.

“ The wines of sherry are of different generations. No one person made that bottle. Nor can he claim that he made it.” Wines have been made here since Phoenician times and it is the traditions that make sherry so special.

The Solera

How special, we were about to find out. We started with La Goya Manzanilla by Delgado Zuleta, a very traditional house in Sanlucar. “After five years aging and protected by the flor, it still has that beautiful straw yellow colour. It has a very dry finish, an acquired taste. It is a best seller locally and  a very good example.”

César made little of the difference between Manzanillo and Fino and a well known Fino was next on the list: the Tio Pepe by Gonzalez Byass. He again pointed out the typical straw yellow colour and said it was excellent as an aperitif and with tapas. “It is a classic Fino and the best selling.”

The next wine was not pale but amber. This was a Monteagudo Amontillado, again from Delgado Zuleta. He told us that prolonged aging had led to increased concentration, still the dryness, more alcoholic with a long finish and persistent in the aftertaste. “A very good example.”

We moved a little further up the abv with the next bottle, the Villapanes Oloroso Seco from the traditional house of Emilio Hidalgo. “Rather robust and evident presence of seasoned wood, smooth in the swallow and with great persistency in the aftertaste.”

Now we were onto the sweeter sherries with English descriptors, cream for instance. That was how the English (and not just the English) liked them. Harvey's Bristol Cream has been in many an Irish home (sometimes for far too long, say from Christmas to Christmas) but it surprised more than me at the tasting.

Like the previous wines, it is made from the Palomino grape, but has come through the oxidative route and has a mahogany colour. We were told it has 120 grammes of sugar per litre (much less than the next one). It is quite a complex wine, nicely sweet (without being in any way sticky), with a lovely velvety texture. At €14.99 for a full bottle, I must put it back on buying list! Pretty good value too, as indeed are many of these sherries.

No prizes for guessing that we completed the session with a PX, shorthand for the Pedro Ximenez grape. This 30 year old Pedro Ximenez Noe is produced by Gonzalez Byass and has close to 450 grammes of sugar per litre. The colour, considering that this is originally a white wine, is amazingly dark. “It is rich and dense, yet fresh, clean and fruity, concentration is very high and you get notes of coffee, caramel, toffee, liquorice in the aftertaste.”

* I’ve probably gone on a bit longer than normal here but sherry is a fascinating subject. If you want to read more on the subject why not check out the official site here www.sherry.org/en

Slow and Low at the Chicken Inn. Swing by. And Buy.

Slow and Low at the Chicken Inn. Swing by. And Buy.

Tim and the tasting plate.

In the Chicken Inn, at the heart of the English Market, they cook their chicken and ham slowly and at a low temperature and also on the bone. You may of course buy your chickens uncooked from the big market stall but hard to resist the beautiful flavours produced by their cookers.

The Chicken Inn have been here since 1955 and Tim Mulcahy, grandson of founder John Lane, told me they started cooking in a small way in the ‘60s. Then a small rotisserie  met  a fairly regular Saturday demand, a demand that grew during the summer when the holiday season kicked in and people regularly picked up a cooked chicken for the picnics.

But gradually the demand built up and Tim’s father Jack sourced an oven in the UK and since then they have been cooking low and slow and on the bone. The meats are absolutely gorgeous. Check it out for yourself before you buy by sampling from the display plate at the stall, the succulent chicken, the flavoursome ham, their own lovely spiced beef and the distinctive ham hock.

You may prefer to cook your own but the market cooked version confers big advantages for busy parents. The ham and turkey breast is sliced and cooked for you. “All the work is done,” says Tim. “You just have to assemble it.” And, with confirmations and communions and Easter coming up, those who prefer to eat at home will be glad of the service. Indeed, over the years, many have availed of it and the reaction has always been great!

Their spiced beef, now a year round seller.

“This is real turkey, real chicken, real ham, all with real flavour and the process allows that flavour come through”, Tim emphasised. “It is different to the normal. You don't have to camouflage it with loads of mayonnaise. It is also well priced. We like to give good value to people.”

And there is independent confirmation of the Chicken Inn quality. That came in 2010 when their Honey Roast Ham won a Gold Star at the prestigious UK awards. And then there is the continuing demand for their Spiced Beef, often seen as a Christmas special. “We had always kept a bit on the counter for a few weeks in January but three years ago we just kept it on display, kept selling it and it has been a constant year round seller since. It is not a-just-for-Christmas item anymore.”

Over the decades, the Mulcahy family - Tim’s parents, Mary (nee Lane) and Jack, have always been involved - have built up a large wholesale business and now supply many restaurants and annual or once-off events such as the Michael Jackson concert, the Tall Ships, the Eurovision in Millstreet, the Cork Summer Show and Ford Week.

These major events can often put a huge demand on the business (mainly because their cooked meats sell so quickly that more are demanded at short notice) and Tim says they couldn't manage without having such a great team in place, all willing to pitch in when the going gets tough. The Chicken Inn, through the Lane and Mulcahy family and their employees, has served the market and the city well for close on 60 years. Long may they thrive!

Corfirmations, Communions, Easter. All done for you.