Imperial by name, Imperial by nature

For Corkonians, there is one place in our City (recently voted 3rd friendliest city in the world too, by the way), that captures our hearts more than any other. Maybe it's because it has been part of the Cork City landscape for long; maybe it's the Parisian feel of La Fayettes Cafe or the sumptuous surroundings of Wine Bar Seventy Six?

Thanks to our never ending summer there is still loads of rhubarb knocking about, and this is probably one of the nicest ways to partake in it. This cocktail recipe was inspired by the Rhubarb Martini that my friend and all-round awesome chef, Caitlin Ruth, makes as Deasy's Restaurant in the tiny village of Ring just outside of Clonakilty.

Something magical happens when you sit down to dine with Takashi Miyazaki. It happened the first time I visited his eponymous restaurant, Miyazaki, on my birthday a couple of years ago, and it happened again last week when we sat at the Kappou counter of his new fine-dining restaurant ichigo ichie.

Who doesn't love a crumble? Is it one of the most comforting and versatile of all puddings. But whatever about the fruit, it is getting a good crumble topping that can make it or break it. No one, and I mean no one, wants a soggy crumble. Likewise, if it's likely to knock out half your teeth, that's no good either! A crunchy butter granolary (not even a word) texture is what I would consider a total winner.

There are some car journeys that are a pleasure to undertake. One of my favourites is heading out towards the stunning Beara Peninsula in West Cork. Stunning ocean views, rugged mountains and windblown fields dotted with weather worn animals and traditional farmsteads.

I moved to Ireland 13 years ago, and was visiting for many a year before that. Even in those heady days of my earliest culinary adventures I had heard, seen and tasted the proof of Kinsale’s reputation for being the “gourmet capital of Ireland.” 

Clonakilty is a town that is well rehearsed in the traditional Irish Céad Míle Fáilte. If the town had a middle name it would be ‘Welcome’. Blessed by both its position to the Atlantic Coast and award winning Inchydoney Beach, the rolling verdant hills peppered with happy cows, Clonakilty is a place that’s more than comfortable in its own skin.

I'm starting to really appreciate bitter vegetables. It started on the lead up to Christmas last with chicory and doesn't see any sign of receding. Bitter is a taste that is only just started to be explored in more detail. I have a theory that our curiosity with bitter flavours has been piqued only because of our familiarity with gin.

My first ever contact with Blood Oranges was many, many years ago as a child. I didn't understand what they were, why they were different from 'normal' oranges and of course, putting the word 'blood' before 'orange' is one sure fire way to put small kids off eating these. So I didn't, or maybe I did but I just didn't realise it. Either way, I don't recall eating them again until a few years ago when Blood Oranges ascended to the ranks of bona fide "food trend" and then they were everywhere.

The second we heard award winning chef Rob Krawczyk was back in West Cork with an eight-week residency at the beautiful Glebe Gardens in West Cork, we booked our table. This is my review of a dining experience that is almost impossible to describe, but simply has to be shared.

Imperial by name, Imperial by nature

For Corkonians, there is one place in our City (recently voted 3rd friendliest city in the world too, by the way), that captures our hearts more than any other. Maybe it’s because it has been part of the Cork City landscape for long; maybe it’s the Parisian feel of La Fayettes Cafe or the sumptuous surroundings of Wine Bar Seventy Six?

Well, not that anyone ever needed an excuse to extend that grá to a visit to The Pembroke Restaurant, but since Jerome Joyce strolled into town with his band of merry chefs there is now one extra reason to go weak at the knees for The Imperial Hotel on South Mall, in Cork…boi.

Continue reading “Imperial by name, Imperial by nature”

Rhubarb Ocean Gin Martini

Thanks to our never ending summer there is still loads of rhubarb knocking about, and this is probably one of the nicest ways to partake in it. This cocktail recipe was inspired by the Rhubarb Martini that my friend and all-round awesome chef, Caitlin Ruth, makes as Deasy’s Restaurant in the tiny village of Ring just outside of Clonakilty.

I would never profess to be as much a master at the art of cocktail making as she is, but I think that this is pretty damn good go! I’m using Gin as my martini base, but of course you could just as well swap this out for the classic vodka and vermouth combo. The other twist here is that I am using juice from raw rhubarb here so no cooking involved!

Rhubarb Ocean Gin Martini

Ingredients (makes min 4 cocktails): 

  • Liquid from 1 bunch of rhubarb, trimmed, chopped, pulped and strained
  • Per person: 50ml of Beara Ocean Gin
  • Juice of 4 sweet oranges (Jaffa/Blood)
  • 1 tbsp Sugar syrup / Agave syrup
  • Vanilla Dusting Sugar

Method:

  • Into a blitzer of some kind (smoothie maker, processor etc), add the chopped rhubarb and process until the rhubarb is completely pulped. You may need to add a dash of water to help this process along.
  • Arrange some muslin/clean tea towel over a bowl or jug and spoon out the rhubarb pulp into the cloth.
  • Gather up the ends of the cloth and pull tightly into a ball. Begin squeezing the juice out from the pulp into the bowl/jug. Get all the juice out, this might take a few minutes to do properly.
  • Once all the juice has been gathered, decant into a large mason jar or a cocktail shaker. Add in the gin, orange juice and sugar syrup or agave and add plenty of ice.
  • Prepare your cocktail glasses by running the empty orange segments around the top of the glass and then dusting with the icing sugar. Do this by placing some of the sugar onto a plate and dipping the glass rim into it. The orange juice will help it to stick to the rim.
  • Shake the cocktail mix vigorously and then strain into the prepared glasses.
  • Garnish with a small slice of orange and ENJOY!

ichigo ichie – the story of a once in a lifetime experience

Something magical happens when you sit down to dine with Takashi Miyazaki. It happened the first time I visited his eponymous restaurant, Miyazaki, on my birthday a couple of years ago, and it happened again last week when we sat at the Kappou counter of his new fine-dining restaurant ichigo ichie.

For me, this is what happens: first, the excitement. The thought of trying something that is a genuinely new experience. Secondly, the fear. The fear of chopsticks specifically, for nature saw it fit to provide me with thumbs that are worse than useless and render me unable to ever use chopsticks correctly.

Thirdly, you are transported. Just as I forgot where I was the first time I ate at Miyazaki, the meditation of noodles, broth and contemplative music sending me off far beyond the boundaries of Cork, so yet again within the cocoon of ichigo ichie, somewhere around the eighth course, did I notice I had transcended any physical place. Was I in Cork? I think so. But yet again I could have as easily been in Tokyo, Okinawa, London, New York…

The point is that when Takashi is crafting food into art for us to eat, he has the ability to transport from what you thought you knew, what you thought food could be, in a way so gentle that you barely even notice it is happening.

At the Kappou counter

But let me take you back to the beginning…

The excitement when word began to spread that Takashi was opening a fine dining Japanese restaurant in Cork was beyond palpable. When people spoke about it there was a frisson of electricity, a glint in the eye of anticipation, chatter thinly disguised as wanton gossip: Any news of when it is opening? When is the website going live? Have you seen the space? Have you spoken to Takashi about it at all? In all my years, never have I experienced a tautly strung eagerness around a restaurant opening as this one.

Three weeks before the opening, the online booking went live and a block of initial dates for April, May, June and July were released. To say I went “in like Flynn” is an understatement. My husband, Mr Flavour, was barely awake, one eye open battling a hangover as I burst into the room like a rambunctious child, phone and credit card in hand shouting Friday or Saturday repeatedly at him until he finally asked me to shut up and explain myself. We settled on the Saturday, 6.30pm, for the Kappou style sitting. Booking made, I left Mr Flavour to collapse back into bed to repair the damage I had inflicted upon his hangover.

There are three options to choose from when dining at ichigo ichie. Miyabi Kappou – or at the counter, five seats reserved for an up-close and personal dining experience watching Takashi create the dishes on the menu. Nagomi “Harmony Dining” seating 12 and situated in the middle of the restaurant and finally, Zen “Japanese Garden” at the front of the restaurant in a cool calm space flanked by a garden of white gravel, an arrangement of large slate coloured stones, bamboo and candles.

The décor is classic Japanese with a modern edge. Dark charcoal grey against a stark white floor; the Kappou counter gleaming in smooth blonde wood and Takashi in his Japanese chef whites at the head of it all, in total effortless command.

Creating Squid Noodles

After promptly knocking my chopsticks on the floor the moment we were walked to our seats, I decided I needed a drink to calm down. The drinks menu is illustrated by Takashi with dishes from the menu, an indication of how personal this restaurant is to him. I ordered a rather punchy Plum Sake which frankly was so delicious I ended up having, let us say, more than one.

Tofu, White Sesame, Rhubarb

 

The words ‘fine dining’ can conjure up thoughts of a staid and stiff experience firmly outside our comfort zone. But as soon as the dishes were presented to us, the sake flowed and the chat amongst the five Kappou diners started to liven up, it became obvious that the fine-dining element here was very much about the gastronomic experience and nothing at all to do with polished diner etiquette.

The menu is a Japanese tasting menu, known as Kaiseki, 12 courses in length and changing every six

Tuna and Salmon Nigiri, Soy Foam, Ginger

weeks to reflect the seasonality of the Irish and Japanese ingredients on the menu. Although the words and descriptions may seem unfamiliar, the flow is as you would expect a tasting menu to be: a series of main courses and side dishes flanked by an amuse bouche, sushi, starter selection, broths, fish and dessert. There is a definite flow of flavours building from delicate to powerful, through hits of intense saltiness, sweetness and layers of heart thumping umami.

It would be utterly pointless of me to try and explain each dish to you: how it tasted, the textures and aromas, the beauty of the presentation. But what I can say is that this goes down as one of my all-time

favourite dining experiences. I say experience rather than meal because this is what ichigo ichie is and what

Daikon, Brown Crab, Mitsuba, Ginger & Bonito Dashi

it does, for long after I have departed this restaurant what will remain are the indelible taste memories, laughing at the thought of Takashi walking around Douglas in the early hours of the morning collecting cherry blossom from the trees; admiring the carefully chosen pottery for each individual course, studying the Japanese calligraphy in Takashi’s own hand; even chatting with Ría about coffee and the space age toilet (you’ll know what I mean when you go there yourself!), and of course watching the Master himself at work.

The beauty of the Kappou counter is the proximity to the action. Somehow, Takashi must balance serving 25 people 12 courses of perfectly presented and flavoured food and chat to the five inquisitive diners at his counter. Watching Takashi work with his knife rhythmically slicing the squid into fine ribbons of noddles, or his movements almost tai chi like as he forms the sushi rice for the nigiri and then each plate served up to us with two hands, an almost imperceptible bow,  a smile and a lightening quick description of the dish: These are the practiced motions of someone who is consummately familiar with his art. To acknowledge that this was only the restaurants second day is unfathomable, as everything is flowing with metronomic constancy. 

Tuna, Squid Noodles, Monkf

It is hard to say with certainty what my favourite moments during the meal were as they were innumerate, but these few things have created taste memories that I will go back and relieve time and again:

  • The mackerel nigiri
  • The salted cherry blossom on top of the set asparagus curd
  • The ginger and bonito dashi broth served with the daikon, castletownbere brown crab and mitsuba
  • Those squid noodles with the quail egg yolk
  • Soy milk, chocolate, mochi rice cake, mocha and Jameson cask whiskey
Ox Tongue, Wild Garlic, Sansho Pepper, Yuzukosho & Onion Sauce

I asked Takashi if he was happy. For a brief moment he looked taken aback as if this was the first time being asked. But then a broad smile swept across his face, a deep exhalation of breath before saying that he was, very happy indeed.

ichigo ichie translates as “once in a lifetime” – an experience that diners may never have had before,

Chicken Thigh, Turbot Fin, Broad Bean, Egg & Dashi

and may not experience again. And although my plan is that this visit will not be the only one I ever make, I know this: the next time I do go the menu will be sufficiently different that I will indeed have another once in a lifetime experience.

Rice Bran, Aubergine, Purple Ninja Radish, Cucumber; Channelled Wrack, Carrot, Burdock, Shiitake & Dashi; Red Miso, Tofu, Chive & Dashi

But more than what the diner experiences, I cannot help but feel as though ichigo ichie is as much about Takashi’s own story and journey: His own once in a lifetime experience in bringing his unique approach to gastronomy finally to life. A chef is one of our last true journeyman trades: A product of years of study and learning, travelling, building on failures and successes alike. Takashi Miyazaki has taken all of that, all of those years, and wrapped it up into a gift given to us.

Soy Milk, Chocolate, Mochi Rice Cake, Mocha & Jameson Cask Whiskey

www.ichigoichie.ie

Kaiseki menu is a set menu priced at €95pp. Drinks and gratuity are extras.

Rhubarb & Orange Crumble

Who doesn’t love a crumble? Is it one of the most comforting and versatile of all puddings. But whatever about the fruit, it is getting a good crumble topping that can make it or break it. No one, and I mean no one, wants a soggy crumble. Likewise, if it’s likely to knock out half your teeth, that’s no good either! A crunchy butter granolary (not even a word) texture is what I would consider a total winner.

First the fruit then the crumble.

I find that cooking up the fruit first, then topping with your freshly baked crumble is the perfect way to get the balance of soft fruit and buttery crunch that is the epitomy of perfect crumble-faction (again, not even a word, but I don’t even care anymore!)

Finally, let us talk custard. My love of custard knows no bounds (as my love letter to it recently revealed – click here to read that one). And as much as I love a bit of whipped or clotted cream as the next person, if anyone deigns put anything other than custard with this crumble recipe, in the immortal words of Liam Neeson, I will hunt you down and kill you.

Aside from these few unbreakable and non-negotiable rules (ha!), let crumble (with custard..) be thy saviour. You totally deserve it!

Ingredients:

For the Fruit:

Frankly, I would say that the quantity of ingredients for the fruit base is entirely up to you. Because once you’ve had your fill of fruit and crumble, this will go just as nice over ice cream or with yogurt, over pancakes and all sorts of things. As a basic ratio though, I would say 1 bunch of rhubarb to 2 orange. Ideally blood orange, but if you are making this once that season is over then go for the sweetest orange you can get.

For the Crumble Topping:

You’re gonna love me, because this makes absolutely bucketloads of crumble topping. This is good news because it means you can totally indulge as a pud, plus it actually is delicious for breakfast (weekend breakfast, because it is a tad indulgent!), over yogurt or sprinkled over sliced banana (with custard – OMG!). Just keep it stored in an air tight container after it has completely cooled and it will stay perfectly crunchy!

  • 150g plain flour
  • 100g butter – super chilled
  • 85g dark soft sugar
  • handful of nuts: pecans and sliced almonds work a treat here
  • sprinkle of cinnamon

Method:

  • Heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
  • Use a processor blitz together the flour, butter and sugar to a fine breadcrumb consistency.
  • Tip out onto a lined baking tray and crumble in your pecans and almonds (or whatever nuts you have to hand).
  • Then take some of the crumble topping mixture and press clumps of it together. The butter will bind it together. Work through until it looks like the kind of texture you think would be fairly feckin’ awesome.
  • Place the crumble mixture in the fridge. This is for the butter to firm back up again so when you bake it, the nuggets don’t lose their shape.
  • Meanwhile, chop the rhubarb into 5cm portions and place in a pan with the zest of 1 orange, juice of two, a 1 tbsp. sugar and a little drop of vanilla paste (if you have it).
  • Cover with a lid and cook down slowly until completely stewed down.
  • Uncover and continue to cook until some of the excess moisture has evaporated off.
  • Take out your crumble mixture from the fridge and pop it in the oven. Cook for about 20 mins watching closely so it doesn’t burn.
  • Take out of the oven and turn the mixture careful not to break it down. Place back in the oven for a further 10 mins, but again keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
  • In a bowl, ladle out some of the fruit mixture and top with your crumble mixture. Dollop some custard over it, settle down and enjoy every last mouthful!

Of course it goes without saying that this crumble topping works well with any stewed fruit so its great for the changing fruit seasons. Likewise, experiment with flavours that go with rhubarb – a little bit of stem ginger for example would add a nice bit of sweet heat to everything!

ENJOY!

Beara Distillery – 9 reasons to fall in love with Beara Ocean Gin

There are some car journeys that are a pleasure to undertake. One of my favourites is heading out towards the stunning Beara Peninsula in West Cork. Stunning ocean views, rugged mountains and windblown fields dotted with weather worn animals and traditional farmsteads.

The winding roads force you to slow down, enjoy the view; enjoy the journey. And I always do! Especially on the day when I was undertaking this enjoyable sojourn to pay a visit to Beara Distillery located in the picturesque fishing village of Castletownbere, where, they claim, the cure for everything is sea air and salt water

Continue reading “Beara Distillery – 9 reasons to fall in love with Beara Ocean Gin”

Kinsale Food and Drink Guide

I moved to Ireland 13 years ago, and was visiting for many a year before that. Even in those heady days of my earliest culinary adventures I had heard, seen and tasted the proof of Kinsale’s reputation for being the “gourmet capital of Ireland.” 

This article was first published on TheTaste.ie in July 2016. It has been updated in April 2018.

http://thetaste.ie/wp/kinsale-food-drink-travel-guide/

Over the years, it has fought hard to retain its crown as many other towns and cities across Ireland have asserted their right to be as equally acknowledged on the grand stage of culinary virtuosity as its founding father: Galway, Waterford, Dublin – naturally; as well as the sibling rivalry of the myriad other West Cork towns discreetly nudging up alongside Kinsale.

The challenge is this: when you have self-proclaimed yourself the Numero Uno in something as relentlessly creative and merciless as the food world, where do you go from there?  And how do you do it to satisfy both locals and tourists alike to keep things growing apace? Continue reading “Kinsale Food and Drink Guide”

Clonakilty Food & Drink Travel Guide – From Brewery Town to Foodie Town

Clonakilty is a town that is well rehearsed in the traditional Irish Céad Míle Fáilte. If the town had a middle name it would be ‘Welcome’. Blessed by both its position to the Atlantic Coast and award winning Inchydoney Beach, the rolling verdant hills peppered with happy cows, Clonakilty is a place that’s more than comfortable in its own skin.

This article was first published on TheTaste.ie in July 2016. Information has been updated April 2018.

Whilst often times Kinsale is hailed as the gourmet destination of West Cork, Clonakilty is its more understated cousin that is quietly growing its reputation as a world-class gourmet destination.

Clonakilty’s proud food history dates back to the 1600’s and the market that remains still so vital to the community today. For nearly 200 years, the town was home to the Deasy & Co brewhouse, famous for its Clonakilty Wrastler porter, giving rise to “The Brewery Town” moniker. The old Mill, long since silenced, would have been vital to the brewing industry as well other essential produce; and the fertile soil lent itself to great agriculture, both animal and vegetable.
Continue reading “Clonakilty Food & Drink Travel Guide – From Brewery Town to Foodie Town”

Carrot, Radicchio, Orange and Ricotta Salad

I’m starting to really appreciate bitter vegetables. It started on the lead up to Christmas last with chicory and doesn’t see any sign of receding. Bitter is a taste that is only just started to be explored in more detail. I have a theory that our curiosity with bitter flavours has been piqued only because of our familiarity with gin.

Gin itself can be biter from juniper, but look at what is happening with tonic waters. My prediction that craft tonic water will start to be a trend that sees us choosing that over a Ballygowan has yet to take flight, but I am rarely wrong about such things, so bear with me!

Continue reading “Carrot, Radicchio, Orange and Ricotta Salad”

Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

My first ever contact with Blood Oranges was many, many years ago as a child. I didn’t understand what they were, why they were different from ‘normal’ oranges and of course, putting the word ‘blood’ before ‘orange’ is one sure fire way to put small kids off eating these. So I didn’t, or maybe I did but I just didn’t realise it. Either way, I don’t recall eating them again until a few years ago when Blood Oranges ascended to the ranks of bona fide “food trend” and then they were everywhere.

Taking the decision to revisit Blood Oranges has to be one of my better ones. I have revelled in their versatility, whether that’s in drinks, sweet or savoury dishes. You will find other recipes with this hallowed fruit amongst the blog, and I can declare, somewhat immodestly, that every single one of them are totally banging – and that includes this recipe too! Laughably simple to make, and absolutely flipping delicious, please do yourself a favour and get your fill of the rest of this year’s Blood Orange season and make this Upside Down cake immediately. Clotted cream is a non-negotiable. I mean it.

Ingredients:

For the upside down bit…

  • 50g softened butter
  • 50g golden caster sugar
  • 4 or 5 Blood Oranges

For the Cake batter…

  • 100g soft butter
  • 100g golden caster sugar
  • 100g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1tsp vanilla paste
  • 2 large free range eggs

Method:

  • Set the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan preferably).
  • Zest two of the oranges into a bowl. Using a whisk, beat together the butter, sugar and orange zest from the topping ingredients until light and fluffy.
  • Spread the butter and sugar mix over the bottom and sides of some form of 20cm cake tin…whatever you have to hand will work!
  • Top and tail the blood oranges. Using a sharp knife, cut down the length of each orange deep enough to take off all the skin and the pith exposing the jewelled juicy flesh of the orange. Don’t worry if you take some of the orange flesh off too, you’ll be making using of this later!
  • Slice the oranges into 2cm slices. Pop out any of the pips and the bit of pith that runs down through the centre of the orange and place the orange slices into the buttered cake tin.
  • In a clean bowl, place all of the cake ingredients together and whisk. No need to bother sieving the flour.
  • Spoon out the cake batter ontop of the sliced oranges and place in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes. Test with a skewer and if it comes out clean then it’s done.
  • Remember those left over pieces of orange peel? Squeeze any juice from those pieces and then brush over the cooked cake mixture, then leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 5 mins.
  • Use a pallet knife to work the cake free from the sides of the tin, place a plate over the top of the cake tin, turn over quickly, knock on the bottom and lift off the cake tin as your cake slides out.

Slice and serve with clotted cream and, seriously…ENJOY!

Review: Rob Krawczyk Residency at Glebe Gardens

The second we heard award winning chef Rob Krawczyk was back in West Cork with an eight-week residency at the beautiful Glebe Gardens in West Cork, we booked our table. This is my review of a dining experience that is almost impossible to describe, but simply has to be shared.

Chefs are a wandering sort of folk. It’s in their nature, I feel, as curiosity gets the better of them and the urge to untether and head off on some new adventure gets too much to handle. That curiosity takes many forms: travel to discover new ingredients, food cultures and cookery practices and pop ups are the most obvious examples of this curiosity in action.

But if you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that some of these curious and wandering chefs are reappearing in very out of the way venues for a defined block of time: these are Residencies, an experimental hybrid of established venues and guest-chef takeovers that are producing extraordinary results.

Rob Krawczyk

One such residency is original West Cork native, former chef of Brabazon at Tankardstown Hotel and voted Best Leinster Chef in 2015 and 2016 Rob Krawczyk. Mr Flavour and I took a spin out to Glebe Gardens in Baltimore, West Cork at the beginning of Rob’s first week. We were, still are in fact, blown away by our experience.

I saw something wiz by in my Twitter feed about Rob and Glebe and immediately phoned through to book a table for two on the first Saturday night of Rob’s residency. We managed to get a table at a really early time, but I took it – no way was I missing out on this chance!

Sunset in Baltimore – view from the Glebe

If anyone reading this has never visited Glebe Gardens before, then put it in your list! Part café, part shop, part edible gardens, part outdoor amphitheatre for the best gigs in Ireland (yes, even if it’s raining – especially so maybe!) it is a magical place. It takes hard work and passion to run such a multi-purpose business with the kind of relaxed effortlessness that is on display here. In the café by day, Tessa Perry runs a kitchen turning out a brunch/lunch menu that utilises as much produce from the garden as possible, and sources everything else locally. The food is fabulous; the service is warm and genuine and then of course there is that incredible setting – cascading gardens down to a rocky overhang that plunges into the Atlantic Ocean. It was already perfect. And then Rob came along.

Rob had left Brabazon earlier on in the year with the purpose to come back home to West Cork and set up a restaurant of his own. But what to do in the meantime whilst waiting for the perfect location to show itself. A good friend of his, food writer Joe McNamee, had suggested that maybe the Glebe maybe interested in hosting a residency over the summer. Access to garden fresh produce and surrounded by a wealth of award winning food producers, you can imagine there wasn’t much in the way of arm twisting to be done. Clearly a deal was struck, and he is now roughly four weeks into the Residency. I simply urge you to book a table. Mr Flavour and I will certainly be looking for a gap in the diary to get back down there again ourselves before it’s finished. And I will fight you for it.

Rob’s ethos for the menu is simple: just 4 elements on the plate, don’t overcomplicate things and let the ingredients speak for themselves. The menu reads simply as just the four elements of each dish. The dishes are presented with precision, as you would expect, pretty as a picture with every element clearly defined. The technical skill being employed behind each element is obfuscated by the harmony of flavours. You’re not being faced with a brash Tchaikovsky symphony that bashes the living shite out of every instrument and doesn’t know when to stop. Instead, it’s an exquisite performance of a string quartet playing all the right notes in all the right order: brilliance in simplicity.

Bread & Butter

Two delicious house made breads with butter whipped with Dillisk (seaweed) and finished with gold salt.

Bred & Butter, Mackerel Cones

Doesn’t everyone just have that hiding in their cupboard?! I loved the idea of putting a precious item such as gold ontop of a humble ingredient such as butter. Irish butter is of course the gold standard, so why not!

Amuse 1: Whipped Mackerel Cones

Nestled inside a mini waffle cone was a creamy mousse made with smoked mackerel (we guess from the Woodcock Smokery), flavoured with horseradish and topped with some pickled red onion and marigold petals. Quite frankly, we would have been happy if we left at this point! A solitary mouthful of the kind of joy that shouldn’t usually be expressed in a public setting.

Pickled Baby Beets, Horseradish, Soil

Amuse 2: Pickled Baby Beets, Horseradish, Soil

Two dainty baby beets: one deep purple, the other golden pickled just so with the leaves still intact and filled with a fresh horseradish cream. These two flavours is one of my most favourite parings and this didn’t disappoint. The soil was a mix of dehydrated olive, burnt onions and something else we couldn’t quite make out – a balance of sweet and earthy that literally rooted the sweet beets and horseradish together. Presented in such a way as to encourage you to eat the whole thing and leave nothing behind. By this stage, we knew we were going to be in for one amazing dinner!

Starter 1: Sea Tomato

Sea Tomato

It may look like a tomato and smell like a tomato, but it isn’t a tomato! A gel made from red tomatoes is cloaked around a ball of ocean fresh Irish Albacore Tuna Tartare. Hidden underneath is a puree of lovage – a herb that is making a comeback on restaurant menu’s this summer, but a flavour I haven’t had since childhood when my mum grew this herb that none of us knew what to do with! It is a distinctive flavour and aroma – somewhere between parsley and medicinal, but a flavour that instantly transported back to being a child in the garden with my mum and granddad in Summer, tending the garden and picking vegetables, fruits and herbs for dinner. This little mound of nostalgia sat atop a soil of dehydrated black olive – the perfect earthy setting. A tomato stem was placed on top of the whole arrangement so you are enveloped by the aroma of vine fresh tomatoes from the greenhouse as the plate is set before you. Such a divine little mouthful I haven’t experienced for many years: the creativity, the fun, the superb flavour combinations and of course the complimentary, and most welcomed, trip down memory lane.

Tomato Carpaccio, Peas, Chickweed

Starter 2: Tomato Carpaccio with Peas and Chickweed

If anyone else was to present you with a dish that was essentially raw vegetables and some weeds from the garden, you’d think they had lost their minds. But in Rob’s hands, orbs of golden cherry tomato sliced thinly and dressed in a raw pea puree, dotted about with just-podded raw peas and finished with a precision scattering of chickweed, amaranth and allium flower petals was not only a work of art, but a showcase of a chefs appreciation of the beauty of natural ingredients and their ability to do all the hard work for you! This is a demonstration of a well-trained palate and the modesty of a chef who knows that sometimes the chef does not have to impose themselves on every plate of food created. Another trip down memory lane too, of being kids and picking fresh peas; podding and devouring too many leaving not many for the pot for tea. Happy days…

Refresher: Rhubarb and Sugar

Rhubarb & Sugar

Pretty sure if we’d have done a straw pole of the diners before this course came out, we all would have expected a sorbet. Well, we would have all felt collectively silly at our lack of imagination! Instead we were served a Sherbert: sticks of compressed rhubarb dusted in fine sugar. A grown up version of a sherbet dip if you will – sweet and sour at the same time. It was a total hoot!

Hake, Squid Ink, Fennel Pollan

Fish Course: Hake with Fennel and Ink

Hake is the king of Irish fish. Meaty, flavoursome and flaky – it’s the perfect advertisement for how perfect our local fish is. Wrapped in thin ribbons of courgette and finished with dots of fennel pollen,majestically seated in a lemony pond of buerre blanc brazenly juxtaposed with a swirl of black squid ink and the chlorophyll green intensity of fennel oil. The four predominant colours on the plate: white, green, black, lemon are almost punkish in contrast to delicate flavours of this dish. Triumphant!

Meat Course: Hay Smoked Duck with Yeast Cauliflower, Onion, Nasturtium 

Hay Smoked Duck, Yeast Cauliflower, Nasturtium

Skeaghanore Duck is such an amazing product that it’s hard to know what you could do with it to improve upon it. This course did just that. We guessed that there was probably no less than three stages to cooking the Duck: sous vide (the duck was melt in the mouth tender and still red inside), smoking and pan-frying. We could be wrong, and certainly wouldn’t profess to know in which order these would happen, but it was the only way we could account for how the duck could be so beautifully tender, yet the fat so well rendered down leaving just the crispy skin and of course the wonderful aroma of hay from the smoking. I don’t profess to understand what Yeast Cauliflower is precisely, but what is creates is a puree smoother than any silk and a flavour of roasted cauliflower that is sweet, earthy but completely bereft of the sulphuric bitterness that is so common of brassica’s. The onion was like no onion I have every tasted before – intensely sweet and burnished, a duck jus perfect for mopping and nasturtium leaves for a peppery, vegetal hit. This was Mr Flavour’s favourite dish of the night – more astonishing for the fact that he usually refers to cauliflower as “The Devil’s Vegetable”. Quite a turnaround then!

Sabayone, Meadowsweet, Olive Oil

 Dessert: Sabyone with Meadowsweet and Olive Oil

For anyone that doesn’t know, Meadowsweet is a wild flower that grows in hedgerows and ditches all summer long and has an intense honey sweet aroma. The whole plant has medicinal values – flower, stem, leaves and root and in medieval times was used to sweeten honey mead known as “Mead Sweet” or nowadays, Meadowsweet. In the past couple of years, this wild flower has been slowly making its way into our lives – firstly by foragers, and now by chefs, like Rob, who like to bring in a wild element to dishes. This dessert was light enough to float away and resembled a cloud too – scattered with meringue pieces, chopped pistachio’s and almonds – it almost had a nougatine quality to the finishing flavour. It was the best encore to the courses that came before it.

We finished the remainder of the Italian red, and sunk a couple of espressos. We were delighted with what we had just had the honour of experiencing. Hats off too the hard working staff both front of house and in the kitchen – particularly to the Perry sisters for opening the space for evening dining and the vision to see the mutual benefit of someone of Rob’s calibre to nestle in for eight weeks.

Throughout the meal, Rob had taken me back to a journey through my childhood: lovage, fresh peas, tomatoes from the greenhouse, hay, sherbert fizz and nougat. Like a Peter Pan meal, we were allowed for one evening to be like kids again but in a very grown up kind of way. I simply cannot wait to go back, and what’s more I cannot wait for the day when I can book a table at Rob’s own restaurant.

Did I almost forget to mention, that this feast is priced at just €50p/head? Pinch yourself…

For more info, visit the website: www.glebegardens.com 

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