Nestled in the heart of West Cork, Ireland lies an extraordinary gem known as The Menu – a unique culinary experience that marries the best of West Cork cuisine with the splendour of Italian vineyards. With its stunning location overlooking the Beara Peninsula, the restaurant has quickly become one of the region’s most popular dining destinations. The Menu’s innovative menu and wine selection, paired with warm and welcoming service, has created an exceptional dining experience that leaves diners eager to return. In this article, we explore the history, cuisine, and ambience of The Menu, uncovering what makes it so much more than just a place to eat.
The Menu, a food enthusiast, recently had the pleasure of spending a few blissful days in Valencia, Spain, where he visited Europe’s largest covered food market, the Mercat Central. However, the trip was dampened by a few of his family members falling ill, leaving The Menu feeling that he had not fully enjoyed the trip. Upon returning home to stormy weather, he longed to go back to the airport and continue exploring.
Fionnuala Harkin’s Caravino – The Wine Shed tour of Tuscany presents an opportunity to do just that. In June 2022, Harkin will bring her concept of the Caravino wine experience and online Wine Shed virtual wine lovers forum to a luxury Tuscan villa. The exclusive travelling party of 16 will enjoy vineyard visits, lunches, wine tastings, cookery classes, as well as cooking by a local chef and wine, olive oil tastings. Writer Maeve Bancroft will also deliver writing workshops as part of the experience. With a self-service breakfast, lunch, and casual dinner, along with a fully stocked fridge, guests will have nothing to worry about. The local town, stocked with restaurants, cafes, and shops, is within walking distance, and the pool overlooks rolling Tuscan landscapes. Flights and transfers are not included, but collection can be arranged from the two nearest airports at Pisa and Florence. Contact [email protected] for further details or check out @wineshedwestcork on Instagram.
The Menu currently has a stack of new cookbooks on his desk, but he is particularly impressed with The Gathered Table: A Taste of Home. This 160-page hardback cookbook is a collaboration celebrating the relationship between food and home, featuring 55 recipes from across Ireland’s food world. It includes contributions from bakers, butchers, farmers, food champions, producers, shopkeepers, and chefs, all celebrating the impact of food in the community of a home. Much more than just a cookbook, it is originated and compiled by Gather & Gather Ireland and edited by Kristin Jensen from boutique Irish publishing house, Nine Bean Rows. It costs €30, with all proceeds going to the Peter McVerry Trust, which supported over 12,000 people last year and gave over 900 people the key to their own homes. The Gathered Table: A Taste of Home is available in bookshops and independent retailers and online at ninebeanrowsbooks.com.
After a two-year hiatus, Blas na hÉireann’s “Backyard at Blas” is back on the road, providing networking and learning opportunities for Irish food producers. As part of an event on April 27 in The Naul Village, Co. Dublin, the event offers the Irish food-producing community a chance to mingle and listen to leading industry speakers offering support and advice to established and start-up businesses. Topics covered include strategic positioning, knowing your brand, and a deep dive into sales.
The Menu highly recommends a visit to Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, to explore the tail end of the West Waterford Festival of Food. The street market in Grattan Square is a wonderful place to wear the nosebag.
This week’s special is wasabi leaves from McCormack’s Family Farms and Beotanics in Kilkenny. McCormack Family Farms, which grows on a grander scale in Co. Meath, has partnered with Beotanics to produce wasabi leaves and petioles on a substantially larger scale, hoping to attract national attention from the hospitality sector. The Menu has long been a fan of oriental salad leaves, including wasabi, and these showed well, with a crisp, peppery bite, albeit something of a distant echo of the real pungent heat derived from the plant’s rhizome or root, when grated, which they hope to have available on a commercial basis from next year. To create a filling supper, The Menu shredded leftover braised lamb shoulder from O’Mahony’s in the English Market, added chili flakes and spiced rice mixed with diced petiole, then topped that with a fistful of wasabi leaves and Goatsbridge wasabi mayo, and packaged it all in a tortilla wrap.
In conclusion, The Menu had an unfortunate trip to Valencia due to family illness, but Fionnuala Harkin’s Caravino – The Wine Shed Tour presents an opportunity to make up for it with an epicurean week in a luxury Tuscan villa. The Gathered Table: A Taste of Home is a cookbook that celebrates the impact of food in the community, with all proceeds going to the Peter McVerry Trust. Blas na hÉireann’s “Backyard at Blas” resumes to provide networking and learning opportunities for Irish food producers, and the West Waterford Festival of Food in Dungarvan would be a lovely weekend activity. Finally, McCormack’s Family Farms and Beotanics in Kilkenny have partnered to produce wasabi leaves and petioles on a larger scale, offering a new range of salads to the hospitality sector, which is much-loved by The Menu.
