Stay Tuned

The right edge

The merit of a really good jam is simple to assess: is it gone, vanished, consumed, demolished and snapped up within 24 hours of entering your house? If the jam in question is Eilis Gough's fantastic Mileeven Organic Raspberry Preserve, then the answer is; yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. This is a mega-jam, with a beautiful gentle set, excellent balance of fruit with just the right edge to keep the flavour true and lively. Don't miss it in good food shops.

The Narrows

Will and James Brown's The Narrows restaurant and accommodation, on the waterfront in Portaferry is relaunching, with a series of refurbishments, and with an all new team succeeding the great Danny Millar in the kitchen. Paul Graham and Santino Magno will be rattling the pots and pans, whilst Caroline Kerr will be heading up things out front. This is a promising new direction for a great address, and we look forward to enjoying the new bar and the refurbished rooms.

Email: info@narrows.co.uk Website: www.narrows.co.uk

Slow Food in Cork

Slow Food's second Baltimore bash was another great success, with several exciting new producers to look out for at local markets in and around West Cork.

Richard Fitzgerald presented some very fine smoked trout (superb) along with excellent smoked fish pates and a whiskey gravadlax, all very promising (shorescape@eircom.net) Judy Watton had her brilliant Ardagh Castle Goat's Cheese for sale, and this is already one of our favourites; beautiful texture, truly fine taste, and distinctively different (028-20547).

And Clodagh McKenna (no relation, more's the pity) not only cooked superb lunches for the day, but also showed some of the smart foods that have made her one of the emerging stars of the market scene; look out for her excellent pastas, pestos and a cracking pickled cucumber. Clodagh is on 087-683 1602, and sells at Kenmare on Wednesdays, Clonakilty on Thursdays, and Midleton on Saturdays.

New market in Kenmare

And Clodagh will be one of the people kicking off that new Wednesday market in Kenmare, County Kerry on June 12th, from 10am to 3pm. Any producers interested in taking part should contact Olga on 064-84236. The market will be held in the grounds of Casey's Restaurant, opposite the Kenmare Bay Hotel.

Forever America

There is a tiny corner in Cork that will be forever America.

Huh?

That's right: on the corner of Caroline Street, just across from BT and beside Roches Stores, Mairead and Richard Jacob run Idaho.café. It's a teeny, tiny space, and they do lovely things with, as they write "zero pretensions!!" Tartlet of minty peas with organic goat's cheese; Gratin of potato gnocchi with cream, smoked bacon and sage; Frazzeld Ummera bacon with minted new potatoes and cashew nuts; and they have a warm chocolate cake to die for. They kick off with breakfast at 8.30am, and run through to 6pm, and you can have everything from a glass of Nastro Azzuro to a smoked kassler, tomato relish and molten cheddar bapini. We love it.

Idaho.café tel: (021) 427 6376

Racing certainty

Horse racing is an uncertain business, so to take some measure of uncertainty out of your life, why not make sure to book into Longueville House, near Mallow in north Cork, whenever the races are on on July 27th. For a price of €140, you get an overnight at Longueville on the 26th, followed by breakfast and lunch and a wine tasting on the 27th, with the races to follow. William O'Callagahn will be cooking thrilling dishes such as boned and roasted Longueville lamb with a chickpea and rosemary filling, and Charles Searson of Searson's wine merchants will be presenting some seriously yummy wines. With Mr O'Callaghan's cooking, there is no risk whatsoever that you will be completely bowled over.

Reservations Email: info@longuevillehouse.ie
Website: www.longuevillehouse.ie
Tel. 022/47156 - fax 022 /47459

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