This is a review I wrote for the Irish Mail on Sunday, last August, 2015. Pilgrim’s is a very fine little restaurant based in Rosscarbery, in West Cork, owned and operated by chef Mark Jennings and his partner, Sarah-Jane Pearce, who runs front of house. It took just a single meal for it to be instantly installedContinue reading “Pilgrim’s Progress”
Category Archives: The Producers
Food fraud Ain’t Just Flogging Horse-burgers
I find it truly disheartening when certain restaurants or retailers choose to exploit the integrity of fine growers and producers and, ultimately, the consumer by perpetrating food fraud—here’s a piece I wrote on the subject, now up on the Irish Food Writers’ Guild website, after yet another ‘episode’, this time involving Ballyhoura Mushrooms. And inContinue reading “Food fraud Ain’t Just Flogging Horse-burgers”
Craft beer drinkers can tell their Elbows from their arses
Another lovely little bit of news for Irish craft beer drinkers (and anyone else in Ireland who claims to be fond of a pint) comes with the arrival of a new brewing company, launching three new beers. Cork-based Elbow Lane will be debuting Angel Stout, Wisdom Ale and Elbow Lager over the next two monthsContinue reading “Craft beer drinkers can tell their Elbows from their arses”
Christmas at Douglas Farmer’s Mkt
After a week of nocturnal childherding a sickening Daddy’s Little Girl, I handed her over to Mrs Swashbuachaill at 8 of the A.M. and repaired to the boudoir for a couple of hours shuteye. Which meant I reached Douglas Farmer’s Mkt, where the bulk of my weekly shopping is done, well after 12pm to aContinue reading “Christmas at Douglas Farmer’s Mkt”
Porcini Dust – the new sundried tomatoes?
A few weeks ago, as I was leaving Mahon Farmer’s Market with little Isabel under my arm, racing off to collect Hector from playschool and already 15 minutes late, I spotted a tiny stall selling mushrooms. Lucy Deegan and Mark Cribbin are the owner/operators of Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms and this – on the community stall,Continue reading “Porcini Dust – the new sundried tomatoes?”
(A lot) more on the Belling West Cork Artisan Food Awards
On a mid-afternoon in early December, winter-weak light already fading and a damp cold sucking the life out of bones, you’d imagine any right-thinking folk would have taken to the fireside with a pile of logs, a stack of papers and a nice hot toddy. But, no, through the doors of the West Cork Hotel,Continue reading “(A lot) more on the Belling West Cork Artisan Food Awards”
Belling West Cork Artisan Food Awards – The Winners
Just a quick post to detail the winners of the inaugural winners of the Belling West Cork Artisan Food Awards, announced this afternoon at a ceremony in the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen. Veronica and Norman Steele’s Milleens Farmhouse Cheese, of Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula, and Madeleine McKeever’s Brown Envelope Seeds, of Turk Head near Skibbereen, wereContinue reading “Belling West Cork Artisan Food Awards – The Winners”
Getting Totally 3FE-d!
A recent trip to Dubland yielded a rare old treat when I tracked down 3rd Floor Espresso’s (http://www.3fe.com/) operation in The Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey St. Following a most stellar recommendation by my Swami of the Bean, Marc Kingston, of Cork’s Golden Bean Coffee Company, I just had to check the place out –Continue reading “Getting Totally 3FE-d!”
Fruits of the Sea
I do hope, like me, you find this pic of an open scallop truly exquisite and not suggestive of something coughed up on the pavement after a night on the Majors. A trophy from last Thursday at Mahon Point Farmer’s Market, it tasted every bit as delectable as it looks.
Joe McNamee: Food Writer 