One sunny Friday evening my other half and I chased out of the city, battled the rush hour traffic, meandered our way down the twisty roads of West Waterford, (dodged a couple of sheep on the way) before finally landing in the picturesque town of Lismore. We were there for the Waterford Food Festival, and were excited to see what kind of food the county had to offer. We checked into the quaint Lismore House Hotel and walked the short distance to O’Brien’s Chop House restaurant. We were greeted by the charming Maitre D dressed in a vibrant orange shirt which reflected his warm personality. He led us out to a secret garden lit by candle lanterns where we were treated to some crisp white wine and a talk by Norman Gillett on fishing for wild salmon in the nearby Blackwater River. Norman’s passion for salmon fishing is infectious, so much so that even us non fishing types were reeled in.The talk was followed by Eddie Baguiohe’s (Chop House chef) demonstration of some tasty and unusual cures for salmon gravlax. The treacle and salt cured salmon (pictured above) was a real winner for me.
Once we had all oohed and ahhed and sampled the salmony delights, we moved inside to have some rhubarb Bellini’s and were introduced to some of the other food bloggers dining at our table. Richard Corrigan and Mark Hix dined at a table nearby. The Chop House has a Bib Gourmand in the 2011 Michelin Guide, so you might want to book ahead if you want a table. We sat beside the vegan blogger Keith Bohanna from biabeag and the lovely Tara from The Tasty Tart. Together we enjoyed some of the local Dungarvan beer served in quirky Viking like tankards.
The food in The Chophouse is Irish, unpretentious and delicious. The local Knockalara farmhouse cheese aperitif was fantastically moreish. For mains we ordered the Turbot for two and were not disappointed. The fish was cooked simply with lemon and butter and the freshness of the fish spoke for itself. The mains were accompanied by vivid green wild garlic mash and sweet sprouting broccoli. Delicious. After dinner we did a spot of late night shopping from the bar and bought some local home-made Chop House goodies (Gotta love bars with shops!) We hadn’t planned on staying up so late, chatting all night with the other foodies and the lovely barman. But then again, those nights where nothing goes to plan are often the best. And so, we stumbled home the short distance back to room 101 in the Lismore House Hotel.
We woke up early with breakfast already on our minds. We decided to drive the short distance to Cappoquin to the famous Barron’s Bakery. Barrons have been baking bread in Cappoquin since 1887. Today they still use the same Scotch Brick Ovens to bake their crusty bread and are the last bakery in Ireland using these amazing ovens. So, I guess they must know alot about bread! My other half is originally from Waterford, so he was eager to sample a blaa which is a type bread roll that is unique to the county. Blaas are often confused with baps, but this Waterford delicacy is a whole different breed of bun . It’s identifiable by it’s white floury crust and light chewy texture and they are only available in Waterford! The other half was not disappointed with Barron’s blaas. In fact quite the opposite, he even had a second one to confirm his approval. I, on the other hand had some of their nutty brown loaf, toasted with local homemade jam and a really decent coffee.
Rejuvenated and eager for more Waterford delights, we journeyed on to Dungarvan where we boarded the Beoir agus Bia, bilingual food bus tour. We started our food tour in the Dungarvan Brewery. If you read my blog, you may remember me talking about this great beer before. Needless to say, I was excited to see the whole operation and taste the beer straight from the brewery….even if it was *ahem* half ten in the morning. The day of the tour was actually the breweries first birthday and it’s inspiring to see the fantastic progress of this small Irish company against all the odds. Cormac and his wife talk about beer with such enthusiasm and you get the impression that they are always innovating and creating new ideas for their delicious beers. They produced a special oatmeal and coffee stout for the festival which I am sad to say, I never got to try. However I hear they are bringing it on tour to other festivals, so I’ll keep you posted. Cormac showed us his Aladdin’s cave of ingredients and talked to us about the whole process with passion and professionalism. It’s obvious that Cormac has a strong interest in reducing waste and working with other local food producers in the area. Dungarvan Brewing Company has an arrangement with some local farmers and gives them the used beer mash to use as feed for their calves. We can only imagine how happy those calves must be!
From there, we journeyed on to Harty’s Oyster Farm known locally as Dungarvan Shellfish. This again is another family business and we were bowled over by their warm welcome and passion for their produce. James Harty introduced us to the family and talked about how he transitioned from dairy farming to Oyster farming in Ireland’s last recession in the eighties. He spoke about the Irish distaste for oysters and the Eurpean love for them. As a result Dungarvan Shellfish export all their oysters to France. It’s a shame that Irish people don’t appreciate the salty goodness of our oysters. We tasted some of their delicious oysters with a squeeze of fresh lemon and glass of white wine.
By now we were all feeling a little more refreshed and a wee bit giddy. Our merry little group travelled on to the local church hall where we were we were given a bilingual cooking demonstration by Naoise Ó Cathasaigh. I have to say my love of the Irish language grew over the weekend, as people were happily talking about Irish food and positive Irish life rather than the woes and misery of Peig Sayers. It seemed more of a living language than a dead one in An Rinn.
Once the tour finished we were at a bit of a loss, as what to do next. It’s a shame that there were no markets on the Saturday of the festival. Undeterred, the ever optimistic Kirstin from Dinner du jour decided that we should lunch in the famous Tannery. Some of us were doubtful that all of us could just walk in and get a table, on a busy Saturady, without having booked. However, we went along and were delighted to discover that they could fit us in. And so along with Aoife from The Daily Spud, Kirstin from Dinner du jour and Sharon and Bill from Gunternation we dined ,wined and enjoyed a long lazy Saturday lunch in the magnificent Tannery restaurant. The food was amazing, but that I think I should save that for another post….to be continued.