Page 129 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

Michelin-starred chef JP McMahon (rear)
created “West Ireland-centric” menus at his
Galway cafe, Tartare.
Previous page: Galway baker Jimmy Grif-
fin’s “monster bread” commemorates his
recovery from an eel bite while diving.

else, let the natural flavor of good food shine through.” change quarterly, weekly and even nightly and dishes
Those home-grown, home-made ingredients are “the often showcase produce grown steps from restaurant
envy of Europe,” notes Eveleen Coyle, founder of popu- kitchens. At the Lodge at Ashford Castle, for example,
lar food tours in Dublin and Cork. While Ireland may Chef Jonathan Keane harvests dinner salad makings
not have the same strong tradition of cuisine as, say from neat raised beds he tends in Lodge’s four covered
France or Spain, she adds, “we have terrific produce hoop houses.
– grass-fed cattle all year, mountain lamb, dairy. As McMahon, Keane and others share influences from
far back as 1130, the monks in St. Mary’s Abbey were the Nordic food revolution spearheaded by Copen-
grazing cattle on fields with wild garlic to get that flavor hagen’s René Redzepi and followers who rely only on
into their cheeses.” local ingredients, some gleaned by the age-old practice
Foodies will recognize familiar currents in Ireland’s of foraging. In McMahon’s kitchen, imported spices are
culinary renaissance, including the emphasis on farm- banned, while Keane often plates with snips of flowers,
to-table, seasonality and organic ingredients. Menus berries and herbs gathered around Ashford Castle’s

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