Restaurant Review: The Old Schoolhouse Inn, County Down

There are some very exciting things happening on the Northern Ireland restaurant scene these days. As such, it’s a shame that in 2014 the Michelin Food Guide did not see fit to award any of its coveted stars to restaurants in the North because there is some seriously classy cooking going on there at the moment; inventive cooking by chefs with a true desire to showcase the wonderful produce that is available.



The Old Schoolhouse Inn with Chef Will Brown at the helm is one such restaurant. Situated in Castle Espie in County Down on the shores of Strangford Lough, it is hard to believe that the restaurant is only about 15 miles from Belfast city as the tranquillity of the surrounding countryside is more typical of a far more remote location.

 

As its name suggests the restaurant is housed in an old school. Evidence of its original purpose is still present in the architecture of the building and despite being recently re-vamped the dining room retains some of these features. Passing by the old school bell, I managed to refrain from giving it a good jangle but I was SO tempted!
 

Corned Beef

There are a number of different menu options available and whilst both the à la carte and set evening menus are enticing, I was won over by the intriguing brevity of the tasting menu which gave one word descriptions for each course, so decided to go for this (for the purposes of this review, I will give more detailed title descriptions).

 

To kick everything off bread was delivered to the table along with two types of butter; a traditional home-churned version topped with a few flakes of sea salt and also a feather-light whipped brown butter flavoured with dillisk, a seaweed found in many parts of Ireland including Strangford Lough. This butter had a vaguely caramel sweetness but with an underlying nuttiness which was addictive. I would have quite happily eaten it on its own. Two types of bread were presented - soft white bread rolls flavoured with black olives and a delicious brown soda bread which on inquiring further I was told had been made by Will’s mother. With the inclusion of treacle and oats, it possessed a complexity of flavour that was truly delicious and deserving of special mention.

 

Peach

Prior to the first of the tasting menu courses arriving, a ‘surprise’ course of Corned Beef, Cauliflower, Piccalilli, Radish, Cucumber, Quail’s Egg, Sourdough arrived. This consisted of a perfectly sized portion of corned beef made in the traditional style (as far away from tinned corned beef as you can get) and a crispy rissole. These were served with a salad that had been so artfully presented that it almost seemed as if all the component parts were dancing on the plate. Each mouthful was a delight from the creaminess of the perfectly cooked egg to the crunchy sourdough shard, the crisp vegetables and the slight astringency of the mustardy piccalilli.


One of the smoothest Chicken Pâtés that I have eaten was then presented to me. This had been quirkily disguised as a plump little peach and was served alongside an onion chutney that struck the perfect balance between being sweet and sour. Slices of toasted, barely sweet brioche finished this dish off perfectly. Whilst each element was lovely on its own, it was only by eating them together that you appreciated how clever the dish was. In particular, I liked the paring of the chicken pâté with the peach gel - a flavour combination that just worked. A glass of Viognier with its heady peachy/apricot aroma was the perfect accompaniment and complimented the pâté wonderfully.

 

Sea Bream

Steamed Sea Bream, Crab, Strangford Scallop, Mussel, Courgette was next up. Sea bream is one of those fish that chefs love because it is so versatile and can be cooked in a variety of ways yet still retain its succulence. Here it was stuffed with a crab and scallop mousse and was gently steamed. Served on a bed of diced courgettes with a confidently executed flourish of courgette purée and topped with a slightly acidic buttery sauce, this was a dish where everything on the plate, down to the perfectly cooked mussel garnish and the judicious use of sea herbs, highlighted and enhanced the flavour of the sea bream itself.

 



Duck

For me, the Duck, Potato Gnocchi, Turnip, Radish, Parsnip Purée, Broccoli dish was a triumph. Humble root vegetables had been treated with love and respect and presented cooked in a number of different ways to emphasize their versatility. When paired with the meltingly tender duck breast with its wonderfully crispy skin, they together created a dish that was unforgettable. The potato gnocchi was absolutely superb; rich and buttery with a deep and earthy potato flavour, that you don’t often find these days, yet light to eat. A simple but flavoursome jus completed the dish.

 

The first of the dessert courses served up Lemon Tart with Rhubarb Sorbet, Tuile, Gel & Meringue on Granola. I love both lemon and rhubarb but have never considered using them together, fearful that the inherent sharpness of both would not deliver the sweetness that I seek in a dessert… but they worked wonderfully well together. The lemon tart possessed an intense lemon flavour that somehow managed to get more lemony on the palate as you ate it. It had a velvety almost lemon-curd like texture that completely seduced me. The various manifestations of rhubarb, most particularly the gel and sorbet were a perfect foil for the lemon and were sweetened just enough but not too much so that the rhubarb flavour sang through.

 

Lemon

The final course of the tasting menu was a chocolate celebration… Chocolate Tart, White Chocolate Mousse, Vanilla Ice-Cream, Chocolate ‘Wafer’ and Honeycomb – nirvana for chocolate lovers! This dessert played around with textures and presented chocolate in a variety of ways each executed perfectly. The dark chocolate tart was silky smooth and creamy and contrasted with the bed of biscuity chocolate ‘soil’ on which it was presented. The tart possessed just the right amount of bitterness and sat well beside the sweetness of the white chocolate mousse. The crunch of the chocolate ‘wafer’ and sweet honeycomb along with the chill of the vanilla ice-cream excited the palate in all the right ways. This was a lovely dessert, presented beautifully and along with a glass of honey sweet Muscat de Beaumes de Venise was a great way to finish off the meal.

 

Chocolate

I should also mention Scott and Niall who served me my meal. Their knowledge of the ingredients used and enthusiasm for the food they presented me with was borne out of a palpable desire to provide a memorable dining experience. This they achieved and is indicative of the team-based approach that Will Brown obviously promotes within his kitchen and restaurant.

 

The thing with tasting menus is that as a diner you take the risk of being presented with dishes that you might not otherwise have chosen and might not like but you may also discover new flavours and ingredients. Tasting menus also give the chef a chance to be inventive and experimental. The Old Schoolhouse’s tasting menu is certainly both these things, but cleverly references dishes that are familiar so that the food is not daunting to eat.

 

Despite the huge amount of time and effort that has obviously gone into each dish, this is food that seems so effortlessly produced. Will Brown is someone who manages to create food that is faultless from a technical perspective but is still full of heart; food that reflects on the dishes we all grew up eating, but interpreted in a modern and playful way. More than anything else though, this is food that celebrates the bounty of the Irish countryside and does it in a distinctive and memorable way.

 

As an aside, I would also strongly recommend availing of the wonderful accommodation at the Old Schoolhouse Inn. My room was comfortable with every mod-con one could desire and the wonderful Ulster Fry that I had the following morning left a lasting impression.

 

Tasting Menu: £45 per person (£70 with matching wines) per person for five courses.

 

The Old Schoolhouse Inn

100 Ballydrain Road

Newtownards

Belfast

County Down

 

Telephone: +44 28 9754 1182

Email: info@theoldschoolhouseinn.com

Web: www.theoldschoolhouseinn.com

 

Restaurant Review: The Greenhouse, Dawson Street, Dublin

There are certain meals that stay alive in the memory long after you have eaten the food. I have previously dined in the Greenhouse on Dublin’s Dawson Street and was very impressed with the food that I ate on that occasion. However, when food is that good, it places itself on a pedestal of its own making and consequently, as unfair as this may seem, it is judged at a higher standard. The sign of a truly great restaurant is the ability to sustain these levels of excellence irrespective of who is dining in the restaurant and when. It was with this in mind that I headed off to the Greenhouse again, hoping that this visit would be as note-worthy as my first and that my initial opinions would be confirmed.

 

Bread

In the accomplished and creative hands of Head Chef Mickael Viljanen, some seriously exciting food is being produced at the Greenhouse. Mikael is very much a chef’s chef and as such, it is unsurprising that he was judged Ireland’s top chef at the recently held Irish Restaurant Awards for 2015. Originally from Finland, Mickael worked with Paul Flynn at The Tannery in County Waterford before becoming Executive Chef at Gregan’s Castle in County Clare. With restaurateur Eamon O’Reilly as a business partner, he decided to make the move to the capital and together they set up the Greenhouse in 2012.

 

Other commentators have noted the ‘bijou’ quality of the dining room in the Greenhouse and whilst it is certainly compact, there was loads of space at our table and the size of the room did not, in any way, diminish our overall enjoyment of the meal that we ate. In fact, I found its understated décor appealing and a nice change from all the ‘busy’ almost brash restaurant dining rooms that seem to prevail these days.

Foie Gras

After examining both the set dinner and the tasting menus on offer I decided to go for the 6 course tasting menu. A 5 course ‘surprise’ tasting menu (with vegetarian options) was also available and is the only menu served on Fridays and Saturdays.

 

Shortly after sitting down we were presented with two amuse bouches; firstly a little disc of Cheese Shortbread, topped with a cheese mousse and secondly a stunning Beetroot Meringue filled with a silky smooth fish pâté and some fish roe. I still don’t know how something so small could possess such a concentration of gloriously earthy beetroot flavours.

 

Breads then arrived along with a mouth-sized Gougère and a tiny Chicken Liver Pâté Tartlet for each of us. Both were delicious. Slices of sourdough were served in a little bread sack which appeared to have a warming element contained within it which kept the bread warm. A dark rye was served separately on a tiny wooden block with both a traditional-style and a whipped brown butter.

 

Scallops

For the first of our 6 courses, we were served Foie Gras Royale, Rhubarb, Macadamia, Frozen Foie Gras. This arrived in a glass bowl containing a foie gras mousse topped with frozen foie gras ‘powder’, rhubarb jelly and chopped macadamia nuts. A tiny sliver of smoked eel and a quenelle of rhubarb sorbet added to the dish creating flavours and textures which danced in the mouth. Beautiful to look at, this was a wonderfully inventive dish, unlike anything I have tasted before! In many ways it has become the Chef’s signature dish, with different fruits being used to reflect seasonal produce.

 

Next up was Scallop, Broccoli, Smoked Yoghurt, Brown Butter. Here three enticingly plump scallops were served perfectly cooked with some blanched and charred broccoli, a crisp wafer, a sliver of lardo, a swirl of gently smoked yoghurt and a generous drizzle of buttery beurre noisette. This was a skilfully balanced dish full of taste combinations that worked so well together.

 



Red Mullet

Moving on, the Red Mullet with Bouillebaisse Sauce really showcased this wonderful fish. With its fine and delicately flavoured white flesh and crispy skin, the red mullet was flawlessly cooked. The accompanying courgette flower had been stuffed with a light-as-air langoustine mousse which just dissolved in the mouth. Served with broad beans, a few leaves of wilted, wild garlic and a rather magnificent, if slightly phallic looking spear of asparagus, this was another wonderful dish that looked picture perfect on the plate. The sauce despite being served as a foam managed to retain a depth of flavour which was evocative of a traditional bouillabaisse from the south-west of France.

 

Anjou Pigeon

We first made the acquaintance of the pigeon by being presented to him as he nestled in a box of smoking hay. Soon after, he reappeared on the plate us as our next dish - Anjou Pigeon & Wild Garlic. Despite the fact that smoking meats to the right level is notoriously difficult to achieve, here it worked lending the pigeon just the right amount of smokiness without overwhelming the flavour of the bird. The slightly sweet sauce, which contained fruity raisins and pine nuts had the right amount or acidity which complemented the rich meat perfectly. The wild garlic, served as a vibrant green purée added further interest. A light and fluffy potato gnocchi finished off the dish perfectly.

 

Anjou Pigeon

The Cauliflower, White Chocolate & Coconut pre-dessert was a stunning dish and for me, the highlight in what was an excellent meal. Present here were flavour combinations that shouldn’t have worked, but they just did! The white chocolate and cauliflower were combined together in a sweet mousse with both ingredients retaining their own identities but they married so well together. The addition of a coconut sorbet (though it was so creamy it had a texture more like that of ice-cream) brought everything together to create a dish which presented as white-on-white looked so simple and elegant. I loved it.

 

Our final dessert was almost like a fine dining interpretation of a Snickers bar, but so much better. Chocolate & Peanut was presented as a rich chocolate mousse on a chocolate biscuit base, topped with peanut mousse, chocolate shards and gold leaf for an added touch of opulence. This dish was wickedly rich but the accompanying banana ice-cream created some relief on the palate.

 

Terrific petit fours including chocolate caramel truffles fashioned to look like actual truffles, fruit pastilles and a raspberry macaron arrived along with decent espressos to complete the meal.

 

White Chocolate, Cauliflower & Coconut

There was a generosity and expansiveness about the meal we ate. The meal was so much more than the 6 courses we were initially led to believe we would receive. There was much to delight and enthral. Mickael Viljanen is producing food that is avant garde and exciting. He obviously draws on the influences of his childhood in Finland, yet uses these reference points to create food that celebrates seasonal Irish produce in an imaginative way.

 

Service was impeccable and seamlessly delivered by staff who were knowledgeable and eager to please. This was a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable dining experience.

 

Cost of 6 course tasting meal was €85 (matching wines +€48).                       

The Greenhouse

off St. Stephen’s Green

Dawson Street

Dublin 2

 

Telephone: 01-6767015

 

Opening times:

Tuesday – Saturday

Lunch: 12pm– 2.15pm

Dinner: 6pm – 9.30pm

This review first appeared in TheTaste.ie
 

Chocolate, Peanut

Bread Making at The Firehouse Bakery & Bread School

A sliced white pan can be bought for as little as 50c in some supermarkets with loaves on sale everywhere. Artisan breads, on the other hand, are more expensive to buy and require time if baking them yourself at home. It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that making your own bread is a whole lot of bother and not worth the trouble!

Although it is a craft that we have abandoned for the sake of convenience, there is something so rewarding and almost therapeutic about baking your own bread. More importantly, it is also fun and something that you can incorporate into your life whether on a daily or weekly basis. Whilst many of us can throw together a fairly presentable loaf of soda bread, the ultimate bread making experience really comes with making your own yeast-risen and sourdough breads. The bread you bake will taste so much better than those cotton-wool like, mass-produced supermarket offerings and won’t be pumped full of preservatives, E numbers etc.

At its most basic, bread contains four ingredients; flour, yeast, salt and water. With this in mind, I urge you take a look at the list of ingredients on the back of your supermarket loaf… Alarming to say the least!

It was armed with these thoughts and a desire to learn more about baking my own bread, that I signed up for the one-day bread making course run by the Firehouse Bakery  & Bread School on Heir Island off the West Cork coast. The bakery was set up by Patrick Ryan and Laura Moore in 2012 and in addition to the course on Heir Island, evening courses are also run at its main premises in Delgany, County Wicklow.

 

Arriving at the bakery school, I noticed a clay wood-fired oven and, as I passed by, I could feel the intense heat emanating from it. During the day, we would bake some of our breads in this oven but also in the domestic-style ovens in the school. Patrick explained that the wood-fired oven had been lit early in the morning to build up the temperature. He also showed us how inwardly it retained its heat but because of its construction the outer walls still remained cool to the touch.

 

The first bread we attempted was a sourdough loaf using a starter. Although the starter was provided, Patrick gave detailed instructions to us on how to grow our own and I am happy to report that the one that I began when I got home is coming along very nicely!

 

We mixed together all our ingredients and then started kneading our doughs. During that ten minutes or so all you could hear was the slapping of the dough against the wooden table as we concentrated on working the glutens in the flour. We were shown how to check whether our dough was ready by using the ‘window-pane’ test and once this stage was achieved, our doughs were set aside to prove and allow time for the natural yeasts within the sourdough starter to begin working. We would later knock the air out of the proved dough and allow it rise for a second time in special proving (banneton) baskets before being baked in the wood-fired oven.

 

We then moved on to breads made using fresh yeast. Each of us was tasked with creating a different flavour/type of bread. Between us we made a variety of breads, including baguettes, cinnamon rolls, savoury pinwheel rolls, potato & rosemary flowerpot bread, foccacia and granary ‘tear-and-share’ rolls.  We were shown how to form and shape the proved dough to create loaves, rolls and baguettes.

 

Not all breads use yeast and require kneading and proving. Soda bread is something that is quintessentially Irish and we would all be familiar with the brown and fruit versions, but Patrick showed us how adaptable and versatile it can be. Soon we were mixing up a range of these ‘quick’ breads, including thyme, mustard & cheddar soda bread, stout & treacle soda bread with oats & walnuts and apple & cider soda bread. We also made savoury muffins and the most fabulous honey, blue cheese & walnut soda bread. By this stage the heady aroma of all these breads baking was swirling around us in a very enticing way.

 

To finish up, we were all given different sweet recipes to make. Again we all baked something different from randomly selected recipes. Very soon I was mixing up the ingredients to make a fabulous chocolate orange cake but around me the others were making a range of goodies including coconut kisses, flour-free orange cake, Bailey’s chocolate chip cookies and pistachio financiers. As ever, Patrick was keeping a watchful eye on proceedings and offering guidance when needed.

 

If doing the course on Heir Island, I strongly recommend taking some extra time to explore the island and the beautiful landscape around West Cork. Hostel and self-catering accommodation is available on the island and Patrick and Laura will be happy to give you further details about this when booking a course. One word of warning, places get booked up quickly, so do keep an eye out for new courses being announced on the bakery’s website.

 

The course was informative, great fun and I learnt a lot. Perhaps the most important thing that I took away from it was a new-found confidence in baking my own bread; I can now see that this is something that is completely achievable in my own kitchen using a domestic oven. Since returning home I have managed to source a local bakery who kindly sells me small amounts of fresh yeast and I have been happily baking away producing a wide variety of different breads which are being eagerly gobbled up by my gang!

 

At €110 for a full day’s hands-on baking under Patrick’s guidance (which includes the cost of the ferry to and from the island) I think that this course represents real value. Numbers are deliberately kept small with no more than 6 or 7 places on each course. This definitely encourages better group interaction. All ingredients and utensils are provided and also included is lunch which made by Laura, was absolutely delicious. You will also receive a Firehouse Bakery bag containing a dough/bread scraper and copies of all the recipes that you and the other participants cooked during the day… Oh, and make sure to bring something with you to carry home all the bread that you bake, because you will be leaving laden down!

 

Firehouse Bakery & Bread School

Bakery:

Old Delgany Inn

Delgany

County Wicklow

 

Bread School:

Heir Island

Skibbereen

County Cork

 

Telephone:     

085 1561984

01-2876822 (bakery)

 

This article first appeared in TheTaste.ie