Great food begins long before it lands on a menu, and nowhere is this understood more than in Ireland. These are some of the island’s most compelling produce, and the best places to try them transformed on a plate. Text by: Kissa Castañeda
The quest for great food is often focused on the hottest table or the most inventive dish, so much so the essential foundation is overshadowed — the quality and purity of the ingredients.
In Ireland, these building blocks are so important that restaurant menus list the provenance of their ingredients as prominently as the dishes themselves. Here, traceability and seasonality are not a marketing exercise that started fairly recently; sourcing locally is intrinsic to how they make food. The reverence for Irish ingredients is so strong that the diaspora ensures they spread the gospel accordingly.
From tender, marbled beef to plump, juicy oysters, chefs in Ireland know just how blessed they are when it comes to produce. And for those visiting Ireland, appreciating the bounty of the land and sea is as easy as rolling up to a local gastro pub or a fine dining restaurant. Here are a few key Irish produce and where to try them — a culinary road trip around Ireland on a plate.
Beef from McLoughlins Butchers, Co. Dublin
Yes, you’ve eaten grass-fed beef but have you had Irish grass-fed beef? The same ingredients that make Kerrygold butter a mainstay in every food lover’s fridge — Stanley Tucci apparently hoards them — is what makes the Irish beef stand heads and shoulders above the rest. Cattle graze over lush clover-rich pastures up to 10 months a year, resulting in leaner, nutrient-rich meat characterised by a rich, nutty flavour with exceptional marbling. Ireland also has a 100% farm-to-fork traceability system and a rigorous Sustainable Beef Assurance Scheme, making it among the world’s most trusted beef and a repeat champion at the World Steak Challenge.
For professional chefs, fantastic beef is one thing, but finding a top butcher is integral. For some of the country’s top restaurants, that is premium craft establishment McLoughlins Butchers. This third-generation family business in Dublin has been serving the hospitality industry since 1965, and is currently led by master butcher Pat who hand-selects carcasses and perfects steaks. At Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud — a 40-year-old fine dining institution and Dublin’s longest standing two Michelin star restaurant — they trust no one else but McLoughlins to supply them with the prime cuts. Likewise in The Falls Restaurant at Sheen Falls Lodge in Kenmare, Chef Mark Treacy also uses this beef fillet, partnered with roscoff onion and truffle sauce.
Kerry Wild Venison, Co.
Kerry When one veers to the west of the country, another type of protein that appears on high-end menus is venison. For Chef Mark Treacy, nothing beats venison sourced from Jerome Cahill in County Kerry. “The venison is some of the best I have seen over the years, sustainable and naturally raised in the hills and mountains of Kerry.
Jerome supplies venison all year round. He has a special licence as deer is in such abundance in Kerry, and the population needs to be controlled,” says Mark. The Falls restaurant menu features a few different cuts like loin, shoulder, haunch, with nothing going to waste. “The bones get used for sauce, any trim gets minced for game pies,” he adds. In a recent dish, the chef paired venison with beetroot, red cabbage and parsnips — all of the extras coming directly from the Sheen Falls kitchen garden.
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Silver Hill Duck, Co. Monaghan | Thornhill Duck, Co. Cavan
Silver Hill Duck from County Monaghan has become one of the country’s biggest export stories in Ireland. Silver Hill’s exclusive hybrid breed — six decades in the making — delivers a depth of flavour, succulence, and consistency that in Asia chefs have called it “The Mother of All Duck.” Today, they supply the global Hakkasan chain and TungLok Group in Singapore, which use the birds for roasted duck creations. Silver Hill Duck is also consistently wins the Great Taste Awards. In Ireland, you can even purchase their duck at supermarkets like Dunnes or Tesco.
Down in County Cavan is another notable premium producer: Thornhill Duck. Founded by Kenneth Moffitt, the company started with 19 free-range geese and has grown into one of Ireland’s most celebrated poultry producers. Reared on natural feed, they built their following entirely on word of mouth and now supplies leading chefs, hotels, and restaurants, including The Pullman Restaurant at Glenlo Abbey Hotel, which recently received a Michelin star. Chef Angelo Vagiotis cooks the duck with pear, morel and kampot pepper, enhancing the succulence and flavour. Likewise, celebrity chef Neven Maguire of MacNean House & Restaurant in Blacklion is a longtime fan. Located just five minutes from the farm, he calls Thornhill one of his oldest and most trusted suppliers. Thornhill’s Aylesbury-Pekin cross-bred bird earned a coveted Euro-Toques Food Award in 2018, nominated by Ireland’s top chefs.
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Kelly Oysters, Co. Galway | Flaggy Shore Oysters, Co. Clare | Rossmore Oysters, Co. Cork
Guinness and oysters are a match made in heaven, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ireland is home to some of the best bivalves in the world. Rooted in centuries of coastal tradition, the country’s cold, pristine waters are the key to yield oysters of extraordinary depth, brine, and sweetness. One of the last places that have wild, self-sustaining oyster beds, France’s legendary Gillardeau oyster is largely grown in Ireland before being finished across the Channel.
County Galway is Ireland’s oyster capital, celebrated at the annual Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival held in September. One of the most peculiar varieties is the Kelly Native Oyster, circular in shape, mostly flat, and complex in flavour — one that takes four years to mature. These oysters are served in the top tables in the country, from the lovely gastropub Rúibín Bar & Restaurant to fine-dining spot Aniar. Another well-loved oyster farm is Rossmore Oysters in County Cork, which was founded in 1969 by David Hugh-Jones.
The family business farms sustainable, high-quality oysters, used by the likes of Ballymaloe House Hotel, a premier culinary destination established by the Allen family that pioneered modern Irish farm-to-table cooking. Chef Lewis Barker of two-Michelin-starred Terre in Cork also uses Rossmore Oysters in his menu, brightened with green apple and celery vinaigrette, shiso and crowned with N25 caviar.
Lesser known but equally as good is Flaggy Shore Oysters, which is farmed in the Burren region in County Clare. Head to Linnane’s Lobster Bar to get the freshest Flaggy Shore oysters — the warehouse is steps away from the restaurant, and so is the water — and of course, the juiciest lobsters ever. Those travelling only to Dublin can also have a taste of Flaggy Shore dainties and gigas at what is considered the finest restaurant in the country, Chapter One. “These are my favourite Irish oyster as they are smaller in size with a beautifully iodine flavour and have a lovely texture to them,” says Mickael Viljanen, chef-patron of Chapter One. “They are great as they are, but can handle Asian flavours extremely well, so they tend to have a versatility that not all oysters have. A super product.”
