IRELAND
A Luxury Country House Hotel in County Wexford…
Words by Sindy Chan/Images Courtesy of Troy Nam
Sindy Chan is a ‘travelling gourmand’, sharing her international culinary adventures with readers!
Dining Irish is sumptuous and tasty, yet with a hefty focus on meat. Four-star hotel Marlfield House, has taken a giant step forward, creating balanced Irish meat dishes in palettes of home-grown herbs, vegetables and edible flowers from the kitchen garden, which I’ve labelled ‘The Green Evolution’.
After our pre-dinner tour of the edible garden, with Margaret Bowe, from the ‘owner family’, we were ready to sip on a cocktail! There were a variety of choices, all refreshing and appetising, with one aptly named Peacock Mimosa, inspired by ‘George’ the resident peacock. There’s also a Gin Special – Cocktail of the Month.
Historic Marlfield House has two dining options – the fine-dining Conservatory Restaurant and our choice of the casual dining at The Duck Terrace Restaurant both offering a diversified menu.
Main Course
The Duck Terrace Restaurant’s signature dish Magrat Duck Breast, sauté baby potato, wilted spinach, balsamic mushrooms & Raspberry jus (€32) features sweetness of duck meat with the tastiest spinach.
Chef’s successful twist of ‘fish & chips’ in oriental flavour Tempura of Haddock, Asian carrot, & lime slaw, house fries, tartar sauce (€16) is a very popular choice. (See pic below)
Mildly flavoured Irish meat dish Slaney Valley Rump of Lamb, turmeric, vegetable and pea couscous, tomato salsa, feta cheese (€26) perfectly blends with freshly-picked home-grown produce.
Wine pairing
Seafood or meat, the two recommended French wines worked very well either way.
Irish coffee
After dinner, Hotel Manager, Greg Murphy, walked us to the hotel main house where we watched young Lorcan O’Shea preparing authentic Irish coffee for us – coffee and whiskey in the right proportion were mixed, then a floating layer of silky Irish cream was added.
Connie Lambeth – The Australia Times Gourmet News – Food/Wine/Events
www.theaustraliatimes.com/news
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Read on for additional information on Marlfield House and region, plus more pics…