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Fastnet Live Irish Mussels I popped into the fish shop in Bantry today and spotted these. A fully sealed pack of live local mussels. I have long lamented the lack of fresh shellfish in shops in Cork and now they have no excuse. All you need is a cooler cabinet with no need for special shellfish expertise or having to deal with smells or things going off. These could literally be sold in every garage and convenience shop in the country. Not only is it easier for shops but mussels are the ultimate fast food. All I did this evening was open the pack, rinse them, throw out the ones that were still open and cook them. Cooking consisted of chopping some garlic and onion, cooking that for a sec, lobbing in a ton of wine, one more minute, lob in the mussels, 4 minutes, add some cream,...

The Good Things Cafe Fish Orgy Course, Ahakista Road, Durrus, Cork, Ireland Two days of fantastic fish recipes by a wonderful teacher in a perfect setting. Not much more to say than that. But I will. Three years ago I did a cookery course down in Good Things Cafe with Carmel Somers. It was honestly two of the best food days I’ve ever had. The relentless pressure of start-up business life meant I didn’t get to return until this month. Now I can’t wait to go again. Durrus is a gorgeous little village just at the start of the Sheep’s Head Peninsula. Good Things is just out a bit on the Ahakista Road looking out over the bay and the mussel farms. It is a cafe during the summer and a cookery school for the rest of the year. A collection of maybe 10 of us there...

CX Oriental Cash and Carry, Units 11-13 Nyhan Business Park, Tramore Road, Cork, Ireland The recent review of CX Oriental by Messy Chef was the final push I needed to check this place out today after months of saying I must. It’s just fantastic. If you have ever raved about Asia Market in Dublin, this is 10x better. If you have driven past Kinsale Road Roundabout in the past few months you can’t have missed the huge signs for CX Oriental Cash and Carry. Whilst Cork has had the brilliant Mr Bell’s in The English Market for years, it suffers from lack of space and the awkwardness of getting to it so this morning I finally made the trip to the Cash and Carry. It’s pretty easy to find. Head past Harvey Normans off the Kinsale Road Roundabout, take the left at...

This won’t be a long review, it doesn’t need to be. Fenn’s Quay gave us a fantastic meal last Saturday night with wonderful service in a lovely room. You can’t ask for more than that. My lovely parents were down in Cork for the weekend for the GAA thingy and offered to bring Catherine and me out for a meal. We’d heard great things about Fenn’s Quay from my sister and Julian Alubaidy and, wanting somewhere new to us, booked it. Luckily we found parking at the door of the Mardyke and walked the few yards to the unassuming door. Inside was quite large and broken into two rooms. The service from the very first minute was friendly, light-hearted and helpful, exactly the way I like it. I was thrilled to see they were quite busy for the entire night but that...

A goldfish in a pond in Bantry Co Cork. Related PostsWhere’s the water?...

Fishy Fishy Cafe, Pier Road, Kinsale, Co Cork, Ireland I’ve just had an absolutely perfect seafood lunch in Fishy Fishy with my parents. Incredible fresh seafood at reasonable prices with attentive staff. The only downside was an excess of ladies-who-lunch trying-too-hard. I have never ever heard a bad word about the original Fishy Fishy. Everything about it sounded great except the small number of tables which resulted in long waits. As we are usually with-childer, that’s not an option. My parents popped down for a visit and brought me out for lunch today to there new location looking out on the harbour. It’s a lovely spot and the interior is just gorgeous. A pity they spent 20 minutes waiting for me at the original location which is back to being a shop again!...

Deasy’s Harbour Bar, Ring, Co Cork, Ireland A last minute decision to pop down here for Sunday lunch turned out to be a total success. Fantastic seafood in a relaxed atmosphere with serene views of Clonakilty Bay. If they could just do something about parking, it would be perfect. I’ve eaten in Deasy’s once before and thoroughly enjoyed it. For some reason they popped into my head this morning and I hopped into the car with four of the five monsters to see if they were still doing Sunday Lunch. The usual crawl to Clon ensued followed by the twisty road to Ring. I knew the parking had been bad but time had dulled my memory. It’s brutal. Four spaces in front of the pub and then you have to travel a few hundred yards to find a roadside spot. Fine as an adult,...

The Fish Shop, Union Hall, Co Cork, Ireland I did a last-minute race down to The Fish Shop in Union Hall this morning to check it out. It’s as good as they say! Great selection of fish, shellfish, gormet seafood products and wine. Well worth travelling to. So my lazy ass didn’t get up early enough and I left Bandon at 12 knowing they shut at 1pm on a Saturday. I made it to Union Hall by 12:45 after spending the journey as far as Rosscarbery behind someone who averaged 35 MPH. The three younger squirts came with me and were just as impressed by the foggy views in Glandore as I was. The whole area is just lovely. The shop was hopping when I arrived and lots of empty trays told me I’d left it too late. The guy serving confirmed that it had been a really busy...

So if food lovers are foodies and wine lovers are winos I’ve decided that fish lovers are fishies. Just got a comment on an old blog post about the fish shop in Union Hall and it’s all good news: we Glenmar Shellfish have now merged with Antcar over 12mths ago - if you are ever in Union Hall again be sure and call into the shop again - The Fish Shop - you will not be disappointed - we have recently extended the shop and added alot of additional products to our impressive array of fish - including mussels !!- we also now have a wine licence and stock a very impressive selection of wines - look forward to seeing you soon!! I’m embarrassed that it has been that long since I was down to buy some fish. Having heard this tho, we’re already thinking about what fish...

This pub+restaurant has come on hugely since the new owners took over. I love having a great local place so near to us that understands seafood. Review of The Poacher’s Inn, Clonakilty Road, Bandon, Co Cork, Ireland. Rated as 4/5 on Jan 19 2008 by conor. The Poacher’s Inn is the nearest eatery/pub to our house. In a previous incarnation as Ted Amber’s it was an ok pub and a pretty poor restaurant that was barely above the level of a carvery. The place was bought maybe 18 months ago (or even longer?) and reports have been steadily good. I had a pub lunch there recently and was very impressed so we decided to try the full restaurant last night. It started badly with no record of the booking we had made a few hours previously but they slotted us in and we were first...

Well kinda….Crawdaddy/POD played host to both Fish Go Deep and Mr Scruff the weekend before last; both of whom i’ve seen numerous times before and whilst Mr Scruff didn’t disappoint I have to say that the Fish Go Deep boys were well below their brilliant best. Maybe it was the venue or maybe the sound , maybe the crowd, maybe Tracy’s haircut, hell maybe it was me (doubtful) but the gig just didn’t seem to hit the right note, with me anyway. Don’t get me wrong it was a good gig but having seen FgoD with Tracy K absolutely kill at he Lil’ Hand album launch in Wax two years ago maybe my expectations were a little too high. Tracy only sand 3/4 songs with the boys which was a real pisser as it was only with her on stage did the gig take hold any bit....

A shark at Kay O’Connell’s fishmongers A shark’s deadly grin greeted customers to the fishmongers in the English Market on the day this photo was taken. Don’t you just love the expression on the fishmonger’s face? Black and White, Candid, Canon 20D, Cork, English Market, fish, fishmonger, food, Ireland, Kay O Connell, Long Exposure, Market, People, photos, Sigma 10 20, Street, Urban...

test ‘Test‘ 15:46 on May 01 2007 by Conor O’Neill Rating: 2 stars out of 5 test LouderVoice Review Tags: bar, fish, irish, local, pub, public house, restaurant, seafood, traditional Rate this review at LouderVoice...

Watching the fish underwater in Lanzarote A young boy watches fish swim past on a boat off the coast of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. The boat’s staff threw food overboard for the fish while the passengers went below decks to watch from the observation windows. As it was the start of the season in May, the boat was nowhere near full and everyone got a good look at the marine life swimming past. This is the first picture I’ve posted from our honeymoon in Lanzarote last year. I took so many photos it’s daunting to look through them and pick out the ones I want to publish. Black and White, Boat, boy, Canary Islands, Candid, fish, holiday, honeymoon, irishblogs, Lanzarote, Lanzerote, Panasonic FZ5, People, photos, Sea, underwater, vacation, Water...

I lost my head All that remains from a fishing trip to Cobh. I discovered this fish’s head while walking about on the pier in Cobh during the month of August last year. At that time of year the mackerel chase the sprat into Cork Harbour and provide a bountiful catch for local fishermen. Many years ago I remember casting into the waters off Church Bay and reeling in at least 4 fish, the feeding frenzy was so great! Canon 20D, Cobh, Cork, fish, fishing, food, Ireland, irishblogs, mackerel, net, photos, Sigma 10...

The Fish Box An abandoned fish box on Inch Strand, Co. Kerry. Clouds and a storm loom over the mountains across the bay but it was a bright blue sky that greeted us with only fluffy white clouds. I expect this box either fell overboard off a trawler or may have been used by a fisherman on the beach but left behind. Technique: Split into two layers, darkened the top one to bring out the sky and cloud, used a gradient to make a smooth transition. Merge layers, burned the whole image, then created a new layer, set the mode to overlay and used another gradient to darken the sky further. Beach, blue sky, box, clouds, fish, inch strand, Ireland, irishblogs, Kerry, mountains, photos, Sea, Sigma 10 20, Sky, storm,...

Kay O’Connell Kay O’Connell’s is probably the biggest of the fishmongers in the English Market, Cork. Black and White Candid Cork English Market fish fishmonger food Ireland Long Exposure Market People Sigma 10 20 Street Urban Black and White, Candid, Cork, English Market, fish, fishmonger, food, Ireland, Long Exposure, Market, People, Sigma 10 20, Street,...