The owners of Ballyvolane House on a favourite Japanese noodle joint, a phenomenal food market and “the best restaurant in Cork city”
EATING OUT
Pilgrims
6 South Square, Rosscarbery, Co. Cork; www.pilgrims.ie
“I had dinner here last year and it was one of my best meals of 2015. The chef’s got a really good pedigree: he worked with Denis Cotter at Café Paradiso in Cork and at The Ethicurean outside Bristol. You go in and he’s hanging meadowsweet up to dry on the walls. There’s lovely old antique pine tables and chairs. It’s very cool and simple and there’s a good ambiance. He does a lot of foraging, seasonal food, all cooked with real flair. It’s very unpretentious, that’s what I like about it.” – Justin
Café Paradiso
16 Lancaster Quay, Cork; www.paradiso.restaurant
“This is the best restaurant in Cork city by some degree. It’s vegetarian and I’m a big meat eater, but I think it’s absolutely incredible. Very clever.” – Justin
Sage
The Courtyard, Main St, Midleton, Co. Cork; www.sagerestaurant.ie
“Sage is a really brilliant restaurant and it’s close by. I’ve been following the chef Kevin Aherne’s rise for years, he’s just getting better and better. He’s got a 12-mile menu, which means that all the produce is sourced from a 12-mile radius of the restaurant.” – Justin
Farmgate
Broderick St, Coolbawn, Midleton, Co. Cork; www.farmgate.ie
“Just across the road from Sage, you’ve got Farmgate which has been there for 30 years now. It’s a really stylish space, wonderful art on the walls, and the food is delicious, really simple, really good.” – Justin
Miyazaki
1A Evergreen St, Cork; Facebook
“My newest favourite restaurant in Cork is this little sushi place. [Irish restaurant critic] John McKenna made a very big declaration, saying it’s the best Japanese food outside Japan. Every time I go to Cork, I go in there and have a bowl of noodles. Having been in Asia for so long, I really missed good Asian food. It’s all black outside, you wouldn’t look twice at it. The quality of the sushi is really good. And it’s not expensive.” – Justin
BUYING IN
McGrath Family Butchers
Main St, Lismore, Co. Waterford; Facebook
“We get all our beef from Michael McGrath in Lismore. He’s a fantastic butcher, one of the best in these parts. It’s a really old-fashioned butcher shop on the main street. You can see the carcass being slid on the rail overhead. He supplies us with lamb from the Comeragh Mountains and big ribs and sirloins of beef. He has an abattoir on-site, which is very unusual nowadays.” – Justin
The English Market
Princes St, Cork; www.englishmarket.ie
“The English Market [pictured above] is phenomenal. We get a lot of stuff there: fish from O’Connell’s, olives from The Real Olive Company, charcuterie and cheese from On the Pig’s Back. There’s an organic veg shop there as well. It’s the best market in the country.” – Justin
Iago
9 Princes St, Co. Cork; Facebook
“Iago’s used to be in the English Market but now they have a shop just outside. We buy cheese and pasta there.” – Justin