The Ulster Regional Final of the Irish Restaurant Awards took place in The Main Hall, at The Guildhall, Derry last night and named the top restaurants in the nine counties for 2016. Over 500 restaurant owners and staff celebrated their hard work and achievements at the Awards, which saw many well-known restaurateurs of Ulster turn out to see if they had won one of the prestigious awards.

Speaking at the awards, Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland Adrian Cummins said; “The Irish Restaurant Awards celebrate their eighth year this year and have become the Island’s biggest food awards. The credibility that these awards have is reflected in the amount of nominations they received this year – over 70,000 individual nominations were cast across fourteen categories, showing that these are the awards that everyone wants to win.

Speaking at the awards, Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland Adrian Cummins said; “The Irish Restaurant Awards celebrate their eighth year this year and have become the Island’s biggest food awards. The credibility that these awards have is reflected in the amount of nominations they received this year – over 70,000 individual nominations were cast across fourteen categories, showing that these are the awards that everyone wants to win.

“The Irish restaurant scene is internationally recognised for its high calibre of restaurateurs and chefs. These awards celebrate the people that make the restaurant sector the dynamic and exciting industry it is. They are the people who provide 72,000 jobs to our economy and generate revenue in excess of €2 billion. We’re recognising the talent, hard work and commitment that everyone here gives to the food industry. Tonight, everyone is a winner.”

Food outlets were nominated under the categories of Best Customer Service, Best Gastro Pub, Best Casual Dining, Best Hotel Restaurant, Best Chef, Best Restaurant, Best Wine Experience, Best Restaurant Manager, Best Kids Size Me, Local Food Hero, Best Emerging Irish Cuisine and Best Newcomer as well as two new main award categories – Best Café and Best World Cuisine.

All County winners now compete for the Regional and All Ireland Title which will be announced at the Irish Restaurant Awards in the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, Dublin on Monday 16th May, 2016.

View award winners here- Ulster Regional Awards

Balloo House in Killinchy, Co Down kicked off a series of exclusive dining events on Monday night with Scottish Michelin star chef Tom Kitchin at the helm. The Four Seasons at Balloo events, part of the NI Year of Food Drink 2016 celebrations, will run throughout the year bringing four acclaimed chefs to the Balloo House kitchen to create four unique menus showcasing Northern Ireland’s finest seasonal produce.

Balloo House chef Danny Millar first met Tom while appearing alongside him on the BBC2 Great British Menu series along with the other chefs taking part in the Four Seasons at Balloo events, Glynn Purnell, Nigel Haworth and Stephen Terry. Speaking about last night’s dinner Danny said: “Tom is a world class chef and we have really enjoyed working with him to create an unforgettable dining event. It was a fantastic opportunity for the team. We were also proud to introduce him to Northern Ireland’s amazing produce and artisan suppliers, with the NI Year of Food and Drink 2016 the perfect platform for these unique dining events at Balloo House.”

Chef Tom Kitchin said: “As a chef, a lot of my inspiration comes from visiting new places, trying new ingredients and meeting new suppliers, so the Four Season’s event has been an incredibly memorable experience for me.
“I still get a buzz when my local suppliers meet me at the door of our restaurant The Kitchin in Edinburgh with produce straight from the Scottish land and sea, so it was really exciting to be a part of the process at Balloo House, sharing my ‘From Nature to Plate’ ethos and working alongside Danny and his team with some truly outstanding local produce.”

The three remaining dining events in the series are: Glynn Purnell dinner 23rd May, Nigel Haworth dinner 8th August and Stephen Terry dinner 14th November.

Mourne Mountains Brewery has announced that it will brew its second special edition beer of 2016 to celebrate its sponsorship of the Coast to Coast multisport race this May.

Organised by 26 Extreme, the event will see cyclists, runners and kayakers travel the 316km route from Enniscrone, Co. Sligo to Newcastle, Co. Down on 14th and 15th May.

Connaire McGreevy, founder of Mourne Mountains Brewery said: “We have decided to produce a special beer that will be named after this iconic event, to mark our second year of sponsorship.

“The Coast to Coast Ireland brew will be an amber ale at 4.5% ABV, using hops from New Zealand to recognise the fact that the original Coast to Coast event took place in New Zealand.

“We challenged ourselves to create something really different for Coast to Coast to celebrate our sponsorship in style, and this will be a complete departure from our core beers and other seasonal specials to date. We’ll be at the finish line with a free bottle for each competitor, so if that doesn’t encourage you to sign up and give it your best shot I don’t know what will!”

Ian Cumming, Race Director of Ireland’s Coast to Coast event, said, “We are absolutely delighted to have Mourne Mountains Brewery as a sponsor for our event.

“Coast to Coast is designed to showcase Ireland as a destination to our international racers, however, it’s an opportunity for local producers to showcase their products to our local competitors. Many of them will not forget that first beer after such a tough event, and this year, it’ll be their own custom brew.”

To find out more about Coast to Coast and to sign up to take part, visit www.26extreme.com

Visit www.mournemountainsbrewery.com for more from Mourne Mountains Brewery. #jointheclan

NI coffee chain Ground Espresso Bars welcomed Omar Rodriguez from the Capucas cooperative in Honduras as part of his first visit to Fairtrade Ireland. Omar’s visit coincides with the official launch of the coffee chain’s new coffee blend ‘Bobblehat’.

Ground Espresso Bars are also excited to launch their exclusive Bobblehat brew and add to their range of signature blends. Co-Founder of Ground, Darren Gardiner described some of the coffee’s characteristics: “We’ve knitted together a blend of three individual coffees from Brazil, Honduras and Indonesia in our unique, new, one of a kind espresso blend. It’s got an aroma that hints at freshly baked bread with doughy wholemeal notes and the cereal theme continues in the taste, leading to fruit and citrus on the finish, and a pom-pom on top!”
The special new blend is FairTrade certified with strong direct trade links. In the future, Ground aspires to reproduce the success of the Honduras Project.

Ground Espresso Bars are one of only a handful of coffee houses in the UK and Ireland who engage in direct trade with the communities that are producing their coffee. The direct trade model goes beyond the Fairtrade principles as Ground becomes proactively connected to the well-being of the coffee-growing community. Through regular reconnaissance trips to Honduras and an investment in intensive relationship building with the cooperative, Ground are pioneering a quality centric approach to supply chain management. Ground’s visits to the country of origin provide the opportunity to identify the needs of the local community, and subsequently fulfilling these have led to mutually beneficial outcomes including collaboration on new varietals and coffees, and higher quality coffee. These benefits filter into Ground’s product and service standards in NI and affirms the notion that “doing good is good business.”
Karen added: “We’re committed to improving the quality of life in our coffees’ country of origin, so it is very special that Omar visits us on the day that we release a new blend, Bobblehat, which originates from Honduras, Brazil and Indonesia.”

Omar, whose visit coincided with the Bobblehat launch, has been crucial to the success of Ground’s philanthropic education project in Honduras, which began in March 2015 and is forecasted to be finished early April. As part of an initiative to give back to its producers, growers and co-ops who produce coffee products such as Ground Espresso Bars’ trade-marked Purple Dragon blend, the company propelled funding for the construction of a new education hub in Honduras intended to provide an IT centre with 30 new computers for use by children and young people in the community. It is predicted that the centre will benefit 500 local school children and a further 500 young school leavers who otherwise would not have access to computers and higher education opportunities.

The original Honduras Project cost of $25,000 was 90% funded by Ground Espresso Bars and 10% through fundraising activities in its multiple outlets across the country. Upon recommendations from the University of Honduras, Ground were inspired to enlarge this initiative by transforming the small community centre into a remote learning hub, incurring a new support sum of $130,000. This project expansion was funded through donations to the Fundación, as well as the cooperative’s own contribution of $70,000 which is a testament to the community’s commitment to enhancing self-sustainability.

Director of Ground Espresso Bars, Karen Gardiner highlighted the importance of Omar to the company: “The Honduras project is changing the lives of this local community and Omar has played a key role in that. We have entrusted the overseeing and logistics of the hub’s construction to him and we rely on Omar for development and resources updates. The feedback that he relays improves Ground’s continued support of this initiative. Without Omar’s drive and dedication, the expansion of this project would not have been possible, he pushed the vision of the long-term value of higher education for this remote community and has been physically advancing its success. ”
For further information or to donate to Ground Espresso Bars Honduras Project go to www.groundcoffee.net or visit your local Ground Espresso Bars.

Article written by Sam Butler for Newsletter

Diners at top hotels and restaurants in the Republic are being given an opportunity to enjoy a unique delicacy from Co. Antrim.

Lough Neagh eels are turning up increasingly on menus there as a result of a link up with one of Dublin’s gourmet food businesses. La Rousse, Ireland’s gourmet food innovator is now marketing the delicious and rare eels from Lough Neagh, Europe’s largest wild eel fishery, to its high-end foodservice customers in the Republic of Ireland as well as across Northern Ireland.

Many leading chefs in Northern Ireland have been including the eels in their menus for many years. Michelin star chef Michael Deane, for example, included smoked Lough Neagh eel on his gourmet menu during his stint last week cooking for affluent diners at the St Regis Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lough Neagh Eels, based at Toome, is one of only three Northern Ireland products to have achieved EU protected name status, the first food from Northern Ireland to achieve this status. The others are Comber Early Potatoes and Armagh Bramley apples.
The fishery is now providing fresh and frozen eels, long prized by foodies in London as well as in the Netherlands and Germany, to La Rousse for its gourmet clients. The eels have been shipped fresh to Britain and the Netherlands for decades and were smoked to provide a popular street food in Amsterdam. They are also in demand at Billingsgate Market, the biggest seafood market in Britain.

The business, a fishermen’s co-operative, is now processing and adding value to the eels at the loughside fishery and has plans to launch a smoked product in the near future.
Lough Neagh’s Cathy Chauhan says: “La Rousse is an ideal partner because of its vast experience of working with leading chefs and also because of the company’s high end customer base.

“We are learning a great deal from the La Rousse team and its network of chefs about how we can supply the products that they wish. While we have experience in exporting fresh eels to the Netherlands and Great Britain, growing business in foodservice particularly in the Republic is a new development for us.”
And it’s business that Lough Neagh is keen to expand and has invested in processing and vacuum packaging technology and the development of innovative products for discerning chefs and diners.

The deal with la Rousse is an important step for the co-operative in helping it to realise its vision of becoming a supplier of fresh, frozen and smoked eel products for menus and dinner tables everywhere. Building this business will enhance the earnings of the 200 fishermen and their families who fish the lough in season.
The co-operative is seeking to build on the existing reputation for quality and outstanding taste of the Lough Neagh eel and is determined to ensure that the economic value of this unique natural resource continues to be developed sensitively, harnessing the products to the benefit of the business and the fishing families who supply the eels. To this end, the co-operative is also focused on conservation and careful management to ensure the long-term sustainability of the stock.

Clifford Webb, a La Rousse food manager, adds: “We are delighted to be working with Lough Neagh eels, a unique Irish product, in the development of business particularly in the Republic of Ireland. It’s a superb product.
“Eel, however, is a comparatively new product in the Republic, and what we’ve been doing is to create awareness there of this exceptional and versatile product among leading chefs. This has involved working closely with chefs and the team at Lough Neagh on the development of creative dishes using the Northern Irish eels.
“The agreement is also a further demonstration of our strategic focus on helping suppliers, especially artisan enterprises on the island of Ireland, grow business among the huge number of chefs in our extensive network,” he adds.

La Rousse has specialised in the supply of fine foods to premium food establishments since 1992. Based in Dublin, the company offers a wide range of fresh, seasonal and innovative produce from a network of producers.
Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Co-operative produces around 400 tonnes of eels annually and has long been committed to careful management of the fishery through rigorous conservation policies, including measures such as quotas, restocking and scientific research, which have helped to secure a viable and sustainable future for the eels, the fishermen and one of Northern Ireland’s exceptional gourmet foods.

Easter Monday 28th March, Marine Hotel, Ballycastle – 11am – 4pm

Easter Monday sees the beginning of a new season for Ballycastle’s own artisan food and craft market, at the Marine Hotel, with over 40 artisan stalls booked it’s bound to be an egg-citing day in Ballycastle!!

The Easter Market at the Marine Hotel is on Easter Monday the 28th of March from 11am – 4pm and has something for everyone!

Kids will enjoy taking part in the Easter egg hunt through the market, along with taking part in the ‘Design your own Chocolate Bar’ competition – we invite children and even adults to get creative with their designs – the winner will receive their own design on bars of chocolate created by the talented Geri Martin of the Chocolate Manor!
Children and adults alike may also enjoy having their portrait drawn by Caricature Artist Mark Bonello of I Do Caricatures.

We are also offering a midweek overnight stay for 2 at the Marine Hotel in April to everyone that attends the market on the day and signs up for our newletter!

Now known as ‘Naturally North Coast and Glens Market’, this vibrant community managed social enterprise will be travelling all along the North Coast from March until December, with markets at Cushendun, Bushmills, Portstewart, Portrush, Benone, Ballymoney and Limavady , as well as our flagship Ballycastle based markets – find out more on our website www.naturallynorthcoastandglens.co.uk

If you haven’t experienced the market yet, you have a treat in store. Whether you are looking for a unique gift, an original piece of artwork a tasty treat, or just wish to add something different to your family day out you will find the market has everything you want.