AT this time of year restaurants are often as empty as the pockets of the absent diners; the weather is miserable and with many potential punters still in the throes of the post-Christmas-credit-card-bill blues, eating out is out of the question.
For the chefs, though, an empty restaurant doesn’t mean a rest. Now is the time many prepare their new menus, packed with exciting dishes which – hopefully – will entice customers once they feel able to venture out and spend again. They know the competition is too fierce for them to stand still, so it’s vital they develop and innovate.
But there must be a balance. Arlene Dennis, manager and chef at Carnaween House in Narin-Portnoo, Co Donegal, knows that any new menu she devises must begin with old favourites.
“There are four dishes we simply can’t not offer,” she says. “Our regulars wouldn’t allow it.” So seafood chowder, baby pear and Parma ham, crab linguine, and rack of lamb go down straight away.
But new customers must also be attracted, in the hope they’ll become regulars in time. “A menu is the all-important entry window to a restaurant, so it’s key to make it a good one,” says Arlene. “And the setting is a vital consideration, too. We’re on the coast of Donegal, on the Wild Atlantic Way, and we therefore tailor our menu to meet the expectations of such a location."
The location naturally brings a variety of customers – couples on a romantic break, families, wedding parties, groups who’ve had a day on the beach. With a restaurant, a covered terrace, and a beach house, Carnaween House looks to have a broad appeal, and the menu must have something for everyone, so no-one looks at it and walks away.
Customer needs, availability of ingredients, costs, location, time of year – all have to be balanced by the chef when it comes to preparing the menu. And then there’s the chef’s own ambition.
“I’m passionate about working with food,” Arlene says. “I find it really exciting. I’m constantly reading food magazines, looking at possible new suppliers, researching ideas, visiting food markets, and trying new experiences. I’m fascinated, for example, by the way Ox, in Belfast, uses vegetables, and I came away hoping to try something along similar lines.”
A recent trip to Scotland has ignited a desire to create her own pasty, but it has to fit in with Carnaween’s coastal narrative. “I’ll be experimenting with crab and watercress,” she says. “And I want to come up with a new seaside dessert, based on an old-fashioned sundae, but using pannacotta, mini doughnuts, and rhubarb. I like change.”
That sentiment is echoed by Sean Harrigan, head chef at Derry’s Sooty Olive. Like Arlene Dennis, he is currently developing a new menu, and looks to change menus according to the season, although impatience occasionally gets the better of him.
“Sometimes I look at the menu and it annoys me. There’s nothing wrong with the food on it, but I just find I’m tired of looking at it, and I want to do something new. I’ve got this burning desire to improve. I love trying new things and experimenting.”
Some things don't work but the need to give things a go is ever-present.
“I’m like a sponge,” Sean says. “I love to travel and I’m always eating out and talking to other chefs.” Recent visits to Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and South Carolina have seen him return brimful of new ideas.
“I was in Charleston and saw a fantastic gravy. I thought I just had to try that. We developed this dish around it – grilled chicken, barbecued corn, celeriac slaw. When I put a picture of it on Facebook, it got around 400 likes, so I knew we had to put it on the menu. Now it’s flying out the kitchen every night.”
Sean works with local producers as much as he can, and is particularly proud of his relationship with the Hope Project in Derry, buying his vegetables grown in their polytunnels. He works hard to build relationships with suppliers and producers, but cost is a constant consideration.
“We’re a casual-dining restaurant and the price is vital,” he says, “but when we’re building a new menu, I like to start with the weather. If it’s warm, your customers are going to want something light and colourful. In winter, you think about something more hearty and warming. But whatever I do, it has to be better. Everything always has to be better.”
ARLENE DENNIS’S HAKE EN PAPILLOTE
(Serves 4)
2 tbsp olive oil
6 plum tomatoes
1 fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp caster sugar
Basil sprigs
100g cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
3-4 tbsp dry white wine
4 hake fillets
Fresh sea salt and ground pepper
Heat oven to 150°C. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Quarter the tomatoes; remove the seeds and the skin. Trim the root end of the fennel bulb; finely slice it lengthways. Finely slice the garlic.
Toss the fennel, garlic, sugar, basil, and tomatoes in the olive oil. Season well.
Spread the mixture on to the baking sheet and roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven; leave to cool.
Increase the oven to 200°C. Mix the dry white wine and sherry vinegar into the fennel and tomato mix; add more fresh herbs. Cut four discs of greaseproof paper about 30cm in diameter.
Place a quarter of the tomato mix onto the middle of each paper. Season the hake and place on top of the mix skin side up. Seal the parcels and bake for 15 minutes.
Open the parcel from the top (careful of the steam). Serve immediately.
SEAN HARRIGAN’S CHICKEN AND GRAVY
Real chicken gravy:
3/4 cup chicken fat
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce
Heat chicken fat and gradually whisk in flour. Cook for two minutes on a medium heat. Slowly whisk in milk, salt, pepper, soy.
Triple cooked chips:
Cut two good potatoes into big chips. Parboil until just soft. Cool then fry at 120°C until just soft through the centre. Cool, then fry at 220°C until crispy.
Corn:
Parboil for 8 minutes. Chargrill or blue torch.
Celeriac slaw:
1 small celeriac
Grate and squeeze any liquid through a clean tea towel
Add 4/5 tbsp of mayo
1 tbsp of whole grain mustard
Some freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tsp of Broighter Gold truffle oil
Salt and pepper to season and combine all ingredients .
Two chicken supremes:
Chargrill in a little oil skin side down. When skin is nicely coloured, add a little butter and place in the oven, skin-side down for 8/10 minutes. Use juice and butter from pan and whisk into gravy. Allow chicken to rest then serve with all of the above.
