Star billing for Ireland’s local artisan producers at exclusive Mayo hotel

Ashford Castle’s Cullens at the Cottage restaurant has reopened with a spectacular new seasonal menu featuring produce from more than a dozen local Irish producers, together with produce grown, picked, pickled, foraged and produced on the Ashford Castle estate.

Cullen’s at the Cottage traditionally closes for the winter but planning starts up to 12 months in advance, with Ashford Castle’s head chefs collaborating with head gardener Alex Lavarde, who oversees the estate’s kitchen gardens.

Executive head chef Liam Finnegan and head chef Amélie Le Guennec meet with Alex almost daily to consider crop, planting and harvesting cycles. And this year, the newly launched menu at Cullen’s at the Cottage features more fantastically fresh and estate grown goods than ever before.

Asparagus, rhubarb, wild garlic, lovage, fennel and mixed leaves are among the estate-grown produce currently starring on the menu at Cullen’s at the Cottage, which will change with the seasons.

Sous chef Hilary Casey, who heads up the hotel’s wild food project, complements dishes with her homemade pickles, condiments and preserves. Connemara oysters are served with Hilary’s hot sauce, which is made from chillis harvested in late summer, fermented with red pepper and salt brine.

Guests will also enjoy estate made butter, breads, buttermilk and honey when dining at Ireland’s first Forbes five-star rated hotel.

Diners will be treated to produce from some of the west of Ireland’s finest artisan producers, including Burren House smoked salmon, Connemara crab and lobster, Killary Fjord mussels, Andarl Farm pork, Martin Jennings steak, Kinvarra lamb, St. Tola goat’s cheese and Velvet Cloud dairy produce, together with Goatsbridge rainbow trout and Ring’s Farm chicken.

Located in Cong, Ashford Castle offers guests multiple dining experiences, all of which feature seasonal menus packed with estate and locally sourced produce, as follows: fine dining in the historic George V Dining Room; bistro-style dining in the atmospheric Dungeon; both casual and private dining options in the intimate setting that is Stanley’s; award-winning afternoon tea in the elegant Connaught Room, which is available to non-residents (booking essential); private dining in the hotel’s stone-clad wine cellars; lunch and casual dining with spectacular views in the Drawing Room; and of course, Cullens at the Cottage, which is open not only to guests of Ashford Castle but to those staying at The Lodge at Ashford. Cullen’s at the Cottage also welcomes bookings from non-residents.

In addition to its world-class Irish food offering, Ashford Castle offers 83 elegant rooms and suites, a luxury spa and gym, an equestrian centre, leisure complex, Ireland’s School of Falconry, a nine-hole golf course, an extensive wine cellar, and a private cinema. Find out more at www.ashfordcastle.com.