Wineport

eobphotography wrote: »

cathal Moran is the head Chef now and is very talented. He was up for Chef of the year last year alongside Corrigan and Thornton so thats good company.

Cathal is a very good chef.

the difference in standard between wineport and lisloughry when he was there was insane considering the same person (Fergal) set the menu and the prices were the same.

John_Rambo wrote: »

Are you a disgruntled ex-employee?

Did you ever work in the Wineport?

While I agree with you about Cathal, I don't about Fergal, and you seem to be getting it wrong looking at the above reviews of Fergals new place. Now, while your at it, put your money where your mouth is and tell us what kitchen you run? It's not nice to anonymously slate your brethren behind your keyboard without stating your own position and who you are.

I worked as holiday cover there for a month and chose not to go back.
I have a lot of time for Ray and Jane. I have a lot of time for the staff, the restaurant managers and the front of house manager. I think Shane is a very able and talented sous chef, Linda was a damned good chef and Jenny and co are a great troop.

The menu was sub par for the price by any standards.
When I was there they were charging 32.50 for a course that consisted of half a pre-cooked and frozen lobster which had the claws crasked, shredded and stuffed into the shell to fill the cavity which was created form removing the sack and intestine, this was them topped with garlic butter and grilled to re heat it.

32.50 for reheated processed food?

GET THE BOAT!

on the same menu the veg option was a roast vegetable and goats cheese pizza.

The roast veg came from another dish and was grand, the sauce was extremely basic, the cheese was actually quite nice in fairness but the base? The base was a frozen, pre-made, bought in doughy horrible bready lump of flavourlessness.

They charged the guts of €25 for that pizza, it cost about €0.50 per serving and required zero skill or effort.

Fillet beef (in fairness, the beef is quality, they get it from James Kilbride) was served with deep fried asparagus which was done in a packet mix of cheap tempura style gunk.

They used a LOT of pre-preped veg from "fresh and ready vegetables".


They did some good deserts though and their G&T and Green apple sorbets were pretty good too.

The menu now is a lot cheaper and their early bird menu at 22 a head (although only served for 45 minutes) is actually good value, they also do stay and dine deals starting about about 100pp/pn which are good value as the hotel facility is beautiful. But for a long time their pricing was insane and their menu extremely bland.

The only thing that WAS good value when I was there was the sunday lunch.


The kitchen ran perfectly 4 days a week with Shane and Linda in charge, the other 3 days people were walking on egg shells and a quiet, relaxed kitchen turned in to screams and verbal abuse of young watiresses... Guess who only worked 3 days a week in Athlone?

John_Rambo wrote: »

That happens when boss's arrive in work.

So overall your saying it's not that bad at all and fairly reasonably priced. Have you stopped shaking your head?

So, after slating a fellow chefs imagination and personality on a public forum, can you tell us what kitchen you run? I don't ever remember a 25 Euro Pizza. Last time I was there my main was 22Euro my starter was 12Eur, the wine was good, all four of us got a drink on the house and the Wineport covered our taxi back to Athlone town. That is nowhere near the prices michelin starred kitchens in Dublin, London and Milan charge.

It would take me a lot more than a month to find out the true dynamics of who is what and what goes on in a busy workplace.

The pizza was there, trust me, I had to make the things.


Over all I said they have decent offers at certain times.
I said that the early bird menu was good value, I said that Slunch was good value, I said their stay and dine were good value because of the fact that the hotel is superb. I said their beef was quality, but that has a lot more to do with where it came from than anything else, seeing as they don't marinate their meats (they might do now that Cathal is in chagre). I didn't say that the restaurant is good value, althought it is a lot chaper than it was, it's still over priced but getting better quality wise so maybe some day they will level off.

I have eaten in michelin starred restaurants and paid a LOT less than the last meal I had in winport. 45 Euro for a starter and a main?

You could get two much better courses in Bon Appetit or L'Ecrivain the same price (or less).

Pay an extra €2 and you get two courses in Chapter one.

In London you could eat in L'Atelier, Arbutus, Hibiscus, St John's, Rasoi and The Cinnamon Club to name just a few for the same price or less.

In Milan I have eaten in D'O for less.


So yes, you can eat in Michelin Starred restaurants in Dublin, London and Milan for less.





Oh,and by the way, it takes about 15 minutes "understand the true dynamics" of a kitchen.


I never claimed to be a world class chef or to run anywhere. I basically pointed out that somehwere was over priced and that the chef (ex chef now) was not a very good chef.

John_Rambo wrote: »

Well, stop shaking your head then. Personally, I prefer premium cuts to be rare and not marinated, but, everyone's different with different tastes and preferences... Things would be very boring otherwise.

I prefer premium cuts to be rare AND marinated...

Why would marinating meat mean you can't cook it rare? In fact, marinating is usually done to ensure that meat is even more tender when cooked rare...
Every other restaurant I have worked in marinated their beef.

Usually in the following. Olive oil, garlic, bay, rosemary, thyme and pepper corns.