The new Bridgestone Irish Food Guide, released every two and a half years, is just out and includes a glowing review of Knockranny House Hotel. Author John McKenna said that the book contains “all the good stuff and only the good stuff”, and also advised that Mayo is the most improved county in the country. When the last issue of the food guide came out Mayo only had nine pages – this year there are 15.
“Mayo has shown the greatest improvement in quality and depth with great people including Seamus Commons from Knockranny House Hotel,” said John McKenna.
Calling him “one of the great chefs of his generation”, John McKenna had this to say about Knockranny House Hotel’s chef Commons: “Cooking in Knockranny is going to cement his reputation as one of the most gifted cooks at work in Ireland. He is a culinary auteur: every dish he sends out is a Seamus Commons dish, shaped to his instinct, his personality, his vision, and that vision is complete and total, and is founded on sheer hard work.
“Mr Commons puts more detail into a single dish than most chefs put into an entire dinner menu, yet his food isn’t fussy. Instead he is seeking out affinities and connections. Look at what he does with Mayo lamb, for example: he slow cooks the shoulder, sears the loin, cooks the sweet breads, and pairs these elements with peas, polenta, and sweet fennel. With Killala lobster, he butter poaches the tail, serves the claws with mayo, makes lobster tortellini, and collects samphire to garnish a shellfish minestrone.”
Knockranny House Hotel is hosting a very special weekend for wine-lovers with a weekend of tutored tastings by a selection of wine producers on January 29 and 30, allied to Seamus Commons’ tasting menu which will have individual dishes matching the wines of each producer. The wine producers’ weekend costs €179 per person sharing for two nights B&B, including complimentary wine tasting, the tasting menu and the afternoon’s wine events before dinner. Non residents can also enjoy the event for only €69 per person.
“We are proud of Mayo’s increasing reputation as a food destination,” said Adrian Noonan, owner of Knockranny House Hotel, “and we are particularly delighted that Seamus and his team are having such an impact on the food critics and writers. We were delighted with his win earlier this year when he was awarded Best Chef in Connacht by Food & Wine Magazine.”
The Bridgestone Good Food Guide is available online at www.bridgestoneguide.ie and visit www.khh.ie for more information on the various menus, packages, and food evenings available to taste Seamus Commons’ delicious food at Knockranny House Hotel and Spa.
