New culinary cap for An Port Mór

New culinary cap for An Port Mór


Mallon named Seafood Chef of the Year

Áine Ryan

How many culinary caps can a chef wear? Best ask Frankie Mallon of An Port Mór whose secret recipe of success gained him yet another accolade last week when he was named Seafood Chef of the Year at the 2015 Georgina Campbell Awards.
It is just months since he was dubbed Best Chef in Connacht and his busy little restaurant, which is secreted down dinky Westport side-street, Brewery Place, was named the best in the province at the Irish Restaurant Awards.
The judges said it all, at last week’s awards ceremony, when they observed in their citation that the Armagh native ‘sleeps and breathes the foods - and especially the seafoods - of his adopted home in the West’.
They noted: “Whatever he cooks, this engaging Euro-Toques chef delights customers with his creative yet no nonsense cooking, noted for great sauces and flavour. And not only does he have a following in Westport, where he is acknowledged as cooking some of the best food in the area, but he has carved out a national reputation for his restaurant, which is the go-to destination for many food lovers when visiting this lovely planned town.”
“He does a few terrific meat specialities, including a delicious marinated rump of Mayo lamb, but the main focus is on local shellfish particularly Inishturk lobster and Clew Bay crab, scallops and langoustines –  also seasonal fish, which stars in unusual specialities like an Achill Island smoked fish plate of wild Irish tuna, peppered mackerel, honey roast salmon and Clew Bay seaweed jam.”
The judges also observed that this ‘exuberant celebration of local foods’ is made even tastier by the ‘excellent’ assistance of the front-of-house staff and their ‘knowledge of the foods and producers featured on the menu’.