FOOD Lunching at Lisloughrey’s a bit Wilde

STATELY SETTING Lisloughrey?House, originally built in 1865 for the manager of the Ashford Castle estate.

Lunching at Lisloughrey’s a bit Wilde

Áine Ryan

SURROUNDED by cushions of lush trees and overlooking Lough Corrib, with the rolling peaks of the Twelve Bens framing the horizon, Lisloughrey Lodge is an oasis, hidden in the grounds of the imposing Ashford Castle estate. Simply sit in a window in the first-floor Wilde’s restaurant and your chances of transforming into an artist or great writer are significantly enhanced by the inspirational view.
My recent Sunday lunch outing certainly left me longing for escape from drab reality as I fantasised about moving (even temporarily) to one of the courtyard apartments – all in a quest for creativity, of course. The fact that the exotic world of medieval Ashford Castle is but a stroll away through Kinlough woods made the afternoon sojourn even more magical.
Like the castle, Lisloughrey Lodge has endured some economic travails in recent times but there is little sense of that in its welcoming lobby and busy bar. The atmosphere exudes a casual formality with frissons of excitement rippling through the chat of huddles of wedding guests indulging in an early aperitif before the afternoon reception in the annexed Harbour Room.
The lodge was originally built in 1865, for the manager of the vast estate attached to Ashford Castle, which at that time was owned by Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness and encompassed over 26,000 acres. Indeed, it was during the 1860s that Sir Benjamin’s son, Lord Ardilaun, developed the massive woodlands surrounding both the lodge and the castle.
It is in these ecological paradises that present-day chef and Connemara native, Jonathan Keane, and his culinary team, go foraging for many of the delicacies and delights that enhance the delicious foods served at the lodge.  Keane works alongside restaurant manager, Jorg Demmerer, to ensure that diners enjoy ‘a circle of flavours’ that can sometimes be a ‘little crazy and controversial’ but always work. (Our tasters and palette cleansers say it all: apple, celery and nettle soup en croute; black pudding chocolate truffle with mint; a mini Neapolitan ice cream with beetroot, honey parsnip and capers and parsley. Yummy!)
“Restaurants everywhere are playing lip service to the brand ‘local’, but if you go into many of these kitchens you will find the scallops are from Wicklow and the lamb is from the south of the country,” says Jonathan, who has a very different understanding of what local means. “Growing up in Kylemore in the 1980s, foraging was part of my childhood. All my dishes are based on the food with which I was reared. My dad used to make black pudding, and I always remember that sweet coconutty smell of gorse as I played in the hills of Connemara.”
And you don’t have to leave the window vantage of Wilde’s restaurant to conjure the many natural resources that a creative but ‘quirky’ chef may use in his kitchen. The rich scent of the clumps of yellow gorse hemming the nearby lake-edge has been perfectly infused in the delicate flavour of our crème-brulees, enhanced of course by my crisp, perfectly chilled Chardonnay. (My daughter was the designated driver!)
Indeed, the menu is a paean to the artisanship of many local producers, such as Kelly’s of Newport, Killary Fjord Shellfish, Kate McCormack and Sons of Westport, Clew Bay Scallops and Carrowholly Cheese.

Timeless
TWO years after Lisloughrey Lodge was built, Sir William Wilde, published the first edition of his famous book, ‘Lough Corrib, Its Shores and Islands’. The eminent eye-specialist, and father of the famous playwright, Oscar, lived in nearby Moytura House, also on the shore of Lough Corrib. While the outside world may have changed greatly since William Wilde wandered the shores of this great lake, or John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara sat on the set of The Quiet Man, there is a timelessness about Lisloughrey Lodge and its lakeside setting.
Well with a lake that is named after MannanΡn Mac Lir, a leader of the mythical Irish race the Tuatha de Danann, this lodge is bound to create some magic.

For more on Lisloughrey Lodge, visit www.lisloughreylodge.com or call 094 9545400.