Joe McNamee

Cork

Senior Food Writer at Irish Examiner

Eats for pleasure/writes about it for money | Senior Food Writer @irish_examiner etc | Ringmaster @grubcircus | Member @FoodGuild |

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Articles

Munster producers championed at Euro-Toques Ireland Food Awards

1 week ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

It was another mighty Munster showing in the West yesterday at the 2025 Euro-Toques Ireland Food Awards, held in Ashford Castle Estate, in Co Mayo, as three of seven awards on offer went to food producers from the Southern province with many other Munster producers amongst the nominees.
The Menu: Without immigrants, Ireland would lose 11 Michelin stars

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

I recently attended a poignant and unusual funeral. Poignant, in that we were saying farewell to a man of 51, in the prime of life until diagnosed with motor neurone disease just five years ago. Unusual in how a removal became a full-blown celebration of a life, a spiritual potpourri of music, song, psalms and prayer as comforting as any traditional affair, multiple speakers eulogising a good man, including heart-fuelled speeches from his son, daughter and wife.
Restaurant review: Farmgate Lismore is one of my new favourite Irish restaurants

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

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The Menu: Wouldn't it be wonderful to buy fresh fruit and veg grown by your neighbour?

3 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

Back in the 70s, Cork farmer Declan Martin called into his local branch of the supermarket chains that were beginning to spring up around the country. He and wife Rosemary, growing vegetables since 1967 on their Waterfall Farm, just west of the city, were seeking more outlets and the branch manager was more than happy to stock their produce, to be delivered to the store each week.
The Menu: The Irish barbecue scene has evolved at a mighty clip

4 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

Aa I write this in late April, I am like most Gaels — bewitched by a mini-heatwave, drugged to the gills by endless sunshine, deluding myself that it will last forever. Shorts? Check. Sunnies? Check. Flipflops? Check. Cold beer, even on a school night? Check. And what shall we eat? Why, barbecue, of course.
Restaurant review: This Cork institution is a national treasure in the making

4 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

8.5/10 Subscribe to access all of the Irish Examiner. Annual €120€60 Best value Monthly €10€4 / month Unlimited access. Subscriber content.
East Cork, where the story of modern Irish hospitality first began

1 month ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

I often think of East Cork and West Cork as siblings; loyal to each other as good family members always are, never warring, but with certain marked differences in appearance and attitude and sometimes even the occasional frisson of rivalry. Cork is unquestionably the food county of Ireland, but once you have imbibed the food culture of the city and had your fill, attentions naturally turn to the countryside. So, which way do you turn, East or West?
The Menu: May is when I begin growing food produce at home in earnest

1 month ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

May is upon us once more, and as a proud May baby, I have no hesitation in saying it is the finest month of the year; is there another with the same invigorating sense of vibrant new energy and possibility, including the fingers-crossed possibility of an actual summer ahead. May is when those early pathfinders of April, asparagus and rhubarb, are superseded by the first real flush of the new growing season.
Meet the couple in Kerry making pottery for Ireland’s Michelin-star restaurants

1 month ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

Hidden up a narrow laneway in Ballinskelligs, just off the Cahirsiveen Rd, it would be just another standard Irish rural bungalow were it not for the exceptionally lush planting bringing a tropical feel to this remote part of South Kerry. Formerly Stephen O’Connell’s childhood residence, it is now home to him, Alexis Bowman, and their three children.
Restaurant review: A fine taste of home for Indian diaspora in Cork

1 month ago | irishexaminer.com | Joe McNamee

La daughter and I have surrendered to Sunday afternoon serendipity, mooching around town with no plan other than that it might involve books, records, makeup, and whatever weird and random shops en route catch our fancy. Strangely, we had forgotten entirely about food until we find ourselves outside The Dosa Spot (TDS), its bright and cheery aspect triggering our appetites. The effect is more pronounced within.