Green is good

GREEN RESTAURANTS?There was a time, and it wasn't all that long ago, when most of us would think of them as being the ones located in and around a prime part of Dublin 2. How times change, writes TOM DOORLEY

But can a restaurant be green in any meaningful sense? Well, it’s certainly a challenge, just as it is for us consumers. Restaurants are very energy-intensive and they generally produce a shocking amount of waste. Many of them are addicted to produce with whopping food miles (year-round asparagus from Peru, to name just one example) and far too many chefs have neither the time nor the inclination to take sourcing seriously.

But some do. An increasing number of restaurants are now proud to showcase local or fairly local produce. This has become the hallmark of a place that really cares about what goes on the plate.

The greenest restaurants, by definition, must be those that grow a lot of what they use in the kitchen – not an easy thing to do in our climate.

The Glebe Gardens and Cafe(www.glebegardens.com), near Baltimore in west Cork, is a model example. Fish and meat all come from the immediate locality, and the vegetables, many of them old-fashioned "heritage" varieties, are grown in one of the loveliest walled gardens in Ireland.

In north Cork, the O'Callaghan family produce not just edibles but drinkables on the Longueville Houseestate (www.longuevillehouse.ie). Michael O'Callaghan used to make Irish wine there from his own grapes, but he now produces a fine apple brandy – an Irish Calvados – from the Longueville orchards. Add to that meat from the home farm and fruit and vegetables from the walled garden (you will never get a fresher salad than you will here). And, in the true country house tradition, any gluts of produce are carefully preserved in the form of jams and chutneys.

The greenest restaurant in Ireland, officially, is the Strawberry Treeat BrookLodge in Co Wicklow (www.brooklodge.com). There are fewer than 20 certified organic restaurants in Europe, and this is one of them, the only such restaurant in Ireland. All the food served is either organically produced or wild – and the amount of work involved in producing a menu on these lines is staggering. The organic and biodynamic wine list is impressive, too.

Guests at Enniscoe House(www.enniscoe.com), near Crossmolina in Co Mayo, are often found wandering delightedly in the two-acre walled organic garden, according to owner Susan Kellett. They then come in to dinner and find themselves eating a menu based on what is best that day. There is also a community allotment scheme – strictly organic – based within the garden, and excess produce is sold to the kitchen.

One of Ireland's pioneering organic restaurants, Marc Michel's Organic Cafeat Kilpedder, Co Wicklow, has been closed for some time due to a planning dispute with Wicklow County Council. However, Michel insists that it will be business as usual as soon as the issue is resolved.

So, there you have an amuse bouche of green eating, and no Peruvian asparagus in sight.

Read Megabites, Tom Doorley’s blog, at irishtimes.com/blogs/megabites