Georgina Campbell
Less
There has been a farm at Camus for 200 years. In 2006, Vic Sprake and Deborah Ní Chaoímhe purchased the 30-acre farm and began restoring it as an organic farm specialising in rearing Dexter Beef, one of Ireland’s traditional cattle breeds.
A visit to Riverford Farm in the UK inspired a new direction for Camus: to develop a restaurant as an extension to the farm project, making use of the crops grown and Dexter beef reared on the farm. After several years of planning, the Covid lockdown presented an opportunity to bring the project to life, and in July 2021, Camus Farm Field Kitchen open its virtual doors for its first guests.
Although Camus Farm Field Kitchen is Vic and Deborah’s vision, the couple have invested in creating an experienced, dynamic team with a passion for the alternative to manage the restaurant, devise the menus, and run the kitchen. Restaurant Manager, Craig Scott, has extensive experience in managing all aspects of front of house, and has a warm and welcoming manner that ensures, as a diner, you have been well taken care of with the minimum of fuss but maximum attention.
The Head Chef at Camus Farm Field Kitchen is Bob Cairns. Originally from the UK, Cairns is well known in the West Cork food scene from his time as chef in Glensallagh Gardens, Ballydehob, a pop-up seasonal restaurant with a similar plot to plate ethos. Cairns then joined the Glebe Gardens team, heading up the restaurant during the year the dynamic trio of Perry sisters took over Dillon’s Corner in Skibbereen (former site of Carmel Somers Good Things Café). Latterly, Cairns worked with the team at Connolly’s of Leap to devise their new food offering, before looking for a new opportunity that matched his personal food ethos.
There is Italian blood, and spirit, running through Cairns’ veins. His Instagram account is peppered with the hashtag #notirishfood highlighting his style honed on the essence of Italian food: a handful of ingredients in their prime presented at their best. The results are plates that are vegetable forward, and where every ingredient is easily identified, tasted, savoured and all in harmony with each other.
Take a first course of griddled flatbread with aubergines, scallions marinaded in sumac, and coriander, for example. It makes a perfect introduction to what is seasonal at a given time, growing in West Cork on that day and produced on the farm or by a small network of local suppliers: Smoky, bitter aubergine, fiery scallions with the lemony zest of sumac, and freshness of coriander all wrapped up into a sourdough flatbread - it is Irish food, literally, but inspired by a chef's love for a style of cuisine that understands how good vegetable cookery can be.
The hyper-local, hyper-seasonal aspect of the food ethos at Camus Farm Field Kitchen means there is no menu, although food allergens and special diets can be well catered for with advance notice and vegetarian options are available for the third and main courses, also a vegan dessert option. On arrival a plate of nibbles is offered, featuring chorizo and nocellara olives, perhaps, and there's a party buzz. Everyone is seated at the same time and dishes are presented on a single platter and designed to share with your table. It creates an intimacy with each dish and the plates are passed around, admired, discussed, and tasted, family style.
For drinks, there is plenty to choose from - wine, craft beer (Wicklow Wolf perhaps), craft cider from Longueville House in Cork, house made soft drinks such as blackcurrant and lime cordial topped with sparkling water, and coffee by West Cork Coffee roasters.
Up until September, and for as long as the weather holds, outdoor dining is the seating option on offer. The outdoor dining area is rustic in style with sturdy wooden picnic benches and parasols.There is a small, sheltered area (covered but open fronted) that can be used if the weather is inclement but you are very much in the outdoors because there is a wish for diners to feel connected to the place where much of the menu’s food originates, to enjoy being outside in nature. At summer's end, the purpose-built dining hall opens. Replete with a very open and social kitchen overlooking the communal dining space, it is more like a performance stage than a working cucina.
A unique experience - and simply magic.
