Destination Guides

Wild Food Foraging at Liscannor Bay

Recently updated on January 20th, 2020 at 06:40 pm

On the windswept coast of County Clare, on Ireland’s captivating Wild Atlantic Way, the Barrtra Seafood Restaurant is just a short distance from the town of Lahinch. Overlooking Liscannor Bay, where the dramatic Cliffs of Moher begin, the restaurant enjoys spectacular views of the untamed coastline, as well as a veritable larder of fresh local produce. Navigating this wild landscape is local food expert Oonagh O’Dwyer, who leads her wild food foraging tours along this stretch of the Wild Atlantic Way.
Wild Food Foraging
Oonagh is close friends with the Barrtra Seafood Restaurant‘s owners, Paul and Theresa O’Brien, who settled in the area in 1988 to raise their family, opening the restaurant shortly after. Today, Paul and Theresa’s son Ruben is running the kitchen as Head Chef, using fresh seafood and locally sourced produce to prepare feasts of slow-cooked lamb hotpot, Barrtra house-smoked salmon served with crushed new potatoes, and lentil and mushroom filo parcels with fragrant nettle pesto.

Out of their passion for the provenance of food, Barrtra Seafood Restaurant and Oonagh’s Wild Kitchen tours now come together to offer visitors the chance to set out on foraging expeditions along the beach, before returning to the restaurant to cook up a hearty meal and dine on what they’ve prepared together.

Wild Food Foraging

 

“We try to keep our produce as local as possible,” says Chef Ruben O’Brien, “Vegetables and herbs come from our own garden or from local organic producers; when buying fish, we focus on well managed stocks, and all our meat comes from County Clare. It’s very satisfying to serve up vegetables picked from the garden. Around here we get a lot of potatoes, organic vegetables, ten types of seaweed, a variety of herbs and fruit, mackerel, and award winning cheeses like St Tola, and Burren Gold from the famous Aillwee Cave. We focus mainly on seafood, and we like to keep dishes simple, letting the high quality of the local produce do the talking.”

As a horticulture teacher who’s grown her own organic food for the past 25 years, Oonagh is immensely passionate about wild plants, and lives by the motto “grow, find, cook, taste”.

Wild Food Foraging

“I guide wild food walks along the Wild Atlantic Way and the beautiful area here known as the Burren, which was recently awarded UNESCO Global Geopark status,” she explains, “When I set up Wild Kitchen, I also joined the Burren Ecotourism Network. All of the network’s members have the same passion for showcasing The Burren and its surroundings, while being as eco-sensitive as possible. Our food trail recently won the EDEN award for tourism and local gastronomy, and we were awarded foodie destination of Ireland 2015 by The Restaurants Association of Ireland. This area is now considered a premier food destination in Europe; there’s an abundance of wild food that is local, nutritious and free.”

Wild Food Foraging

“This part of Ireland is still very untouched,” Oonagh continues, “and it’s now benefiting from a grass-roots resurgence of community projects.” Oonagh goes on to explain how amazed people are when they realise how much there is to experience in this isolated stretch of Irish coast. “People come for the surfing, kayaking and music. We are very close to the Cliffs of Moher, and the scenery along the coast is stunning. Visitors often get to see the local family of wild seals at the beach we walk to, too. My wild food walks take people on a journey of discovery, on land and shore, while they learn a sustainable skill. On full foraging days, people cook up a lunch or supper together, then we all sit out on the deck to enjoy it.”

“People are genuinely taken aback by the hospitality, scenery and good food of this corner of Ireland,” Oonagh enthuses, “and they always say they’ll be back.”

Join Oonagh’s Wild Kitchen foraging tour and cook up a feast at Barrtra Seafood Restaurant on the Irish Experience

Images credits: Cover photo of Liscannor Bay © iStock / Patryk Kosmider. Images of the food and interior of Barrtra Seafood Restaurant, taken by Mrs Redhead Photographycourtesy of the restaurant. Image of The Cliffs of Moher © iStock / clu.

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