The luxurious four-star Cahernane House Hotel is fast becoming known as a food lover’s heaven.

Mary Fitzgerald and Hilary Collins from Abbeyfeale County Limerick with Mike and Melissa Culloty Killarney at the Cahernane Hotel Killarney Tasting Menu evening. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Aileen O'Brien Tomas Ondrejcak Lisa Brady and Emer Corridan (General Manager) at the Cahernane Hotel Killarney Tasting Menu evening. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Danny and Sasha Cremin Limerick with Kevin and Mary Galvin Lixnaw at the Cahernane Hotel Killarney Tasting Menu evening. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Kevin and Mary Galvin Lixnaw at the Cahernane Hotel Killarney Tasting Menu evening. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Emer Corridan (General Manager) pictured with stylist Marietta Doran at the Cahernane Hotel’s Tasting Menu event. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Mike and Melissa Culloty Killarney at the Cahernane Hotel Tasting Menu event. Photo: Don MacMonagle

Darren Looney pictured with the seven course tasting menu at the Cahernane Hotel. Photo: Don MacMonagle

With new chef Cormac Vesey at the helm, the cooking is as skilful as it is tantalising, offering patrons an elegant yet uncomplicated dining experience.

The main hotel restaurant, now called ‘Herbert’s’, is taking a new direction; the menu retains all of the best of the sea and the land and offers gourmet cuisine but without any fussy embellishments.

Cormac’s focus on food provenance and seasonal ingredients lies at the heart of everything he does and is the cornerstone of his cooking.

Recently the hotel hosted an eight-course tasting menu ‘A Taste of Cahernane’ in Herbert’s Restaurant.

The fabulous dining experience saw guests enjoying a spectacular menu which was inspired by an old 1960s menu which Cormac found in the old store kitchen. This then inspired the team to look to the past for future culinary inspiration.

The evening provided the kitchen team with the opportunity to showcase the new culinary offering and gave diners the chance to experience the dishes in an elegant and relaxed setting. Each of the courses were beautifully presented and executed and ultimately each dish was a celebration of the best locally produced seasonal produce.

The original 1960s menu inspired such new dishes as organic salmon with nori and pickled cucumber, asparagus cream soup with a delicate and perfectly formed quail’s egg, lobster au gratin with Kells Bay Dilisk Cheddar and charred leak. The meat dish was just a joy to behold, noisettes of lamb were served with a tarragon jus and delicious Pommes Dauphine. The tropical fruit parfait with roast pineapple and coconut sorbet provided a refreshing taste revival before diners enjoyed a chocolate marquise with burnt apple gel and calvados ice cream. This was reminiscent of old fashioned ‘fizzy apples’ and was the focus of lots of chat around the restaurant.

The complete culinary experience finished with homemade Petit Fours, served with teas and coffee. Cormac then went out to the dining room to chat to the guests about the meal and the produce which was used.

He said that "great dishes start with great flavours".

"It’s my job to make the ingredients sing; it’s not my job to over complicate the best that Mother Nature has already provided. I don’t subscribe into the idea that there has to be all of these extra flourishes such as gels and foams to make a dish impressive, great dishes don’t need that. I like to start from the beginning, and to look and see what’s in season. What’s growing now is going to be the very, very best thing on your plate. It’s incredible how something as simple as a spring cabbage or a carrot can become something extraordinary with careful and thoughtful cooking. Ingredients don’t need to be pimped up and made into something they aren’t, they just need to be complemented and matched carefully and thoughtfully.”