Entertainment
Appetite for new tastes sees Food Fair thrive
Lifestyle – Reporter Judy Murphy meets Natalie McCambridge, the main organiser of annual Christmas Food and Wine Fair
The McCambridge’s Christmas Food and Wine Fair, held annually to raise funds for local schools and charities, has become a fixture on the Galway calendar since it was first held 11 years ago.
The Fair, run by the well-known city shop and restaurant, showcases food from small, high-quality Irish food producers. There’s also wine and, this year, whiskey and beer.
The 2014 Fair will take place next Thursday evening, November 20, in the Salthill Hotel. It started life 11 years ago in the Ardilaun Hotel but a bigger venue was needed because of increasing numbers.
It’s an evening where people can sample food and drink from small, usually local, suppliers that is stocked in McCambridge’s. Everything from fish, pork, seaweed; granola, hummus, pesto, breads and craft beer can be tasted.
All funds raised at the Fair go to various primary and secondary schools, and to one selected charity – €15,000 was raised and donated last year. This year’s charity is Pieta House, says Natalie McCambridge, who is the main organiser of the Fair and the third generation of her family to work in the business. Organising the Fair, which will feature 40 tables, as well as cookery demonstrations, a pop-up shop, a raffle, and discounted wine orders for Christmas is all in a day’s work for this family operation, which has emerged from the recession with renewed energy.
Two years ago, during the Volvo Ocean Race, McCambridge’s, which was long-known as a grocery and delicatessen, opened a restaurant in the first floor of its Shop Street premises.
“I’ll never forget it, it was so stressful. But a lot of planning went into it,” recalls Natalie of the opening day.
The restaurant evolved from a coffee bar that the family previously had opened in the middle of the shop, with a sandwich and deli area which proved really popular, especially at lunchtime.
“We realised that’s what people wanted and started looking at upstairs for a restaurant, with the idea of having the food style we already had in the shop,” she explains.
They were fortunate to have “fresh eyes” in Luke Anthony, overall manager of McCambridge’s, whose background was in hotel management, she adds.
Opening a restaurant during a recession wasn’t easy, but McCambridge’s had a history of surviving tough times since it opened in 1925 in the early days of the Irish Free State. Natalie’s grandfather, George, had come to Galway from Cushendall, Co Antrim, after being threatened by the Black and Tans during the War of Independence. After initially working for Powell’s, up the street, he and his brother set up a grocery store. His brother moved to Dublin and started a successful business, including a bakery, while George stayed local.
McCambridge’s, with its prime location, was a Galway establishment for decades, but in a rapidly changing city, the family realised it couldn’t rest on its laurels. Their innovation has brought fresh energy to the business, partly by generating new customers for the shop, says Natalie.
“The restaurant has brought us in a lot of new footfall, people who might have seen us as a small grocery shop or deli, or who hadn’t been in here in years.”
And they have incorporated the old and new aspects of the business, so that each feeds into the other.
The restaurant’s head chef, Heather Flaherty, uses produce from the shop in the restaurant menu, which runs from day to evening – it opens until 8pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The wine list is drawn up from stock downstairs and if diners want to choose something from the shop that’s not on the list, they can do so for a €5 corkage fee – so you can get good wine at good value, says Natalie.
The restaurant was designed by Moycullen man, Steven Walton, who previously worked on Kai and Ard Bia restaurants.
The light fittings have a New York feel while the tables and chairs bring Scandinavian design to mind, and the counter is recycled Irish oak.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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