A Taste Of India In Cork For Culture Night

FRIDAY NIGHT is Culture Night, the seventh year of celebrating all things cultural in Ireland on one night with a series of (primarily) free events. On the food side of things, Cork’s English Market plays host to a late-night feast when Farmgate Café joins forces with Dublin restaurant Jaipur (one of my favourites for Indian food in Dublin). Not only that, but some of the stalls within English Market will house a music trail of trad and jazz music on the night.

The market is going to open from 5pm to 9pm, with tasting plates available from the stalls participating in Culture Night. For their part on the night, Jaipur intent to present the best of local ingredients in an Indian context, recreating Indian flavours from the stalls at the English Market.

Jaipur owner Asheesh Deewan says, “At Jaipur we honour the particular qualities of indigenous Irish produce with non-indigenous ingredients to create traditional tastes and styles that best suit them. From the Dhabas of North India, the beach side Goan Shacks and the road side Cadais of South India we are recreating a journey of flavors traversing the entire nation – a world of tastes is distilled to create the essence of ‘India on a Plate.”’

What’s on the menu?

• Samosa & Chole…Punjab
• Gram pearl’s Raita with Cumin & Rock Salt Simla
• Old Delhi Style Railway Chicken Delhi
• Yellow lentils with young garlic, tomatoes and raw mangoes Jaipur
• White Cabbage, crushed peas Foogath…..Chennai
• Aged Basmati rice with Tellicherry Pepper & thyme Kerala
• Kachumber Calcutta

Full details on the night are available on CultureNightCork.ie. While there’s no food on offer, I’ll be on the ground for culture night in Kilkenny where there’s loads on offer between The Watergate Theatre, The Hole In The Wall, the National Craft Gallery, Butler Gallery and the City Library. What will you be doing for culture night? Any chance you’ll get out to catch a show, a gig, check out an exhibition or museum – for free?