Adrian Connolly, long-time owner of Connolly’s Bookshop on Rory Gallagher Place in Cork city, retired in 2014. The space wasn’t vacant for long: Ali’s Kitchen opened up almost exactly a year later, dealing in baked buns and local producers as opposed to rare books and local literary heroes.
Behind Ali’s Kitchen is Ali Honour, a chef and baker originally from Oxfordshire who is now firmly embedded in Cork’s food family. Honour’s love of food and baking was gleaned at her mother’s side, and she learned to bake from a very early age.
“My grandfather had a farm in Oxford,” she says, “rearing award-winning beef. He had his own butchery and pub in Oxford, so I learned early on about the importance of respecting locally sourced ingredients.”
After studying, travelling and cooking in the UK and around Europe, Honour visited her parents in Cork, where they had relocated for work. It was meant to be a short holiday, but that was more than a decade ago, and since then she’s been working as chef de partie and head chef in restaurants around the county, getting a taste for the local produce.
On the menu at Ali’s Kitchen are the area’s culinary treasures, from Tom Durcan’s ham to Fingal Ferguson’s Gubbeen chorizo to O’Connell’s hot salmon.
Incorporate the best
“It goes without saying that we are very lucky to have the English Market in Cork,” says Honour. “I incorporate the best of what they have into the menu. For me, it’s celebrating something that is so good, so special and such good quality. Why wouldn’t you use them and have them stand out in your menu?”
In a break from the über-local vibe, the coffee is supplied by Dublin’s Cloudpicker Coffee. “There are amazing coffee roasters in Cork, but I wanted to bring something a little different, and they fit in with my ethos so perfectly, being a small micro-roastery and a great product.”
Ali’s Kitchen has gained a reputation for its freshly baked traditional buns and sweet treats, including doughnuts, made by Honour and her baker, Jason Closton.
“The doughnuts are an enriched dough,” Honour says. “They’re made the day before on a slow prove for 20 hours. We hand-roll the doughnuts and make them in small batches. All the fillings and toppings are made in house by us, from the velvety custards to the honeycomb and brandy snap toppings.
“Doing things properly and not trying to take shortcuts makes a huge difference. You can taste the time and care that goes into the doughnut.”
The menu to be a simple yet creative showcase for the best of local ingredients. Two chefs, Marco Bertelle and Jackie O’Dea, work with Honour in the kitchen to roll out her menu ideas.
Brunch includes a plate of mushroom Florentine (€11). Crunchy sourdough is topped with good-quality mushrooms, making a bed for two perfectly poached eggs. A thick spoonful of hollandaise finishes it all of beautifully. An enormous croque-madame (€9.50) is a showcase for the fine slabs of sourdough bread made in-house, stuffed with Durcan’s shredded ham and oozing with a creamy cheddar sauce, topped with a fried egg.
Simple yet delicious
Honour is certainly delivering on her promise of simple yet delicious with these dishes. Every element has been implemented with care.
I visit on a Sunday, which is doughnut-free as the team take a break from the after-hours schedule of proving the dough until Monday. On offer instead is a delightfully flaky oat and banana scone served with a gorgeous vanilla-laced apple compote, alongside a couple of other sweet treats. I’ll just have to make another trip to sample those doughnuts.
Ali's Kitchen is open for lunch every week day and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. It also hosts regular baking classes (€60 per person for a three-hour evening class) in the cafe and will be launching its evening supper club menu soon, as a way to slowly launch into the evening trade. See aliskitchencork.com for details.
