Welcome to Lambay • Activities • Food • History • Book here
Every meal we eat on Lambay is bursting with fresh ingredients picked from the wild, the sea, or from the sunny walled garden. We have developed a unique menu of seasonal and truly local foods. From our walks along the shore we harvest seaweeds like laver, dulse, sea truffle and sugar kelp, winkles, sea beet, scurvy grass, sea rocket. Up on the cliffs and hills we collect hogweed shoots, ground ivy, gorse flowers, watercress and, as the seasons ripen, puffball mushrooms, field and wood blewitts, wax caps and other edible fungi. Around the gardens there is a profusion of wild leeks, ground elder, bittercresses and many herbs and edible flowers. The island also farms a small herd of cattle. Each year the deer and wallabies need to be culled as, if their population exceeds a sustainable amount, the habitat becomes overgrazed and barren. So organic grass-fed beef, venison and wallaby are on the menu, usually cooked with the wild herbs that they eat themselves. For any visitors who are vegan or vegetarian, just letting us know will ensure that there are plenty of non-meat options.
The price of the retreats includes full board: bed, breakfast, lunch and a three course evening meal. A glass of wine is included with the evening meal. Further alcohol can be brought by you to the island or purchased from the cellar.
Read on for a taste of past meals and what will be on offer according to season.
View Wild Lambay Menu: Starters (according to the season)
- Wild Leek and Nettle Soup with Crusty Bread and Pepper Dulse Butter
- Celeriac and Hogweed Soup with Spring Herb and Wild Garlic Bread
- Porcini Soup with Horseradish Cream with Seaweed Bread and Truffle Butter
- Apple and Cider Potted Mussels with Seaweed Bread and Wild Island Salad
- Wild Mushroom Pate with Homemade Spelt and Seed Crackers
- Potted Winkles
- Cured Sea Trout with Rhubarb with Seaweed Oatcakes and Green Salad
- Smoked Haddock and Dulse Tart with New Potatoes and Ground Elder
- Fried Laverballs with Celeriac and Wild Carrot Coleslaw
- Homemade Wild Herb Hoummous with Carrot & Celery Sticks and Homemade Pitta Bread
- Hogweed Tempura with Oarweed Shirodashi Sauce and Scurvygrass ‘Wasabi’
View Wild Lambay Menu: Main Courses (according to the season)
- Brill with Wild Sorrel Sauce, Creamed Sea Beet & Kale with Nutmeg and Smashed Potatoes
- Wallaby Stew with Nettle Dumplings, Celeriac Dauphinoise and Wild Herb Salad
- Roast Lemon & Thyme Chicken with Ground Elder & Wild Leek Tabbouleh and Asparagus Spears in Sorrel Butter
- Venison Medallions with Haw Pontack, Sorrel & Ground Elder Champ and Buttered Sea Beet
- Organic Lambay Beef Steak with Laver & Royal Fernweed Gnocchi and Crispy Hogweed Shoots
- Slow Cooked Soy Pork Belly with Stir-fried Sea Beet and Noodles and a Sea Rocket ‘Wasabi’
View Wild Lambay Menu: Desserts (according to the season)
- Avocado, Chicory and Dandelion Root Coffee Ice Cream
- Poached Pears in Ginger and Hogweed Spice
- Gorse Flower, Ground Ivy and Seaweed Blancmange
- Elderflower Delight
- Grilled Lambay Figs in Rosemary Honey
- Rose and Elderflower Carragheen Pannacotta
- Sea Buckthorn Berry Posset
- Fresh Fennel & Rhubarb Oat Crumble