The season of change is here. In recent weeks, we’ve taken a look at the new menus for The River Grille and The Croke Park, as well as the newest spring cocktails from The Dupont Circle. Now it’s the turn of The River Lee, who will be debuting their new bar menu for The Terrace On The Weir in the next week.

Like its sister hotels, the new menu makes the most of light, fresh summer flavours, using ingredients from the best local producers.

Take the sharing plates, for example. As well as platters of nibbles, homemade breads and the infamous Taste of Cork selection, there’s a dish that exemplifies summer: Toonsbridge Mozzarella Burrata. This creamy, decadent and flavourful cheese comes from just up the road, at the Toonsbridge farm, and is served with roast tomatoes on the vine, extra virgin olive oil, sourdough and crostini, perfect for dipping into the gooey cheese. This pairs really well with a crisp, summery local ale, like the Blarney Blonde.

Cork is the perfect spot to find super-fresh seafood, and there’s plenty of it on the new menu. The pan-fried scallops are combined with a dreamy black pudding beignet and cauliflower cream, and fans of crab cakes will be kept happy with their starter, served up with harrisa & chilli jam.As always, there are delicious fish options for the mains, which work perfectly with a chilled white wine. 

There are great options for vegetarians too, with dishes like tagliatelle pasta with pea velouté, broad bean, chargrilled asparagus and parmesan cheese.

All of the desserts (aside from the divine Scúp ice creams) are brand new, and provide a luxurious finish to a meal (or an afternoon treat!)

There’s a White Chocolate Cheesecake, complete with a luscious strawberry center, and a Flourless Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake with chocolate sauce and hazelnut gelato. It wouldn’t be summer without some fresh rhubarb, and the Rhubarb Tart with Honeycomb ice cream is the perfect sunny day dessert, as is the Confit of Pineapple, served with a coconut and lime sorbet.

The new menu will be available on Terrace On The Weir in the coming days. You can see more on the website.