Having brought fine dining to Castlecomer with the Lady Anne in the north Kilkenny town’s old creamery house, with a short stop at The Bridge House at Kilkenny’s River Court Hotel, Keith Boyle has been named executive chef at Mountain View in the south of the county.
Home to the bustling Mountain View market on a Sunday morning, The Greenhouse Restaurant, and with views to die for, big plans are at play for the market, the restaurant and the estate as a whole with Boyle very much at the centre of them.
Previously crowned best chef in Munster (for The Bay Tree Bistro) and best chef in Leinster (for Restaurant Lady Anne) at the Irish Restaurant Awards, Boyle’s most recent venture Keith Boyle at The Bridge House was also named Best Restaurant in Leinster at the 2023 Food & Wine Restaurant of the Year Awards, and while the fine dining and pressure cooking – tweezers included – has very much been a part of daily life for the past few years, a catchup chat with Keith at Mountain View last week suggests that he’s ready to take people to “flavour town” with some of the new offerings, both for the restaurant, market, and broader food appeal of the 120-acre estate at Mountain View.
As soon as that Instagram story of a polytunnel went up a few weeks ago, you knew something was in the works. Thankfully, it’s still in Kilkenny and not further afield.
“I am delighted to join Bee, Michael and all the team at Mountain View as their new executive chef”, says Waterford native Boyle.
“After our initial meeting, it was great to meet owners who have great pride, passion and a vision for their business. As we move into the wedding and market season at Mountain View I am very excited to work on new concepts with the team, new ideas and flavours for the food truck and exciting new dishes for the market kitchen in the summer. The newly erected polytunnel just outside the kitchen door is also something I have always had a passion for. Growing our own produce for our food outlets will bring exciting new flavours with zero food miles.”
It was a practice in place in Castlecomer with the walled garden up the lane from Restaurant Lady Anne providing plenty of fare and garnishes for diners but with the facilities available at Mountain View, there’s a lot of excitement on the ground for the possibilities opening up for the restaurant and market space alike.
As executive chef, Keith Boyle is joining the Mountain View team as the culinary lead of their weddings and events including hosting a much-anticipated series of pop-up dining events across the year with the first announced as Dinner with the MasterChefs on Saturday May 4th as part of the inaugural Foodie Fest. In addition, Boyle will develop the estate’s kitchen garden, will oversee a zero-waste street food truck named LOADED as part of their weekly Sunday Market and will be launching a new menu later in the year for The Greenhouse Restaurant.
I had first-hand experience of the new food truck over St. Patrick’s weekend as well and will testify to the flavour – the opening weekend serving up triple-cheese loaded fries and a slow pulled beef (like 6 days in a rub and 48 hours in a cooker kind of slow) with all the trimmings. Take a peek of those below.
Wishing Keith, Carmel and all at Mountain View the best with the new venture.
