JUSTIN Hand, a chef with extensive international experience, is now providing an exciting menu at Ardglass Golf Club.
As a former catering lecturer at the Southern Regional College for ten years, Justin has sound training under his belt and has lived and worked in Australia for another ten years.
He said: “I gained a tremendous amount of experience in Australia. Altogether I worked in five hotels and several top restaurants. I’ve covered a very cosmopolitan menu with exciting flavours. I hope to bring some of this to the fore at Ardglass Golf Club.
“However, I am fully aware that Ardglass has an abundance of fresh, local seafood and I will certainly be tapping into this and presenting the best products on offer. Shellfish, langoustines, and fish are in huge abundance and I’ll even be using locally sourced seaweed to mix in with the wheatens on occasions.
“We now live in Hilltown, but spent ten years living in Warrenpoint where there is a number of excellent eateries there. My wife Lorraine will be looking after the front of house and is very experienced in this. We make a great team.
“I’m looking forward to introducing dishes such as fresh lobster thermidor to the menu. Scallops too are very popular as are prawns (langoustines). So, I will be quite focussed on bringing the best of seasonal food to the table with items such as mussels, crab toes, baby squid, and of course there will be the old favourites such as fish and chips and various fillets of fish.”
But Justin explained that seafood was only part of his exciting menu. He will be cooking the best of locally assured beef. “I will be using local Dexter beef reared not far from Ardglass, which has a lovely distinctive meatiness and texture that will delight our customers. We’ll be serving up a delicious steak platter with this and I know it will be a delight on the menu.
“We will start a carvery soon too in the function room on a Sunday and I expect that this should be popular with golfers and visitors alike. Ardglass Golf Club is a busy golfing venue through the year with a few quieter months in the off season, but I expect that the demand for food from the restaurant will be very steady.
“The club will be catering for its many foreign golf visitors and I certainly want to impress them with the standard of our food. Many of the well-travelled US and Canadian golfers already love our chowder and we may even try out a special Oz burger and our Asian fayre to keep the menu varied and interesting.
“We also plan to have themed nights with Italian, Swiss, German, or Mexican food for example, and that is already in the planning.
“I’m delighted too that my wife Lorraine is looking after front of house as she has gained a lot of experience in this area over the years.
“I’ve had a very interesting journey in my career as a chef and I’m really looking forward to this next stage at Ardglass Golf Club rolling out an exciting menu.
“The clubhouse, the oldest building used as a clubhouse in the world, and is in a tremendous location. Ardglass is a beautiful village by the sea and the golf course is very popular with foreign and home visiting golfers. We’re certainly looking forward to driving ahead with the challenge.”
