December 1st 2022: The chef behind Báidín, the popular Connemara pop-up of Summer 2021, has just opened a permanent premises in Kilkenny, on Wednesday, November 30th. Chef Sinéad Moclair along with her sister Maeve opened their restaurant Nóinín at 3 John’s Bridge in the heart of Kilkenny City.
A Ballymaloe cookery school graduate, Sinéad spent three years cooking in the Fumbally Café in Dublin where she also ran the Fumbally Home Cooking courses. She was part of the team that set up Báidín in the Clifden Boat Club which proved to be one of the most talked about food destinations of the summer of 2021. Maeve is a primary school teacher, who shares a passion for food and decided to take a career break and join her sister in the new venture.
“Maeve came up to Báidín to help out for a weekend and ended up staying for the whole summer. She loved it. It was that experience of the two of us working together in a tiny kitchen for a summer that started the conversation- why don’t we open a place together?”
Hailing from near Fethard in Co. Tipperary, the sisters set their sights on Kilkenny as the location for their business. “We’ve always loved Kilkenny. We’ve been coming here since we were kids and have a lot of affection for the place. It always has a nice buzz as well as being a great city for food. We just felt it would be the right place to open our restaurant.”
Nóinín, the Irish word for daisy, is a nod to the restaurant’s emphasis on locally grown and seasonal ingredients. Local producers will have a starring role on the menu, with Riversfield Farm in Callan supplying organic veg, meat from Kenna’s Butchers in Kilkenny, fish from Goatsbridge along with natural wines from Kilkenny’s Le Caveau. The small regularly changing menu will feature dishes such as Hanoi style chargrilled pork meatballs with sticky rice, nuoc cham dipping sauce, pickles and fresh herbs or a roasted pumpkin, whipped ricotta and organic kale lasagne.
Nóinín will initially offer lunch Wednesday to Sunday as well as dinner on Friday and Saturday, with plans to expand the dinner offering in the new year. Opening hours will initially be from 12-4pm for lunch and 6-9pm for dinner with updates available on their Instagram @noininkilkenny
