Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Head Chef Paul “Pockets” Dunphy for sharing his recipe, and the management at the Spinnaker Bar & Restaurant for the following story.
Will Guidara once wrote that “the most powerful thing you can do is make someone feel seen.” At the Spinnaker, we read those words and recognised something we’ve always believed: Great hospitality is about more than what’s on the plate. But what’s on the plate matters enormously, too.
Our seafood chowder is a perfect example.
Rich, creamy, full of flavour, and made with the kind of care that turns a great bowl of food into something you remember long after you’ve left the harbour.
Alongside Paul’s fish pie and our fresh fish, it’s a taste of what we do best: honest, beautifully prepared food, served by good people, just as it should be.
There’s something special about eating seafood chowder in a fishing village like Dunmore East. Here on the Waterford coast, the sea has shaped our lives, our livelihoods and our food for generations. Chowder is part of that wider Irish coastal tradition: simple, nourishing food built around the catch of the day and made to be shared.
At The Spinnaker, we’re proud to carry that spirit forward in our own way. Our seafood chowder, rich and creamy with salmon, smoked coley, and cod, served with homemade brown bread, is more than a favourite on the menu. It’s a celebration of where we are, the seafood we love and the traditions that bring people together around a table.
Because sometimes, the best way to experience a place is with a warm bowl of chowder, and the feeling that you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.
But the reason people keep making the journey back to our little harbour village on Ireland’s southeast coast, year after year, goes beyond the food. It’s the feeling of walking through the door and being remembered. Of finding a table that feels as though it was waiting just for you. It’s the crackle of the open fire, a creamy pint of Guinness, the craic, the chats and the unmistakable beauty of Dunmore East.
At the Spinnaker, we believe the best experiences happen when great food meets genuine hospitality. A bowl of our seafood chowder might bring you through the door, but it’s everything around it that makes you want to come back. That’s our own brand of unreasonable hospitality, and it’s what we hope turns a lovely meal by the sea into a memory you’ll carry with you long after the last spoonful.
Spinnaker Seafood Chowder (Serves 2-4)
Ingredients:
100g butter
100g plain flour
400 ml fish stock
400 ml milk
100 ml cream
100 ml white wine
1 diced carrot
1 diced celery
1 diced white onion
1/2 leek
1 diced fennel bulb
400 g diced fish (cod, salmon, smoked coley)
100g prawns
Method:
1. Melt butter and sauté the diced vegetables until soft
2. Add the white wine and stir for 1 min
3. Stir in the plain flour and cook for 1-2 mins to remove the raw flour taste
4. Gradually whisk in the fish stock and milk and simmer on a low heat for 10 mins
5. Add the diced seafood mix and prawns and continue to simmer for a further 10 mins until the fish is cooked through and flaky
6. Stir in the cream
7. Garnish in a bowl by topping with chopped parsley or chives
8. Serve with brown bread
Chef’s Notes:
Adding plain flour to make a roux thickens the broth to make a chowder with more texture.
The addition of fennel to the recipe gives a slightly aniseed flavour and removes the need to add Pernod (a classic French anise-flavored liqueur).
Visit the Spinnaker Bar & Restaurant at Lower Village, Dunmore East, Co. Waterford.
