Wild Atlantic Way Summer: Harnen, Leap
A defining West Cork Destination from Mark and Sadie Jennings, at last.
It’s easy to describe Mark and Sadie Jenning’s new bakery and café, Harnen, in the little village of Leap, in West Cork.
Harnen is world-class.
This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who ate in Pilgrims, when Mark and Sadie ran one of the iconic West Cork restaurants. Mark’s cooking was not like anyone else’s, and it wasn’t like any other thing. Continuing the line of Cork mavericks that runs from Declan Ryan through Seamus O’Connell and onto Denis Cotter, Jenning’s grub was sui generis. Small wonder, then, that when Pilgrims closed in 2022 it was to the sound of Pilgrim fans weeping.
Well, those many fans can relax again, and start planning that adventure to little Leap.
First, a little cultural advice to avoid any social faux pas. In West Cork, Leap is pronounced Lepp, as in leppin’ it. Let’s just get that out the way.
So, with any potential embarrassment avoided, you can now join the queue in Harnen and there is always going to be a queue. The café and bakery opens from 10 am to 4pm Wednesday to Sunday. We got there at 10.30 on Wednesday, and five minutes later the queue began to grow and grow. By the time we left, it was like Drury Street, West Cork.
True to form, Mark Jennings doesn’t bake like anyone else. There are elements of one of his mentors, Shannen Butler-Keane of the legendary Diva bakery in Ballinspittle, and there is a Scéal-like finesse to his ability to make something so delicate into something so damned wholesome. Working with wholewheat Irish organic flours means his baking is darker and more compact than the airier sourdough loaves we have become used to. And his scones are not like anything else: these beauties are like a wholemeal mille-feuille, if such a thing is even possible.
There are seven loaves for sale, including a rye and a soda bread. The Harnen sourdough is compact and dark-hued, but its exterior belies an ethereal texture, so if you have a daily special sandwich such as roast pork with pickled asparagus, it eats light as a feather.
There is a sausage roll served with a tomato date jam that is worth the trip to Leap all on its own, and a chai brown butter bun that would make you lose the run of yourself.
And then – then – there is the potato, kale and herbed crème fraîche galette. When you take a bite of the galette, you may find yourself muttering that old Catholic exhortation : Holy Mary, Mother of God!
The galette breaks the rules: wholewheat pastry, topped with spuds and greens and cream. It should be a depth-charger. Instead, it is the Word of God.
If Mark and Sadie served this sublime baking in a Portakabin, the queue would still be down the street. But Harnen’s other delight is a sumptuous aesthetic. They have converted an old shed-store in the centre of the village which has seen multiple uses over the last three decades into the most striking creation, a building which looks new but feels old. Don’t be surprised if the girl in front of you in the queue is an architect, whilst the guy behind you is a designer and behind him is a chef.
Harnen is ready for it’s close-up right now.
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