Ireland is IT

[PastryChef x]

A lot of talk in the pro community right now about Cobh, near Cork, Ireland, as *the* emerging culinary travel destination.

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Chris

[Liza x]

My Irish husband has been telling me that the past few years Cork has been a popular destination for Germans on holiday, and that the restaurant biz is booming in that corner of Ireland. He also tells me that a lot of Japanese people are coming over to learn Irish. I'm guessing this confluence (plus fresh fish) could lead to some pretty tasty food.

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Liza

[Jeanne Bryan]

Where are the good restaurants in Dublin?

[Andy Lynes]

restaurant Patrick Guilbaud 21 Merrion Street : Traditional Cork Crubeens Served Carpaccio Style, Panfried Rouget, Asparagus, Herb Salad (thats a starter priced 22.00 Irish punts) or maybe duck for 2 with rhubarb for 68.00 punts. 2 Michelin stars and a lovely if rather formal dining room (havent eaten there just looked a round and took a menu. The Tea Room at the Clarence on the river, U2's hotel: Pot roast squab pigeon, fois gras, choucroute, fondant potatoes and balsamic jus (3 courses £31.00 punts) or Peacock Alley, overlooking St Stevens Green, head chef now David Cavalier, owned by Conrad Gallagher, designed by Conran, very lovely room but overlooks Dublins busiest street, no menu details but quite pricey.        

[Fat Guy]

Can we revive this thread a bit?

We're considering one of those inn-to-inn walks through Ireland as a vacation one of these days. Can you all give me an honest assessment of the level of cuisine to expect in Ireland? Are the good restaurants anomalous, or is there a real culinary revolution going on there? Or is the stereotype not even true?

[littlemy]

in dublin, i'd recommend L'Ecrivain on Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2, which has really innovative cooking with quality ingredients. it's more relaxed (and less expensive!) than patrick guilbaud's, and less trendy than the tea rooms. also, the mermaid cafe on dame street is great for lunch...

[Jon Tseng]

How has Cavalier settled in at Peacock Alley?

J

[stephen wall]

Thorntons in Portobello is also a very fine restaurant.Its expensive, but not as expensive as Patrick Guilbauds and its food does credit to its 2 michelin stars.The room is cool and modern and the wine list is extensive and for this type of place, quite fair.Location is slightly out of the centre on the Grand Canal and because of this you can park right next to the restaurant.Worth a visit,dinner is Tuesday to Saturday with lunch only on Fridays.

[Fat Guy]

All these restaurant names don't mean much to me, because I have not context. I don't know the name of a single Irish chef, I don't know what the general style of cuisine is, I know nothing. Can somebody give me a bit of background on the whole Irish cuisine scene at its various levels? I'd very much appreciate it.

[Andy Lynes]

Quote: from Jon Tseng on 6:12 pm on Feb. 5, 2002

How has Cavalier settled in at Peacock Alley?

J

No! He left after 4 months or so and has joined a contract catering company as sort of chef without portfolio. He's there to make things better as far as I can work out.

[Andy Lynes]

Can somebody give me a bit of background on the whole Irish cuisine scene at its various levels? I'd very much appreciate it.

Steven - in the recent past I have been a regular visitor to Belfast and so know the city's restaurant scene quite well. I have reviewed two restaurants, Shu and Tatu on my site see http://wwwalynes.freeserve.co.uk/shu.html and http://www.alynes.freeserve.co.uk/tatu. As a relatively small city, Belfast has many more excellent places to eat out that you might imagine. Leading culinary light is Paul Rankin, who worked for the Roux brothers in London before returning to his native city to open Belfasts first Michelin starred restaurant, Roscoff about 10 years ago. His kitchen has and continues to train most of the great chefs of the area, including Robbie Millar of Shanks in Bangor, about 10 miles down the road (designed by the Conran partnership but not a Conran restaurant) who also has a Michelin star. You can read an interview with him here here

Roscoff has now been transformed into Cayenne and has a more informal "funky" feel to it that is being copied by a number of other restaurants, and focuses more firmly on the spicey fusion side of Rankin's style, which also has a solid French basis from his Roux days. You can see a menu here here

Fontana is just down the road in Holywood and also headed up by an ex-Roscoff chef. Their website is  here

Another big noise is Michael Deane of Restaurant Michael Deane and Deane's brasserie, both of which are housed in the same building near to the Opera House and the Europa Hotel. Deane trained under Mosimann at the Dorchester alongside Ian McAndrew (a formerly Michelin starred chef who has now retired from the kitchen which is an enourmous shame has he was utterly brilliant). Deane worked for McAndrew in his Canterbury restaurant before opening his first place in St Helens. His style is similar to Rankin's in that it has fusion elements but also some classic French stuff. He is big on things like curry oils and lemongrass jus.

The restaurant is straining for a second star and is very proper and quite solemn in a way. I like it though.

Website here

Classic irish foods include the Ulster Fry - a fried breakfast that includes soda farls and potato bread - Wheaten Bread, Crubeens (pigs trotters) Irish stew of course, champ (mashed potato with spring onions), boiled potatos (which you will see on many restaurant menus offered as a side dish) and any number of excellent cheeses.

[macrosan]

I used to visit the greater Dublin area for about 6 weeks a year until 10 years ago, so my views may be out of date.

I always found the general standard of food good. Restaurants varied from the unpretentious 'local' style, offering a small number of fairly simple and traditional dishes, to the typical 'higher-class' restaurant that you would find in England.

I ate at many restaurants in Dublin, and in those days the best was arguably The Bailey, which specialised in game, and was famous for the James Joyce door on the landing. The food was excellent. I don't know if it's still there. Other top-class restaurants were at hotels like Jury's and The Shelbourne, although they had patchy reputations.

I often ate at mid-range restaurants in Howth and Curragh, and other country areas within 30 miles of Dublin. What I remember most about these was the hospitality, and the freshness of the ingredients, and the almost universal home-baked bread.

Friends who take regular golfing trips to Galway and other rural parts of Eire tell me that that their best meals are had in pubs. Again, freshness of ingredients and hospitality are the things they highlight. I hope to be going on such a golf hliday in May, and if I do, I shall certainly report back.

[Niall]

I went to Guilbaud's on the 23rd of December and was very disappointed; None of the tasting menus were available and the service was terrible; all of the staff acted as if they had just been told they had to do a double shift on Christmas day or something.. The food was good, but not that exciting and there was no WOW factor at all, which for the prices charged is not good.

I had the Potato and Cepes soup anmd then my girlfriend and I had the Chicken tourte. Both were well excucuted with a good balance of flavours, and I was lucky enough that I was full after the experience. My diningt companions were not so lucky. After the initial glance at the menu it seemed odd that the starters and mains were equally priced; it later became apparent why; the courses were both about the same size. My companions had the Lobster Ravioli, described as uninspiring, The Scallop and Chicken Wings (nice, but not great), and the Fois GRas and Mirabelles, whihc seemed to be the best of tne entrees.

For mains, one of my companions tried to order the Turbot, but was told at time of ordering that it was not available. He was then rushed by the waiter to order something else. It would have been much better to tell us at the start of the evening that it was not available. The other mains were the Veal and crayfish and the Roe Deer. Again both were well cooked with good flavours, but the portion sizes were too small.

Three desserts were ordered. The lack of a palate cleanser between courses was disappointing. Again we were told at the time of ordering that the baileys dessert was not available and were rushed into ordering other desserts. The selection of sorbets, the chocolate Assiete and the trio of brulees were ordered. The brulees were nice, although the raspberry one was a bit too tart. The other desserts were not really discussed.

All up it was a disappointing experience for what is supposed to be dublins best. The nearest we had to WOW all evening was John Rocha dining close by, and Bono and entourage turned up.

Were we just unluck, or is this the standard of Irelands best?