Support Your Local Restaurants & Food Suppliers
Tuesday 24 August 2010
Some restaurants have that happy knack of really slotting in to community life and almost feel like a home from home! Two restaurants which I re-visited recently spring to mind, one is relatively new, the other has been there for the long haul. Both give a great service, well executed unfussy food, and source their raw materials from local producers. This is so important nowadays – it really is the patriotic thing to do – shop local – buy local – and for patrons too this is vital – eat local - keep people in jobs and your communities alive. Both restaurants have created vibrant arty venues with a relaxed yet efficient atmosphere and style. I refer to Seapoint Restaurant in Monkstown, Co. Dublin and Farmgate in Midleton, Co. Cork.
Shane Kenny’s Seapoint Restaurant, with the superb Nick Clapham heading up the kitchen, two years ago literally revived the flagging dining scene in Monkstown Village. It is a testament to their combined expertise that, on the cusp of the financial collapse a month or two later, Seapoint became such a great urban chic restaurant. They were right on the nose in both design and food with what today’s diner really wants – informal formal dining with well executed seasonal dishes – real food for real people. There is always something of interest, people and food wise, at Seapoint. Rosemary and orange salted sardines might be with black pudding, tomato chutney and crispy pancetta; roasted loin of rabbit Spanish style with crispy chorizo and wild mushroom risotto; sauteed spicy prawns with Feta, tomato and chickpea salad. This visit I had a half dozen oysters with red onion and chive vinaigrette (€13.50) followed by a heavenly tranch of roasted hake (€21.50), wrapped in Parma ham, on a confit of rosemary and garlic tomatoes, served with Parmentier potatoes. Cracking calamari rings (€8.50) for Brendan were followed by perfectly roasted succulent stuffed guinea fowl (€18.50) with thyme and field mushrooms, chicory crème fraiche and chorizo mash. We shared a really good cheese plate at €10.50 and with a bottle of Piccolo Ernesto Cortese di Gavi 2009 €25) and optional service our bill was €109.50. Their own unlimited filtered water is €1 per person. The table d’hote 2/3 course menu is €24.50/€29.50 all evening Monday to Thursday and before 7 p.m. Friday and Saturdays. 2/3 course lunch is €19/25, all day Sunday lunch 2/3 courses €24/€29, plus gentle Sunday jazz from the Ciaran Wilde Trio.
In 1988 Marog O’Brien expanded her Farmgate Country Store in Midleton, adding a restaurant and bakery, which opens daily from 9 a.m. – 6 pm and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, evenings for dinner. This too is a stylish spot, with stylish people, and an army of regulars. The décor incorporates a collection of limestone sculptures by Michael Quane and colourful paintings by Tom Climent and Cormac Mehegan. It is all about local produce too for Marog and her daughter Sally, who is now involved in the business. Fish leap off the trawlers at Ballycotton Pier and onto the plates at Farmgate, duck is free range, lamb and cattle are reared down the road, cheeses are regional. All are cooked and presented with refreshing simplicity. Fish might be panfried John Dory in Crab and mussel sauce; grilled halibut on citrus wilted spinach; whole black sole, or hot buttered lobster with Hollandaise. Lovely crispy rings of squid (€11) were with tomato and chilli sauce whilst lambs kidneys (€10) were sauteed with strips of bacon and herbs. I followed with old fashioned duck (€27) with sage and onion stuffing and apple sauce – hot, crispy, mouthwatering. Fabulous. Brendan had a melt in the mouth shank of lamb (€22), crispy on the outside, about to fall off the bone, speared with a sprig of rosemary, and sitting in a pool of French style bean casserole. With a bottle of El Coto Crianza 2006 (€27.50) and optional service our bill came to €107.50.
These are restaurants people cherish.
Seapoint Restaurant,
4 The Crescent,
Monkstown Village,
Co. Dublin.
Tel: (01) 663-8480
Farmgate Restaurant & Country Store,
Coolbawn,
Midleton,
Co. Cork.
Tel: (021) 463-2771
THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 2010.