Restaurant review: Washington Street's latest eatery brings the Soul to a busy Cork thoroughfare
The interior of Soul, Washington St, Cork
7.5/10
I sometimes picture Washington St as Cork’s hospitality equivalent of Broadway, a new ‘show’ seemingly always on the horizon.
Alongside long running ‘productions’ such as Spitjack and that truly venerable local institution, Liberty Grill, you have an ongoing parade of ‘flops’, restaurants that arrive with a splash but are gone the next time I pass.
Accordingly, I have been guilty betimes of paying less attention than I should as to the comings and goings on Washington St but that is changing, more restaurants coming on line where you park your arse to dine instead of standing in a takeaway queue at midnight.
The Dosa Spot has managed to gain real traction on the street, earning a dining audience that spans generations and, crucially, is happy to return. Soul would appear ready to do likewise.
As he did in the iconic Liberty pub — just around the corner — with Resistance, a speakeasy cocktail bar on the first floor, Soul proprietor Stephen O’Sullivan has once again created a canny visual concept on a tight budget.
It is a tight space, but bare old brickwork walls are warm and welcoming, supplemented by distressed timber panelling surfing a similar vibe, the narrow room sectioned off in booths, adding further intimacy.
Chandelier-style lighting, draped in green foliage, casts a chirpy glow, although paintings by local artist Kevin Mooney may divide opinion, not unlike the Mr Men if they were re-imagined by Francis Bacon at his most garishly grotesque. Yet the room works; it’s vibrant and bustling.
The name alone has me ordering frickled banana blossom (€8), whatever turns up on the dish, ‘frickled’ being a portmanteau of fried and pickled; banana blossom, like jackfruit, is another on-trend tropical vegan meat substitute. Coated in panko and deep fried, textures appeal and smoked cream cheese dip adds welcome fat and flavour to the rather neutral blossom.
I just don’t get mac & cheese, finding it dull and stodgy. No 1 Son, his partner, Lady J, and La Daughter are in profound disagreement and when it is served as a croquette (€7.50), breaded in cornbread and panko and cheese sauce spiked with jalopeno, it becomes a much more compelling proposition.
The third starter (€10.50) is a smashing dish: slabs of watermelon, glazed with pomegranate syrup and grilled, offers surprising textural substance, especially when topped with pomegranate seeds and smoked hazelnuts. Light and frisky sorbet of cucumber and mint is a wonderful counterpoint. A fine dish, it is also uniquely poised to open or close a meal, as starter or dessert.
Skin-on fries (€5) with smoked Maldon sea salt herald our mains and they are excellent, crisp exterior, floury interior and wonderfully seasoned. So what, says you, they’re only chips.
No 1 has pineapple jerk-glazed chicken (€22), thigh and drumstick smoked over cherrywood and wearing a tangy, sweet mantle from the glaze, on the side blackened corn salsa, house pickles and red Alabama slaw. And, of course, he has a side of mac & cheese, again devoured.
LD’s smoked baby back pork ribs (€23) retain a pleasing textural chaw and are flush with smoky hickory and apple wood flavours, smoky acridity softened with a trenchant and sweet house beer-bq sauce.
Crunchy red slaw and very good smoked chilli butter corn wheels complete the dish.
LJ has The Hogfather (€19), hickory- and apple-smoked pork shoulder, cooked low and slow, meltingly tender pulled pork coated in more of the beer-bq sauce and served in a toasted brioche bun with red slaw and leaves.
Alongside, more of the cracking fries, smoky barbecue beans and house pickles.
I reckon I do best of all with my Creamy Beamy Soul rib (€25), beef short rib slow-cooked and covered in a honey and Beamish glaze, so tender it near swoons from the bone. A crisp apple and daikon slaw adds contrasts and lifts with aplomb, very tasty cornbread mops up the juices.
Smoked pecan pie (€8.50), with white chocolate ice cream and maple bourbon sauce, is sticky, chewy and quite addictive, smoky nutty sweetness winning out over the deliciously excessive homemade Snickers cake (€8) ordered by No 1.
With no beer licence, Stonewell cider (€8) is a wonderful alternative, infinitely better than Muriel Rioja Crianza (€36) from a very uninspiring wine list.
Over the evening, I don’t see a single wine bottle on any other table — perhaps it has to do with the general decline in wine consumption amongst younger drinkers but I suspect a sharper more considered wine list and drinks menu would offer more in the way of temptation.
A smashing cook and thoughtful chef, Relihan may still be drilling down into his keenly priced menu to mine the true essence of Soul, but the offering as it stands is already working extremely well.
Soul itself is a delightful place in which to pass an evening, especially with a like-minded gang, so here’s hoping this ‘production’ runs and runs.
- Soul
- 37 Washington St, Cork
- Dinner for four with wine cost €197
- Instagram: @SoulCork
