Cork: At your service
THE focus group asked to agree a name for Skibbereen’s Church Restaurant probably prevaricated less than many of those bewildering talking shops. It may have reached a decision with the kind of speed and certainty that made Margaret Thatcher seem so very forbidding, so very bristling.
The building, after all, served the town as a Methodist Church from 1833 to 2003 so the choice was obvious enough. Just three years after its reinvention as a restaurant the building was razed. Owner Regina Daly began an impressive restoration project that has been spectacularly completed. If the light is right it is worth visiting the restaurant to see the vibrant stained glass windows, all new, bright and glistening and in sharp contrast to other windows where time has muted their original exuberance.
Just four elements of the original building survived the fire and they have been reused. They were supplemented by appropriate pieces recovered all around Europe — the staircase came from a building in Foumes en Weppes in France. Once used as a Great War convalescence home it is just possible that men from the Illen Valley serving with the Royal Munster Fusiliers climbed it long, long before it took up residence in Bridge Street.
The menu is pitched at the mid-market range — substantial and nothing you’ve not seen before. There are early bird options — two courses €25, three €30 — and there is an emphasis on using local produce.
We — DW and I — were really impressed by the in-house bread, soda and brown. It was so very good that it reminded us of the huge gap between mass-produced bread and what can be produced by a skilled and dedicated baker.
DW chose a duck spring roll for her starter. This dish is making itself known across a range of restaurants and the Skibbereen version, served with the usual salad and chilli dip, passed muster even if it was harmlessly vague. My starter was accompanied by a salad and chilli sauce too but it was a decent plate of crispy tempura prawns. Again this was entirely acceptable but it would be dishonest to say that it was anything spectacular.
Main courses honoured that great West Cork tradition of generosity turned into an abundance. I chose roast duck and was served a perfectly acceptable piece of fowl with lots of clingy, orange sauce. It did what it said on the menu — it satisfied an appetite but without any great fanfare or individualism.
DW chose roast hake which was more than a tad too dry and smothered in a drowning sauce. It may not have been memorable but at this price level — €21.90 — it was acceptable. DW instructs me to point out though that the vegetables were in the very top bracket and very pleasing.
Our desserts were from the in-house bakery and were really lovely in the this-is-what-your-mother-cooked way.
DW chose apple and rhubarb crumble and pronounced herself more than satisfied. I capitulated — again — and had strawberry roulade — a tube of sugar and eggs holding as much cream as is possible. But it was gorgeous.
The wine was a perfectly enjoyable Valdemar Rioja — €22.50 — nothing fancy but entirely pleasant which is a description that fits the Church Restaurant too. It is neither cheffy nor pretentious, overpriced or stiff and the service is wonderfully warm and welcoming.
And now a confession ... we were on tour in West Cork on a lovely spring day and had intended to eat in one of two places further west. The guide books and web sites were duly consulted and both restaurants were advertised as being open. They were not and because we, foolish me really, had not checked by phone ended up in the Church Restaurant. This pointed to an unfortunate trend in restaurants and guide books — out-of-date, inaccurate information. As we make a great kerfuffle about the Gathering and the need to provide tourists with the best possible experience there is really no excuse for this sloppiness. But my mistake had a silver lining — the enjoyable discovery of the Church Restaurant.
