Athlone: Changing Thymes
BACK in the grey days of Irish food — the Age of Angel Delight, as it were — service was governed by a few home truths. Quantity trumped quality, tinned corn constituted salad, and scampi was fancy. It added an exotic twist to many’s the mid-range menu.
It was also brain-bustingly naff. ‘Scampi’ are technically langoustines, cousins of the noble lobster. Rather than take this exciting ingredient and celebrate it, however, we were content to import (and eat) truckloads of frozen shrimp blasted with breadcrumbs and served up in baskets with a scoop of supermarket-quality tartar on the side.
