Galway: Simple and fresh food at Chez Azur
A FEW minutes’ walk from Galway’s Latin Quarter there is a bright and hopeful room overlooking the docks. Its stripped-back walls, bistro tables and juicy splashes of art are understated and brave. In early evening, air wafts through open windows.
It’s Chez Azur. Serving seafood in the main (“but we don’t leave out the meat lovers!”), the restaurant anchors itself on a three-course a la carte menu (€31.50pp), and since it opened last March, has been wooing a steady stream of foodies, friends and festival-goers from the city centre. Chef and proprietor Ken Stembridge has taken a punt on a simple philosophy of seafood and fresh local produce, and it appears to be paying off.
Working through the starters, we enjoyed fresh prawns swimming in a light broth infused with basil, mint, garlic and petit pois. Mussels combined the expected (cream) with the unexpected (smoked paprika and slivers of tangy chorizo). Goats’ cheese crostini mixed their main ingredient with sundried tomato, and were flanked with olive tapenade, shallot and red pepper salsa. They were thick and creamy, a guilty pleasure.
Stembridge has the chops for this kind of venture, having previously worked in Dromoland Castle, Daniel Boulud’s Michelin-starred restaurant in New York, and several restaurants in the South of France. If he and his venture sound familiar, that may be because Stembridge was previously the talent behind Azur on Limerick’s George’s Quay.
Seafood is clearly a passion, but rib-eye steak and Irish farmyard chicken are also listed on the a la carte, and we sampled the 24-hour belly of pork. It was a mixed bag — the meat was lovely and fall-aparty in places, but far too dry in others. Sliced and sat on a bed of scallion mash, it came with a scattering of roast swede, parsnip, celeriac and carrot on the side, and though substantial, paled in comparison to the fish dishes.
On our visit, the best of these was a trio of scallops, hake and prawns. All of the core components were good here — flawlessly cooked, very flavoursome and combining well with leeks, asparagus, baby spinach and sauce vierge. Although it wasn’t an issue for us, we did note that there were no carbs on the plate, so hungrier diners may like to order one of the sides — sautéed or mash potatoes (€3) — in anticipation of that.
As with the other dishes, the presentation was orchestrated with lightness-of-touch — the fillet of hake crowning the greens, the fleshy scallops on top, prawns circling about amidst a delicate reef of salsa and flowers. Simplicity like this is difficult to master.
Chez Azur shoots for a smart-casual feel. Friendly wait staff were happy to talk us through coeliac options, and the a la carte was balanced with a value menu offering three courses for €23.50. You can add prawns or scallops to any dish for €4.50 or €5.50 too — a smart idea, as is the fact that half-portions of any mains can be ordered for kids.
From the children’s menu, we found the fish fingers (€7.95) a thoughtful dish, with a crisp and moreish batter giving way to succulent flesh — not just glorified goujons. They came with sautéed and herbed potatoes rather than depressing heaps of chips, too.
Galway’s restaurant scene is simmering away nicely right now, with Aniar boasting the only Michelin Star in the West, new ventures like Chez Azur and Dela opening up, and the much-loved Cava making a comeback this September. It’s heartening to see somebody taking a calculated risk on the docks, too — an area with potential, but which for so long has felt like the city’s backside. The forthcoming Galway Oyster Festival (galwayoysterfestival.com; Sept 27-29;) could be a good time to swoop and taste the energy for yourself.
We ended with a passion fruit and lemon tartlet, served with raspberry sorbet, and accompanied by four spoons. It disappeared very quickly indeed.
