Waterford: The Tannery Restaurant has star quality
THE high, bright dining room with a ceiling that climbs on into forever is buzzing and extraordinarily packed already, two weeks into January, the month of hairshirts and half-rations, with Christmas a vague memory. As we settle, juggling menus, sizing up surroundings, a basket of bread arrives at the table.
When dining out, I avoid the stuff, preferring not to dull appetite’s edge but if reviewing, feel duty-bound to sample. And so it is that a melting morsel of onion brioche, more cake than bread, stops me in my tracks. A sublime sweet essence of the humble bulb with none of its sometimes brutish, astringent tendencies, fills the senses, concentrates the mind. This is serious stuff. We throw caution to the wind, order Martinis and blow the budget on tasting menus. Take that, January!
First, a Cream of Turnip and Cider Soup, flecked with cubes of poached apple and roasted hazelnut, served with a Black Pudding Croquette. The latter seems overly salty but finds a balance in the velvety soup of earthy turnip with a sweet cider bite.
Next up is Helvic Crab Crème Brulee, with Pickled Cucumber and Dilisk Toast. The custard may be light and airy but grilled cheese notes resonate deeply. It puts Grub Guru Mr T in mind of Rowley Leigh’s Parmesan Custard; my suggestion of cheese on toast may be more pedestrian but is no less evocative.
I’m not one for fuss on a plate and there’s an army of extras (Poached Lady Apple, Onion Chutney, Celeriac Cream, Beetroot Puree) accompanying the slightly underseasoned House Terrine, a glistening slab of pork and chicken, yet all are demolished.
Quail and Foie Gras Pie is a pithivier of buttery pastry housing gamey chunks of bird and silky sweet foie gras. Salty lardons of bacon are offset with demurely unassuming sprouts while roasted hazelnuts dally with sweet, nutty sherry as a plethora of tastes and textures are marshalled perfectly into a profoundly comforting dish.
Baked Monkfish has a meaty muscularity to sate the most bloodthirsty carnivore and the crisp, breadcrumb encrusted Salt Baked Celeriac Fries are a delight — salty, naturally, but with a sweet aniseed note and fresh, cooling Soft Herb and Shallot Cream adds all the counterpoint a body could wish for. Superb.
Mr T’s Raviolo of Oxtail, with Spiced Red Cabbage and Parsley Butter gives it a serious run for its money, a divine mouthful of nutty fresh pasta, achingly tender beef under a slick of herb butter. Trading half of my Monkfish for half of his Oxtail is both the easiest and hardest thing either of us will do all month.
A Glazed Beef Short Rib with Vichy Carrot, Parsley & Slow-cooked Onion Sauce is almost bypassed in the reverie but the meat is exquisite and a sweet tender carrot with a citric bite deserves special mention.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse with Chocolate Mincemeat Fudge is well executed, a gossamer-light mousse with crunchy salt crystals egging on caramel sugar but is too much for me after the preceding procession of edible ecstasies.
It shouldn’t be but it is a rare treat to receive a cheeseboard of splendid Irish cheeses (two from Little Milk Co, including their collaboration with Knockdrinna Cheese, and a Crozier Blue) served at the correct temperature, having lost count of the restaurants in recent times that faltered at this final hurdle.
But then, attention to every detail is no more than a starting point in The Tannery. Service is immaculate, high professionalism leavened with easygoing warmth, our waiter Daniel, in particular, playing a blinder matching wine to food and chef Paul Flynn’s cooking has its own distinctive personality, deeply sophisticated, yet with a fundamental, unerring simplicity and a very Irish touch.
It remains one of the great unfathomables that The Tannery does not yet have a Michelin Star; this is the best meal I’ve had so far this year and there’s every chance I’ll say the same come next December. And maybe they’ll finally have that long overdue star?
2 x Tasting Menu (€65) + wine & drinks €174
Dinner — Tuesday to Saturday, 5.30pm-9pm (9.30pm Saturday); lunch — Fridays 12.30pm-2.30pm
9½/10
8½/10
8/10
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8/10
