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!
