Restaurant review: The Linden Tree, Co Kildare
He looks across the railway tracks and sees another train, except here the carriages are filled with party people, champagne glasses in hand, abundant smiles. A woman catches his glance, and plants a kiss on the window, almost willing him to join her.
At this point, Allen’s reverie is interrupted when a train conductor comes in to check tickets in preparation for the train departing; Allen protests that he is actually on the wrong train, that he should really be on the train to Happy Town, and not the train to Glumsville. But, alas, it’s too late.
We know we’re exaggerating, but by the end of the evening at the superficially wonderful Linden Tree Restaurant (the on-site dining spot at Kildare’s naturally magnificent Carton House estate) that’s how we felt.
We had reserved a table for two on a Sunday for 7.30pm, and as we walk through the beautiful entrance, the pristine reception area, and the smooth wood-panelled corridor that leads into the restaurant, we expect to be carried away to some kind of paradise. We are, of course, delusional.
We check in at the restaurant entrance. Despite having reserved several days previously from a domestic landline, we are asked whether we are staying at the hotel, which gives a distinct, but not necessarily worrying impression that we’re going to be treated differently.
We notice that, on our right, the upper part of the slight split-level space is awash with empty tables. We are however, directed left, and down to an area of the room that obviously leads on to a much wider dining space that caters specifically for breakfast for hotel residents.
Where we are seated is nice, but it’s in a semi alcove (of sorts) that has not only a wall-to-ceiling pane of glass but also a high-roofed large skylight. We regret fairly quickly that we haven’t worn pullovers or jackets.
So yes, we are in a hotel restaurant, but we have a sneaking suspicion (and we readily admit we could be wrong) it’s the residents which occupy the far warmer and much more atmospheric area.
As we look around, we spy a few baby chairs and — tucked in out of the way but not out of sight — a wheelchair and a pair of crutches, which could be indicative of Carton House’s justified international reputation of being a venue for superb sports training facilities.
All this noted, we’re initially disappointed to be handed a set dinner menu.
A restaurant with no a la carte menu highlights a fastidious approach to kitchen economics, which is fair enough, but the set menu (€45 for starter, main, dessert, tea/coffee) turns out to be something of a treat.
Removing the option of not wanting either a starter or dessert is something that usually irritates (and we choose not to ask if there’s a reduction on the set menu fee if we do), but we go with the flow.
We select starters of warm ham hock parcels (with york cabbage, sweet potato and garlic purée) and salad of Five Mile Town Goats Cheese (with beetroot three ways, roasted pine nut, wild rocket).
The word is scrumptious, and as we divide a half bottle of smooth, light-bodied Merlot (J Moreau & Fils 2013, €15.50) between us there’s more of it to come courtesy of the mains.
While the roasted Barbary duck breast (with braised red cabbage, roasted plum, rich roast juices) is just that tiny bit chewy, the six-hour slow-cooked feather blade of beef (with champ potato, sweet potato puree, sauce bourguignon, micro rocket) is so delicate and tender you can hardly spear it with a fork.
We share a dessert of lemon posset, with chantilly cream and raspberries (that’s according to the menu description; our dessert arrives with one sad and lonely raspberry, which is surely adhering to the food budget too strictly).
We leave the restaurant betwixt and between; the food is seriously good, but outside the superb remit of the kitchen (take a bow executive head chef Cathal Kavanagh) there’s a divide between what its ambitions are and what it actually is.
The former include something akin to being a destination eatery within the confines of a very smart hotel/resort. If that’s the case, though, why do we acutely feel, as non-residents, we are on the receiving end of a short, but very smoothly designed four-star stick?
Dinner for two, with wine, came to €105.50, no tip
Monday to Sunday, 7pm-9.30pm; Sunday lunch, 1pm-3pm
Food: 8/10
Service: 5/10
Ambience: 5/10
Drink: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Carton House,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare;
01 505 2000;
www.cartonhouse.com
