Restaurant review: Canteen, Co Limerick
As the aforementioned tonsorial artist oxymoronically attempts to halt the receding tide with a pair of scissors, I in return receive the lie of the land along with a bill that inflates ever upwards with the passing of each year and every golden curl.
Today, it being election season, our talk inevitably turns to political affairs, in particular, the Jabberwocky of ‘The Recovery’ and ‘Fiscal Space’.
I enquire after the affairs of Limerick.
The Barber’s analysis is cogent and succinct: it’s f**ked, he sighs, and I have to admit certain areas in one of my favourite Irish towns appear to be waiting for a bus that’s long ceased running.
But hearing I am in town on affairs of the belly, The Barber brightens up. There’s still a good old buzz in the Milk Market, he says.
Having just left there, I agree heartily, it being the most gorgeously sited farmer’s market in Ireland and with some superb food vendors to match.
More generally, we marvel at what drives so many of Ireland’s finest food entrepreneurs to take the plunge during recessionary times and, furthermore, make a right good fist of it.
One such entrepreneur is Paul Williams, chef/proprietor of Canteen, on Mallow St. While Williams would doubtless have relished a space in any of the high and handsome period townhouses in this heart of Limerick’s Georgian quarter, circumstances dictate he has to make do with a single-story shoebox.
He handles the challenges with chutzpah, opting for minimalist industrial chic, a blackboard menu, and a discreet shelf of upscale modern gastronomy tomes emphasising this is no greasy spoon.
But the space is compact and, a party of three adults and five offspring, we have to wait until two of the three tables become available, 20 minutes pleasantly passed in the family-friendly Limerick City Gallery around the corner.
Canteen, who also do a roaring takeaway trade, offer a breakfast/brunch/lunch menu with a weather eye on the current trend for ‘clean’ eating, reflected in the makeup of the morning’s crowd: clad in North Face and lycra, sporting rugged beards and chiselled cheekbones, all rather glowing with post-exercise vitality.
Food is served in neat little cardboard cartons with disposable cutlery and sourcing is top drawer, ingredients coming from many of Ireland’s better small producers; Joe Fitzmaurice’s Riot Rye bread alone is worth the price of admission for he is one of Ireland’s finest bakers.
Other than La Daughter who opts for delicious meatballs of organic lamb from Sheepwalk Farm, served with a vibrant and herby tomato sauce, the ‘breakfast’ items are most popular with the youth wing and neither can I help myself on an extended ‘parental supervision’ tour, sampling sweet, pillowy French Toast with a maple bacon crunch, airy blueberry and bacon pancakes, and a breakfast burrito, salsa and avocado enervating sausage and rashers.
A Dr Seuss-ian Green Eggs and Ham is very comforting though served in the singular, not the plural listed.
The Dearly Beloved’s falafel, in her Wrap Special, served with chilli sauce, mixed greens, yoghurt dressing, and pomegranate, are nutty, textured creations but, on a parky day, she is justly disappointed to find they are served cold.
My Tzatziki Hotbox comes with crunchy, fresh homemade slaw and light, airy couscous but I’d prefer my undeniably well-cooked salmon chunks to come with a tad more old school ‘dirt’— in other words, more flavour— and I subject it to an ongoing blizzard of salt and pepper before eventually heading off on another ‘supervisory tour’ of the junior plates.
There are also general mutterings from all quarters, young and old, at the amount of lettuce bulking out the various wraps and burritos ordered and, while I abhor the ignorance of those who dismiss good lettuce as rabbit food, even Brer Rabbit himself would balk at this excess but everything else is hoovered up.
Finishing with superb coffees (Badger & Dodo), we bustle off, primed for a triathalon or three and, with Canteen very much to the forefront of a still-vibrant epicurean Limerick, I’ll happily confess my local information gathering technique is far from flawless.
€83.40 (including homemade lemonades, beverages, coffees, excluding tip)
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 8am to 4pm; Saturday: 10.30am to 4pm; Sunday: Closed
Food: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Value: 8/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
“Canteen [is] very much to the forefront of a still-vibrant epicurean Limerick.”
Canteen, 30 Mallow St, Limerick, V94 EY22. Tel: 085 215 3212, www.wearecanteen.com
