Restaurant review: Cobh's Seasalt Cafe

I HAVE long wrestled with the conundrum that is Cobh, namely, why isn’t it one of the most feted of all Irish towns, for it is a multi-faceted jewel: elegant Victorian architecture in serried South-facing ranks runs down a steep hill to the waterfront, the towering gothic confection that is Cobh Cathedral casting an ecclesiastical eye over town and out to the magnificent harbour.

In my teens, I would take the train down from Cork to pass wild, hilarious nights in any of several terrific pubs, bunking in a friend’s family home, one of those stately old piles overlooking the harbour, that I always dreamt of owning. On one such night, I met a self-declared surrealist, who believed his mindset essential to navigating the miasma of ‘otherness’ often found in garrison towns of yore, Cobh included.