Dining Out: heartiness and generosity to the menu at The Tannery
The Tannery, Dungarvan
- The Tannery Restaurant,
- 10 Quay Street, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
- Tel.: +353 (0)58 45420
- See tannery.ie for opening hours
Dungarvan in December on the eve of Waterford’s appearance in the All-Ireland Hurling Final has the curious air of a film set where cameras have temporarily ceased rolling. It is still magical: county flags and bunting adorn windows, doors and street-lamps, piped carols ring out from every corner, and Christmas lights skitter and sparkle across still harbour waters; yet the place is largely missing, to borrow broadcaster Olivia O’Leary’s poignant expression, ‘the champagne of people’.
Nonetheless, we relish our otherworldly amble around town as dusk settles in on a cold winter’s eve, ‘colouring in’ our passage with the glow of joyous memories of previous sojourns in the West Waterford port town. The Tannery’s welcome is legendary but tonight feels more precious than ever, a privilege to experience in extraordinary times.
First up, amuse bouches: succulent Harty’s Oyster, mildly saline after recent heavy rains, meet piquant mignonette; excellent, crisp smoked haddock croquettes with sweet pepper purée, through which we dredge very good house-made brioche.
Current Wife’s starter is a Tannery signature classic, crab crème brûlée, deliciously balanced, creamy custard, yet light on its feet. Matched with pickled cucumber’s crisp acidity and the crunchy texture of ‘Cornerstone’ toast — Barron’s bakery wheaten loaf given the Melba toast treatment — each mouthful is quite perfect.
My McGrath’s Corned Beef Carpaccio is a talented middleweight eminently capable of moving up to heavyweight division, a starter that could pass for a main. Vermillion meat, cured in brine for 10 days, combines texture and tenderness. Deep umami melds into Sauterne sweetness of plump sultanas, while cool, crisp winter slaw provides vitality and crunch. Add the substantial crisp sprout croquette and, on another day, you might happily conclude at this point, calling it all a very good lunch. However, on an especially treasured night away, we’re riding this train all the way to the end of the line.
CW’s superbly roasted monkfish, with a hearty bourride and fondue of leek and coco beans, exquisite toothsome pearls, confirm this journey is more trans-continental Orient Express than the local line from Cork to Cobh, and it takes a hefty oaked Sauvignon Blanc (Domaine Ricard Tasciaca) to punch the ticket.
Shamelessly flogging this travelling metaphor to death, my duck dish is a veritable trip to the moon: breast, confit leg and potato terrine, with shavings of salt-baked celeriac, winter comfort of the highest order, tender, flavoursome breast flanked by sumptuously rich companions. I gird myself with a Montepulciano (Nicodemi 2017), laden with juicy black fruit and plush tannins, its peppery acidity cutting a cleansing swathe through unctuous savoury fat.
Sides of buttery mash potato, pot roast red cabbage, and cheeky ‘spice bag fries’ with aioli are mighty fine but a bounty largely beyond our capacity
We’ve definitely hit the barriers but desserts are part of the deal. Warm Chocolate Mousse, Honeycomb and Roasted Plums is a cracking little number though I barely trouble it while CW’s Muscovado panna cotta, Mascarpone Cream, Mulled Wine Jelly, Fig & Ginger is the pick of the pair; superb and sultry panacotta alone is utterly exquisite.
Paul and Máire Flynn’s Tannery has always been an Irish hospitality experience of the highest order, and though Paul Flynn loathes pretension, his years as a Michelin-starred head chef have always been evident in a certain cuisine raffinée to be found on the plate, even in dishes that trace their DNA back to Irish country classics.
But the brutal impact of the hardship on Irish hospitality has been as painful for The Tannery as any other restaurant, especially as travel restrictions have excluded a huge part of their customer base, from Dublin and Cork. (The increased local support has, accordingly, been heartwarming and crucial.)
So, they have adapted the menu, reducing and simplifying. The cooking remains technically adroit but there is an added heartiness and generosity, currently akin to an elemental Irish bistro, as if Flynn and head chef Sam Burfield were also setting out to cure The Covid or at least offer some healing for collective existential angst.
I know we’re certainly feeling the benefit as we do no more than roll across the road to the elegant boutique accommodation of the sibling Tannery Townhouse, where a nightcap from my ‘first aid kit’ of current favourite Currach Wakame Single Malt Whiskey, closes out a wonderful, wonderful evening of Irish hospitality at its finest. And I cannot wait to repeat the prescription.
