Restaurant Review: The Marina Market is a lasting lockdown-era legacy to the city

"...it would be a terrible shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and there is certainly a future of some sort for one of the most innovative local hospitality additions to Cork in quite some time..."

'Food hall' seating area at the Marina Market on Centre Park Road. Pic: Larry Cummins

• Marina Market
• Centre Park Road, Ballintemple, Cork, T12 YX76
• Opening Hours: 8am-8pm Monday to Sunday. (Some stalls may vary; check online)

One of the most intriguing urban regeneration projects anywhere in the world has to be the Time Out Market Lisbon, a revival of the historic old Mercado da Ribeira, which I first encountered back in 2018. 

A giant cathedral of a building and still a working market, selling meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, and flowers, local editors from the renowned international Time Out travel guide, beginning in 2014, curated an additional hospitality offering: over 25 restaurant stalls, operated by many of the best hospitality practitioners in the city, eight bars, a dozen premium specialist food shops, and with a large performance space for live events.

It utterly invigorated the once dodgy Cais do Sodré neighbourhood and by night, the atmosphere was electric as thousands flocked to this gastronomic temple for a thoroughly unique hospitality experience. 

Anyone who has ever jumped into the exuberant river of humanity that flows through Cork’s English Market on Culture Night, when for one night of the year it converts to a nocturnal hospitality venue, will have some sense of what Time Out Lisbon is like — but just a sense, as the enormous Mercado would comfortably house several English Markets.

Unsurprisingly, its enormous success has been emulated internationally. 

Global investment has somewhat homogenised Lisbon in more recent years, imposing an international chain store Esperanto on the local high street, so the irony is not lost that Time Out Market has itself become an international chain subsequently opening in New York, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and Dubai but there are now myriad independent imitators elsewhere in the world — and that includes Cork.

In Cork City, the universal pandemic tropes of lockdown, the sourdoughs and the banana breads, the Zoom calls, that Tiger whatever it was Netflix series, and so on, will always have an added and unique local flavour — the Marina Market.

Housed in a giant warehouse in Cork’s docklands, the — crucially — airy hangar opened in September 2020 and became a destination of choice for local citizens gagging for a bit of communal hospitality action. 

The very first stall was the now iconic pink freight container housing Guji coffee, just outside the premises at the Centre Park Rd entrance but the vast interior now houses myriad street food stalls, many of them pop-up versions of established city restaurants. 

Unlike the rather sleek makeover that resulted in Time Out Market Lisbon, Marina Market has embraced a stylish take on recycled shabby chic, a pragmatic decision financially, but one well worked and along with all the second hand sofas and rudimentary wooden pallet furniture, some of the stalls themselves are very sharply and attractively liveried. 

In addition, there’s a live performance space with a commendable emphasis on community events, and even a barber’s for a quick trim before lunch. The edible options are multiple so, obviously, our eating has been conducted over multiple visits.

La Daughter’s death row dinner will undoubtedly be sushi and she gives a thumbs up to Kura Sushi for a decent effort but her gustatory inclinations can be equally driven by online aesthetics and the very Snapchat-worthy offering of bubble waffles and milkshakes from La Creme gets a far more emphatic full high five and a prolonged photo shoot before being consumed with a rapacious gusto for such a delicate flower.

The teens also favour Prátaí, and its highly addictive take on variations on the deep-fried spud, a Burnt pizza never goes un-wolfed and Beans & Burritos do as they do in the city centre, cleaving to a solid feeding formula that is catnip to the youth market, especially teenage boys.

Hansum’s rotisserie chicken is a very smart outfit with an equally smart menu while White Rabbit do an equally solid job on the barbecue front, and for the vegetarians and vegans, Young Plant isn’t to be found wanting.

Much-anticipated Nua Asador disappoints. Hangar steak is never going to be a tender cut but this is especially gristly, not properly sliced all the way through and flanked by some very tired sides, including a couple of slices of dried-out industrially-baked baguette and an underwhelming Farofa, a Brazilian condiment made from toasted cassava which can be excellent with grilled meats and meat casseroles.

One brother-in-law is nurturing an amour for MKT Burger that has his wife justifiably jealous and their classic cheeseburger is indeed good but not up to my current benchmark, Yay Burger, now operating in Cork city, out of The Poor Relation pub.

However, though I am a big fan of good street food, it is the more traditional dishes that I find myself returning to, very tasty pastas and cannoli from Sicilian Delights, and then there is Sultan. 

I’ve written before of the monstrous proposition that is French Tacos, a mutant hybrid of panini, kebab and burrito, that includes wheat tortilla, harissa (North African hot chilli paste), spicy tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and processed cream cheese triangles. This is followed by cheese slices, blue cheese sauce and carmelised onion, then one of three meat options: chicken, spicy Merguez sausage, or lamb kebab. The piece de resistance is freshly fried chips, two more sauces, taco and garlic, roll it up, burrito-style, and heat in a panini press. 

I’ve done my duty and tasted it once, barely a mouthful, and I flew the flag; this is an edible cardiac arrest to challenge even the bottomless pits of teenage bellies. 

Much more to my taste are the authentic North African dishes and my most favourite dish in the entire Marina Market is Sultan’s Moroccan Spiced Chicken Soup, a rustic, textured affair of earthy pulses (lentil and chickpea) and vermicelli; sweet tomato and onion; garlic’s tangy hum; and a panoply of zingy spices; final dressing of fresh parsley, lemon juice and dried mint is a delightful spritely coda.

Numbers seemed to dwindle somewhat when lockdowns lifted and as Leesiders headed for all those indoor spots that had been closed off for so long but MM still seems to do a tidy business, especially on sunny days and match days, and over the course of the recent Live at the Marquee series. 

It has been in the news more recently as a planning review threatened its very existence.

Certainly, there are issues to be addressed on that front — speaking as one who nearly lost his life while cycling just a few months back to a boy racer hightailing it down Kennedy Quay to MM. 

But it would be a terrible shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and there is certainly a future of some sort for MM, one of the most innovative local hospitality additions to Cork in quite some time. 

Now if only we could throw in a little Lisbon sunshine to seal the deal.