Fruit of the sea

IT IS entirely appropriate that a town that ushers a river as magnificent as the Blackwater to the sea — could be, might be again one of Europe’s great salmon rivers — should have a venerable seafood restaurant.

In Youghal, Aherne’s has filled that role for generations. It will mark a century in business in a dozen years, an entirely fitting time span for an establishment that treats oysters so adroitly. This tradition was honoured last year when Aherne’s was named the Georgina Campbell Seafood Restaurant of the Year.

One of the newspaper barons of old, Lord Beaverbrook, once said the perfect newspaper was like the sea — “the same but different every day”. The crusty autocrat advocated consistency but maybe with licence to wear a different hat on different days.