Conor’s Bandon Blog

We were recently taken out to dinner by my parents and decided to try the Malt House Granary in Clonakilty. We had only been once before, 5 years ago, and had not liked the heavy food. But a recent review which highlighted the new ownership made us want to try again. And oh boy were we glad we did.

We like eating very early and sat down at 7.30 to a totally empty restaurant which had me worried. I needn’t have. By 9pm they were turning people away at the door.

The menu is a great mix of local produce with a strong focus on fish and shellfish. Finally a restaurant in West Cork that offers something other than 5 different types of white fish!

As with other great meals I have had recently (like in Fenn’s Quay), I’ll let the pictures do the talking below. In summary, superb cooking with fantastic deep savoury flavours and a lightness of touch.

The portion sizes were on the overly-large size but the value was amazing. Where most places seem to try and get €22+ for mains, they were mid-teens for almost everything. We all raved about the food but were bursting at the seams as we left. We agreed that a main+coffee would make a fantastic early quick filling dinner for little more than you’d pay in a thousand crappy restaurants all over Ireland.

On the drive back through Clon we spotted several other restaurants that looked almost empty. If they want to stay in business, they should study what Elaine McCarthy and her team are doing in the Malt House Granary. It’s simple to say but hard to do: “fantastic fresh food, cooked with skill and sold with value in mind”.

I think I’ve found my new favourite fish restaurant in Ireland. Yes it is that good.

This won’t be a long review, it doesn’t need to be. Fenn’s Quay gave us a fantastic meal last Saturday night with wonderful service in a lovely room. You can’t ask for more than that.

My lovely parents were down in Cork for the weekend for the GAA thingy and offered to bring Catherine and me out for a meal. We’d heard great things about Fenn’s Quay from my sister and Julian Alubaidy and, wanting somewhere new to us, booked it.

Luckily we found parking at the door of the Mardyke and walked the few yards to the unassuming door. Inside was quite large and broken into two rooms. The service from the very first minute was friendly, light-hearted and helpful, exactly the way I like it.

I was thrilled to see they were quite busy for the entire night but that didn’t impact on us at all. The menu had something for everyone but for whatever reason we all picked fish mains and 3/4 picked fish starters.

To go with the meal, diligent wine-student Catherine picked a lovely Sancerre which improved quickly with opening.

I need say little more other than to highlight that this is in the top tier of restaurants in the country and if you are in Cork it should be top of your list to try. Whilst other local establishments appear to be resting on their laurels, Fenn’s Quay isn’t letting-up for a minute. The pictures can do the rest of the talking.

We’ve had a couple of very good reviews of Mio on LouderVoice and finally got a chance to try it out last Sunday. A brilliant meal in a beautiful but shockingly empty restaurant. We’ll be back soon.

Granny Mary shooed us out the door at 5pm on Sunday and we tootled down to Clon to Mio’s. Owned by the same people as the brilliant Gleenson’s, it is two doors up and upstairs.

The room is beautifully done with a nice Italian feel to the whole place. It was empty on arrival so we got the full attention of the very friendly waiter. A couple of Italian Moretti beers saw us through the meal and we had a hard time deciding what to pick. Both the main menu and specials looked good but with quite run-of-the-mill descriptions, which as as discovered when the food arrived, didn’t do it justice at all.

Catherine had a fantastic pate to start and I had pasta-wrapped prawns with a saffron aioli. Both with very good salad with a tasty dressing.

For main I had the Capricciosa pizza which had anchovies, capers, olives and an egg. One of the best pizzas I’ve eaten in the past ten years. Catherine had a classic Caesar sald with chicken. She couldn’t finish it, it was so big. Lovely leaves and dressing, beautifully moist chicken. She didn’t go for the whole anchovies in it tho. Might be best to mention as an option to people.

Two excellent double espressos finished the evening and we were out off home, fully sated.

Unfortunately not one other person came in whilst we were there. I so hope this was a timing thing and not a regular occurrence since Clon needs a place like this that serves great food in a relaxed setting. I am concerned that the menu outside gives no hint of the high quality of the food and could be mistaken for an Eddie Rockets style place. The prices are a little high but then I say that about everywhere.

If you like great pizza and great food in general but want it in a lovely relaxed welcoming setup then Mio is worth a detour. Next time I’m trying the burger.

A last minute decision to pop down here for Sunday lunch turned out to be a total success. Fantastic seafood in a relaxed atmosphere with serene views of Clonakilty Bay. If they could just do something about parking, it would be perfect.

I’ve eaten in Deasy’s once before and thoroughly enjoyed it. For some reason they popped into my head this morning and I hopped into the car with four of the five monsters to see if they were still doing Sunday Lunch. The usual crawl to Clon ensued followed by the twisty road to Ring.

I knew the parking had been bad but time had dulled my memory. It’s brutal. Four spaces in front of the pub and then you have to travel a few hundred yards to find a roadside spot. Fine as an adult, a total pain (and dangerous) if you have kids. I had to circle three times before parking. Just in case, I ran down and discovered that they didn’t open for lunch until 1. So we headed over to the newly revamped playground in Clon. This looks great but now seems much more oriented towards older kids. My middle-uns were scared to climb the ladders to the slides.

Back we trotted to Ring and luckily one of the four spaces was free and we parked right at the door. It was still pretty quiet at 1pm but people arrived bit by bit over the following hour. We were seated towards the back which made sense from a safety perspective. The staff and owner were very friendly throughout. The lack of a baby-seat was a bit of a pain but not the end of the world. After seeing the usual stroppiness of our four demons, they gave us some crayons and colouring sheets which calmed everyone down.

The menu is a big step above what you’d expect from a rural Irish pub. The three course lunch menu is €30 and looks great value to me. However, as our family meals are all about speed, I went straight to the main courses. Initially I was concerned that there was nothing very child-friendly on the menu but then I copped myself on and realised they should be eating the same stuff as me.

So I ordered three half portions of Monkfish and Fennel Risotto with puttanesca salsa for them and a Hake with Lemon Butter and Swiss Chard for me. They arrived reasonably quickly on adult stopwatches but an eternity in kid-time. I tried to explain “cooking on demand” to the kids but failed.

Of course all them said “yeuch, I’m not eating that” as soon as the plates were put on the table. Rather than get hassled, I let them be and started on my hake. Never ones to miss an opportunity to annoy me, two of them asked to taste the hake and both decided they loved it, the little sods. I split mine between them and then took over their plates of risotto. Dishes of lovely baby spuds and one of the best selections of vegetables I’ve ever seen in an Irish restaurant appeared too.

Myself and the two middlers had a bit of everything. Baby would eat nothing. 2 year old wouldn’t touch anything until near the end, at which point he let me feed him a mix of fish, risotto, carrots and spuds.

Oh, I nearly forgot to say, the food was fantastic. The fish perfectly cooked, the flavours subtle and not overpowering, the vegetables beautiful. Apologies for the lack of pics and menu details but I really had my hands full.

The two boys began messing too loudly so it was time to go. The bill for the food plus three 7-ups and a Ballygowan came to a refreshingly low €53. We’ll be back very soon avec wife and fifth child so I can sample more and have both hands available to eat with.

Thrilled to find a nice new local place with good tasty well-priced unpretentious food which I think will suit our family perfectly. I’ve also heard good things from several others.

Italistro opened several months ago and immediately caught my eye because, despite being on a street I rarely visit, they advertised on the side of the building in their lovely brand colours and I see it every time I go through town. However months passed and I still hadn’t tried it.

Today I went for lunch with two of the cool Newsweaver people, Denise and Jennifer and decided to check it out. The decor and colour scheme really catch your eye, they’ve done a superb job. I had been worried about them doing sit-down and takeaway but the areas are separated well.

There was no-one there at 12.45 for lunch which surprised me. We got the lunch menus and I saw a lot I’d be happy having. A good general mix of pasta, pizza, burgers, chicken etc. One thing leaped off the page for me, a meatball/mozzarella/salami pannini. I bloody love meatballs so I had to have it. The others picked pizzas.

The food took quite a while to arrive but where pizza is involved I’m happy to wait. My pannini hit the spot, yum! The price had originally seemed high to me at €9.50 but when the plate arrived with a full bowl of chips and a big bowl of proper salad and tasty dressing, I realised it was a bargain. Reports on the pizzas were good too and they looked gorgeous. We finished off with some good coffees in very sexy cups.

The lack of custom worried me but I was assured it is hoppin at night which I was happy to hear. We have to get our childer fed and watered on Friday before we head off for a quick night away and I’m definitely heading down to Italistro with them.

Bandon is just getting better and better for food. Now all we need is Yo Sushi to open and I’ll be a very happy bunny.

An unsatisfying mix of excellent food and wine with haphazard service and crazy pricing. The most expensive meal we’re ever had but sadly not the best.

Regular readers of the blog know that I was blown away by the documentary on Dylan McGrath getting his Michelin star for Mint. When my parents gave me a 40th birthday present of a meal for two there, I was gobsmacked and couldn’t wait to go. We finally got there last weekend and left a few hours later confused and unsatisfied.

Mint is based in what I think used to be a fish shop/deli in Ranelagh in Dublin. Whilst Ranelagh has moved on from it’s Chew n Chat and Pat Grace’s Famous Fried Chicken roots, it still feels like student-land to me. First impressions on arriving at the restaurant were poor since they have kept the old crappy shop-door that you’d expect to see in a Qik-E-Mart.

The rest of this review will mention Petrus here and there. Why? Because it is also a Michelin starred restaurant, the bill was lower and it was the best dining experience of our lives.

We were greeted and seated at a table that was precisely 6 inches from the one next to it. We may as well have sat in the laps of the people next to us since we could hear every word, and vice versa. Of all the problems with the meal, the room is one of the worst. It’s simply unacceptable for a restaurant that charges these prices. The stupid mirror trick fools no-one. At one point I got elbowed by the bread guy as he tried to serve the adjoining table. Losing a table or two would be a major revenue blow for them so they just have to move – immediately.

After a bit of discussion we decided to try the Tasting Menu with wines. The sommelier asked if we had any preferences on the wine but we just put ourselves entirely in his hands. I have to say that all his selections were fantastic. Every wine felt perfect for the dish that it accompanied. Even the dessert wine, which I hate, worked well. A big thank you to him for giving us a menu to take home with all the wines written down beside the  courses.

After a beautiful mouth-explosion taster trio involving foams, jellies and mini-soups we moved to the tasting menu. It was as follows (with apologies for the spellings on the wines):

• Roasted Scallops with caramelised chicoree, blood orange and black grapes – This was stunning. I loved every part of the dish. One of the highlights of the night. Wine was Motto Piane Sauvignon Blanc 2007 from Italy. I didn’t even know they did Sauvignon in Italy. I’ll be looking out for some from now on.

• Fois Gras and prune terrine with pear puree, air dried duck and pickled pear slices – Another fabulous dish. Catherine’s favourite. Wine was Cuvee Marie from Charles Hours 2003 from South West France. Another seriously great wine.

At this point I thought we were looking at the second best meal we’ve ever had.

• Sea Bass with hot fennel mayo, chilled fennel soup, black olive, and sardines on sour dough – This was good but not at the mouth-explosion level of everything that preceded it. Just a decent fish dish. It was then that we realised that too many of the dishes were aniseedy via fennel or celeriac. You’d be in serious trouble with the menu if you weren’t a fan. Wine was Arneis from Seghesio, 2004 from the Russian River Valley in the US. This was one of our favourites of the night. A real winner.

• Loin of Lamb with chickpeas, aubergine puree, tomato petals and buckler sorrel – This was a completely bizarre dish which didn’t work for either of us. A plate was placed in front of us covered in dabs of various purees and chickpeas. In a side-dish (!) was the lamb and jus. The purees really were not very nice at all and the lamb was overwhelmed by rosemary which was a terrible pity since it was succulent. However my first taste of sweetbreads was a real revelation and they were gorgeous. Wine was a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Chateau Sansonnet 2001 which was sadly badly masked by the food.

• Selection of cheese and crackers – All of them good and I liked the fact that we both got a different selection with a different jam/chutney in the middle. Wine was Madiran Chateau Montus 2003 from South West France. Another perfect matching with the food.

• Raspberries with almond milk, raspberry jelly and almond biscuit – Nice dessert but pretty forgettable and the block of frozen parfait(?) was just icy . Wine was Montbazillac Chateau Tireuil la Graviere 2001 from South West France. As I said earlier, I hate sweet wine but this really did suit the dessert well.

• Passion fruit with coconut cream, mango puree, marmalade with warm caramel and passion fruit jelly – Another very tasty but not memorable or special dessert. The wine was Riesling Vom Bunten Shiefer from Hans Lang in Germany, 2003. I loved this one too and will be seeking out some good Riesling from now on.

As I said, overall the food was to a very high standard and the wines were excellent. But both was diminished badly by the completely cack-handed front of house. There were multiple problems:

• I have no idea who the Maitre d’ was. Was it the small blonde wine guy who disappeared once we got our order in? Or the tall woman who came over to our table towards the end when Catherine was in the loo, folded her napkin and walked away without a word? Or some invisible third party?

• In Petrus we knew exactly who was in charge and he came over several times, not to ask some bland “did you enjoy your meal?” but to engage and converse. Thinking about Mint after the meal, the strong sense I got was a lack of confidence from everyone front-of-house and so a complete lack of proper engagement with their customers.

• Our wine glasses spent a lot of time empty. I’ve listed a large number of wines above but at one point the only thing left on the table was two napkins and two glasses of water. Again at this price level, I expect to be permanently topped up, not penny pinched.

• When I say I don’t want bread twice in a row, stop bloody coming back! What was it, 5 times? 6 times?

• Don’t tell me we have to be out by 9pm when you know you don’t have a full set of bookings for 9pm, when you don’t serve our last course until 9.15 and when you leave us 10-15 minutes between a few of the courses without even wine in our glasses. And all of this in a non-full restaurant.

• Absolutely no acknowledgment was made of the fact that it was my 40th birthday despite them being told so. In Jacob’s on the Mall last year, I got a special dessert and the Maitre d’ had a wee chat. In Petrus for our anniversary, we got a tour of the kitchen and met the amazing Marcus Wearing. On other occasions I’ve got a complementary cocktail. Here? Nothing! Not even Happy Bloody Birthday.

• When we left, there was no-one racing to open the door, ask us how the meal was or wish us on our way. We just snuck away in the night.

• They couldn’t even handle the fact that the meal was supposed to be paid-for as a gift. We were getting into the cab when one of the waiters (or maybe the Maitre d’, who knows?) ran out and grabbed us, apologised profusely since they had just realised who we were and said that they’d cancel our credit card charge. We told him not to bother as we’d sort it out ourselves. He was insistent but we were doubly so. There was clearly no-one running the booking system all night; no-one in proper charge; no-one who had scanned everything before service to see if there was anything unusual to warn the staff about. Amateur hour to be honest.

I’m not going to say the price of the meal, you can work it out yourself. But when you are paying that kind of money, having coffee and petit fours as an extra at over €6 is just plain scabby. The big shock on the bill was a mandatory 12.5% service charge. Let’s be blunt here, the service didn’t warrant it. 6% max, maybe. And if it’s mandatory then just put it in the price of the meal. Otherwise, why not separately call out the pastry charge, the loo roll charge and the dishwashing charge?

My gut tells me that, sadly, Mint will not survive. Dylan is clearly a talented chef but he’s not a restaurateur based on the front of house shambles we encountered. In a restaurant with a mix of two-tops and four-tops, none of the four-tops seemed to be occupied on a Saturday night. The prices are frankly ridiculous for a pokey little place with inexperienced staff. The blatant gouging via extras and service charges tells me they are in trouble.

We realised we could have flown to London, eaten in one of 200 better restaurants there, stayed the night and flown home the following day for less than Mint cost with its dazzling views of Spar. In a weakening economy, places like this which don’t deliver value (at whatever the price level) are the first to go to the wall. In a strange twist of timing and history, could we be seeing a re-run of Peacock Alley?

Having said alllllll of the above, we are so glad we gave it a go, so grateful to my parents for arranging and paying for it and so glad to have had a great meal.

We got a voucher from my mother-in-law for The Old Post over a year ago and finally made use of it last weekend. It consisted of one night’s stay plus dinner. I’ve previously given it top marks in a review last year and had eaten there several times before, all good.

We arrived up about 4pm and they weren’t fully open yet but some hand waving got us in and up to the room. They had told us on the phone that the rooms are being renovated in the spring and it really can’t happen soon enough. Our room really worn out and the bathroom in particular needs to be gutted. One thing that annoyed me intensely was the broken toilet seat. Not only is it unhygienic, it’d probably only take €30 and 20 minutes to fix. But that seat is my abiding memory of the place which is unfortunate as most other aspects are fine.

We headed down for dinner later and found the place hopping. The building is really cosy and I love the genuine friendly local staff. We had a drink whilst reading the menus and waiting for the table. A good selection of my kind of food with a list of each individual supplier impressed me.

The meal overall was good but I felt it could been brilliant with some more attention to detail. Having said that, they were under pressure in the kitchen with a very full dining room and apologised for a delay at one point with a mini-dessert. To be honest we hadn’t even noticed.

For starters I had carpaccio of beef with a rocket salad. The beef was gorgeous and delicate but overwhelmed by the over-dressed rocket. You should definitely try it but ask for the salad on the side so the meat can sing. D’wife had prawns with a nice onion marmalade.

The champagne sorbet was very boozy but beautifully flavoured.

My main was Peking duck on celeriac which, whilst very tasty, had flabby soft skin instead of the expected crispness. Catherine had a duo of fish on risotto. The fish was lovely but the risotto looked more like long grain rice and had non-diced stringy rocket it in.

Her dessert was three mini creme brulees which weren’t very distinctly different in taste and I had a gorgeous tarte tatin.

Through the meal we had a bottle of Sancerre Dominique et Janine Crochet 2006 which was fantastic and I’d try again.

Being a popular local venue, the portions are seriously big (the side veg was a meal in itself). I always leave there bursting and I need to show some restraint in future!Our room suffered a bit from dining room noise and the place didn’t really quieten down until after 1am. But that’s to be expected. Breakfast the following morning had both fresh fruit and a really tasty full Irish. Service again was top class and friendly.

Once the rooms are revamped, I’d recommend The Old Post. It’s a lovely part of the country and you’ll come away refreshed. Oh and to echo a topic I wrote about on my business blog yesterday, they really need to get themselves a web-site!

The Poacher’s Inn is the nearest eatery/pub to our house. In a previous incarnation as Ted Amber’s it was an ok pub and a pretty poor restaurant that was barely above the level of a carvery.

The place was bought maybe 18 months ago (or even longer?) and reports have been steadily good. I had a pub lunch there recently and was very impressed so we decided to try the full restaurant last night.

It started badly with no record of the booking we had made a few hours previously but they slotted us in and we were first to dine at 7pm. Service was genuinely friendly throughout with none of the fake bonhomie you often get. The place itself is above the pub with sloping roof, an intimate feel and tables not too close together.

I liked the look of the menu immediately since they were unafraid to have seafood up-front and center. A small set of starters and mains always impresses me more than the kitchen sink approach where you know the freezer and microwave are the main cooking tools.

We were both interested in similar dishes so we made sure to get different things. Missus went with a “Tapas” starter and I went for “Thai” fish cake. I put both in quotes because I’m not sure how accurate either description is. But that doesn’t really matter since both were gorgeous.

The Tapas was a wonderful selection of mussels, shell-on langoustine, salmon, goats cheese, hummus and olives. The fishcake was a big ball of crab and prawn, jam packed with flavour and with a plum sauce (more like diced plum than sauce but beautiful nonetheless).

For main I had scallops and cauliflower puree which was cooked to a tee and very tasty. D’Wife had seabass on a bed of risotto which she adored. In all cases the fish appeared to be ultra fresh and so much better for it. The side veg was a bit of overkill even tho I enjoyed one I couldn’t identify (Fennel? Celeriac?). The big chunky chips were very tasty but we didn’t need them to be honest.

Both of us were too full for desserts which did look lovely. I’d like to have seen a couple of lighter ones on the menu tho. We went with double espressos instead which were fab.

It wasn’t that cheap, coming in at €103 including €27 wine but we thoroughly enjoyed the meal, the music and the feel of the place. As I said in the summary, it is such a joy to have somewhere this good within walking distance of the house. The reputation is clearly spreading too since I have a lunch invite there for next week where the person said “the chowder is gorgeous”.

A big hurrah, Bandon is finally becoming somewhere that foodies can visit. Take that, Clon!

We all know to expect snooty service in Paris but I’ve rarely found that and have enjoyed most meals that I’ve had there. So I was a bit gobsmacked by the Jean Marie Le Pen supporters running Buddha Bar in Paris.

The “evening” unfolded like this.

1. We’re at Le Web 3 conference in Paris and we want to get some food. We also want to do so near the NetVibes party later on Rue de Rivoli
2. Tariq Krim says that it isn’t a good area for food but Buddha Bar is ok.
3. Four of us take the tube over, arrive into Buddha Bar and I ask if they have a table for 8 people (the expected number)
4. Stormtrooper behind desk snaps “have you a reservation”. No, sorry, we don’t.
5. Stormtrooper snaps “for how many?”. We say 8.
6. Stormtrooper snaps “how many here now”. Emmm, only 4.
7. Stormtrooper snaps “well come back when there are 8″. Oh ok.
8. We go to the Bar. Then the beer rip-off story happens.
9. Three people cancel on us, so we are now 5 and we go back to desk
10. Stormtrooper snaps “yes?”. Emmm, we’d like a table for 5.
11. Stormtrooper snaps “have you a reservation”. We were just here 15 minutes ago.
12. Stormtrooper snaps “how many here now”. Emmm, 5.
13. Stormtrooper picks up walkie-talkie and shouts into it. Someone shouts back.
14.  Stormtrooper snaps “follow that woman” and turns away from us
15. Stormtrooper II shouts into Walkie talkie and points down the stairs
16. We descend and encounter Stormtrooper III shouting into a walkie talkie
17. She brings us to a table
18. That’s it. We never received any other service from them
19. After 40 minutes without menus, water, bread or anyone to flag down, we walked out.

If I’d had a few drinks on me I’d probably have found it hilarious but as it was actually the worst non-dining experience of my life. You’d be better off in McDonalds.

We walked up Rue de Rivoli and found a nice pub bistro doing steak, frites and wine. A decent solid meal. I only wish I’d written the name of it down.