Please mention ireland-guide.com when enquiring.

Market Square Brasserie

This basement Limerick restaurants popular for both its cosy, romantic décor – all gilt-framed mirrors, red velvet curtains and soft lighting – and precisely cooked food, where the quality of the basic ingredients is pre-eminent. In an addition to an appealing menu offering a good range of upbeat classic dishes, four or five specials are given – a nice feature, although it can be hard to remember them later.

Dishes especially enjoyed on a recent visit include a starter of chicken liver with which was a great combination – the soft creamy liver and the crisply fried chorizo, both nicely relieved by well dressed salad; and a main course of monkfish served with a prawn risotto, where a generous and spanking fresh chunk of the fish was cooked until just firm and set atop a terrific risotto with the seafood, the creamy rice and a buttery Parmigiano Reggiano kept in perfect balance.

Special attention is paid to the accompanying vegetables, which reflect the season and speak of a kitchen where the chef cares about seasonality. A white chocolate and raspberry tiramisu may be more like a trifle than a tiramisu, but is none the worse for that.

Slightly disorganised and impersonal service can let the kitchen down a little, but perfectly cooked food and great flavours mean that a meal here is likely to be very enjoyable nevertheless. A well stocked wine list is offered, although some bottles are very pricey.

D only, Tue-Sat from 6-8pm (to 9pm at weekend).

Directions:

City centre, on O'Connell Street