This attractively-located Cork restaurants been reinvented by respected restaurateurs Harold Lynch and Beth Haughton who, after a decade, replaced their former Club Brasserie with a stylish contemporary restaurant, offering multi-choice all day dining options and a classy deli (check the displays as you enter...)
Harold, a Ballymaloe-trained chef, has always supported local produce and, while there are influences from southern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the cooking is modern Irish with an emphasis on healthy eating, including gluten free and vegan choices.
USPs include their weekend brunch, which not only offers the city's only Bloody Mary menu (choose from six, including the signature Beetroot Bloody Mary made with gin, beetroot, dill and lime) but also ‘Breakfast in Bread’, a sourdough loaf filled with "everything from eggs, cheese, and bacon to spinach and mushrooms" - all of which goes down a treat with the area's young professionals.
Menus are wide-ranging, especially at lunch time, with bites, bigger plates and main dishes offering everything from Baked Ardsallagh goats cheese on toasted Arbutus Bread, with red peppers and a chilli flakes dip, or a bigger bite of Clonakilty black pudding with rustic potatoes, caramelised apples and crispy bacon to mains like speciality pizzas or chargrilled chicken with tomato fondue, Gubbeen chorizo and olive mash.
Their salads are renowned, also fish dishes that often feature hake (Baked Hake with gremolata Parmesan crust and piperade, perhaps); the fish specals are always worth keeping an eye open for too - and, for the really hungry, there's a terrific classic Chargrilled ribeye steak, pepper sauce, caramelised onions, french fries and mixed leaves.
Finish with a gorgeous dessert or a slice of delicious cake from the deli - who can ever resist a meirngue roulade, for example, perhaps with lime vanilla cream, poached plums and toasted almonds...
There's a short and approachable wine list, offering about a dozen wines - mainly European, all under €30 euro (and available by the glass) - and a full bar as well, complete with cocktail menu of course.
A pretty cool package all round.
