An impressive recently restored four-storey Georgian building provides a unique venue for Chef Keith Boyle and his wife Carmel (formerly of The Bay Tree Bistro Waterford City) to bring elegant dining to this handsome town.
Their atmospheric restaurant is named after its original owner, the much-loved Lady Anne Wandesforde Countess of Ormonde (1754-1830) and the building is now owned by local entrepreneur John Comerford, who has given its painstakingly authentic restoration a vast amount of TLC. It includes an immaculate small front garden with formal box hedging that looks down towards the lovely lime trees of Castlecomer Square and, while the upper floors are now used for offices, the basement and ground floor make a perfect setting for a memorable fine dining experience.
Before opening in spring 2019 there were many long months of preparation for the Boyles - not only to transform the old rooms into a beautiful restaurant, but also to build and nurture the network of producers and suppliers who would provide the foundation for Keith's immaculate cooking and are so proudly credited on the menu.
A three course menu is offered, but this is no ordinary dinner. With two added canapés and a separate warm bread course, plus petit fours and chocolates to round the experience off, it is an extensive meal to be savoured at leisure - the emphasis is on 'experience' and to rush it would be an injustice.
Chef Boyle can be seen through the windows of the small bar working with just with one assistant, and each dish is cooked and composed to order. Menu descriptions are minimal but, under Carmel's direction, well-versed and smartly uniformed local staff provide the answer to every question and provide warmly discreet service throughout.
A fresh oyster served in its shell on a bed of sea salt with a dusting of horseradish might begin the meal, followed by a selection of three picture-perfect small bites, served on a wooden box. A bread course comes next - three hot breads served with two savoury butters.
And then comes the starter, which is the first of the three named courses (with three choices offered on each course): an intensely flavoured Kilkenny Rose Veal Tartare for example, served in a triangle with Quail egg, toast and ferments; or perhaps a perfectly season crisp-skinned pan-fried Red Mullet, with salted cucumber, scallop, Jalapeno and roe, caviar and roe sauce...
In spring, main courses could include local hogget with potato, swede, asparagus, and black garlic (nice to see hogget featured, also the rose veal) and, if you're lucky, the tender hogget might come with a hogget pie served in the most amazing pastry case imaginable. The choice will also include a perfectly executed fish dish (White Sole, poached mussels, yeasted cauliflower, Green Grape Verjus, perhaps), also beautifully presented, and vegetarian or vegan options are available on request.
But dessert may well be the real highlight of a meal here - Rhubarb, with toffee apple, custard and meringue, for example, is composed of gently poached rhubarb pieces topped with silky meringue and a stunning rhubarb ice cream, while the toffee apple (a thin strip of dessert apple slowly cooked in caramel, then rolled) could be worth the visit alone.
Petit fours and chocolates are also excellent, and this outstanding food is matched by a small but well selected wine list sourced by Carmel Boyle from several wine merchants including Le Caveau, Kilkenny. Mostly French, with a few new world, and precise tasting notes, the range of wines will be extended.
From the outset this has been a highly professional operation, with the passionately immaculate cooking and presentation of superb local produce at its heart. And there is a sense of yet more good things to come - among them, there plans to serve small private dinners in the basement kitchen and to use the original cellars for wine tastings.
What a wonderful asset for this special town - and another must visit destination for food lovers when in Co Kilkenny.
