A few months back, I regret to say that I misled the readers of The Irish Times on a matter of great import. I stated that Bath Oliver biscuits were available in Ireland solely through the Harvey Nichols food hall whereas, in fact, McCambridge's of Galway has been stocking them for years, writes Tom Doorley.
You may scoff, but to the Bath Oliver fancier such information is important. We may be a small band, but it is growing every day as we introduce others to the ultimate platform on which to plonk a piece of cheese.
Many of us remember the days when the UK was not so much a large and populous neighbour as the fons et origo of Opal Fruits (and Caramac, indeed). Well, it used be like that with Bath Olivers too.
I once dragged eight packets of these great bickies, along with the extra-large jar of Marmite that you can't buy here, and three half bottles of sweet Muscat, to the checkout in a Sainsbury's, somewhere deep in East-Anglia. "Having a party, eh?" asked the assistant.
Anyway, when I found that McCambridge's was fresh out of Bath Olivers the other day I had to console myself in a little restaurant which has been strongly recommended to me as one of the best places to eat in Galway.
And as all the Galwegians of my acquaintance were out of town, I had to go alone - which may have been a good thing because Ard Bia just about had room for one person. And it was only 12.30pm. I think we can deduce from this that (a) Ard Bia is very good and that (b) Galway is not over-endowed with interesting places to eat.
It certainly has cafes, and many of them are very good. And there's a couple of other restaurants about which I've had encouraging reports. But what's wrong with Galway? It has a very sophisticated population, more tourists than you can shake a stick at (something they might misinterpret), and masses of great seafood on the doorstep. Why is Galway not the restaurant capital of Ireland?
Anyway, I can understand why Ard Bia resembles the Luas at rush-hour. They do very real food in a very informal kind of way. Nothing is pressed into timbale tins or piled high with deep-fried julienne vegetables on top.
In a way, it's the kind of thing you would like to do at home, if you had the time and the ingredients, most of which are local or organic or both.
My vast bowl of sweet potato (the big thing currently in the grocery sector) and roasted aubergine soup was sufficient to feed two. It was indeed sweet, but not cloying, there was a smoky touch from the aubergines and among the spices there was a lot of fennel seed, which turned out to be an inspired choice. It related well to the slight sweetness, while also giving a good earthy undertone. (I was on my own, you understand; I had time to work this out . . . okay, maybe it's a bit obsessional.)
And then I had one of the specials, a salad of warm marinated and grilled lamb, which was simply perfect. The marinade and the cooking had imparted a kind of spicy, salty sharpness with a touch of smoke but the really impressive thing was that the meat had terrific flavour. I reckon it tasted more of lamb than all the lamb I've had in restaurants since Christmas put together. Yes, that good.
And the salad was simple and perfectly dressed: good crunchy lettuce leaves, strips of carrot and cucumber and a pleasantly oriental tang. The really unusual and very successful trick with this dish was the slices of grilled sweet galia melon, which combined with the rest in a wholly unexpected way. This was a new experience for me. Both the salad and the soup came with thick slices of exceptionally good brown bread.
With a big glass of rich, oaky Spanish red (new to the list), a large bottle of mineral water and a hair-raising (in a good sense) double espresso, the bill came to €26.70. Ard Bia Restaurant, 2 Quay St, Galway City, Co Galway, 091-539897, www.ardbia.com