RESTAURANTS:Chez Hans has been on the go since 1968
I THINK IT WAS my late father who told me that, way back in the 1950s when the economic gloom would have made our current circumstances look like the Klondike on one of its more optimistic days, a senior civil servant was charged with the rather unpleasant task of telling Dev that, unless the Irish economy got sorted in pretty short order, the only option was to ask the British government to take us back into the United Kingdom.
This, it seems, concentrated the Irish government’s collective mind mightily and, according to my father or whoever, it paved the way for Ken Whitaker’s economic plans.
A decade or so later, in 1968, Chez Hans opened for business in Cashel. Ireland was not exactly booming at the time and the white heat of technology that Harold Wilson’s speech writers had fastened upon was just a flickering flame in Ireland.
Ballymaloe has been going since 1964 but I wonder if Chez Hans might be the second oldest surviving restaurant in Ireland. It opened its rather ecclesiastical doors – it’s in an old church – in 1968 when Jammet’s was about to become a Berni Inn.
Hans Matthia, who started Chez Hans, and now his son Jason Matthia, must have great survival instincts. It may not conform to my ideas of how a restaurant in rural Ireland might best approach the recession – although its Cafe Hans offshoot does – but I need to remind myself that it opened for business when I had just graduated to national school from senior infants.
I ate at Chez Hans on a summer Thursday night and it was packed. Most of the clientele had graduated to national school somewhat in advance of me.
The starters range between €13 and €20, with soup weighing in at €8. Mains go from €28.50 to €45. To put this in some kind of context, starters at the Michelin-starred Chapter One in Dublin range from €14 to €22, mains from €33 to €35. Desserts are Chez Hans are €11, at Chapter One €12.50. The early bird menus are €35 and €37.50 respectively.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had better lobster than my Chez Hans lobster. It was half of a small one, impeccably cooked, cut into immaculate bite-sized pieces, each bathed in an amalgam of melted butter and herbs (dill at the forefront, but not overpoweringly so). The bits were reassembled in the shell, the claw freed from its carapace in one perfect piece, and free from sand vein, liver, deadman’s fingers and all the other parts of the animal that most
restaurants give you, not out of interest but just laziness.
My main course was nearly as good, given that scallops, no matter how good, can’t compare to a perfect piece of lobster. They were small, which is always a good sign. Beware the plump scallop. What they have in bulk, they lack in flavour. They were also cooked properly: seared on a red-hot pan or grill until the furthest edges were caramelised. And they came with a timbale of couscous and a topping that was somewhere between a salad and delicate stir-fry, delicately anointed with roasted sesame oil.
A parfait of not-too-sweet nougat came with a ring of plump, sharp raspberries, rich but delicate, honeyed but tart, just like a good dessert wine.
Service was friendly and attentive. There is some very good cooking going on here. The cuisine, like the clientele, is a bit old fashioned. I just wonder if the clientele know how lucky they are. It’s expensive, shockingly expensive, for a restaurant outside the high rent areas of Dublin. I didn’t feel as if I had been mugged when I paid the bill of €73, including two glasses of wine. But, to be brutally honest, I think I would still prefer to eat in Chapter One for much the same kind of money.tdoorley@irishtimes.com
THE SMART MONEY
The early bird (6-7.15pm, Tuesday to Friday) costs €28.50 for two courses or €35 for three.
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WINE CHOICE
A rather patchy list but with some reasonable value. Champagne Deutz NV (€58) and Taittinger 2000 (€90) are cheaper than you will find in most restaurants. Ch Patache dAux 1999/01 (€32) is a decent enough claret, Domaine Boissan Gigondas Vieilles Vignes (€32) seems like a keen buy and Sepp Moser Gruner Veltliner (€28) is a lovely, crisp, dry Austrian. Weingut Klein Riesling (€24.50 or €24/glass) is quite dry and minerally, the Rivaner at the same price is similar but a little sweeter. Springfield Estate Special Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc (€38) is one of South Africa’s finest as is Hamilton-Russell Chardonnay (€47).