EATING OUT: Simplicity is backed up by superb raw materials at Grapefruit Moon, Ballycotton, writes Tom Doorley.
Now that food is fashion, it takes courage to cook simply. Actually, it also takes a lot of skill, and raw materials that are second to none. Rampant cheffiness in our middle-market restaurants has a lot to do with a dearth of both. Fiddly, over-elaborate food and wacky combinations of ingredients are all too often a cover-up.
After you scan the short menu at Grapefruit Moon, and decide that this is going to be a tough choice, you will find a curiously reassuring statement: "All our fish is landed at Ballycotton Pier," it says. "Our chicken is free-range from Cliffords in Castlemartyr."
Ivan Whelan, the chef, is true to the precepts of his redoubtable granny, Myrtle Allen of Ballymaloe. The food he cooks at Grapefruit Moon is courageous in its simplicity. Sure, there are combinations such as wakame seaweed salad with smoked eel, mackerel and mussels (from Frank Hederman at Belvelly) and warm salad of marinated pork with mangetout, mandarins and frisée with sweet chilli dressing, but there are no redundant elements or daft experiments. This is deft, confident grub, all the more impressive for being in fashionable Ballycotton where there must be lots of customers who feel lost without a balsamic reduction or a garnish of deep-fried leek strands.
It doesn't get much simpler - or harder to find - than our starter of mackerel, straight from the sea, pan-fried and dished up with melted butter and finely chopped fresh fennel. When you have mackerel as God intended it, you don't need to do anything else. Personally, I thought this was the equal of wild salmon.
Our other starter was a tempura of prawns. This phrase usually means tiger prawns, battered so-to-speak, and rendered slightly more interesting with the addition of some kind of oriental flavourings. Not so here, however. These prawns were the genuine Irish variety, plump and succulent, encased in crisp, light batter. They did indeed come with oriental flavours in the form of Asian butter. This combination of butter with garlic, ginger and lime was just about liquid and it adhered nicely to each prawn as it was dipped. Bliss. As a variation on the traditional theme of prawns and garlic butter, this was a wow.
You could argue that the large, meaty slice of hake didn't need more than a squeeze of lemon to be delicious, but this was a simple dish that was fully thought through. The accompaniment of asparagus, like the fish, was further enhanced by a light but unctuous hollandaise. Every element worked in perfect harmony.
I have no idea how you go about making a lobster-infused beurre blanc, but I'm very glad that Ivan Whelan has cracked it. This was the accompaniment to a large, baked black sole, which was so impeccably à point that the backbone was still pink. The sole had enough gutsy flavour to handle the distinct flavour of lobster in the sauce, and it was served at just the right stage. By that I mean it was not straight off the boat. Really fresh sole is as tough as old boots; it needs about 36 hours to come right, and you wait beyond that at your peril.
Baked flatcap mushrooms with lots of fresh thyme and a rich mash, spiked with wild garlic, provided vegetable sustenance.
A seriously dense chocolate tart was as dark as midnight and gloriously unsweet with a crisp, buttery casing. A few lightly sweetened strawberries underlined how well they go with proper chocolate. Bread and butter pudding was as light as duck down, with plump raisins nestling in its moist and buttery depths. It came with a generous scoop of proper, homemade vanilla ice cream which was golden with free-range egg yolks. It was exactly as my late mother used to make, which is quite a compliment.
Excellent espressos, a Tio Pepe and a Ricard and a bottle of Austrian dry Muscat brought the bill to €115.80, service not included.
WHICH WINES?
It's hard to choose from this winelist, but for all the right reasons. Off-beat Spanish reds imported by Sacha Whelan and Dave Smith are joined by the likes of Anselmi San Vicente Soave for €25, Carl Ehrhard Riesling Trocken for €22.50, Rimbert La Mas au Schiste (a Guilbaud's favourite) for €31, Zenato Ripasso for €34, Hollick Pinot Noir for €28 and impeccably stylish Le Mesnil NV Grand Cru Champagne for €55. Three unusual stickies include a sweet Spatburgunder from Germany. Our Austrian Muskateller Wohlmuth was bone dry and smelled of rose petals, a snip at €22.50.
Grapefruit Moon, Main Street, Ballycotton, Co Cork (021-4646646)