EATING OUT: Tapas made with Irish artisan foods are wowing Cork. Tom Doorley on a great grub pub
Boqueria has been up and running since last October, which means that I must have walked past it on several occasions without knowing that it was there. This Irish twist on the tapas bar theme is located in what used to be a down-at-heel pub just north of Patrick Street Bridge. The only problem is that the façade looks as if little has changed within. Of course, Boqueria is a strange name for a pub, and without any menu outside it's easy to miss.
There is something very Cork about all this. This is a city where everything still works by word of mouth. Everyone who needs to know, knows about it, like.
There are lots and lots of good things about Boqueria, but I have few quibbles. Not taking credit or charge cards is, in my view, a cardinal sin. Frankly, I don't care how much the banks are extracting from restaurants in this respect; the days are gone when people generally carry enough cash to pay for a meal.
Boqueria, I am told, has seen the error of its ways, and by the time you are reading this should have got its monetary act together; but do check before tucking in.
As you enter, Boqueria looks like an old-fashioned pub, except the shelves are filled with hundreds of bottles of wine, various Spanish comestibles (including smoked sweet paprika) and, curiously, bags of Macroom oatmeal. This is a reference to Boqueria's thriving breakfast trade, which is another day's work.
Anyway, down the back you have tables for serious eating. Boqueria is a bit of a hybrid. It really is a kind of tapas bar, with several Spanish classics (although potato tortilla with garlic would raise a few Iberian eyebrows), but it also takes advantage of local artisan produce and organic vegetables. The menu is peppered with Caherbeg sausage, Ardsallagh goats' cheese, Arbutus bread, Frank Krawczyk's charcuterie, Gubbeen, Crozier and what have you. This is a brilliant idea. And isn't it great that we have enough of such produce to fuel a tapas bar? It's not long since you would have struggled to put together a picnic based on such stuff. And Boqueria has a further fine feature which, like the use of local produce, it would be good to see being copied. All of the wines are available by the bottle, but also by the 25cl carafe (i.e. one-third of a bottle); and the price of one of these is, bizarrely, one third of the price of a bottle. No penalties for moderate drinking then.
Tostade con tomate (easier to say than the original Catalunyan pa am tomaquett) was very good indeed: three thick slices of Declan Ryan's superb sourdough toasted and rubbed with garlic and then with tomatoes. At this time of year, I suspect the tomatoes were partially dehydrated in a low oven, so good was the flavour. At €2.75, we felt justified in having two portions.
Cubes of black pudding (possibly Staunton's and certainly not morcilla) with chickpeas, garlic and parsley, served cold, were pleasant enough, but little piquillo peppers stuffed with Ardsallagh and crushed, toasted almonds were leaping with taste (and a shade too much salt for me). Cellar-cured Serrano ham came thinly sliced in a generous serving, but with the inedible rind still on. That's careless.
We ordered quails' eggs with cumin and Maldon sea salt, but they didn't turn up (it was Friday, 6 p.m., standing room only). Puds were the only let-down: something like lemon meringue pie without the meringue, and "frangipane" or almond sponge with jam in the middle. Regular coffee was fine, a double espresso was tepid by the time it reached the table.
Prices are certainly keen. A big plate of charcuterie for sharing is €16.50; a pile of Ballycotton mussels is €10.50, and most other dishes are somewhere between €4 and €5. Boqueria is doing two important things. It serves food in tune with how most of us eat these days and showcases high-quality Irish produce. And the strange thing is, this is very rare indeed.
With three glasses of wine and one glass of Manzanilla sherry (which, as often happens outside Spain, was simply not fresh enough) the bill came to a reasonable €57.30.
Boqueria, 3 Bridge Street, Cork, 021-4559049
WINE CHOICE
Fair prices aside, the 24-bottle list looks as if it just happened. There is nothing wrong with Louis Latour Mâcon-Lugny (€21 a bottle/€7 a glass), Lamberti Soave (€18/€6) or Concha y Toro Carmenere (€19/€6.50) but they are not going to thrill anyone, especially a wine buff. More interesting offerings include the pungent white Basa Rueda (€19/€6.50), the ubiquitous peachy Martín Codax Albarinho (€25/€8.50), the rustic Remondo Rioja (€25/€8.50) and Masi's textbook Valpolicella (€20/€7). Tasting notes are occasionally excruciating, such as: "Exceptional drinking wine, beautiful flavours." So, it is not for external use only, then? An adequate and admirably concise list, but with huge scope for improvement.