RESTAURANTS:Annie's Gastropub is an important addition to the Cork dining out scene
THERE ARE VARIOUS theories about gastropubs. One is that if the establishment actually calls itself a gastropub it isn't a gastropub.
The concept was invented in 1991 when two young entrepreneurial gastronomes opened The Eagle in London's rather dingy Farringdon Road. People noted, in this order, that it had great if simple food, a big blackboard with the menu and the wine list on it, rackety furniture from the local auction house, and customers who, by and large, were not keen on toasted sandwiches in cellophane packages.
The Eagle is still going strong, and if you can't get a table at Moro, the brilliant Spanish/north African restaurant in nearby Exmouth Market, The Eagle is more than a good substitute. And it's still just like it was when it opened, except that there are a lot more tourists.
Time Out has described the gastropub as "a queasy coupling of words", which may be true, but it's a bit rich coming from the magazine which, as far as I can gather, coined the phrase in the first place.
Whatever about the name, there are plenty of pubs in Britain with gastro-aspirations but which nevertheless serve industrial rubbish. And there are quite a few over here.
Tom Norrington-Davies, who worked at The Eagle in the early days, has compiled a list of items which disqualify a pub from being a real gastropub. Laminated menus and "specials", he maintains, are both a no-no. So, too, is anything in a wrap, and chicken Caesar salad.
Annie's describes itself (in very large letters) as a gastropub, and while it doesn't commit the first two of the cardinal sins outlined above, it does indeed do wraps and a chicken Caesar salad.
But come on. Annie's is in Cork. Not only that, it's in Sunday's Well. This is as far from The Eagle's environment, with its Guardian staff regulars and Observer columnists, as Mullinavat or Newtownforbes.
The thing is that in Ireland you have to say what you are all about (such as you make your living from doing something a bit more exciting than serving Bud and burgers.) And you may not want to serve wraps and what have you, but that living has to be made.
I think Annie's may be on to a good thing. There are enough people in Cork who know good food when they see it, and they are not presented daily with an embarassment of riches in terms of where to eat. The chef here worked at The Lord Palmerston in London, one of originals of the gastropub species.
We descended on Annie's in a bit of a rush and through the pedestrian's unique experience of monsoon-like rain. I took off my machine-washable jacket (not one of my small Jermyn Street collection) and dried off my head as if I had just emerged from the sea.
Normally, even in places like The Eagle, this would cause a bit of hilarity, but Annie's is very serious. At first glance, the atmosphere was what you might expect at a Calvinist picnic just after the sermon.
But, to be fair, the food was very good indeed. We had time only for a couple of main courses and a few rather modestly-sized glasses of wine.
My polenta cake with peppers and Parmesan shavings, served on top of a salad of tender young rocket leaves, was quite simply delicious. I think it was Alistair Little who said that polenta must be the most unhealthy dish in the world if it tastes good, by which he meant that it needs prodigious quantities of butter and cheese. This polenta had it all, and the peppers - yellow and green - had been softened in olive oil. It was good stuff, a small main course or a large starter, and just right for my lunchtime.
A thick steak of tuna, grilled to impeccable pinkness within, was served on a kind of Niçoise salad of baby spuds, French beans, olives, salad leaves. Only the hardboiled egg was less than spot-on, having acquired a grey outer ring from being cooled too slowly. But it tasted fine. Both dishes had a few drizzles of decent romesco sauce. Very gastro, in the London sense.
A perfectly-sized double espresso, which would have been very much at home in Milan (and how often do you get this in Ireland?), would have been impeccable but for the quality of the coffee, which was okay but not brilliant. With two glasses of Verdejo and one of Merlot, the bill came to €46.45. Annie's seems to be an important addition to Cork eating and I very much want to explore the menu. It's not often that I can say that.
And finally, in regard to another Co Cork restaurant, I must apologise for getting the phone number for Nautilus in Ballycotton wrong when I wrote about it here a few weeks ago. The correct numbers to dial for this estbalishment are 021-4646768 or 087-6135897.
tdoorley@irish-times.ie
THE SMART MONEY
The tuna dish cost €18, which is pretty good value. And there are substantial starters for less than a tenner. With a glass of wine and a coffee you could get out for a shade under €20.
Being on a blackboard is no excuse for being generic. Punters know their stuff these days, so it's not really enough to state baldly "Merlot, France: €5/€19.50" even though, whatever it is, it's a decent dollop of red wine. You can, of course, peer over the bar and see the bottles. The entirely unascribed wine list includes such offerings as Picpoul de Pinet (a gastro favourite at the moment across the water) at €6 a glass or €24.75 for a bottle, "Chenin Blanc SA" at €5.20/€21.50, "Cabernet Sauvignon Chile" €5.50/€21.50, Rioja at €7.25/€28 (Crianza? Reserva? Whose?) and Crozes-Hermitage, of some sort, for a hefty €40. The Verdejo Rueda (€6.75/€26) was crisp and tasty. Lousy beers, though.