[Feature] What Stitch & Bear Liked in 2013

2013 was the year that a Michelin-starred chef and a newspaper restaurant critic came to very public blows. In Dublin, Bunsen Burger, Bison BBQ and Pitt Bros rocked us with juicy burgers and cracking BBQ and there seems to be no end to the burrito takeover. The Michelin inspectors rectified last year's odd choice by demoting Locks Restaurant and then proceeded to award not one, but two stars to Kilkenny (Campagne and the Lady Helen at Mount Juliet). However, the Michelin inspectors continued to have a blind spot when it came to The Greenhouse and the cooking of Mickael Viljanen.

But what did Stitch & Bear like in 2013?

Fine Dining

We travelled into the West and became entranced with Aniar in Galway. Nordic style, Irish ingredients and plates of extra potatoes (you are in Ireland after all) combined to make this our best meal of 2013.

Delicious duck hearts at Aniar

A lunchtime tasting menu at Vila Joya on the Algarve was a wonderful experience, while back home in Dublin, we enjoyed superb dinners from Mickael Viljanen at The Greenhouse and Graham Neville at Restaurant Forty One. Over on the Northside, The Hot Stove Restaurant is quietly and calmly providing excellent and keenly priced food. I even managed to take a break from work while travelling in the UK and had an interesting dinner for one at Heston Blumenthal's The Hinds Head. 

Casual Dining

Mexican restaurant 777 has simply gotten better and better since it opened. Not only it is home to Dublin's best margarita, but the food has moved to another level with the arrival of a new head chef. We love their oyster shots, ceviche and pretty much everything else. The flavours are crisp and refreshing and the margaritas go down easy.

Fabulous oyster shots at 777

Stitch & Bear is very lucky to have the talented Ian Ussher cooking nearby at the lovely Bijou Bistro in Rathgar. We dined there several times over the course of the year, and always left impressed.

Several BBQ restaurants have opened in Dublin, but our vote goes to Bison Bar & BBQ. The brisket  & ribs here are insanely good, leading to many episodes of meat coma.  Add in €5 whiskey sours, and you'll find it hard to leave.

If you want a really proper steak, then Stitch & Bear recommends the newly opened Beeftro in Dundrum Town Centre. Forget overpriced middle of town steakhouses, this is where we will be going. Simply put, this is the best cooked steak I've ever enjoyed in Ireland.

Down home in Cork, the Electric Fish Bar was a literal breath of fresh air, lifting our spirits with a stunning interior and beautifully cooked seafood.

Rock Lobster, originally of Donnybrook, has now expanded to Harvey Nichols in Dundrum Town Centre. A whole split lobster with fries and salad for €20? Why, yes please. And if that doesn't appeal, the tasty nibbles and steak might just do the trick. 

Ethnic Restaurants

Stitch & Bear are spice-fiends and we can often be found spitting out Sichuan peppercorns and chewing on dried chills at M&L Szechuan Restaurant, in the shadow of the Pro Cathedral. The lovely Angie and her staff are always ready to recommend a dish for you to try.

Seabass at M&L Szechuan

For Indian cuisine, we find it hard to beat Kinara Kitchen in Ranelagh, a classy restaurant that combines delectable Pakistani food with fine cocktails from Paul Lambert. This is a restaurant where the same faces serve us time and time again, leading us to deduce that this is a restaurant with good management.

On the other side of our home we have Tani Sushi, a neighbourhood gem in Terenure which is a favourite Saturday lunch spot. The soft-shell crab rolls and miso paste-topped dengaku come recommended.

There's a real lack of good Chinese food in Cork, except for the bright light that is Yuan Ming Yuan. The interior may be a little OTT, but the dim sum is delicious. It's often a stopping point for us when in Cork.

Local Food Producers

I was born and reared in Gaeltacht Mhuscraī, or the Muskerry Gaeltacht, in Cork. I've long accepted that the people down there are more than a bit special, but they outdid themselves in 2013.

Sligo native Phil Cullen is brewing Mountain Man beer in Renanirree, while over in Ballyvourney Gordon Lucey will shortly launch Nine White Deer, named after the local legends surrounding Naomh Gobnait.

Dicky and Sinead Willems continues to produce their top quality Dutch-style Coolea Cheese, continuing the tradition established by Dicky's father Dick. Máirín and Peadar O'Lionáird andThe Leonard family enjoy continued success with their Folláin Preserves and Relishes taking home a veritable haul of Great Taste Awards in 2013.

My neighbour Ned McCarthy decided to attend a yogurt making course and is now producing a range of McCarthy Natural Dairy products. The lemon lebnah (strained or Greek yogurt) comes with high praise, while my father has a fridge full of drinking yogurt. At the other end of the parish, Johnny Lynch made the move from milking Friesans to milking buffalo, leading to the production of  Toonsbridge Buffalo Meat and dairy products. The range has expanded from the original mozzarella to include ricotta, burrata and even halloumi.

And finally…

As the year drew to an end, and we left Cork to return to Dublin, we just couldn't resist a bag of chips, carton of curry and a batter burger from the iconic Jackie Lennox's. When all is said and done, Cork chips are best.

Chips from Jackie Lennox's

[Review] Aniar, Lower Dominick Street, Galway

At the end of 2012, it was announced that Galway's Aniar restaurant was to be awarded its first Michelin star, making it the second restaurant outside Dublin to win the accolade. Aniar is a terroir-based restaurant, where head chef Enda McEvoy cooks local, seasonal food, influenced by location. Inside, the restaurant is small and slightly informal. There's a feeling of distressed limewash and pastel shades in the decor, but the lights are dim and there's a buzz in the room. 

We are visiting Galway in advance of a family wedding where we would be presented with the inevitable beef or salmon menu choices.  With several of our group of six leaning towards the tasting menu (€60 per head, with wine pairing available for €25 extra), the rest of the table concur and we place ourselves in the hands of the very calm looking kitchen, where we can see serious faced chefs hovering over plates. 

Our first course of raw mackerel with cucumber, crème fraiche and bright green dill oil doesn't do anything for me, despite its beautiful appearance. However, there is a definite change in gear with the arrival of duck hearts with juicy pink interiors, served with radish, buttermilk and a custardy hens egg. I savour every meaty, umami-laden bite.

Mackerel withe cucumber, dill and crème fraiche

Duck hearts with radish, buttermilk and hen egg

The feast continues with golden sweet carmelised scallops, served with pork belly and clever accoutrements of dried black pudding and cauiflower crisps, balanced with purees of the same. The dehydrated cauliflower is the very essence of the vegetable, showcasing its flavour and natural sweetness. The final meat course of lamb loin is beautifully pink and juicy, while everyone at the table falls in love with the pickled ramson (wild garlic) which provides an addictive punch of pleasure. 

Scallops, black pudding, pork belly and cauliflower

Lamb loin, turnip, watercress and ramson

As the plates are cleared away, I am struck by how truly good the last three courses had been. The flavours echoed through my tastebuds and I could not recall the last time I enjoyed three consecutive courses so good. Our final course of goats cheese panna cotta is accompanied by with meadowsweet and rosehip sauce. The panna cotta is so wobbly that there is some creamy subsidence between the kitchen and the table, but it doesn't stop them from being smooth and creamy, albeit with an overly sweet rosehip sauce.

Aniar is a different sort of fine dining. The plates are just as pretty as those served with foams and gels, but there is a simpler approach to cooking, which uses wild ingredients and pickles to provide flavour and a sense of completeness. In fact, the combinations are so harmonious that you might just find yourself bursting into song. With an Irish name that translates as "from the West", it's rare that a restaurant is so aptly named. 

Aniar, 53 Lower Dominick Street, Galway

Tel: +353 (0)91 535 947

URL: www.aniarrestaurant.ie

Twitter: @AniarGalway

[Review] The Malt House, Galway

I spent a night recently in Galway, staying at the Hotel Meyrick on Eyre Square. I had been looking forward to visiting Galway, as it is a city which I do not visit often. But to be honest, I found Galway, at least in the tourist areas, to be a city without an identity, or at least, a mildly schizophrenic city. It just can't seem to make up its mind as to whether it's arty and cool, or else a party town with thumping music. Maybe all those years of overpriced Galway Races and Fianna Fail tents have left the city permanently damaged.

Take the King's Head pub. It's got amazing old features, and yet it was packed full of hens and lads on the p*ss. Loud music made conversation hard, and it's hard to enjoy your drink when gaggles of girls wearing too-tight dresses are thundering past on their way in. Our hotel room had featured an advertising brochure for the King's Head, and associated sister restaurant, The Malt House. Unfortunately, this brochure was half masquerading as a Guide to Galway, which didn't endear these establishments to me.

However, when we walked past the Malt House later in the night, I was pleasantly surprised by the menu on display outside and the overall feel of the place. (Being associated with the King's Head in the brochure isn't doing it any favours). Even better, the Malt House offers a permanent Value Menu, whereby 2 courses from the evening menu cost €25, or 3 courses for €30. (Eligible dishes are marked with an asterisk on the menu).

The dining room is smart casual with comfortable low lighting. Our server offered us a standard table for two in the middle of the room, but was happy for us to take a more comfortable table for four in a corner banquet. Jugs of water were offered, along with the chance to order some drinks.

The menu appropriately references a fair amount of seafood and local producers. I chose Coleran's Smoked Suckling Pig with Savoy Cabbage and Cider Jus (€6) and Baked Haddock & Pan-Fried Prawns with Bacon & Pea Risotto (€19) for my courses, while he chose the Malbay Crabmeat and Crabclaw Risotto (€9) and a special, Braised Beef Cheeks with Garlic Mash (€16). 

My smoked suckling pig turned out to be two generous slices of crispy fried pork with a subtly smoked taste. I didn't get the advertised Savoy cabbage, but I did get plenty of dark green regular cabbage with a gently spiced cider gravy. His starter of crab risotto was nicely creamy with plenty of good fresh crabmeat. However, a slight skin had formed on top of the risotto, suggesting that it had been left under the kitchen lights for a while before being served.

The size of the main courses, when they arrived, impressed upon us that this was a restaurant used to catering to people with big appetites. I received a substantial piece of haddock, 100% perfectly cooked (slightly translucent and flaking) along with 3 fried prawns, all sitting on a mountain of risotto. The fish was pure perfection, with a slight dusting of paprika adding some flavour. The risotto was very good, too good in fact, given the size of the portion. His order of beef cheeks fell apart into juicy, slightly gelatinous chunks when poked with the fork and came atop a large dollop of garlic mash (which appeared to have a lovely flavour of roasted garlic) and accompanied by a tasty jus, which didn't try to compete with the rich beef or garlic flavours.

Suffice to say, the Malt House exceeded my expectations. We received a very good meal, with good cooking skill and flavours. Prices are competitive and the value menu offers even better value. Diners with hearty appetites will not feel short-changed here and the support of local fish and produce is admirable. This restaurant embodies a standard to which more local restaurants could aspire.

The total, including alcohol, came to €66. Damage to the waistline is a bit harder to estimate.

The Malt House, Olde Malt Mall, 15 High Street, Galway, Ireland  

Telephone: +353 (0)91 567 866