[Pigging by Wilfrid: September 14, 2015]
I think we were in O'Hara's, or it may have been Carroll's, talking about the hurling, when we were told that a bar which had been closed awhile had reopened bringing the current total up to eleven, or was it twelve?
This was a paradoxically wintry summer's evening in Thomastown, where a fine, icy drizzle doesn't deter the boys and girls from practicing with their paddles in a deeply green field down by the river.
Hurling and camogie (for the girls), eleven or twelve bars, and a new gym to serve the town's 2,000-odd population, but what about a bite to eat? There's a chippie, of course, and there's the Michelin-starred Lady Helen restaurant, high on Mount Juliet, set amid golf courses, spa hotels, and wealthy estates. In between, your option is Bistro Sol, sibling of the Kilkenny Bistro Sol, Kilkenny being the big town in these parts.
And since a vanishingly small percent of my readers are likely to find themselves in Thomastown, hungry, despite the charms of the place, this is less a consumer review than the simple observation that old-fashioned (through New York or London eyes) bistro food can be very good when well executed with the right ingredients.
And they're actually serious about farm-to-table here. How could they not be? Trout from a local fishery, meat from local purveyors. A big pot of chicken liver with a spoonful of fig chutney and dabs of cider/apple sauce was more deeply flavored than some big city versions.
I didn't get any of the goat cheese-filled phyllo (with walnuts and balsamic), but it looked ready for a glossy cookbook.
What I did order was the risotto, a comfortingly generous portion with meaty ceps, a herb or two (literally), and steeped in truffle butter.
The pork plate was a first-rate tour of the animal. Loin, shoulder, and a piece of local black pudding--dusted with some kind of season flour. Chopped apple relish, a turret of potato, a rich jus. It might look like a dish you saw back in the 90s--but because of the ingredients, the flavors sang. And the kitchen knows what it's doing too. The Kilkenny mothership leans more towards venison and duck and the like: at each restaurant, a three course dinner for 29 euros.
For myself, a flaky fresh fish of the day, and what the heck was it? Sorry, I was on holiday.
Oh, three courses, yes. Lashings of ice cream. An inexpensive Domaine des Anges AOC Ventoux went with the meal. Guiness before, and an Irish single malt to follow.
Comments