Ciarans Cafe, Drumroe Village, University of Limerick, 061-338787
The people of Limerick seem to be prodigious e-mailers. After a restaurant review earlier this year in which I wondered if the city was short of decent places to eat, I was deluged with messages from Shannonsiders. Most of them seemed to be saying that while Limerick has many attractions, it has a bit of a deficit on the food side. It strikes me that anyone who wants to open a restaurant, but finds Dublin prohibitively expensive, might like to look to the mid-west. There's a bit of a famine there.
But among their recommendations, one establishment stood out. Rarely have I seen such unanimity on where to eat as among this batch of e-mails. Virtually every message mentioned Ciarans Cafe on the University of Limerick campus, some of them couched in such glowing terms as to suggest that this little vegetarian cafe must have a lot of shareholders. (It doesn't; people just like it. A lot.)
And so, I promised myself a visit, something I achieved one sultry July lunchtime, the kind of day when vegetarian food, as we know it, is far from one's thoughts.
Isn't it odd? Lots of things are vegetarian. Such as melanzane parmigiana, the melting combination of aubergine, mozzarella and parmesan. And crisp radishes served with some salt flakes. Really good hummus and imam bayildi, dhal, borek, spanakopita, falafel . . . The list goes on. But we don't think of these dishes as vegetarian.
Vegetarian food is all about beans and pulses, industrial-grade fibre, inner cleanliness (as they used to say in the ads for Andrews Liver Salts) and, er, regularity.
Vegetarian food, as such, is a bit dull, a bit worthy and a bit heavy.
Ciarans is certainly not dull. It seems full of happy people. The food isn't heavy either. It scores highly on the fibre scale but so should our daily diet. It does what it does pretty well and quite cheerfully. It's just that I was expecting something even better. I'm not sure what. Michelin-star veggie burgers? I don't know.
I ate far too much and this time it wasn't entirely my fault. My charming waitress, whose first language was not English, was confused by my dithering between a chickpea curry and a dish of tofu, and the upshot was that I got both. I think she thought I was ordering for two.
I started with a big bowl of very dense mushroom soup. It wasn't bad but it was more of a diluted duxelle than a soup. Full marks for the record-breaking amount of mushroom involved, but it didn't come across as a celebration of mushrooms. Normally, this would have done me for my entire lunch.
Anyway, the "sour" chickpea curry was delightful. I didn't think the menu description was entirely fair. "Sour" has negative connotations in Ireland and is often confused for what should be called bitter. This curry was sharp, and its tomato-based sauce lively with acidity - possibly from lemon juice. The chickpeas were crunchy and the accompanying timbale of red Camargue rice was nutty. But it wasn't really a curry. There was no chilli heat. This was really rather timid, sour or not.
A dish of tofu chunks fried with sweet chilli sauce and served in a coconut and leek broth sounded rather better than it turned out. The great advantage of tofu is that it absorbs flavours like little else, but on this occasion there didn't seem to be much flavour to absorb. Where were the coriander and the lemongrass, chilli flakes and - oh, I don't know - leaves of holy basil maybe? Anything to give it a bit of a kick. It wasn't bland, but after all the palaver, I expected Ciarans grub to be jumping with flavour.
The salads are definitely vegetarian. By which I mean, they wouldn't be likely to be found in an omnivorous restaurant. The combination of tomato, cucumber, radicchio and lettuces tasted a bit coarse, rather as if you were meant to eat them for the health benefits than for pleasure. A mixture of beetroot, lentil and possibly dill and hyssop was interesting, while quinoa mixed with cashews, seedless grapes and a dash of white vinegar was a star performer, quite inspired.
I finished with a very large and very good cappuccino and a slice of chocolate fudge cake, the gritty texture of which I assume was due to undissolved granulated sugar. Odd. Anyway, I didn't have to eat again for days. With an apple juice and a small mineral water the bill came to €30.50.
Drinks
I don't know why Ciarans is teetotal. Perhaps the university doesn't want students drinking wine at lunchtime (instead of Heineken in the evenings?). Or perhaps Ciaran doesn't like booze. Anyway, there are lots of other things to drink. Freshly-squeezed juices run from €2.80 to €3.10 for a large glass, while smoothies - including the exotic pineapple, coconut, banana and yoghurt version - weigh in at €3.30. Mineral water is €1.80 for 250ml and you can have 330ml of Kombucha for €2.50. There are lots of herbal teas, too.