It's been a good year for eating out in Ireland - here are some of the restaurants that stood out, writes Tom Doorley
IN THIS PART OF the world, by which I suppose I mean Europe, we don't do restaurant reviews like they do in the US. Here, a restaurant review is a snapshot; in the more serious American newspapers they are more like the groundwork for a PhD thesis.
Anyway, the time has come to flick through the year's album of snapshots and to reflect on how good these past 12 months have been for food. Not a centilitre more of the milk of human kindness has been added to my circulatory system, but most of reviews in 2008 have been pretty upbeat and positive. Perhaps the fact that I managed to avoid restaurant-related food poisoning during the year is yet another indicator that standards have improved. Or maybe my immune system is now cast iron.
If I handed out a Restaurant of the Year Award, it would be shared by two very different but similarly wonderful establishments: Richard Corrigan's Bentley's on Stephen's Green and Kevin Hui's China Sichuan. Why? Well, because they gave me most pleasure. Simple as that. Sure, there are people who don't like the fish pie at Bentley's and there were teething problems with service; and some readers wish that the new, improved China Sichuan was more like the old, dark, rather staid China Sichuan.
My Bravest Chef Award goes to Martijn Kajuiter, whose high-tech but soulful cooking at the stunning Cliff House Hotel above the vast expanse of Ardmore Bay in Co Waterford does daily battle, I suspect, with Irish conservatism. This should be a place of pilgrimage for people who love food and have open minds. And Ardmore itself is the jewel of west Waterford.
Blacklion may not have the coastline of Ardmore but it does have one of Ireland's great restaurants in Neven Maguire's McNeam House and Restaurant. Some of Ireland's finest cooking goes on here but this is old news. I just mention it because I am still glowing two months after my last visit.
One of the year's most interesting openings has at last given good old Kilkenny a restaurant of the calibre that a fine city like this should have. Campagne is outstanding: a lovely room with deft, impeccably-judged cooking from Garrett Byrne, formerly of Chapter One. I love the combination of obsessional detail with gutsy flavours. We need more restaurants like this but we just don't have enough chefs like Mr Byrne.
I always like to hear of improvements and under this heading must mention both Carluccio's in Dawson Street and The Wild Goose Grill in Ranelagh. The latter had a stunning wine list and unremarkable food on my first visit. But now all is well and the place is hopping as it deserves to.
Galway is coming on in terms of food, some of it well-intentioned but irritatingly self-conscious. The utterly transformed Malt House was a revelation during the summer, providing the kind of unpretentious yet funky food that Galway has been waiting for.
Annie's in Sunday's Well on the north side of Cork turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The team there have impressive London gastropub credentials and despite a woejous beer selection and a somewhat cheerless atmosphere, the food is good and well-priced.
I made my first visit to Jo'Burger in Rathmines during the year just to see what all the fuss is about. The quality of the burgers is obvious but you just have to go there yourself to savour the bizarre atmosphere. And I mean that in a good way.
At Hartley's in Dún Laoghaire, prices are carefully titrated to suit a well-heeled but thrifty local clientele. This super dining room (formerly Restaurant na Mara) has straightforward but imaginative food (you could call it "modern Irish"), charming service and a very cool bar.
Bridge Bar Grill, which opened at Grand Canal Quay in what had previously been Frank's, has proved to be a more relaxed and cheaper version of its parent, Town Bar Grill. It seemed to anticipate the change in the zeitgeist and has the great benefit of being on the Dart line.
Having heard for years about the fun to be had at Chez Max, nestling in the shadow of Dublin Castle, I eventually made a visit and was enchanted by the simplicity of this utterly credible French bistro. Dead simple, but done properly and originally a bit of a secret.
In the Dublin suburbs, Monkstown saw two openings. Seapoint, on the Crescent, is very cool and modern with assured cooking and one of those wine lists that took time and effort. Taste, above the Spar, had a shaky start but a new chef is turning this friendly place into a very successful neighbourhood restaurant.
Oliver's Eatery in Vaughan's Eagle House, Terenure, looks like being Dublin's first gastropub in the true sense of that awful word. The food was excellent (cooked by an ex-Guilbaud's chef), with real homemade character, the wine list is short, affordable and fun, the service is a bit chaotic but this place deserves to do very well indeed. Prices are pared to the bone. Oliver's gets my Best Value Food Award. tdoorley@irishtimes.com