RESTAURANTS:Seductive, comforting, unexpected - one gallery consistently delights the palate, writes TOM DOORLEY.
SOMEBODY ASKED ME recently about reviewing old favourites. Is it a different kind of process? And of course it is. For a start, you have a sense of what makes the place tick and, to be honest, you're more forgiving.
We live just the right distance from Cork. It takes a little under an hour to get there; if it was closer it would be too easy just to pop into town. Living where we do, a visit to Cork is something of an occasion, but not too much hassle.
And there are certain fixed points in our approach to visiting. Keemun tea from Maher's on Oliver Plunkett Street, cheese from Iago and charcuterie from On The Pig's Back, both in the Market, and morning coffee or an afternoon reviver at the Crawford, ideally with time to spare to see the latest exhibition.
For some reason, we rarely eat lunch or dinner in Cork. Perhaps it's because the Crawford's brilliant cakes, all resolutely in the home-made tradition with Ballymaloe in their DNA, are so seductive.
The Ballymaloe connection goes back a while. Myrtle Allen's daughter Fern started the cafe and it then passed to Myrtle's grandson, Isaac. Recently, it has moved into the care of another grandchild, Fawn Allen, whose mum Hazel runs Ballymaloe House.
But there seems to be great continuity. The lovely, bright, high-ceilinged dining room still has the atmosphere of a club. There are lots of regulars and a sense of refuge from the outside world. And lunch always manages to combine substance and lightness. I don't quite know how they do it.
One innovation is the introduction of a sushi plate which seemed to be wowing the lunchtime crowd on our last visit. But we stuck with the Crawford staples.
There was a fine dish of lamb's liver, cooked pink and tender. It was served with some good rasher bacon, which pointed up its sweetness, and the pan was deglazed with some cream in which thyme had been infused. This is symbolic of what the Crawford is all about. Just consider the simplicity of that dish, how good it is, and how rarely you see it on a menu.
Our other dish was equally simple, a fish pie. Beneath a golden roof of egg-enriched mashed potato was a dense filling of dark, full-flavoured mushrooms and chunks of meaty cod. That was it, impeccably simple, perfectly seasoned and fish and fungi tasting intensely of themselves. And combining in a wholly unexpected way. Cod and mushrooms? Yes, it works.
The sensible approach to the pudding question at the Crawford is to go the whole hog and have the tasting plate. And most normal human beings would be well advised to ask for one such plate and two spoons. Which is what we did.
The knockout feature was a coconut meringue roulade with pineapple and - I think - a touch of lemon curd and raspberry coulis. I would walk a long way for that. And a long way afterwards to burn off the calories. Honourable mention should be made of excellent sticky toffee pudding, a chunky apple tart with almond sponge and a really dark, solid chocolate tart.
The Crawford was as good and as comforting as ever, so there was no need to be forgiving. Until the coffee arrived. A brace of double espressos were pretty terrible, but you know what? We didn't really mind. The bill came to €50 including two glasses of wine.
Wine Choice:This won't take long as there are only two. Vina Cantosan is a straightforward fruity Verdejo from Rueda and Javier Asensiom Tinto is dark, chunky and tannic, a good mouthful. Both are €19 or €5 for a glass.