Near-perfect meals are rare events in the life of a restaurant reviewer, never mind near-perfect, drop-in-on-a-hunch lunches. So let us give due praise to Colm Falvey, the young chef-proprietor of The Clean Slate, a stylish new restaurant on Distillery Walk, in Midleton, Co Cork, for he is a cook with the knack of making things just about as good as they can get.
Falvey has moved to Midleton from Youghal, where his cooking in The Earl of Orrery attracted a happy following of locals and visitors. His tiny, on-a-shoestring room and cramped kitchen in Youghal proved to be a good venue for his very simple but assured style of cooking, which has a smashing logic and charm about it. Quite simply, his cooking is memorable. I can still recall the deep-fried squid with a Provencale sauce I first ate there, a couple of years back.
From that bargain basement operation, he has switched to a cool, stylish room, and this new, clean slate is nothing less than a tabula rasa for a chef who loves to cook. To give him the highest praise in my book, I reckon Falvey cooks more like a woman than a man. There is no egotism or showing off in his work, which is dedicated to getting the maximum flavour and succulence from the food he is cooking. He also eschews any fashion-following, in favour of classic dishes whose provenance is irresistible. This is good food, food that makes you happy.
And so, on a Wednesday lunchtime, it proved to be. From a hand-written menu, I chose Potato and Leek Soup, Cod Baked with a Mushroom and Herb Crust and a light Chive Hollandaise, then Poire Belle Helene, and a cup of coffee. The only thing that could have been better was the ice cream which came with the pear - it was uninteresting. Otherwise, this was a lunch that sung its strengths loud and clear.
The Potato and Leek Soup was pea-green in colour, and had that classic, consoling meld of starchy flavours which this timeless combination delivers when cooked with respect. Simple, and excellent, and nicely old-fashioned, with a little puddle of cream crowned on top, it was soup as soup should be.
I reckon if I have a better piece of fish in 1998 than Falvey's Cod with a Chive Hollandaise, then it is going to be a pretty good year. This was a superb piece of fish, fresh glistening white underneath its crust of crumbs and mushrooms. Topped with a scattering of deep-fried julienne of potato, it was circled by a very delicate hollandaise with a dice of tomato. Again, it was the respect shown by the kitchen to a classic series of flavours which was so appealing here: cracking fresh fish, a spoonsome hollandaise with the flavour picked out by the chives, the crust of crumbs and mushrooms perfectly executed. You can't make a dish better than this.
A side-plate of vegetables was just as good, with perfectly roasted parsnips, cubes of carrot and turnip, an excellent, light, mash of potato, and some baked red cabbage, each one as good as the other. The finesse of the cooking, and the very light hand which Falvey brings to things was shown at its best in this main course, where the ruddiness of the vegetables was perfectly controlled, and the delicacy of the fish and the hollandaise married each other adroitly.
The Poire Belle Helene, a classic dessert of poached pear with a chocolate sauce, invented by Escoffier for Gabrielle Rejane, who was the star of Offenbach's Belle Hel ene, is simply poached pears with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate sauce. Traditionally, the chocolate sauce was served hot and separately, and Jane Grigson has noted that "it's a dish which has had much criticism from some food writers, for the combination of delicate pears with with chocolate sauce, but when properly made it can be good".
Well, Colm Falvey knows how to make it properly, for this was a sublime dessert, with only the ice cream failing to hold up its end and effectively getting buried alongside the delicious pear and a fine chocolate sauce, served cold on the plate. Once again, finesse in the cooking brought the flavours brilliantly together, and my only regret was that Falvey hadn't bought in some of Anne and Tom Collins's superb ice creams, made in Waterfall on the west side of Cork city.
A fine cup of coffee, concluded a near-perfect lunch, and the pleasure of the food was enhanced by a charming, light room, which boasts a very smart coat hanger designed by Isaac Allen, some intriguing canvases by Chris Yowell, and fine furniture in a Rennie Mackintosh style designed by Falvey and made by Sacha Whelan. Service, by Ann O'Connell who works front of house with Mary Jones, was terrific, and prices are excellent, with lunchtime dishes costing from £1.95 for the soup, up to £8.50 for a darne of salmon. Dinner starters range from £2.50 to £5.95, with main courses about £13 to £14. Colm Falvey is creating something memorable on his Clean Slate.
The Clean Slate Restaurant, Distillery Walk, Midleton, Co Cork tel: 021-633655. Open MonSat lunch noon3 p.m., dinner 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday lunch menu noon-4 p.m., at £10.95. Major cards.