After a quiet time on the Cork restaurant scene, Michael Clifford's return is creating a big buzz, and so is one of the new kids on the Cork city block. Kevin Arundel's name will be familiar to fans of Cork's Arbutus Lodge, where he has had charge of the kitchens for the last while. But, "after much thought, planning and research I decided to take the plunge and go into business for myself", he says, and has opened up the Eglantine Restaurant, on Princes Street, in Cork city. Early menus look most promising: tartlette of duck confit with celeriac and a balsamic jus; baked crab and avocado with sauce gazpacho; roasted brill with thyme leaves, pasta rosti and a mustard seed veloute; baked pig's trotter with black pudding and wild mushrooms and a red wine sauce; escalope of tuna with cucumber noodles and a tomato and tarragon vinaigrette. Prices are very keen, with the four-course dinner menu only £19.80.
Eglantine Restaurant, 32 Princes Street, Cork, tel: (021) 270668