Anyone heading west Cork way for a late break shouldn't miss out on a visit to The Customs House, in Baltimore. A small series of rooms just up the street from the harbour, it is run by two Australians, Ian Parr and chef Susan Holland, and it offers terrific value - menus are only £13 and £18, and the wine list is full of bargains - and original food.
Holland will take a fine old staple such as brandade de morue - a familiar mash of salt cod and potatoes - but she will buy the fish fresh and then salt the cod herself for 48 hours. Rinsed and then cooked, it is light and flavourful, and she compounds this deliciousness by serving the brandade in a roasted red pepper, where the sweet foil of the pepper works superbly with the fish. A scattering of pristine leaves completes the plate, and completes one of the best starter dishes I have had in ages.
Fish cookery is clearly her forte - their card even goes so far as to announce "Fish specialities" - for starters of crab tart with a rocket salad, and char-grilled squid with a spicy salsa and rice, were as assured and delicious as the brandade. With main courses - turbot, which had been oven-roasted and was served with olive oil, lemon juice, capers and oregano; and fillets of john dory and brill with sauce vierge - both showed her fondness for classic combinations, and the lightness of touch which her style enjoys made for zinging dishes. My own main course of duck confit with mash and a red wine sauce was absolutely correct, and only paled in comparison with the superb freshness and zest of the fish dishes.
Vegetables were just as good as the mix of salad leaves served with our starters had been, both green beans and carrots of splendid quality, while the mash was simply extraordinary.
The intelligence of this cooking can be seen in the way in which the expected flavours of classic dishes are reworked. So with a tarte tatin, for example, the tarte is not cooked to the point of caramelisation, but the sauce used is a deep caramel sauce. The expected flavour will be there, but simply placed in a new context. Pears poached in red wine with cinnamon and cinnamon ice cream were respectfully spot-on, and my creme brulee with lime and ginger was a joy. Coffee was excellent.
Ian Parr's style is rather reticent, and while he happily discusses the food chalked on the blackboard, he doesn't go in for the garrulous style one might expect of an Aussie. But it is Susan Holland's food which does the real talking in The Customs House, and it is completely seductive.