Recession?
Excuse me, all you happy Friday lunchtime eaters in Fermoy's Juniper restaurant, but there is a recession going on.
As we speak, Citigroup is going down the tubes. Ireland's banks are worth less than a kid's LEGO set. The credit crunch is now more painful than an Elizabethan torture on the rack.
And you don't care, do you? You have found the secret of Bucking the Recession: give me good food at good prices, and let the recession go hang.
Last Friday, Juniper in Fermoy was packed, with happy people. Abdou Mounir and Daniel O'Leary's handsome restaurant on Kent Street, just off the main strip and running down to the river, was full of happy, discerning people. I was one of them. I was having the pheasant and potato tart with beurre blanc and some lovely shredded, cooked red cabbage. The tart, the sauce and the veg were simply ace: a perfect lunch, in a lovely room.
I want to go back at dinnertime for the oxtail soup with horseradish cream and mini Yorkshire pud, and then some Asian-style duck with bak choi and an orange and five spice jus, or maybe the scallops and crab with linguini, or the monkfish with pea and chorizo risotto.
Juniper is a lovely new discovery, with excellent food at great prices. Recession? Who cares?! Not us.
And we will be back later with more on Fermoy...
Juniper Restaurant, 16 Kent Street, Fermoy, Co Cork 025 31040
