It's become fashionable to bemoan the lack of new restaurant openings in Cork city, and to suggest that this proves that standards are improving elsewhere, but not on Leeside.
This is bunk. Cork city restaurants are as fine as ever, and are all characterised by intense self-criticism and a strong sense of competition.
Just look at Claire Nash's Nash 19. We dipped into the restaurant just before Xmas to see the latest refurbishments and to try the Monday-Friday offer that Claire has concocted to meet with the adapting demands of her customers.
After a perfect bowl of chowder, we ate the best piece of cod we had enjoyed in months, served with flat mushrooms, and a perfect warm Mexican chicken salad, and then had a slice of plum pudding that was one of the finest examples we have ever eaten anywhere. The place was buzzing, and the staff – the staff! - are second-to-none. A blissful lunch, a blissful experience.
Nash 19 is one of those restaurants that makes a city special: Dublin has nowhere like this, and neither has Belfast.
Cork, boy. Nowhere like it.
19 Prince’s Street, Cork (021) 4270880
www.nash19.com
