Galway Advertiser – A Very Tasty Diversion

October 25 2012
75
L I F E STYLE
www.advertiser.ie
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R EC I P E S I W I N E I R E V I E W S
FOOD wine
A very tasty diversion
In the village of Oranmore, Péarla na Mara is well worth a detour
off the main road. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it has a
Mediterranean style menu with a heavy Irish influence and there
is a warm welcome from one half of the husband and wife owners,
Justyna, at the front of house.
It opens early daily with options such as a full Irish breakfast; a
mushroom, ham, and cheese omelette; and a chef’s breakfast of
smoked salmon, sautéed spinach, poached free-range eggs, and
homemade hollandaise sauce. Even the takeaway breakfast
baguette of two sausages, two rashers, and a free-range egg on
ciabatta bread is a vast improvement on the garage forecourt
version, and at €3.95 isn’t any more expensive.
Lunch has a nice line up of dishes such as a steak sandwich,
chicken diavola, spicy meatballs, and panini. There are also a wide
variety of amazing sounding pasta dishes; a cocktail of fresh
seafood, cooked in white wine tomato concasse with fresh herbs;
and roast vegetables tossed in a duo of red and green pesto, served
with freshly grated parmesan cheese. But I discounted them out of
hand, telling myself, “Irish restaurants often cook pasta very
badly”. As it turned out, I was wrong — a stolen taste of my
daughter’s pasta in a creamy sauce proved it to be cooked perfectly
al dente, and was a bowl of pure comfort.
The restaurant is very child friendly and when we were there on
a Sunday it was filled mostly with families with young children,
like ourselves. The high chairs and baby changing facilities are
good and the staff are very helpful with the small ones, bringing
their food first to avoid any hunger-induced meltdowns. Indeed, the
children’s menu is exceptional value at €5 including a drink.
Our five-year-old had the mussels meal from the regular menu
(she must have been Belgian in her last life, any mention of moules
frites and her ears perk up). It was very good value at €8.95 and
not one plump mussel lived to tell the tale. My current husband
had two starters from the à la carte menu, both turned out to be
very good. An orange-glazed duck fillet at €8.50 was expertly
cooked and served on a bed of baby leaves, tossed with dried fruits
and orange dressing. Delicate seared scallops sprinkled with a
lime dressing were a delicious follow up and an average price at
€10.
My own grilled rack of lamb was tender and cooked to a rosy
pink, served with balsamic reduction with a side of crisp, steamed
green vegetables. All the meats had credited suppliers, which is
always nice to see. Two desserts and four forks completed our
Sunday lunch. Two classics of tiramisu and tarte tatin were very
enjoyable with everyone in agreement that the tiramisu was the
better of the two.
It runs a lot of good value offers, most notably the evening
pizzas, where any pizza and a glass of house wine will cost just
€14.95 (this excludes the scallops pizza, but putting a scallop on a
pizza is, quite frankly, bonkers) or two pastas or pizzas and bottle
of house wine for €35. You can also bring your own wine, corkage
fee €5 per table. One other great innovation is the filtered water,
especially for anyone who is repulsed by the brackish nature of our
local tap water. In all my 20 years in the west it is something I have
never got used to, but still I’m reluctant to pay for the often
outrageously expensive bottled water. Instead we got beautifully
customised, glass-stoppered bottles, filled with ice cold water
filtered on the premises. And at €1 for an unlimited supply of
either still or sparkling this is a real bonus and I really can’t
understand why more restaurants in the west don’t have this
system.
They make the best of an awkward space here, with a sun trap
to the front and an oddly shaped, almost corridor, to the side of the
with
Anne Marie Carroll
THE GALWAY APPETISER
With Anne Marie Carroll
bar. It would be much improved with a few small screens and a bit
of extra storage to hide the table filled with paperwork to the rear.
However that is a minor quibble as they do so many other things
right. This is good food, family-friendly and reasonably priced.
Péarla Na Mara is a very tasty diversion from the main road, and
a diversion I look forward to taking again.
Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 8am – 11pm, and Sunday
10am to 11pm.
For bookings call 091 483 900. For other information email
info@pearlanamara.ie or see www.pearlanamara.ie
Off the beaten track
There is a lot of great food outside of Galway’s urban sprawl, you
just have to know where to look. There are plenty of culinary treats
to be found in the wilds of the county where you will be fed, and
fed well. You certainly don’t have to settle for a chicken and
stuffing sandwich from the garage forecourts. Clarenbridge has a
few charming little cafes, such as the Poppyseed, where you are
assured of something tasty — it just opened on Eglinton Street last
week, so it is obviously doing something right. Loughrea has Il
Porcetto, a cosy restaurant on the main street with some of the
best Italian food you will find outside of Italy. And the minute they
bypass Gort, it goes and nabs one of Galway’s most creative chefs
and puts him in a charming, eclectic cafe with brilliant results. You
can sample some of chef Pawel Karnafel’s creations at the Gallery
Café restaurant in Gort on Thursday November 8 at 7pm. A glass
of prosecco infused with wild damson is promised followed by a
five course winter taster menu at the official opening.
Capones staff dress up for
barnardos this Friday 26th
All welcome come and support and
be in with a chance to win.... Why
not dress up...... See you Friday
Gangster theme
ph: 091 520060
DINE IN SPECIALS
KIDS EAT
FREE
EVERY DAY IN
SEPTEMBER
EXTENDED
12 - 5PM
Receive one free kids meal with
each adult main course
purchased.
T&C kids aged 12
and under only.
Not valid with any other offers.
Valid for a limited period only
Kingston Hall, Knocknacarra, across from Joyces Supermarket.
MIDWEEK MADNESS
Available
Monday to
Thursday
2 course
special only
€13.50 per
person
CALL CAPONES FOR MORE DETAILS ON 091 520060