Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

Recently I was a dinner guest in the Botanical restaurant in the Radison – SAS hotel at Farnham, Co. Cavan, an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.

 The chef obviously understands the importance of balancing ingredients with their unique tastes, textures and appearances. At first these may appear challenging, but the results never fail to impress.

 Fr my hors d’oeuvres I chose a dish of broad beans and forest mushrooms served on potato cakes. This was a true tour-de-force in the art of the ensemble of ingredients. One might say that the broad beans could have been slightly sweeter, and that the promised truffle essence with the potato cakes was an essence in the theological sense, yet the effect was truly satisfying and reminiscent of Autumn, My partner opted for a dish of butternut squash served with pear, which she pronounced excellent.

 For a main course I was truly tempted by so many of the proffered dishes. There was a dish of wild boar and apples, which certainly would have continued the autumnal gustatory atmosphere of the hors d’oeuvres, but I opted for my old friend sea bass, pan-fried in a herb crust and served with salsify, one of my favourite vegetables but alas almost impossible to get unless you grow it yourself. The tender sweetness of the salsify married so well with the almost creamy delicious of the sea bass. Rosie opted for a Venison Wellington, an inspired dish given venison’s similarity – I would say frequent superiority to beef. It was truly delicious. Its one fault, if fault it was, that it left no room for a dessert. This part of the menu showed that it was the equal of the others, and was not tagged on as an embarrassed after-thought, I was tempted by the pear and frangipani tart, but opted in a spirit of timidity for the medley of Italian ice creams served with a pistachio tuille.

 The menu in its totality offered a rich variety of dishes. I was particularly touched by the number of main courses specifically for vegetarians. One element that the framers of the menu might like to include is to mention the location from which some of the items, especially amongst the main courses, comes from. It is always interesting to know that the beef or duck comes from a local producer, while I suspect that many of the vegetables and fruit must also have come from near at hand. Even if some of the items had to come from further away I am sure we are all comfortable enough with globalisation to be comfortable with this. The staff were a true epigone of helpfulness and courtesy. I recall the banter we had concerning what made the selection of ice creams truly Italian!