The kitchen window at Rare 1784, Kinsale

I CAN sometimes succumb to faraway fields syndrome and be guilty of overlooking what’s right under my nose when prospecting for a skite on the Oul’ Sod, so deeply ingrained is the notion that an ideal destination has to be first ‘earned’ with the penance of an arduous cross-country trek. So we relish the ease of our passage to Kinsale, just 25 minutes of easy driving from Cork city and we’re ‘on holidays’.

Actually, it appears the nation as a whole has succumbed to a desire for faraway fields — hard to blame anyone after the last few years — and every Covid-weary man, woman, and child has taken to the skies and jetted off to foreign climes meaning sun-kissed Ireland is bizarrely quiet for this time of the year even as an Azores high has us sizzling like sausages in the pan.

It may be quiet but it lends the charming little seaport a blissful serenity as we bask in the glorious weather, sipping al fresco fizz on a streetside table outside the Blue Haven hotel. I’ve always had a soft spot for the easygoing nature of the bijou little hotel in the heart of town having put head to pillow here several times down through the decades and tonight we are checking out a new addition to its hospitality offering: Rare 1784, a fine dining restaurant and cocktail bar under head chef Meeran Mansoor.

Any true Gael is three-fifths rainwater, generally loath to relinquish the rarity that is a genuine heatwave but head inside we must and the first impressions of Rare are good. Though refinements are still afoot, it is a lovely space, an elegant room that steps up to the rear where a suitably swish kitchen is visible through a glass wall. Lighting is subtle, tables lit with downlight lamps, completing a comfortable speakeasy vibe.

SpouseGirl continues with the fizz while I have a very pleasant Mexican Rabbit from the cocktail list, of aged tequila, agave, mango, a reduction of the local Black’s Brewery IPA and a spritz of absinthe to finish.

We are having the tasting menu with wine pairings and first out of the blocks is house bread, served with creamy country butter and glossy, light tapenade. Miniature baguettes have a lovely chewy crust and focaccia is excellent, airy and crisp.

Next is a quenelle of sumptuous lactic Ardsallagh goat’s cheese, draped in a mantle of beetroot jelly, followed by a spoonful of beetroot chutney, topped with a disc of roasted beetroot pulsing with notes of star anise, the beetroot troika adding earthy-sweet sugars to the tart cheese. It is followed by a luscious plump scallop with a silken, rich puree of romesco cauliflower, dusted with sumac.

We hit the meat ‘course’, lamb. The earlier dishes carried subtle spiced suggestions of Mansoor’s Indian heritage but here it is most pronounced. Delicious and tender lamb sits on a bed of bulgar wheat and is topped with a miniature pillowy soft flatbread. A potent jus is poured over and the entire schemozzle dusted with a powdering of dehydrated lamb fat. It is a fine dish albeit more of a winter warmer, the class of comfort required when splendid summer nights such as this have faded into the realms of myth and the chill has returned to the bones.

SpouseGirl doesn’t eat red meat and instead receives a slice of lightly smoked, roasted aubergine topped with purees of roasted red pepper, romesco, tahini, and walnut and micro-greens. It is my dish of the evening, a delightful melange of textures and bright, fresh, crisp flavours, perfect for the evening that’s in it.

Oven-baked cod has nice crisped skin and little fronds of tempura samphire are an excellent addition but the fish is under-seasoned and outmuscled by Lombardy peppers stuffed with a cod mousse. Lovely sweet coconut sauce with oils, chilli, and coriander, finish what could have been a very nice little dish if properly realised. 

A palate cleanser of lime and raspberry sorbet and a lemon and orange parfait with a mango gel is very lovely but more of a full-on dessert than something to recalibrate the palate for a following overworked chicken ballotine and truffle that fails to deliver. Dessert proper, a chocolate and caramel delice, is well executed but for the really sweet of tooth; I’d happily have revisited the earlier ‘palate cleanser’.

Even as Irish cooking has soared ever skywards over the last several decades, there has sadly been a corresponding decline in standards of service, primarily because it is so hard to get staff that the industry often ends up having to make do.

For this reason, it is a special joy to encounter someone like the vivacious Charlie O’Sullivan who runs the room with sublime professionalism married to effortless and thoroughly charming joie de vivre. 

Truth be told, she would be instead knocking it out of the park in New York if The Covid hadn’t done what it seemed to do best, upending life plans, in her case, sending her down an entirely unforeseen route. 

But New York’s loss is Kinsale’s gain and she is now delighted with her new life in West Cork. There are still a few rough edges to be smoothed out in Rare 1784 — the wine list needs work along with some ambient adjustments to the room — but I’d trust O’Sullivan entirely to achieve this.

We’ve had a lovely evening and once Mansoor relaxes into his kitchen, perhaps ditching some of the overly complex process-based cooking of his extensive fine dining experience abroad for a greater simplicity that allows his well-sourced local produce to do more of the heavy lifting, then a Rare pleasure will deserve to become a regular treat.

The Bill: Rare seven-course tasting menu, €85 per person

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