Ouch
House has held a Michelin star since 2010, firstly under Dutch chef Martijn Kajuiter and more recently under Ian Doyle, who departed after two years. Since the spring, the head chef has been Roisin O’Connor, who previously worked at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, MacNean House in Cavan, and Aimsir in Kildare.
O’Connor’s food is good, but the ‘squeeze ‘em in’ conveyor-belt operation I experienced on a visit earlier this month is not in keeping with what most of us expect at a Michelin-starred restaurant charging €130 per head for dinner.
It’s a gorgeous evening, and Ardmore Bay looks magnificent, shimmering in the evening sunshine. There isn’t a terrace to beat this one in the country. Inside, though, the interior of House is in serious need of an upgrade. Like the other parts of the hotel we’ve passed through on the way from the lobby, it’s looking shabby and feels like the modern version of a tired seaside hotel.
The premium tables are along the window, overlooking the sea, but we are in the second tier, and there are more tables behind us. Most of our fellow guests appear to be residents, and House has the feel of a hotel dining room rather than a standalone, destination, Michelin-starred restaurant.
We are in tasting-menu land, and the offering at House follows a familiar pattern, kicking off with three snacks presented simultaneously. There’s a tasty gougère of Knockanore smoked Cheddar and truffle, a pleasant little buckwheat tart filled with a tartare of Goatsbridge trout and trout caviar, and a shard of crisp chicken skin topped with chicken liver and fermented pear.
Bread is a cute sourdough roll with cultured butter, and then we are on to the menu proper. First out is a tiny half-tail of lobster from the bay outside, caught, our server rattles off, by Michael Dunne, who fishes from a blue boat with his black-and-white dog, Oscar. It comes with a lobster bisque and notes of elderflower.
A dish of different preparations of beetroot with rosemary cream and toasted barley — nice flavours and textures — comes next. Then butter-poached turbot with caramelised kohlrabi, pan-fried beach herbs and a fermented celeriac cream, a beautifully balanced dish, followed by a safe, small fillet of beef with a broccoli and wild-garlic purée, which I overhear being described as wild broccoli at the next table.
The cheese is Boyne Valley Blue, accompanied by stout crackers that taste stale. We send them back and they bring us fresh ones, but they are not much better.
A very good granita of fennel with meringue is next, followed by an unsuccessful strawberry and woodruff dessert. To finish, a pale, underbaked rosemary Madeleine and a morsel of lavender fudge.
The pacing is relentless, and although we’ve been told we can request a pause at any stage, each course arrives before we have a chance to draw breath and take advantage of that offer. We’ve had all the savoury courses within an hour or so of sitting down, and it’s hard to keep up with the wine pairings, which is a shame, because some are very good, particularly Anders Frederik Steen’s ‘I like It when your fingertips slide through my hair’, a gorgeous Viognier from Switzerland, with the turbot, and the Partida Creus Muz natural vermouth with the cheese. Vermouth is having a moment this summer, and this is a particularly delicious one.
It feels as if there is no sense of ownership at House, that everyone on the floor — bar one excellent assistant sommelier — is too preoccupied with the business of getting us in and getting us out to think about the true meaning of hospitality. I know restaurants are struggling to recruit staff, but that’s no excuse for servers who parrot descriptions of the dishes as if they are Leaving Cert poetry quotes, or for others who behave as if they are on the stage at the Abbey.
With one wine pairing (€102.50), a glass of champagne, two glasses of wine and two pre-dinner drinks, the bill comes to €438.50 before service. By the time you’ve added service, you’re hitting €500. Despite some very good dishes, the experience simply doesn’t justify that level of expenditure. We leave feeling as if we have been at a banquet in Bunratty.
Budget
Dine solo and drink tap water for €130.
Blowout
Dinner for two with the champagne wine pairing will set you back €460 before service.
The rating
7/10 food
5/10 ambience
4/10 value
16/30
House, Cliff House Hotel, Ardmore, Co Waterford
