Restaurant Review - Global Village
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Hopefully all of you on this Easter are basking somewhere nice around the country. Basking leads me to Fungi’s home territory of Dingle and the
Global Village Restaurant whose chef patron, Martin Bealin, along with his wife Nuala Cassidy, is also very much behind the annual Dingle Food Festival. The simple exterior of the restaurant conceals one of the country’s hidden treasures, which has been running on Upper Main Street in Dingle for some ten years, and where you can expect serious food from a serious chef. The cooking is classical, sauces will be rich and extravagant, his prawns and lobster will be big and juicy, he grows his own vegetables whilst seafood and viands are sourced locally.
The interior too is simple and unfussy but there is always a great buzz of people chomping, drinking and chatting, it is one of those sort of places. Local seafood is a big thing here – and who doesn’t love seafood! Starters €5 - €14 includes oysters au natural with a shallot red wine dressing, or grilled with roquette, cashew pesto and Parmesan. A warm salad of monkfish has Annascaul white pudding, garden greens, black olives, crisp green beans, roast tomatoes and boiled egg with Balsamic dressing, whilst seared foie gras is on a crisp rosti with field mushrooms and a Port reduction. Risotto of Dingle Bay seafood has garden herbs and Parmesan shavings. I had the starter to die for - medallions of sweet lobster (€14) served on a luscious comforting potato cake topped with a soft poached free range egg and Hollandaise sauce. It just doesn’t get any better! Brendan had an equally good Meditteranean style starter of pan seared medallions of peppered tuna (€12) set on a crisp sage and onion polenta cake, lifted with the sharp acidty of black olive and anchovy tapenade, and a saffron cream.
Mains are €25/€29 apart from sole on the bone, which can be had at 400 g or 600g priced around €28/€32, or whole Ventry Bay lobster at €39.50. The whole lobster too is divine served hot with garlic butter or tomato and Cognac cream. Seafood dishes included a platter of Dingle Seafood with John Dory, Haddock, Pollock, Tuna, Plaice, Turbot, Oyster and mussels, with colcannon and a fennel cream. All of these poissons can be had in their own right in various ways. Another dish offering variety is a trio of monkfish, brill, and plaice, bearing a Swedish influence with beetroot puree and dill cream. Carnivores are not forgotten with a roast rack of Kerry lamb, Puy lentil and Chorizo casserole, Boulangere potatoes and rosemary jus, as well as Skeaghnore free range duck, or a seared fillet steak with a ragout of garlic field mushrooms, Balsamic onions, colcannon, and a Madeira demi glaze. Vegetarians too have their own full menu. So, what did we have? I had sublime grilled fillets of Turbot (€28.50) silky moist and ethereal, with baby spinach, mustard mash, tomato and tarragon oil, whilst Brendan had pan fried fillets of John Dory (€29) napped with a Bearnaise sauce, rosti potatoes, baby carrots, and a cashew and roquette salad. All divine.
The dessert menu too was luscious at €8.50 a pop. Dark chocolate orange and cardamom torte was all it promised to be, rich and sinful, with classic raspberry sorbet. Lemon posset and custard creams had a Champagne sorbet, whilst pear and cider jelly had vanilla ice-cream and almond wafers. A very good selection of Irish Farmhouse cheeses offered a choice of three for €9.50 from Abbey Blue Brie, Dingle Peninsula with seaweed, Mill House Sheeps Cheese and more. Or you could have, a Crozier Blue Sheeps cheese, crackers and a glass of St. Anne’s liqueur Shiraz at €10.50 which was Brendan’s choice – lovely. With a bottle of Alsace Riesling 2009 (€28) our bill with optional service came to €140.50. By the way, there is an excellent Early Bird 2/3-course menu at €25.50/€28.
Martin Bealin offers seafood and food lovers alike a glimpse of paradise.
Global Village,
Upper Main Street,
Dingle,
Co. Kerry.
Tel: (066) 915-2325
www.lucindaosullivan.com