Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Barn in Cork



THE BARN
The Barn is one of the old reliables in Cork. I went there the other evening to try out their €25.00 early bird menu.
The Egg Mimosa (with garden salad and balsamic vinegar) looked the most exciting of the four starters (plus soup) available but I enjoyed my Salmon Fish Cake and the Classic Duck and Chicken Liver Pate also went down well.
The old reliables were wheeled out for the main course. You could choose from Pork Steak, Sirloin (3 euro extra), Salmon and Chicken, also a Beef Pie. They came as ordered. My steak was perfectly cooked and the Salmon with veg and a warm potato salad was “absolutely beautiful”. The Beef Pie was quite substantial.
Three desserts were served at the table – they don’t bring their famous trolley to the Early Birds! All three were fine. I really enjoyed my Mango Cheesecake, the Rich Chocolate Cake was seen off but perhaps the best of the three was the Pavlova (the real thing) with fresh fruit and Crème Anglaise.
There is a high standard of friendly service here and, with the restaurant less than quarter full (On a Thursday night), we were well catered for but in an unobtrusive way, with an adequate two queries during the meal (is everything okay?).
Wine prices have dropped to the Early Bird level and we enjoyed an easy drinking Shiraz from OZ (GB 56 2007) for €20.00. The spacious Barn is very comfortable – some find it a little old fashioned but it had many devotees. And the smokers among the regulars will be glad to see that a new “smoking room” is nearing completion.

Check out my review of The Barn - I am cork - on Qype

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