Market Lane, outstanding restaurant and popular pillar of Cork food scene since 2007

 Market Lane, outstanding restaurant and popular pillar of Cork food scene since 2007

Lamb Raan, at rear, under yogurt and almonds (sliced)

Friday evening and the place is buzzing, just like pre-Covid times, but not unusual for Market Lane in Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork city centre. Multiple conversations add to the ambience as we arrive for our 6.15pm reservation. I look around the crowded room and can’t see an empty table. But, after a warm welcome, we are led to our comfortable station for the 90 minutes or so, remarking to one another that it was just as well we had booked.

Paté

For years now - it first opened its doors in 2007 - Market Lane had been an outstanding restaurant and a popular pillar of the Cork food scene. The initial aim was to provide high-quality food inspired by the nearby English Market and to become a staple of the city's food scene. It , along with its satellite restaurants (Elbow Lane, Goldie, ORSO and Castle Café), had certainly achieved that status.

From day one, The support for local produce has been immense and contestant. You can see a full list of their suppliers, including photos here.  Here, also you’ll see a running total of what they’ve spent so far this year. By the first of May, it was no less than €318,961.

Heavenly Stout

How that local produce, from Skeaghanore Duck in West Cork, to Baldwin’s Ice Cream in West Waterford, is enhanced with a worldwide palette of influences from Argentina to Persia (Iran), is well illustrated on the current menu.

Local drinks too, including the ultra local beers, brewed next door in sister restaurant Elbow Lane and available here in draught: ales, lager and the amazing Angel Stout. I can never pass up a pint of Angel, one of the very best stouts in the country.  Other local drinks include Black’s beer, Stonewell cider, Maharani Rebel City and Beara Ocean Pink gins, Poacher’s mixers, and Dingle Vodka along with a good selection of Irish whiskey.

French onion soup with Coolea cheese and sourdough croutons a classic starter here but this time I picked the Garryhinch oyster mushroom ragu in a shortcrust pastry tartlet with miso caramel and topped with tempura enoki (very small mushrooms), a delightful mix of flavours and textures. 

Chupin de pescado

We had also been tempted by the Crispy fried calamari, Vietnamese slaw, chilli dressing and crushed peanuts  before CL decided on the classic Chicken liver pâté, spiced apple chutney, crunchy pickles and toasted sourdough.

  

The mains were something else, big talking points for quite a while after the meal was finished. Their Ballycotton Monk fish was considered before CL gave the nod to the Chupin de pescado, an Argentinian fish stew of hake, prawns and mussels with potatoes, tomato, pepper, olives, capers, herbs and lemon chimichurri . Served with sourdough (to mop up), Market Lane’s version of this Latin American dish was an top notch one!  

I have tried some of the other dishes previously including the low cooked Crowe’s bacon collar, and my pick this time was the Braised Lamb Raan, Persian rice, spiced green beans, sheep’s yogurt, pickled red onion. There was nothing on this plate that didn’t get a look in, the small grain rice, those spicy beans, the yogurt, the almonds and the onion, but no doubt the lamb itself, so tender, so tasty, was the star. Very Highly Recommended.

Quite a lot on our earlier plates so no room for desserts, which says a lot considering their famous Orange and Vanilla bread and butter pudding, with custard and whipped cream was on the list, along with a slew of other tempting choices!  

Mushroom on the double: Oyster mushroom ragu crowned with tempura enoki mushroom

The warm welcome was the start of a marvellous service. Time for a chat or two and a few laughs but efficient as well. No wonder, the Market Lane group regularly features on national lists that rate the best places to work. And, of course, the best places to eat!