Maisons

I waited a little while to write this review. A chief reason was that on the night everything impressed me. And (can I start a sentence with And, oh what the heck). It was the cocktails you see. I sampled a few, then a few more. They were delicious, a bargain and well~made. Now, don’t sneer, a good properly balanced cocktail needs a bit of precision. So I wanted to be sure (isn’t that what us Irish are supposed to say: to be sure to be sure?) or do I mean sober. So I didn’t want to five star this place because the charm of the staff on the night or the darn good food. Oh no. I want to be critical. I want to seem maybe more clever than I am. Reality is it was darn fine cooking. My starter was fresh tuna cooked rare with tasty squid. Oh it was worth living for, so really good and a decent size portion too. Now that brings me to a comment: I read many reviews to hear it said food (or drink) is to die for. To die for. What balderdash. There’s little in life to die for: I’d die for my wife, and my family but after that I’d think at least twice. Likely a lot more. So on the night I had a fillet steak main with a couple of glasses of good red wine. The steak came as I ordered, just so and if it was a little either way I wouldn’t have fussed. Every element on the plate was excellent. The wonderful wild mushroom pepper sauce, and the slow cooked beef in the meaty croquette were masterfully devine and the purred onion too. Bliss. I had a side of salt & pepper onion rings. Wonderful and a side dish of the best champ I’ve eaten in a very long time. The champ portion was enough to feed two hungry people. For those who don’t know, champ is mashed potato, salted butter, full cream milk, some more salt and spring onions. The meringue dessert too was ace, a challenge to chew mind you. If you’ve false teeth then avoid it. I had been critical of this place before. I mean this is Ray Mc Ardle; a master chef, a great British menu contestant. A man who impressed Matthew Forte, a foodie hero of mine. Pru Leith too. People who have devoted their lives to good, healthly fresh food properly cooked. I took the view previously that this place, this chef, could do better, but I tell what on the night I couldn’t have asked for more and the pressure had to be on as the place was packed with happy people. There was a great and cosy atmosphere. And (did it again) I tell you what — all of us armchair critics — its darn hard relentless work in the kitchen. You can serve a thousand meals and just one poor meal will haunt you. This was 5 star on the night and no mistake.