dining
square meal
square deal
By Michael Grace
T
he Celtic Tiger has come and gone
and Ireland’s countryside has been
left as devastated as in the aftermath
of a tornado, economically speaking.
Towns across Ireland thought they
were going to sail away on a magic carpet
of prosperity with plans for growth and
development far beyond their wildest dreams.
But some towns did not even get the chance
to hitch a ride on the coattails of Ireland’s illfated boom. The Tiger came and went and
they were left with little to show for it.
One town in Meath which certainly
feels that way is Kells. The good people of
the town do their utmost to promote and
support local businesses there, but many
residents still head in their droves to nearby
Navan and further afield at the weekend for
shopping and entertainment.
Although there were plans for massive
development projects to put Kells on a
stronger economic footing, they all seem
to have gone out with the economic tide.
The work of local tourism interests has
been Trojan to keep visitors coming to the
area which really does have a formidable
attraction argument from a heritage
perspective. Kells is a town that deserves so
much more than it gets.
Yet, there is plenty in Kells to be proud of;
there is a fine hotel, good bars, a nice array of
shops and plenty of facilities and clubs. One
thing that Kells always has had is a decent
reputation for food, with its fine artisan food
producers in the hinterland adding an extra
dimension to the menus.
It is a good sign of a dogged belief in Kells
that someone has opened up a new restaurant
in these times. There are already a few good
places in the area but nothing beats the buzz
of a new opening for a town.
The Bective is only open a couple of
months yet it has hit the ground running
with a flurry of activity. Autumn is the best
time of year to launch a restaurant when the
summer holidays are over and the dark nights
are setting in and people are gearing up for a
big splurge of spending right up till the new
year sales.
The restaurant is located at Bective Square
- a central location is already a huge bonus
for a new eatery. It looks great from the
outside and is equally attractive inside with
quite an Iberian look and feel to the room.
The aromas from the open plan kitchen are
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Meath Chronicle
inspire
one of the first things to hit you, something
that is always good to stimulate the appetite.
There are a la carte, blackboard specials
and early bird menus to pick from and prices,
in a reflection of the times in which we live,
are very competitive. The place was packed
for an early weekend evening so the ambience
was just what a busy place should be like by
creating its own soundtrack.
It is nice to see blackboard options written
sufficiently big and clear for once so that one
does not need a telescope to figure out the
dishes from a far corner of a room in low
light and faded chalk. We decided to go for
the a la carte Parma ham parcel at €8.50 and
the forest mushroom gratin at €8.00. These
prices may be balked at by some customers
but neither ingredient is cheap to purchase
and margins still have to be made in business.
For main courses, we opted for the
blackboard special hake of the day at €21.00
and the a la carte salmon and prawns at the
same price. Being a fishy sort of day, a couple
of glasses of good crisp house white wine at
€5.50 would seal the deal. Fish cookery will
always be the better test of a kitchen, in my
experience. There are a great many chefs in
Ireland who still cannot cook a piece of fish
to perfection.
The starters took a while but, for a busy
joint, I will always forgive this; nothing
is worse than rushing it and then cutting
corners on a dish and making a mess of it.
A famous French gastronome once said
“in order to know how to eat, one must
first learn how to wait”, which is so true. It
was worth waiting for, as both dishes were
excellent.
The cooked cured ham parcel had pear
and blue cheese inside, nice leaves and a
good dressing, perfect portion size and
presentation. Nothing else to say except it
was a good, creative job well done.
The mushroom gratin was slightly less
successful as it had a fundamental fault of
being served in a deep dish and became
more of a creamy, wild mushroom soup. It
should really have been served in a shallow
gratin dish with half the amount of sauce and
the cheese would have had a nice browning
under the grill.
However, the flavours were spot-on,
faultless in fact, and the mushrooms were
exquisite. It was an apt dish for the autumn,
it being mushroom season.
dining
The mains were as good, too. The hake is a
plentiful Irish fish, available most of the year,
sustainable and not expensive. A posher and
tastier cousin of cod, we should all be eating it
more and more. Cod, sadly, is nearly extinct
at this stage.
This one came on a bed of decentlymade mash, roasted cherry tomatoes and a
half-lemon. Nothing too fancy, just a simple
fish dish with the two fillets having had just
enough cooking to keep all the moisture in. If
you wanted to get someone started on eating
fish, this would be your learner dish.
The salmon delivered on its promise,
too, and was a nice supreme, on a sort of
ratatouille vegetable mix of continental
vegetables, with no airs and graces about
it. The focus on the cooking of the fish was
good and the accompanying prawns were
tip-top, too.
For both these types of fish dishes, you
need a speedy bistro or brasserie-style service
when they can be cooked and plated in a few
minutes flat. Neither had any bones. If you
ever encounter one, do not pay for the dish,
as chefs’ laziness deserves to be punished.
A basket of bread would have been nice
to mop up the lovely juices on both the
starters and the mains. This is a fundamental
requirement that seems to be neglected by the
vast majority of Irish restaurants.
For dessert, we plumped for the baked
Alaska and the chocolate torte. Baked Alaska
is a bit of an institution at this stage in food.
It comprises a sponge base, a nice ball of ice
cream, all coated in meringue and cooked for
a few minutes.
Ours could have done with just a few
more minutes so that the meringue was
actually hot and not tepid. The ice cream
had actually just started to soften and not
remain solid as a rock so it could not be
even cut. The meringue needed less sugar,
too - it was just a little over on that front.
But it was good to see a different dessert on
an Irish menu for a change.
The torte was just divine, though it was
more a sort of chocolate mousse tart, if
anything. In the classic definition, it was
not a torte at all, and the Germans and
Austrians would have been in uproar with
all their rich different layers and textures
gone amiss. Despite the name, we would
have eaten it all night.
Finishing with a tea and a coffee, the bill
was a mere €85.00 all in, and for the sheer
quality of the cooking and the ingredients, I
was very happy with that. It is a little bit more
than the average but that was our choice. You
can easily have two €20.00 menus and two
glasses of wine and you will be fed for under
€50.00 if you so choose.
The Bective is a breath of fresh culinary air
for Kells. It is needed and it will be a success
as long as it is supported wholeheartedly. The
service is courteous and professional, and
the business ambition is brave and must be
commended. If you are in Kells, give it a try you will be pleased you did.
the bective restaurant
Bective Square
Kells
tel: (046) 9247780
www.thebective.ie
ratinG
FOOD:
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SERVICE:
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DÉCOR:
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AMBIENCE:
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VALUE:
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OVERALL:
4.5/5
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