Number One Pery Square in Limerick’s Georgian Quarter has featured in Megabites before, for the elegance of its surroundings and the quality of the welcome from Patricia Roberts and the rest of the team. And, of course, for their spa and their food and wine offering. The reason Pery Square are featuring today can be summed up in one word – choucroute.
Pery Square’s recently appointed chef, Frederick Duarte, is originally from Rocamadour in South West France. But it is his interpretation of the classic Alsatian dish choucroute that will linger longest in my memory from my recent visit. No. 1 Pigtown Choucroute is made using house prepared sauerkraut and excellent sausages and bacon from O’Loughlin's butchers and has the added benefit of Irish floury potatoes (waxy potatoes do not work as well with choucroute). That a Limerick restaurant might become famous for its choucroute is, of course, perfectly reasonable given the city’s iconic piggy status, and I also recommend the No. 1 Crubeen Terrine served with apricot chutney.
Other dishes I managed to taste from plates other than my own included a delicate fluffy Duck Liver Parfait, and an unctuous Hereford Braised Beef Cheek. One other dish deserves a paragraph of its own and that is the stunningly good Shallot Tart Tatin, served with chicory leaves, walnuts and blue cheese. The tart was too sweet for one of my companions but they missed the point that it needs to be eaten alternately with the bitter chicory and salty cheese. After all the salty pork and sweet shallots I needed something refreshing and the Lemon Posset was brisk, crisp and nicely executed. The Salted Caramel Ice-cream and Chocolate Triple Compote tastes that I stole also worked well.
Wines are supplied by Liam Cabot and Simon Tyrell (two of Ireland’s master importers) both of whom will be conducting wine courses over the next couple of months. The choucroute worked particularly well with the Moric Blaufrankish from Austria and the Versus Pinot Gris from Slovenia with the shallot tart tatin.
The Pery Square choucroute costs €19 per person and is best shared. Sash restaurant offers comfort food in a very comfortable hotel, and is warmly recommended.
Sash Restaurant, 1 Pery Square, Limerick, Tel: 061 402402 www.oneperysquare.com/sash-restaurant
