Crawford Gallery Cafe

Sinead Doran says: “We like to cook simple food with local ingredients” – and she puts that mantra on the plate in Cork’s Crawford Art Gallery. Her food is direct, and unafraid of the whims of fashion, so the menu offers roasted bone marrow with parsley salad and sourdough, and there are lamb’s kidneys, and there is a stunning leek and mature Coolea cheese tart  – a critic’s dish if ever there was one. When Ms Doran strays away from the European classics, she shows that she can nail a dish such as Middle Eastern chicken with bulgar salad as if she hailed from the Levant. Terrific staff work their magic in one of the city’s sweetest rooms, and whilst the Crawford may be a 30-year-veteran, Ms Doran’s cooking eats like the new kid in town.