Liveline Thread 20/7/2013 to 12/10/2013

ButtersSuki

Gallery Cafe, Gort, Co. Galway

QUEEN STREET, GORT, CO. GALWAY
+353 (0)91 630 630
GALCAFE@GMAIL.COM
WWW.GALLERYCAFE.IE/
Hours: Monday closed Tuesday 10am – 3pm Wednesday 10am – 9pm Thursday 10am – 9pm Friday 10am – 9.30pm Saturday 10am – 9.30pm Sunday 11am – 9pm.

Restaurant Review
Gort is a lucky town to have an innovative proprietor like Sarah Harty running her charming and lovely Gallery Café. It does exactly what it says on the tin; it’s a gallery, heaving in an effortless, eclectic style with paintings, etchings and so many other things to catch your eye.

To call it a cafe is an understatement. This big, stylish room harks back to the good room; the dining rooms of great Irish houses. They serve the best of food made with locally sourced and reared ingredients. Sarah herself grows organic veg in her polytunnel at home, while the chef brings fresh Irish fish from the market in Galway every morning. Even the plates are designed and made across the street by potter Michael Kennedy, with a hand from Harty too.

This is real food, food with life in it, food that’s been treated with love by chef Pawel Karnefal. Bright salads like Stuffed Peppers with bacon and Cratloe cheese with buckwheat and roasted pumpkin fill a much-needed craving for exciting, filling and healthy food. Original pizza combos like McCarthys peppered pastrami with roasted potato, caramelized onion, Cashel blue and rocket with horseradish, or roasted beetroot and St.Tola, set the bar way high while pushing your taste buds right out into the fields and surrounding hills.

The dinner menu starts with the most perfect plate of perfectly caramelized scallops - thankfully with roe intact - crispy slices of pork belly, celeriac and quince puree. A dish of perfect balance and exciting textures, contrasts and colours with a style of ‘thrown on the plate’ chic, finished with bright microgreens and taste sensations.

The soup of the day was Carrot and Coconut, with a velvety texture, served with both spelt and wholegrain breads. Vegetarians are of equal importance here with Potato gnocchi, salsify, Mount Callan cheddar and sage burnt butter or Puy Lentil and roots steamed in cabbage leaves with battered cauliflower.

The fish special of Brill with Clams, white wine and pickled seaweed was a warming and delicate showcase of Irish flavours, with ingredients so perfectly treated by the chef. The venison, was properly char-grilled, almost black on the outside, and perfectly pink inside; charred yet sweet and juicy, sitting on a bed of crushed root vegetables, with a rich and sweet sloe reduction, and Jerusalem artichoke and vanilla puree. It was a dream on a plate, a warm reassurance, yet full of surprises. Vegetables aren’t treated as mere sides here, they marry with the meats and stand where they should, at centre stage. This is the stuff some restaurants talk about but few deliver, real local and cooking with the seasons.

Deserts made the pleasure almost too much; a delicate and decadent chocolate mousse topped with honeycomb, a walnut tart with orange and whiskey jelly, a lemon tart, all are exquisite but the blackcurrant parfait was the star, rich and dark, creamy yet light. How can one place get it so, so right??

artful_codger

Dear Carjackers, if you want a free car just call into a rural B&B.

syklops

She drove over his toes! Love it!

SEPT 23 1989

ButtersSuki

I'm delighted I hit those knackers with my car Damo.

HeidiHeidi

Good woman yourself :pac:

I live near there, must make sure to keep my eyes peeled and the doors locked :eek:

Bits_n_Bobs

Here's the logic:

Round 1:
CC needs money
Levy rates on local business's
Hinder local business's making money to pay rates by idiocy
Local business's close down

Round 2:
CC needs money
Levy more rates on fewer local business's
Hinder local business's making money to pay rates by idiocy

County Council repeats ad nauseum until they retire or get elected to Dail/Seanad etc

JM Skipton

"I would have reversed over them" good on ya!

Lenin Skynard

Good man Damien having a chuckle about the rat thrown into the car, caller didn't sound impressed.

europa11

Where's Joe, we need a "Well done....well done!"

SEPT 23 1989

this car has form

Dan Jaman

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

"So, when's your Sargeant promotion due?"

artful_codger

Bits_n_Bobs wrote: »

Here's the logic:

Round 1:
CC needs money
Levy rates on local business's
Hinder local business's making money to pay rates by idiocy
Local business's close down

Round 2:
CC needs money
Levy more rates on fewer local business's
Hinder local business's making money to pay rates by idiocy

County Council repeats ad nauseum until they retire or get elected to Dail/Seanad etc

Economics 101: the law of diminishing returns.

Big C

cud have been worse, they could have thrown a politician into the car

syklops

Speaking of supporting local businesses why is she hosting her website in the UK?

Apart from the events which are hosted in Poland.

lucylu

19 year old son stays with the girlfriend and the father sleeps in the nip... its a disgrace Joe

Dan Jaman

syklops wrote: »

Speaking of supporting local businesses why is she hosting her website in the UK?

Depends how far back it goes - was it not a total pita to get a .ie address a few years ago?

ButtersSuki

This is a story for Radio Rialto, not the National Broadcaster.

Joe will be disgusted that he was away when one his taxi comrades was the starting point of a spiraling and meandering story on Da Lahv Lahn.

Polar101

ButtersSuki wrote: »

How can one place get it so, so right??

Well, self-reviewing is always easy.

Bits_n_Bobs

artful_codger wrote: »

Economics 101: the law of diminishing returns.

The Irish government doesn't believe in hiring economists - sure don't we have plenty of teachers elected to tell us how to do things....

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/danny_boy/report-finds-that-irish-dept-of-finance-has-shockingly-low-amount-of-economists-117226243.html

syklops

Dan Jaman wrote: »

Depends how far back it goes - was it not a total pita to get a .ie address a few years ago?

The IEDR being a pita to deal with has nothing to do with where you host the website.

SEPT 23 1989

Damo is dragging the story out of her

ButtersSuki

syklops wrote: »

The IEDR being a pita to deal with has nothing to do with where you host the website.

Calm down the pair of ye - did ye not pay attention last week when we learned that you can't trust anyone or anything on the internet?:rolleyes:

Dan Jaman

syklops wrote: »

The IEDR being a pita to deal with has nothing to do with where you host the website.

I'm thinking it might have been just easier at the time to do it all with a uk provider and it's just stayed there.

Lenin Skynard

The upshot of this had better be an alien invasion or an attack by godzilla.

ButtersSuki

I'm guessing we'll have tears shortly here.....

syklops

Dan Jaman wrote: »

I'm thinking it might have been just easier at the time to do it all with a uk provider and it's just stayed there.

As a former IE domain hostmaster I know the pain of dealing with the IEDR. The incredulity in peoples voices when you tell them they have to fax in their documents, not email.

It was probably the cheapest option, to be perfectly honest.

syklops

Any chance the letter is a mistake? Has she rung the bank? If she is not in arrears then whats the problem?

JM Skipton

That's the problem, the banks are starting to sniff around the areas in Dublin now that have increased in price and hitting anyone in arrears in those areas as they know they will get their money.

Dan Jaman

Ah Roger the Lodger - a game for all the family.