Billionaire’s destination retreat that’s just Cush-ty

CUSH

The Pier, Ballycotton, Co Cork Phone: 021 464 6768, visit cush.ie

BY AND large, billionaires get a very bad press. The only one I worked with directly was immensely irritating but he liked superb Burgundy, the kind that us mere mortals can only dream of, so I always accepted his invitations to dinner.

He was not Irish, as it happens, unlike the Ballycotton billionaire who bought the old restaurant at the pier, ploughed a lot of money into and found chef Dan Guerin, late of Chapter One and Campagne (it shows), and installed him in the newly-named Cush. This billionaire, a Mr Pearse, has made the world a better place and Ballycotton — always pretty and a bit overlooked — a true destination for anyone who enjoys good cooking and a sea breeze.

As I like to remind people every now and then, the average, bogstandard restaurant gets pretty well everything that the kitchen needs from a big truck sent out by one of the food service companies. Restaurants that take real care over sourcing, and that try to support local producers, are much more common than they used to be, but there are still not enough.

I loved the fact that, having taken our order, our waitress at Cush returned to the table and apologised that my scallops had yet to arrive. And then, a few minutes later, produced them saying, ‘they have literally just landed’. And how glad I am that they had!

The menu is divided into bites, small plates, large plates, desserts and sides, which is good for anyone who wants something more of an amuse bouche than a starter. My companion had the ‘ bite’ of Ballyhoura mushroom, hazelnuts and Ballinrostig Gouda (€2.50), a tiny encapsulation of East Cork with a silky and brilliantly intense mushroom purée, toasted nuts and properly savoury cheese both as topping and in the perfectly crumbly pastry.

My scallops (€ 12) that had crossed the finishing line with only seconds to spare were small and plump, not those f l avourless lumps pumped f ull of water. Densely fleshed, sweet and rich, the five of them came with crisp pancetta, filaments of pickled fennel, flecks of dill mayonnaise that combined to taste vibrantly green and fresh. That’s the best I can do. But it was a perfectly balanced little dish, thoughtful, just right.

So, from the sublime to the simple: breaded haddock (€16) with proper, chunky tartare sauce, a bright, sweet pea purée and crisp chips that had been made from spuds peeled and cut i n the kitchen (as distinct from out of the freezer). The fish was moist, its coat crisp, the sauce and the purée a ying and yang of tart and sweet. Eating this on a sunny day with a view of the sea: what more could you want?

Grilled turbot (€30) came with tempura mussels (which were declined thanks to an allergy) but the dish was still lovely in their absence: seaweed butter sauce providing the marine, salty element, cauliflower purée coming in with sweet yet earthy notes, spinach delivering its mineral tang.

So far, so lovely. But things were about to get even better with the arrival of desserts.

A perfectly formed, ie geometrically cylindrical, soufflé of strawberries (€9) with a sprinkling of nut crumble could not have been bettered. Gossamer-light, every single tiny seed had been sieved out to yield a silky, completely uniform ethereal texture. Try doing that a home. It was the kind of cooking that would wake up even dozy old Michelin.

Velvet Cloud yoghurt pannacotta (€ 8) was appropriately velvet smooth with just enough gelatin, i ts vanilla- scented sweetness cut by a clear top layer of rhubarb gel. The adornment of gingerbread was the only duff note in the entire lunch.

We had heard, on the East Cork grapevine, that this food was good. Very good. But we had not quite expected cooking at this level. Cush is a very important addition to a part of the country that tends to take food very seriously. At the time of writing, restrictions are still being rolled out across the country. But Cush is certainly worth waiting for.

THE SMART MONEY

THE Ballyhoura mushroom tartlet represents the best €2.50 I’ve ever spent.

AND ANOTHER THING...

CUSH has a six-bedroom guesthouse so you can dine and retire for the night. And there’s a cosy bar too.