Chef Luis Martin takes us on a jaunt around the world with vibrant flavours in a restaurant that will soon change its name
My first bite looks like it could be a bit gimmicky: a wafer flower filled with a cream that is giving off serious Cheez Whiz energy. But it is absolutely delicious; crunchy with a creamy cheesiness, injected with heat from dots of jalapeño gel. It’s called “spicy cheese flower”, a description that is decidedly more informative than “Spain and Ireland meet Japan”, our next bite on the €110, 11-course tasting menu in The Old Couch restaurant in Waterford.
Chef Luis Martin took over The Old Couch last year, and on April 1st, after a year of toiling behind his own stove, he plans to change the name to Mara. The double-height room is charcoal black, and slim shelves prop up eclectically-framed driftwood and antlers. Pendant lighting counters the inky hue and a spray of dried foliage billows overhead. There are six tables, and a semi-open kitchen is visible behind the bar on a slightly higher level.
The wine, which is sourced from just one supplier, would benefit from a few more eclectic bottles. There’s a fairly mainstream focus on organic wine, so I opt for a bottle of Maximo Abete Tres Partes , a light Spanish Garnacha, rather than the €70 wine pairing. Clearly Martin is a chef who relishes dessert, as three follow the palate cleanser of sweet lemon curd in a tiny cone. The baked Alaska is a bit of fun, served on an ice cream stick that is stuck into a small brown couch. Peaks of hot torched meringue encase icy cold clementine sorbet. Accompanying it is a chestnut sponge, topped with celeriac ice cream and dusted with hazelnut praline.
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