Restaurant review: Perfectly-pitched fare at Tipp's Bishop's Buttery — but at a price
The Buttery at the Cashel Palace Hotel, Co. Tipperary.
The buzz around the Cashel Palace Hotel began several years before it finally reopened in March 2022.
Opening plush new hotels seems to be a new national sport but this was a step up again, as Tipperary-based billionaire and owner John Magnier’s war chest financed a superlative restoration, and Adriaan Bartels, one of Ireland’s finest hotel managers and hospitality practitioners, was appointed general manager.
Arriving as a fully paid-up member of Relais et Chateaux, an exclusive global club of premium hospitality venues, a Michelin star for its restaurant was an obvious target to draw in further custom; Bartels has previous form in this regard, both at Sheen Falls Lodge and the Cliff House in Ardmore, and it wasn’t the greatest surprise when executive chef Stephen Hayes and head chef Stefan McEnteer duly landed a first star last year, just recently retained.
Though Cashel is a national historic hotspot, there is something surreal about first sight of the magnificently restored former 18th century bishop’s manor. Palladian architecture, polished to within an inch of its life, suggests the box yew-hedged vibes of Versailles.
We have strolled up from our own ‘lodgings’, Camper Van Claude, parked out the road; we have a nice view of the Rock of Cashel but are still some way off Relais et Chateaux standards.
The Bishop’s Buttery restaurant is housed in former cellars, honeyed golden light gently diffusing under vaulted ceilings to create an elegant yet relaxed space.
Three good breads — sourdough, Guinness, and treacle soda, caramelised onion and cheddar — arrive, the two flavoured breads marrying well with lactic cream of Glenilen cultured butter. Roast butter with chicken skin and burnt onion powder, on the other hand, is an umami monster for all its gossamer mousse-like texture and requires extra sourdough to cushion the potency.
Three snacks follow. Crisp coating of Cáis na Tíre cheese gougere implodes into melting nutty caramel, while dill enervates a rather lush cured trout croustade with taramasalata, buttermilk and Oscietra caviar.
Beef tartare tartlet is demure despite the oomph of smoked emulsion and cured ox heart.
I wait until FirstBorn, a squeamish sort, has devoured his roast veal sweetbread and is licking lips before I tell him what he has eaten.
He admits, if he’d known, he’d probably never have even sampled the succulent juicy thymus (pancreas), even enhanced by veal glaze, beef fat crumb, grilled sweetcorn, bacon, pickled girolles and black garlic. I relish every morsel.
Barbecued wild turbot is a gorgeous fillet in a creamy vin jaune sauce popping with trout roe and caviar, crispy nest of celeriac on top; fine dining as comfort eating.
Tasting of Tipperary lamb from Donald Walsh is perhaps the ‘main course’.
Rack of lamb is pink and tender, herb-crusted fillet, more tender again, and, most flavoursome of all, barbecued lamb belly capped with baby gem lettuce infused with smoked oil, a quenelle of silken broccoli purée alongside.
Lamb shoulder croquette with walnut ketchup and a disc of black truffle is a side dish, a flavour bomb threatening to eclipse the main attraction.
For all the preceding fine fare, some really excellent food, Cashel Palace honey and lemon thyme panna cotta is the dish that most captures my imagination.
Panna cotta is set in a honeycomb mould, allowing greater leeway for other flavours to play off its creamy texture, herbaceous astringency of fine honey echoed by lemon thyme shimmers with a ‘taste of place’, and the honey’s light toffee notes pair well with citric lemon sorbet.
It is followed by rice pudding parfait with Tipperary strawberries, puffed rice, basil cremeaux and strawberry ice cream, a well-crafted dessert, grounded in comparison to its ethereal predecessor.
Friendly service is efficient though, while personally allergic to the over-zealous hyper-attention of certain establishments, I would have liked to have received a list, selected and then poured my wine before the snacks arrived at the table, not after, despite my attempts to grab attention.
The list is pretty old school, heavy on French classics with some prices more easily swallowed after a big win on one of Magnier’s ponies.
Our Côtes du Rhone (Tardieu Laurent, Nobles Origine) is decent if not extraordinary but at €105 along with two tasting menus at €160 a head, FB’s birthday bash has hit its financial ceiling.
Stefan McEnteer’s cooking is top notch, precise and assured, the multiplicity of big flavours confidently wielded and deftly deployed so they present on the plate with pleasing coherency.
It may not be the most radical or outré of offerings in comparison to certain other Irish Michelin-starred restaurants but it is perfectly pitched for a more conservative audience, including the horse racing set (Magnier’s world-renowned Coolmore Stud is in nearby Fethard) and wealthy Golden Vale farmers, along with a consistent flow of well-heeled guests from around the world.
And it’s certainly the best birthday spread FB has ever put away.
- The Bishop’s Buttery at Cashel Palace Hotel
- Cashel, Co Tipperary
- https://www.cashelpalacehotel.ie/dining
- Tasting menu for two, excluding drinks, €130pp
