ECO ENCORE

ECO

WORTH AN ENCORE

ECO in Douglas is one of Cork’s busiest restaurants and you have to book well in advance. Every bit of space is used here and the reception area is minuscule and not overly-inviting.

I had booked a Saturday night meal a few days earlier and was lucky to get a table for two, more or less isolated in a corner. Could have been unlucky as some tables for two leave barely enough room to squeeze in. We could have had one of those and ended up next to one noticeably sloppy adult diner who believed in overloading her spoon and or fork and then picking up the spillages off her chest. Distracting to say the least, disgusting to say the worst.

That aside, the meal went well. Warned in advance that portions are large, I skipped the starter and picked Sole al Forno as my main course. It consisted of Paupiettes of Sole with a prawn filling and a white wine sauce, served with vegetables (very nicely done and presented) and your choice of potato (eg wedges, fries or boiled).

The three parcels were delivered to the tables straight from the oven on a very hot pan. The potatoes and veg came in side dishes. Even though the chef had been a bit heavy with the cream in the sauce, this main course was excellent, very enjoyable.

Eco, better known in Cork as Eco’s, had a wine of the month promotion going and I picked a Rolling Chardonnay (Australia). It was one of the better of that variety from Oz and superb accompaniment for the sole. Cost was €19.95, quite a bit dearer than the house wine at four euro cheaper.

Finished off with a Pineapple and summer berry dessert. The pineapple rings (two) were topped with ice-cream. The hard “core” of the fruit had not been removed and that made it harder to cut it down to bite size pieces but, that little difficulty aside, it was a fitting finale to the visit to Douglas.

Indeed, the menu in ECO is so large and so varied that further visits are on the cards. By the way, this one, including the wine, cost just under €66.00 for two of us.