RESTAURANTS AND FOOD: Prime 74. Pride of Tipperary Town.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Prime 74. Pride of Tipperary Town.

Prime 74. Pride of Tipperary Town.

Tipperary Town is serendipitously situated in the centre of a great food producing area. Not just Tipperary county itself but all the neighbours, though the county itself includes the world class cheese producers Cashel Blue. The near neighbours also include the likes of Crowe’s Pork, White Gypsy Beers and Cashel Fine Foods. And a bit further away, in the south west, nationally known producers such as Gubbeen and Skeaghanore Duck.

You can get all these and more on your plate at Prime 74, a relatively new restaurant in Tipperary Town, less than an hour from Cork City. Chef and owner Martin Lavelle is dedicated to seasonal and local and is doing a great job in this lovely premises at 74 Main Street (park in nearby Market Place).

We were in early for a recent lunch, just a few ahead of us, but soon the room was more or less full. And soon we would see, and taste, why. Service is friendly here. The menus were at hand as soon as we were seated and that included a list of specials which were detailed to us. And we were also told of a Duck Spring Roll that hadn’t made the list!

The lunch menu is served from 12.00pm to 4.00pm and is a tempting list. I was looking at the Warm Chicken Harissa Salad (also available as a mains). The Red Wine Poached Pear and Cashel Blue salad was also tempting. But, in the end, we decided to do mains and dessert.

And my mains, the Pappardelle Dexter Beef Ragu, rocket and Parmesan, came from that specials list. The beef was top notch and well cooked and the combination of flavours was amazing. A superb dish for €13.50.

And our other mains, Deep Fried Curried Fish Cake, Baby leaf Spinach, Poached Egg and Chips, was another flavoursome gem, this too fairly priced at €14.00. The curry element was nicely judged.

With the way cleared for dessert (all 5.50), I again picked from the specials and was very happy with my eye-catching Chilled Rice Pudding with Chantilly cream, strawberries, basil and spiced crisps. And happiness too at the other side as the Lemon Meringue Pie with Raspberry Sorbet and Mint was another sweet treat.

Drinks? Well they do have wine (there is a function room upstairs) and that excellent local beer by White Gypsy. Lots of soft drinks too and teas and coffees of course. We were still in the heat wave so we were looking for something cool and non-alcoholic and were more than happy to see the local Sparkling Apple Juice from the Apple Farm in Cahir. A very enjoyable drop indeed. And a very enjoyable meal indeed.