Thompsons Do The Walk All Right

Thompsons Do The Walk All Right 

Peruvian style chicken from Clonakilty!

Fresh pint and those 1826 tiles

When you walk in the door at Thompson’s you’re walking on the original steel tiles from 1826. You’re also walking towards a delicious meal and some excellent beer brewed in the onsite micro-brewery.

And there’s more in this former bakery. Very comfortable seating for one. It’s a huge venue (seats 120, even with Covid19 rules) yet well divided into nooks and snugs and booths, even some intimate little hideaways. And the staff are welcoming and friendly.

Those steel tiles are not the only mementoes from the bakery’s past. There’s an ancient cash register by the front door, what looks like a mechanical dough mixer in the middle and, back by the bar, is where you’ll see their latest discovery: suitcases for wedding cakes!

With the micro-brewery on site, run by the Cotton Ball, there’s no surprise that the food is designed to match. Pizzas and burgers appear prominently on the menu. But this is a step-up on the usual tap-room fare.

Hot wings

Take our shared large starter for instance: Buffalo style wings are slathered in their 2-week house fermented Chilli sauce which is blended with vinegar, butter, honey, and spices served with blue cheese and celery. Hot and also packed with flavour, great texture in that sauce, there’s also a super dip, and that big piece of celery comes in handy! I’ve tasted quite a few wing offerings recently, in and out of town and also at home, and these are most impressive.

They also do a Sweet and Sticky version, with house made sweet chilli sauce with soya and sugar glaze, topped with sesame seeds and scallions and served with sweet soya sauce. Nachos, large or small, are also on offer, a couple of salads (including a Caesar) and also a Grilled Halloumi, Chickpea and Lentil salad.

Brewery tanks

Irish beef features in a few of the burgers and there’s also a chicken burger as well as a vegan version (with a spicy Chickpea patty). And some main-course salads, bigger versions of the Caesar, the vegan Beetroot, Carrot, Quinoa and Spinach and the vegetarian Grilled Halloumi with chickpea and Lentil.

We went to the rotisserie for one of our mains and the Peruvian style chicken was excellent. This Marinated Free Range Clonakilty Chicken is served with roasted jalapeno, a Red onion sauce, Salad and Fries. Quite a plateful and top quality (15.50).

There’s a terrific selection of pizzas, all on their 3-day proofed dough made from caputo flour. My pick was the Nduja Spicy Sausage and Honey Pizza (14.50). This one was slightly spicy, slightly sweet but very very satisfactory indeed.  There’s a vegetarian version and even a Ham and Pineapple. The other ones that appealed to me were the Chorizo, red onion and chilli and also the Chicken, red peppers and onions.

Must say we were pretty well fed at this point but there was no way we were going to leave a certain dessert behind. Considering the history of where we were sat, it had to be, for old times sake, the Thompsons Raspberry Swiss Roll, even if it was a shared one (5.95). But we did get two decent slices and lots of cream and enjoyed every little moist crumb.

Swiss Roll

We didn’t have any drink. Only kidding! Just had to sample a couple from the tap. CL sipped a glass of Thompsons Lite Lager (3.75) and pronounced herself happy with it. My choice was the superb Cotton Ball Indian Summer, produced first as a seasonal but now very much a core beer. And I could see why as I sipped my delicious pint (5.95).

Total bill came to €65.05 - would have been 56.40 without the tax!

Thompsons Restaurant and Brewery https://www.thompsonscork.ie/home-thompsons 

5-11 MacCurtain Street

Cork

Tel: (021) 603 1111

Thompsons, up and running since 6th of August