 CU NA MARA 11 Hobart Road, Bristol 744-6336; cunamara.net
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While we had plans to hit another restaurant in the Lakes Region for dinner, we decided to have a little lunch at Cu Na Mara, figuring we’d eat light and then work up an appetite by early evening and be ready for Round Two. We figured wrong.
Lunch was anything but light, for two reasons: One, the food at Cu Na Mara was hearty and filling; and two, we ended up ordering more than “a little” lunch. We were so delighted by the menu, that we decided to go for appetizer, main course and dessert – and a couple of pints of Guinness, of course, which is a meal in itself.
We expected a typical Irish restaurant menu, but found a menu that was anything but typical. Sure there are the requisite Irish favorites - Guinness beef stew, shepherd’s pie and fish & chips – but there are some inventive non-Irish specialties as well, making it certain that everyone is bound to find something to their liking.
Cu Na Mara is owned and run by Ray and Maryann Gardiner and, according to the Web site, the restaurant is named for Gardiner’s father’s boat, the Cu Na Mara, which means “Hound of the Water.”
“According to an Irish myth, sailors followed white caps on the ocean, which resembled heads of Irish wolfhounds, back home to Ireland,” according to the site.
When you enter Cu Na Mara you find yourself on an enclosed porch. While it was chilly outside, gas fireplaces made the porch toasty and warm. We entered another door to the main restaurant and found a small, but delightfully cozy main dining room with heavy wooden tables and chairs. Still, despite the small size of the dining area, we still had a sense of privacy at our table without feeling that we were on top of the diners next to us.
As I said, the menu is quite varied. Appetizers include traditional clam chowder and tri-colored soup, as well as bangers (sausage), steak on a stick, and buffalo tenders. We ordered a Taste of Ireland ($9.99), which included chicken tenders, steak on a stick, onion rings, and Irish cocktail sausages served with whole-grain mustard Irish whiskey dipping sauce – in other words a little of everything.
It was a meal in itself. The sausages were smooth inside with a nicely crunchy outside; the onion rings, thick cut Vidalias, were sweet and prepared with a light and perfect batter. The steak on a stick is sliced filet of beef with a tang from being marinated in a traditional fresh herb barbecue sauce. They were tender and tasty. Our only disappointment was with the chicken tenders – while the chicken was very tender, the batter was a doughy, which took away from the overall taste. Overall, however, the appetizer is one we’d order again.
There were some tempting specials and I chose one of them for my main course – the smoked salmon special ($9.95) consisted of in-house cured, hand-carved smoked salmon served on brown bread with capers and a salad of greens topped with onions and a lemon vinaigrette dressing. The salmon was nicely done, not too heavy on the smoke, and sliced thin. It would have been heaven on a bagel. The capers added a nice tang. The portion was very generous, with a half-dozen slices of salmon on a half-dozen thick brown-bread halves. Having enjoyed some of the brown bread while we perused the menu and sipped stout, all that bread was a bit too much for me, so I unfortunately had to leave some of it on the plate. The bread actually was more of a heavy, yet smooth roll, so you can imagine it is quite filling. I ate all of the delicious salmon however.
My dining companion decided to go traditional and he ordered the Guinness beef stew ($10.99), tender chunks of beef with roasted root vegetables and fresh herbs in a stout reduction, finished with a topping of whipped potatoes. The stew was good, but not thick as we’d expected. It was almost a soup with broth-like consistency that tasted slightly of vinegar. Although it wasn’t quite like he expected, my companion said it was very good – and, of course, filling.
Then it was time for dessert and there was the final straw in the destruction of our dinner plans. After dessert, there was to be no early – or late for that matter – dinner that day.
Desserts on the menu include tiramisu, apple pie and bread pudding – which my dining companion ordered. I ordered a dessert special of strawberries sliced and soaked in Gran Marnier with a touch of vanilla . They were topped with a Bailey’s butterscotch infused whipped cream ($6.50). The phrase “To die for” was coined for this kind of dish – and the one that my dining companion ordered. The bread pudding – according to the menu “Ray’s Granny’s recipe” - a traditional Irish bread pudding topped with Irish whiskey butterscotch sauce and whipped cream ($6). What came to the table was enormous. I can’t even describe how large this dessert was – so much so that we took leftovers home and each had a substantial snack later that night when hunger finally did kick in. The bread pudding was dense and sweet and the sauce accompanied it perfectly. It was a terrific end to a terrific lunch.
I have to mention that the service at Cu Na Mara was outstanding – our waitress was friendly, upbeat and efficient. I think people often underestimate the effect good service has on your meal – it makes a good meal even better.
When you add it all up, great service, great atmosphere and delicious and inventive food at reasonable prices (our bill was just a hair over $45), Cu Na Mara is a winner. With the upcoming school holiday, countless families will be heading into the region and beyond – a stop at Cu Na Mara is a must.
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