Luxury isn’t what it used to be, I blame advertising. Luxury has its origin in 13th century old French and meant sinful self-indulgence rather than expensive shampoo. Personally I prefer the original definition.
Hotels in Ireland love the word luxury too, and a few of them even use it accurately, the K Club is one.
It really is a beautiful building; on arrival it reminded myself and my guest ‘Ms Wine’ of a château you might pass in the Médoc, perhaps no coincidence given it was once owned by the Barton family of Château Léoville Barton, the name adopted by the hotel’s restaurant.
The restaurant reminded me of a country house drawing room, high ceilinged and plushly furnished in gold and burgundy tones. While high on the swag (curtain) factor, it felt comfortable, and our seat by the window had a good view of the immaculately tended grounds.
The Barton’s Table d’Hôte menu costs €85 and is classical French in style, which felt appropriate to our surroundings. I was intrigued to see vegan ‘plant based lamb’ and ‘flank steak’ on the menu alongside the monkfish and fillet steak. I was not brave enough to order either.
Our meal began with house-made nutty soft brown bread and a fluffy white roll with some herbed butter, followed by an amuse bouche of tuna tartare with mango and caviar. The amuse worked well, delicately textured tuna lifted by the slightly under-ripe mango, and given salty notes by dots of caviar.
Ms Wine chose the slow-poached foie gras which came with a warm brioche bun, prune and raisin chutney, and a port wine jelly. The foie was stunningly good, cooked just enough to hold a shape but fragmenting pleasingly into soft lobes of silky lusciousness. The chutney and jelly knitted in nicely.
Ms Wine had a generous glass of Little Beauty ‘Noble’ Gewürztraminer (€13.50) dessert wine from New Zealand. Honeyed, fragrant, and sweet but with balancing acidity, it was the perfect accompaniment to the foie gras.
For my own main I went old school, choosing pan-roasted scallops with Clonakilty black and white pudding terrine and an apple and Calvados compote. The scallops were caramelised on the outside and translucent inside and while I enjoyed the familiarity of the Clonakilty pudding, I think the dish could be improved by using an artisan fresh blood pudding.
Pan-fried whole Atlantic black sole added a €15 supplement but I didn’t care, especially given that this fish could have fed four people and was so perfectly cooked. The flesh flaked off the bone beautifully and the blue mussel beurre blanc added all the proper accents. Perfect.
Ms Wine’s pan-roasted rump of Roscommon lamb was similarly tasty, served pink with an intensely meaty jus. Creamed mashed potato and crunchy carrots and peas were included and I paid an extra €7 for triple-cooked chunky chips. These were crispy but much too dense for my taste, I’d have preferred a fluffy interior, perhaps double cooking might be enough.
The wine list is overseen by sommelier Lisa O’Doherty. who is a bit of a star. Bordeaux features strongly with a fine collection of Barton family wines and former owner Michael Smurfit’s legacy is evident in the excellent selection of Pétrus (his favourite wine) — 11 vintages in all, beginning with 1970. The list has good representation from across the wine world, the star attraction being 1990 La Romanée Conti for €60,000 a bottle.
There is a large ‘by the glass’ selection available via Coravin including Romanée Conti La Tâche 1991 for a mere €4,000. My more modest €10 glass of K Club Bordeaux made by the Bartons for the restaurant worked well — classic claret with textured red and black fruits. Ms Wine’s glass of Castello d’Albola Chianti cost €20, but was worth it given it was a 175ml pour.
Pastry chef Fernando Waduge deserves a mention. My ‘citron tasting plate’ was pleasing on the eye and included several citrus-themed bites; the best bits were the tangy intense lemon cream, a crunchy pistachio and lime crumble, and best of all a seductive exotic coconut and lemongrass sorbet. Ms Wine’s poached pear had satisfying tropical flavours of ginger and passion fruit syrup with a chunk of crunchy puff pastry for contrast.
The K Club looks and feels luxurious and so is exec chef Gary O’Hanlon’s cooking. While not inexpensive, this meal felt like sinful indulgence — and we loved it.
- Food: 8.5/10
- Wine: 9/10
- Service: 8/10
- Atmosphere: 8/10
- Value: 8/10