CONNOISSEUR:For good food, short menus and reasonable prices, it's time to bring on the brasseries
IT WAS LATE, the taxi whisking us through the dim, cobbled streets of Paris at speed. We had one thought on our minds and that was food. This was mixed with relief, however, realising that despite the late hour we knew we would be fed. For the brasserie, that venerable French institution, stays open late and would more than cater to our demands for supper.
We shared a plate of freshly marinated sardines sitting on slices of well-seasoned tomatoes doused in a little olive oil, half a litre of the house wine and main courses of calf's kidneys with mustard sauce and sole meunière. There was change from our €50: not much, mind you, but change nonetheless.
Brasserie, a restaurant cafe, seems a fitting way to celebrate Bastille Day on Monday but why can we not adopt more of the same here? In these straitened times the idea of being able to eat out somewhere that isn't a restaurant would bring some much-needed relief. Sure we have the delights of Pearl Brasserie and Chatham Brasserie in Dublin, the Club Brasserie in Cork and Roscoff Brasserie in Belfast but are these not really restaurants masquerading as brasseries with their multiple menus, relatively strong prices and, in many cases, elaborate dishes?
The brasserie dates back to early medieval times. Originally a premises where beer was made, by the mid-19th century it was also a place where beer was served. Since then, the serving of food has increasingly become the dominant activity, although a glass of beer remains an integral part.
Brasseries can and have become quite glorious establishments: think of Bofinger and Brasserie Lipp in Paris for old-style charm or Les Grandes Marches for a modern version by fashionable architect designers Elizabeth and Christian de Portzamparc.
Yet in essence a brasserie can, and often is, quite modest.
Modest means a look and feel that doesn't date, one menu that is large enough to offer choice, but does not put undue pressure on the kitchen (for which read they can handle things when it gets busy). It means drinks that are accessible in price and range. But it also means no fuss or ceremony and a bit of waiting. Watch the staff in any well-run brasserie and they field multiple requests, never seem to pass a table without scooping something up or putting something down.
If we want this style of dining, we as customers have some work to do too. Casual eating establishments are creeping in - Domini Kemp's Itsa4 in Sandymount, for example, Sheridan's on the Docks in Galway or the Farmgate Cafe in Cork are just a few examples - but there are not nearly enough of them and we are partly to blame.
A brasserie in France has people in it most of the day and most days of the week. Even a Sunday night will see singles and couples, families and friends gathering for easy informal casual dining. It is no big event, no really difficult decision. And on Monday and Tuesday too, people will eat out rather than face the chore of cooking.
What is on the plate is often very simple, and quick. A slice of paté, some soused herrings, steak haché. We have our own brasserie-friendly dishes - cottage pie, bacon and cabbage, liver and onions. Dishes that are quick and easy to serve, offer good eating and don't require an army of chefs to execute thereby enabling low staff costs. Which should mean lower prices.
There are literally thousands of potential brasseries up and down the length of this country. Large, often modest premises where there are fewer people than before and fewer pints being pulled. Our pubs may be in decline, but maybe there is an opportunity in a plate of real food and a glass rather than a pint of beer.
Pearl Brasserie 01-6613572
Chatham Brasserie 01-6790055
Itsa4 01-2194676
Sheridan's on the Docks 091-564905
Farmgate Cafe 021-4278134
The Club Brasserie 021-4273987
Roscoff Brasserie 0044-28-90311150
Bofinger, Bastille, Paris 0033-1-42728782
Brasserie Lipp, Saint-Germain des Prés,
Paris 0033-1-45485391
Le Grandes Marches, Bastille, Paris
0033-1-43429032