Where elegance meets art

The Cavan Crystal Hotel has always been Instaworthy. It’s neck-stretching, multi-storey, floor-to-ceiling lobby is a striking centrepiece of modern architecture, presenting what one can only acknowledge to be a bold and thoroughly distinctive internal face to one of the country’s most recognisable luxury four-star establishments.

In more recent years, the hotel has upscaled even further, with the latest focus being on fine-dining.

After months of patience, The Glassworks restaurant, located on the hotel’s first floor and freshly rebranded, formally opened its doors to the public last weekend.

The revamping project began last year. A soft-launch just before Christmas, unavoidably curtailed by the reintroduction of Covid restrictions, provided a tantalising taster. Now, with a “busy” Friday, and “even busier” Saturday under their belt, the hotel is brimming with confidence that all was worth the wait by ensuring the operational side of things is running smoothly.

Alan Shakespeare arrived as head chef seven months ago to provide a skilled and steady hand in the kitchen. Formerly of Palmerstown House Estate in Kildare, and Westmeath’s celebrated Wineport, he not only dipped into his extensive culinary repertoire, but also his contact book, enticing sous chef Kevin McLoughlin to join him in inspiring seasonally inspired dishes of the highest quality.

The surroundings, steeped in the heritage of what was once Ireland’s second oldest glassworks, has always been enough to make for a memorable meal. But the rebranded Glassworks, using only the finest Irish ingredients with a modern twist, is several cuts above the ordinary.

Service is excellent, as one would expect from an award-winning hotel of the Cavan Crystal’s standard.

Soft up-lighting, friendly and attentive staff, and comfortable seating are the immediate impressions. Supervisor Gavin Lynch’s welcome is warm and informal and he attends the table with a mini-entrée of Parmesan choux pastry topped with a black-truffle infused aioli. Wife raises a newly-manicured brow. It’s an unexpected and meagre-sized morsel, but the flavour behind it is anything but small. Not a single crumb is left behind. Chef Alan’s cards are firmly on the table. He’s playing for a Full House here.

Gavin is soon back. He’s as enthused about the reopening as anyone. It’s yet another step towards a resumption of normal service, something the hospitality has long-hankered for amid all the pandemic shenanigans.

Gavin is a mine of information too. All the produce used to create each dish is ethically and Irish sourced - the seafood ‘Responsible Irish Fish’ certified; beef direct from the Golden Vales; veg BRC certified; and all spices and oils rubber-stamped by the NSAI.

Along with dropping off a platter of freshly baked palm-sized loaves, Gavin gives a run down of his personal menu recommendations. For starter, a new addition: Duck won tons with enoki mushrooms and a Thai red curry flavoured broth. For main, a hearty fillet of beef with a compression of braised beef on the side, celeriac purée and red wine jus. “You can’t pass on that!” he eschews of the latter with a knowing nod.

To the wife, Gavin counsels the beef cheek with celeriac purée, decorated with tobacco crisp onions for starter; followed by the pork belly, bejewelled with sweet scallops, gratin potato and cider foam.

When the cheek arrived, her brows arch higher still as the protein, perfectly rendered, dissolves into soft, silken mouthfuls. Glaciers melt, babies are born, seasons pass, all in a split second. She closes her eyes, and then just like that she’s back in the room. “Wow!”

The duck won tons, for the record, are brittlely crisp, the mushrooms adding an earthy tang. It is the comparative simplicity of the dish that adds wonder, all the while the creamy broth sings of south-Asian spice - red chilli pepper, garlic, lemongrass, lime and galangal.

The fillet of beef, medium-rare, is nearly as tender as one of the scallops quickly liberated from wife’s own plate.

One can tell both the steak and the pork have been handled with care, the art of cooking measured with the skill of a precision watchmaker. The dishes disappear with carnivorous relish.

Wife’s rich and oozing chocolate fondant is only a close second to the delightfully unassuming strawberry encased white-chocolate crémeux in the pick of the sweet closing dishes.

Part of a strawberry flavoured trio, this stands king. Sheltered within the softness of the crémeux and crack of its beautifully tempered chocolate shell is a fortifying raspberry jam that explodes on the pallet with rich summer sugars.

What Alan and the Crystal team have done here is very clever, the same being said of both the restaurant rebrand and the food, taking relatively modest materials and elevating them to a point of true potency.