Restaurant review: Myo Café captures Cork light

Some of the fine fare at Myo Café. Pic: Joe McNamee

Though I am a profoundly useless chess player, invariably disinterested after a few minutes, and haven't troubled a board in years, I’m still a sucker for the more romantic aspects of the game, so I was utterly entranced on learning of Myo Café's fabulous hand-carved stone, marble and onyx chess tables, permanently installed across the road from the bijou little Pope's Quay venue, sited alongside the quay wall by the River Lee, Cork's own version of New York's outdoor chess tables in Washington Square Park and where today the first al fresco Myo Café chess tournament takes place in aid of Cork Simon.

That got me thinking — why have I never reviewed Myo Café in the nine years since it opened in 2014, then wondering if I had actually been reluctant to share what has been a regular and private personal pleasure for some time?

Firstly, Liam Mullaney's Myo is so much more than a café. Since first opening, he has evolved slowly, carefully, gradually adding to the edible repertoire but equally evolving as a beloved community resource, the chess tables, just the latest episode.

There are myriad evening events, including live music and poetry and it recently served as a ‘death café’ which, though the name might give a hospitality PR firm conniptions, is in fact part of a commendable and growing global movement (there are 88 in Ireland) to increase awareness around death and mortality, in order to live finite lives to the fullest.

One of Mullaney's most important initiatives has been his promotion of Pope's Quay as an al fresco space. More than a few of my own Myo memories are of being swaddled in the little café's cosy embrace on wet, wintry days but I well remember his first tentative moves outdoors, planters across the road on either side of the Shandon footbridge to add a floral frisson to the area. There had always been a few tables outside the superb Bierhaus craft beer pub a few doors down and when Mullaney ventured some simple seats and tables along the quay wall, it seemed to trigger a communal contagion of outdoor activity.

Now, on a summer's eve, even the footpaths become ‘seats’ as cosmopolitan crowds of multi-cultural Cork gather to socialise in the sun, maybe even knocking out a song on the inevitable guitar, in what is fast becoming Cork's laid-back south-facing ‘Left Bank’—along with the Bierhaus and ever splendid Iyer's (South Indian vegetarian food par excellence), the trio have revived what had become a rather neglected part of the city centre.

In this endless summer of early June, we are only ever going to sit outside by the river and though vegetable soup sounds counterintuitive in the height of a heatwave, this is more light broth than stodgy, thick purée, boasting a rich flavor that has No 1 Son wondering if such profound depths of umami owe anything to carnivorous additions but, no, it is entirely meat-free and very good.

Frittata is nicely judged, sound of texture, light and springy, and the flavours of feta, cheddar, courgette, onion, and carrot are balanced, even if it could wear a little more seasoning.

As seasoning is also employed sparingly in an otherwise very good quiche of spinach, feta cheese, sweet onion, and walnut in a fine, buttery, crumbly gluten-free pastry base made with buckwheat flour (in itself a technical challenge, well handled), it suggests the salt scarcity is a deliberate part of an overall health-conscious approach to the menu.

That is not to say for a moment we are substituting ‘wonderful’ with ‘worthy’ as a vegan wrap — toasted flatbread, a crisp housing for red pesto, chickpea, sweet potato, and lettuce — is as tasty as the chicken version — with Emmental, coleslaw, relish and lettuce — that No 2 Son grabs as takeaway before hightailing it to the beach. Anyway, an old-school baked treats menu is certainly not conceived with a weather eye on the waistline.

No 1 Son says Raspberry and Almond Bakewell tart is "pretty good". As a fully paid-up bakewell aficionado, I am compelled to qualify his opinion. It is not "pretty good", I harumph, it is quite "excellent", a layer of shortcrust pastry, firm but not ‘biscuity’ brittle, smeared with tangy raspberry jam and topped with sublimely judged frangipane, bearing the perfect amount of sugar and flush with an almond hum. Pear and almond tart is good, buttery pastry, more of that delicious frangipane and pears poached to grainy, toothsome perfection, topped with baked almond flakes. A crunchy crumble of Apple and Berry is married to lush, silken mascarpone, a superb combo that completely steals No 1 Son's heart.

Lemon drizzle cake is also a triumph, another example of paying attention to the little details, in this case not utterly drowning the cake in lemon syrup until it has the texture of bog and wince-inducing citric sweetness. Here, a fine pillowy Madeira is lightly blessed, sufficient to add sweet acidic intrigue without distracting from a quite superb cake.

It's possible to get a beer or a wine but cake inevitably demands coffee. If there's one quibble I have with Myo, it is the continental-style strong dark roast, a flavour profile I formerly embraced but left behind some years ago as I began to fall for the more complex and lighter, fruity flavours of single-origin Irish specialty roasts then just beginning to emerge. Mind you, the bracing tannic bitterness of the long roast does cut crisply and precisely through the plush sweetness of the desserts, recalibrating the palate for another plunge into the depths of delicious excess, and it as good as any similar coffee you still get served up in most parts of France or Italy.

Myo is a special place, as much a state of mind as a mere hospitality venue, and when Mullaney's upcoming plans for expansion come to fruition, including evening openings, serving tapas and pintxos along with fabulous natural wines from Brian's Wines, then, we’ll need the council topedestrianise Pope's Quay entirely and I shall be demanding my own stone-carved table — without a chess board, of course, I know my place.

The Verdict:

more unwind articles

More in this section