Food

First Look: Inside the new Irish restaurant that’s aiming for two Michelin stars even before it opens

Terre, the new restaurant at the five-star Castlemartyr Resort, aims to bring guests on a ‘culinary journey’

Chef-patron Vincent Crépel in the kitchen at the Castlemartyr Resort's new restaurant. Photograph: Barry Murphy

Marie Claire Digby's face
Marie Claire Digby
Fri Sep 9 2022 - 05:00

The county of Cork, which already has four restaurants with a Michelin star, is about to beef up its culinary credentials with the official opening, on Saturday night, of Terre, at the five-star Castlemartyr Resort. The French chef-patron Vincent Crépel, whose impressive resumé includes three- and two-star restaurants in Europe and Asia, is leading the kitchen team.

A Terre recruitment notice for the role of restaurant director sought candidates who could “consistently provide a two Michelin star guest experience”, with the ability “to lead by example with regard to service standards as required for a two Michelin star restaurant”.

The intention is clear – and the ambition startling in its audacity. But in the background are the talent, and the funding, to support the aspiration.

The entrance to the kitchen, where the tasting-menu experience begins. Photograph: Barry Murphy

Castlemartyr Resort was added to the Irish hospitality portfolio of the Singapore-based investors Dr Stanley Queck and Peng Loh last year. The pair also own Sheen Falls Lodge, in Co Kerry, and Trinity Townhouse hotel, which includes the Library St restaurant, in Dublin. Loh, an Irish-born former lawyer, is chief executive of Unlisted Collection, a group of five hotels and more than 20 restaurants in Singapore, London, Shanghai and Sydney, as well as in Ireland. The group already has one restaurant with three Michelin stars, as well as two with two stars and four with a single star. Speaking to the French guide’s online magazine about his restaurant empire in April of this year, Loh said: “Look out for some exciting happenings later this year from the Emerald Isle.”

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Now the Castlemartyr project is ready to launch and Crépel is ready to rock. The chef, who arrived in Cork in January, having visited twice before agreeing to take on the role, confirms the direction the new restaurant is heading in. “I think we are very clear about what we want to do. Yes, we want to aim for stars. Definitely.” Stars, plural? “Well, we’ll see, but at this stage in my career it is time to do something special.”

The chef's table, which features a duck press at its centre, in the restaurant's kitchen. Photograph: Barry Murphy

Having worked at the Michelin three-star Arzak, in the Basque city of San Sebastián, in northern Spain, after graduating with a culinary degree, the Lourdes-born chef then headed to Singapore, talking his way into a job with the Taiwanese chef André Chiang after obtaining his mobile number from a food supplier. After working with Chiang for eight years he went to Switzerland, to another three-star, Restaurant Hôtel de Ville Crissier. Subsequently he opened Porte12 in Paris, with the backing of Loh. That closed last year, and Crépel was encouraged by Loh to turn his attention to Ireland.

At an invitation-only preview evening at Terre last weekend, the successful candidate for the restaurant’s directorship was revealed. Fergus MacDevitt, who is German but owes his name to his Irish mother, welcomed diners by opening the doors to what was once Castlemartyr’s Bell Tower restaurant, in the old part of the 17th-century manor house, to reveal an entirely new dining experience they are describing as a culinary journey. The voyage begins with a stroll down a passageway lined with backlit dark shelves holding bottles and jars of ferments, pickles and preserves on one side and the chef’s personal collection of Michelin guides, which run from 1987 onwards, on the other.

Veau Parisien, the first of four snacks served at the chef's table. Photograph: Barry Murphy

These won’t be the first things that make an impression on diners, though. That distinction will most likely rest with the music, an eclectic selection playing at what some might describe as high decibel. “It is a mix of what I like to listen to,” Crépel says. “So you have The Rolling Stones, you have Buffalo Springfield, you have Police, you have also some French songs, which I really like. So this playlist is me, basically: it’s very personal, and I want it to be high vibes. I feel like sometimes it’s a bit intrusive. I understand that. But I think so far we’re doing okay with that.”

The drama continues as diners move into the kitchen, where an enormous chef’s table, hewn from a fallen monkey-puzzle tree from the Castlemartyr estate and adorned with a shiny duck press, is where diners are seated, with a glass of grower champagne. They get a ringside view of the black-walled, spot–lit kitchen beyond. Glass-fronted air-drying cabinets, in which a variety of carcasses hang, are on view, as is a still-life arrangement of luxury food and drinks, which are displayed on ice.

Three intricate creations, far too fancy to be described as snacks, based on veal, spider crab and Ballycotton blue lobster, are served at the chef’s table, and then it’s time to move over to the civilian side of the pass, where we are introduced to the myriad of special ingredients the chef uses in his 12-serving tasting menu. A fourth and final snack, Wagyu beef tartare, is served there as we listen to a team member – no distinction is made between front and back of house – talk about the lobster, crab, caviar, quail, beets, radishes, wasabi and horseradish (both from Ireland), duck, beef, charcuterie, 48-month Parmesan, blood peach and finger limes that will play their part in the procession of dishes.

The restaurant has three dining rooms, their furniture, tableware and accessories made by Irish companies. Photograph: Barry Murphy

The next stage of the “journey” happens at expansive circular tables in the classically decorated diningroom, each lit to emphasise the plates. The music continues here, from the same personally chosen playlist. A serving station is adjacent to each of the tables. “The dishes are finished tableside for an interactive culinary theatre dynamic,” according to the restaurant’s press release. The furniture is by Modet, in Kinsale, the tableware is by Fermoyle Pottery and the table centrepieces are by Leeside Forge.

What follows is a further six courses of intricate, complicated dishes that will have restaurant reviewers digging deep into their culinary lexicons. There is an otoro tuna starter, followed by an intensely savoury steamed dashi custard we reckon to be the highlight of the evening. King crab, razor clams and beeswax-aged lobster is the first fish course, with cod topped with Sturia low-salt caviar, farmed in Bordeaux, to follow. Quail, “cooked over Bincho” according to the menu, which is presented as guests depart, is the final savoury course. “My food is rooted in classical French technique yet alive with the bright, exciting flavours of Asia,” Crépel says.

A dessert of rhubarb, Earl Grey cream, smoked strawberries and fromage blanc sorbet. Photograph: Barry Murphy

A pre-dessert of granita, served alongside a cup of Solaris Botanicals white tea chai, as a play on hot and cold, is followed by a dessert of smoked vine peaches. Then, about three hours into our “journey”, it is time to move to the squishy sofas in the drawingroom, where petits fours, including a not-so-mini gateau Tropézienne to share, are served, and a post-dinner drinks trolley is wheeled into position. No postprandial snoozing, though, as the same soundtrack is playing here too.

Terre seats 24 guests between its three rooms, eight in a private dining space, and will open Wednesday to Saturday. The tasting menu will cost €140, with a wine pairing, chosen by the enthusiastic young Croatian sommelier Filip Palfi, an additional €120.