AS if it wasn't difficult enough to decide just where you want to eat in Cork city. The arrival of Bodega now makes matters even more agonising.
A fine old building on Cornmarket Street which has been gutted and opened up to the light, Bodega is a snappy place, a mix of large tables which can accommodate groups and solo diners, a bar, and high tables clutched around stanchions, it is quintessentially modern, a design style accentuated by Avril McGarrity's cooking.
Baked fillet of salmon with angel hair pasta and a tomato and basil salsa; Mexican chicken kebab; gingered lamb stew; toasted ciabatta with Gruyere; and Mediterranean salad with grilled aubergine, roasted peppers and parmesan all the current notes of contemporary eating are at play. I had a rather good black and red bean chilli, with super tortillas, and a lime coriander sour cream which would have been better with some more lime and some more coriander.
The staff is excellent, and the place had a marvellous mix of mothers and babies, young people, business heads, you name it. No lunchtime dish costs more than a fiver, and the menu not only boasts "we don't use microwaves or freezers", but cleverly add: "Portable phones can cause irritation - please consider other diners", a note which should be compulsory on all future restaurant menus.