Tom Doorley

Oh lard, this is seductive seafood with simple twists

IASC SEAFOOD BAR AND RESTAURANT 86 O’Connell Street, Dungarvan, Co Waterford Phone: 058 64630

WHEN I was a hungry student, more years ago than I care to remember, I used to occasionally make my way from the College of the holy and undivided Trinity up Dame Street and take a sharp left at The Lord Edward.

My object? Leo Burdock’s legendary fish and chip shop. If there was a queue, there would be time to inhale the delicious aroma of hot beef dripping that wafted like a rare perfume from the open doorway on Werburgh Street. In those days, Burdock’s had a coalfired range that pumped out the same kind of heat as a steam locomotive. No wonder the serious men who fried for us had recourse to pints of Guinness from the pub next door as they worked.

I don’t know what the modern Burdock’s uses for cooking but I hope it’s still animal fat. There is no substitute. And, of course, we know now that pure, unprocessed animal fat is actually good for us. Admittedly the chips and the batter can’t be said to be healthenhancing but they are fine as an occasional indulgence. The point is that the beef dripping or the lard is fine.

Unusually for the present day, the fish and chips at Iasc are cooked in lard — that’s rendered pork fat — and the difference is huge, delightful and utterly seductive. If it were cooked in the vegetable oil that most chippers use these days it couldn’t hold a candle to Burdock’s version. And it would be a lot more unhealthy, being larded — forgive the pun — with omega-6 fatty acids rather than the beneficial omega-3 ones. Okay, I’ll skip the science bit.

Anyway, Iasc — the restaurant, as distinct from the excellent takeaway just down the street — was opened by Caitlín uí Aodha just before the March lockdown in what had been for many years Nude Food. The idea seems to be to do seafood in a straightforward and unpretentious way — maybe with the odd little twist — at fair prices. We need more of that.

We kicked off with very generous prawn sliders. Not only were the two buns more like slightly scaled down hamburger affairs than little slider buns but the breaded prawns were plump and juicy and there was salad in there too, with garlicky sauce and crisp streaky bacon. This was, in effect, a light main course for €12.95.

Carpaccio of scallops with radish and red onion seemed rather exotic in the context of the menu and it was good — wafer thin slices of the molluscs ‘cooked’, in a sense, by pickling in lime juice and salt. Perhaps the lime was too dominant but this was a very light and refreshing little dish that I supplemented with three local oysters.

Fish and chips — haddock to be precise — were first class. Cooking in lard raised this humble dish to a whole new level of savouriness. Crisp batter, moist fish, excellent chips with fluffy insides, mushy peas (of the fresh, not processed kind) and proper tartare sauce.

Simple. And so good.

A seafood paella with chorizo ( which, as some readers will remember, got Jamie Oliver into hot water a while back), was less successful but no hardship. I’ve no problem with chorizo, even if it’s not classic, but I’d just mention that this paella was heading into the realms of risotto. As such, it was good: creamy, smoky, with plenty of mussels, squid, prawn and so forth. Just not a paella for paella purists.

As we shared a pannacotta I was reminded of the late Paolo Tullio, whose pronouncements on Italian dishes I have always regarded with the same reverence as I reserve for the likes of Marcella Hazan or Valentina Harris.

Paolo was adamant that panna cotta (literally ‘ cooked cream’, incidentally) should always slump in the manner of someone who is very, very drunk.

I like slumpy pannacotta, and it’s easier to make at home, but I’ll admit that this one, which was thoroughly firm with gelatin, was very pleasant: silky, creamy, with the sweetness cut with a little raspberry.

Iasc has good food, a big terrace and lovely staff.

THE SMART MONEY

Nobody could argue with the superb fish and chips for €16.95.

AND ANOTHER THING...

Owner Caitlín uí Aodha chairs Lost At Sea Tragedies.