The Duck Restaurant
Marlfield House Hotel
Courtown Road
Gorey
Co Wexford
MY wife, daughter, and I ended up booking a self-catering holiday in a chalet in the grounds of a hotel in Co Wexford, not because we like Wexford so much, but that, having started our internet search in Donegal and spread south and east, this was the first place we came across that had any vacancies for the dates we were after.
A self-catering chalet with a hob and microwave but no oven forced us into the hotel for bar food more often than the grub warranted and soon, while a diet of pasta, pizza, and playparks suited our four-year-old down to the ground, my wife and I fancied something a little bit more sophisticated.
Which saw us pull into Marlfield House Hotel for the only time available, a 5pm dinner at its restaurant, The Duck.
Marlfield House is a Georgian-looking Victorian hotel, refined and serene, at the end of a long drive shaded and cooled by trees greeting each other from either side.
A converted coach houses The Duck restaurant to the rear of the main house. Indoor dining was still prohibited, so we ate on the canopied terrace, close to the rose garden, with squares, hexagons, and rectangles, separated by gravel paths, filled with pink, red, white, cream, crimson, and yellow, scents mingling and drifting in the sun.
The meal matched the elegance and ease of the setting, and there was little, if anything, about it that wasn't absolutely right.
We started with two salads. The beetroot and feta was smooth and creamy, a delicious blend of sweet and salty, mild and earthy, with crunch and texture from the walnuts and green beans. Likewise, the crab, run through with lemon, combined flavours and textures with skill.
As well as being good to eat, the starters offered a feast for the eyes, deep purple and shining green, and the high quality of presentation was evident in the main courses, too, the colourful ingredients arrayed like paints on a palette. And, gosh, they were wonderful on the palate.
The lamb melted in the mouth, sweet, with contrasting saltiness from the accompanying lardons. The fricassee of summer vegetables married perfectly with the meat, and gave a satisfying crunch, setting off well the softness of the lamb.
My monkfish was bold and meaty, and the prawns were sweet and delicate. The vegetables were cooked so as to allow their individual flavours to come through, while the herbs and tomato lifted the dish with a lovely, light touch.
My daughter's pasta Bolognese is worth mentioning, too. She wolfed it down, and it was clear no effort had been spared simply because it was from the children's menu.
If there was a fault in the entire meal, it came with dessert, where you could say the chocolate brownie – richness and depth of flavour notwithstanding – was maybe just too gooey. The Bakewell tart, however, was absolutely perfect: warm, light, sweet almond sponge, with a hint of vanilla, sitting on sharp raspberry, all encased in marvellously crisp pastry, accompanied by fine ice cream.
It would be wrong of me to fail to mention Darren, our waiter. Friendly, knowledgeable, thoughtful, solicitous, he made my daughter laugh and looked after us without it ever seeming like he was trying.
That sense of effortlessness was characteristic of the whole evening, to be honest. Everything about it was all so smooth and easy, it was hard to imagine the flippers beneath the surface going nineteen to the dozen, and yet they must have been, of course. You don't get this level of relaxed confidence and assurance without being seriously good and working your socks off.
It would have been good to stay longer, with a bottle of something crisp and cold, looking out over the rose garden, lingering with the setting sun. We'll be back one day, I hope.
The bill
€35 for two courses, starter and main course, including:
Roast garden beetroot and feta salad, green beans, walnuts
Kilmore Quay crab salad, beetroot purée, garden leaves (€6 supplement)
Kilmore monkfish and prawn, sauté of courgette, asparagus, confit tomato, garlic, garden herbs (€6 supplement)
Seared Wexford lamb rump, fricassee of pea, spinach, courgette, broad beans, mint, (€8 supplement)
Child's pasta Bolognese €9
Salted caramel and raspberry Bakewell tart, ice cream €8.50
Child's chocolate brownie, ice cream €7.00
Glass, Sauvignon Blanc €7.50
Diet Coke €3.00
Total: €125.00 (around £105)
