Goldie — Restaurant in Cork

Located on Plunkett Street which is one of the many lively bar streets but on the good side (the other side of Plunkett is filled with vagrants and beggars)

I canceled my other dinner once I was able to book a table here. Enter into a young woman chef who made her bones at Elbow Lane, her modern take a fish (seafood) forward restaurant that's ever changing based on the contents of the freshest catch.

Not fussy but luxe. I requested bar seating so had front row view of the efficiency and attention to detail the kitchen staff took to everything from expedite to managing the front of house staff.

Word to the wise their small plates showcase the immense talent of Aishling and her chef de cuisines:

For my order :

Taiwan fish nuggets; beautiful rendition on my childhood favorite Taiwanese popcorn chicken, which uses white pepper for nostalgia feel that always sparks joy. Goldie's take has more Indian spices which was lovely and the fish was fried to perfection, not greasy whatsoever. How Chef Anna didn't get the famous basil pop in the oil, I'll never figure out....perhaps that's why she gets paid the big bucks! Incredible technique.

Cod schnitzel; gherkin and celeriac combo is one of my favorites with a twist by adding more Dijon mustard reminded me of my last trip to Lyon. Soy sauce cured egg yolk will add the additional saltiness the dish craves on anything fried.

Pibil cod head & cheek sope; the sope was one of the best executions I've seen since Pujol's (MXC) version. How this dish doesn't become soggy and gross speaks to their talent.

Main: pan roasted to perfection monkfish with beetroot achar, apple katkut - look my pictures. un fing real. Monkfish is seldomly seen in the states and when I do make it it's usually chopped up in congee with tons of ginger and scallions. Love this French? take of this ugly ass fish lol

Fish tends to be a lighter option for dinner, so with any luck you’ll have room for dessert; i was completely stuffed by made the right decision in ordering caramelized white chocolate with the Achill Island sea salt and milk sorbet and the bucket wheat cracker. Unbelievable touch that was light air and not cloying.

Whilst sitting at dinner I found out Chef Aishling was recently awarded Ireland's Best Chef 2024 and Goldie is listed as the #2 restaurant in Ireland's Top 100 restaurants. The Bib Gourmand rating is what brought us here, and they were absolutely correct.

Chef Rob - expedition was exceptional. His command of the job came second nature to him, being able to manage several chefs and front of staff. Giving meaningful instruction without being overly dominant yet letting his young staff express their creativity is what talented Chefs do. Really appreciate him coming by to check up on me after the service.

Chef Anna - plating was gorgeous and really appreciated her time expanding on each dish to me in person, such a lovely hospitality touch. This is totally an aside, but she was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen on my trip to Ireland. she's an absolute beauty.

Front of staff was excellent - I showed up 30 mins early to my reservation but suggested I grab a drink over at Brennan's....

I wanted to really like this restaurant but many small things added up to make this an underwhelming experience.

The restaurant itself is beautiful, the staff attentive, knowledgable and friendly but the food for want of a better word was just a bit naff. For context I’ve been a chef specialising in fish for 20 years so perhaps am being overly critical.

For a fish speciality restaurant its a joke to only have 4 types of fish on the menu all 4 of them white fish at that, zero shellfish or even oily fish. This isnt a seasonality or availability issue regardless of whether they respond saying it is.

The fish nuggets as a snack doesnt have a named fish but it was again a white fish and probably hake. (This was pretty tasty)

For starters they had two cold starters both using cured plaice (that in itself is beyond comprehension) as well as 1 hake and 1 monkfish dish. The cured plaice portion size is about 20g at best and given the delicate nature of plaice is completely annihilated with strong flavours, you could put a piece of cured cardboard in its stead and would taste the same. Monkfish sope was delicious and the most inventive thing we ate.

We ordered the vegetarian saltwort onion bhaji starter after we received the first plate as we were told it was good (and big) and the portion sizes are tiny, this is pushed by FOH to fill people up I assume, was very good though.

For mains its hake, plaice and turbot. No amount of “we use market fresh fish” rhetoric makes up for the fact this is simply lazy and terrible menu design. Its a fully booked restaurant so its not like they have to be careful with food waste.

Many of the dishes tasted similar, dill was used as a garnish for basically every plate.

The monkfish main was delicious if slightly overcooked (shouldn’t really happen if you’re paying £35 a main) butter lemongrass sauce was perfect though. Came with “roast courgette” but came with a few slices of raw and a few slices of burnt to hell on a plancha courgette, not sure what the thinking behind that was.

Desserts looked like a typical afterthought as with most small plate menus nowadays, pannacotta, some sorbet and crumble faff as it generic so avoided them entirely

Overall think the chefs are capable and the presentation is immaculate but it doesn’t hide the lack of creativity or breadth of flavours.

Maybe they really didn’t notice the whole menu is just white fish but if they didn’t its a giant oversight.

Definitely wouldn’t eat there again, disappointing...

Located on Plunkett Street which is one of the many promenades scattered around lovely Cork. It is almost at the end and easy to overlook with other flashier establishments around. We had a 5pm reservation and they promptly opened dinner service at that time. Enter into a young , modern take on maximalism with gold surfaces, green suede banquettes, tables, and stools. Not fussy but luxe. We requested bar seating so had front row view of the efficiency and attention to detail the kitchen staff took to everything from plating to shucking oysters. Our server was a young woman who gave us all the details on the menu offerings and made recommendations on how to best get a wide sampling. We were told the menu changes depending on the catch as noted in the dated menu. We decided on a starter: fish nuggets; small plates: oysters, courgette; a main: monkfish; sides: baby potatoes; their specially brewed beers: Angel Stout(yum) and Wisdom Ale; a glass of Tempranillo and for dessert their yogurt dessert with a crisp yogurt/seed chip layered over it. Amazing meal and noted our anniversary with dessert(most establishments ask for comments but don't address). Purchased the owner/ young executive chef's cookbook Whole Catch, and she , Aishling Moore, autographed it for us and presented it to us. Just found out she was recently awarded Ireland's Best Chef 2024 and Goldie is listed as the #2 restaurant in Ireland's Top 100 restaurants. The Bib Gourmand rating is what brought us here, but I feel like we came away with more than a great meal...we are witnessing food...