Jonathan Miller once described the late Susan Sontag as “the smartest woman in America”, a remark Ms Sontag believed to be ridiculous. At the risk of being ridiculous, therefore, we have to say that Georgina O'Sullivan, of Kildare's The Ballymore Inn, may be the smartest woman in Irish food. Why so? Because with everything she cooks, Ms O'Sullivan makes a dish her own: everything loses the elements of its influence, and becomes a thing she owns.
The food in The Ballymore Inn seems conventional, but everything is turned according to the O'Sullivan métier, and so the cuisine is utterly personal, and yet totally correct. To make another comparison: in this regard, Georgina O'Sullivan is like Bob Dylan. A Dylan song is always a Dylan song, even if the structure is a blues, a folk tune, whatever. This is a great gift, and yet mysteriously, Ms O'Sullivan is not as celebrated for her originality as she should be. But for us, she is up there with Bernadette O'Shea, Maura Foley, Myrtle Allen, the great mothers of Irish food. So yes, she is smart, and equally modest.