Oscar’s latest innovation, where the weekly fixed price menu is available all evening, has seen the room packed with happy punters who share a plate of little amuse-gueules to begin, then choose the day’s fresh fish dish, or a Hereford beef sirloin steak, or the day’s vegetarian dish. At 15 euro, this is a steal for such clever cooking, and it’s another example of how Michael O’Meara is steadily working his way towards an ever more impressive simplicity.
He used to do complex, fancy stuff, but that is all gone now, and he pays homage to his great suppliers by letting the food speak for itself – Clare Island salmon with dillisk potatoes; Sweaty Betty with brown shrimp; Galway seafood coddle; Connemara lamb with wild crab apple jelly. Sinead Hughes runs the room with pure Galway panache and confidence.
