What could possibly be nicer than an evening staying and eating in Frank and Marian’s Roadford House, in busy, buzzy Doolin? A lovable place in a lovable place, and Mr Sheedy’s food, you will find, is as lovable as little Doolin. He is a smart cook, his technique precise and accurate, and his dishes never miss – monkfish tempura with fennel coleslaw and tomato chilli jam is a typical example of his work, offering the clean, light hit of the tempura with the satisfying sweetness of the monkfish, offset by the clean anise of the fennel, and finished with the sweet, hot stickiness of the tomato and chilli jam.
There isn’t anything new about a dish like this, but it is the precision and satisfying success of the dish that is so winning: you eat it, and immediately want to eat it all over again. By our standards that is super cooking, and it’s Mr Sheedy’s signature style; so good, you want to order it twice. Roadford always garners attention on account of its superlative desserts, and they are wondrous creations of chocolate and sugar and fruits and nuts, bringing an explosive finale to food that starts with an earthquake, and then takes it from there.
