Canteen Celbridge

James Sheridan is still a young chef, so it’s interesting to see how rigorously classical his food is. You could come to Canteen Celbridge and begin dinner with scallops with cauliflower, move on to braised beef cheek with pomme purée, then finish with a passion fruit soufflé with vanilla ice cream, and you could be eating in a French temple of gastronomy somewhere in the Dordogne. Of course, what Sheridan brings to the food – and the room – is a punky, can-do attitude which fires up his capacious technique. Canteen food is a blast of fun to eat: Sheridan may cook the classics, but he never goes through the motions, and his aim is true. Soizic Humbert runs the room with matronly poise, and we only hope the people of Celbridge know how darned lucky they are.