Monart is a spa and hotel set in some beautiful parkland outside Enniscorthy in county Wexford. The complex consists of the old dwelling house connected to the new spa and restaurant buildings. We have been here a few times for afternoon tea and lunch in the bar, but had never been in the main restaurant. For our anniversary we decided to treat ourselves. A baby sitter was engaged for the evening and we headed down the road to the restaurant.
The buildings, both old and new, cannot be faulted. The old house through which you enter has been immaculately restored. There are several sitting rooms leading off the main entrance way where guests (not just residents) can relax in Georgian elegance. At this time of year the fire places are unlit, but have been neatly stacked with cord wood for the coming cold evenings.
A glass corridor connects the old house with the reception area and the new buildings. Outside the corridor has been impressively landscaped with mosses and rocks to give a modern and yet relaxed background to the ultramodern glass walls of the tunnel. Candles had been placed along the length of the corridor to give a beautiful light and atmosphere.
We made our way to the main restaurant and were seated by the maitre d'. When we made our reservation we had been offered a choice of 7:30 or 9:30. As we had to get back to a baby sitter we opted for 7:30. On our way to our table we noticed that only one other table in the large room was occupied. As the evening wore on the tables filled up gradually with people arriving at more convenient times. We assume that these were residents who were given choice of the times. For such a pricey place this is not an acceptable way to treat guests.
For starter I had chicken breast wrapped in cured Italian ham. It was impressively served on a large slate. I am not normally a fan of this type of service, but it really was picture perfect so it worked very well. The taste unfortunately did not. The chicken did not taste of anything. The cured ham which was wrapped around it and scattered over the plate was similarly tasteless. I have never eaten cured ham that was so bland. Not sure where they managed to find this, or why they bothered. There was also a pair of sauces artfully scraped across the slate. A white one and a brown one. Neither one tasted of anything at all and I could not honestly identify them. They just served to lubricate the taste free protein bits. In addition my starter had balls of rice which had been wrapped in bread crumbs and fried. These were dry, flavourless and a waste of time. All in all, this dish looked fantastic, but eating out is not an art competition and the taste was a big disappointment.
My wife had a prawn bisque for her starter. It was ok, but not great. It did seem to taste a lot of shell rather than prawn flesh. It was served with a little fried won ton which I was told was nice. There was only one of them, so I did not get a sample.
The main courses were better. My wife's black sole was superb. Very fresh, well presented on the bone (a choice was offered) and melt in the mouth. There was also plenty of fish which can be a problem in fancy restaurants.
I had a fillet steak for main. The flavour was not particularly good and it was a bit dry. It seemed to be cooked medium rare which is what I had asked for, but the reason to eat steak like this is so that it will be moist and juicy and it was was not. There was a large quantity of other stuff strewn about the plate and piled on the steak. The gravy was okay - sticky and dark brown, but again not tasting of very much. The mushrooms were nice enough. An aubergine paste was spread around the steak and tasted good.
A small plate of vegetables and a boiled potato were served with our main courses. My wife's first potato was black and was sent back, but unfortunately the potatoes were reheated from cold and tasted disgusting. This was a huge slip up for a restaurant which is clearly aiming at diners with fancy palates.
The service although extremely formal was excellent throughout our meal. But the restaurant lacks atmosphere with all of the diners seeming to whisper to one another.
Overall the bill with 4 glasses of wine and no desserts came to 128 euro excluding service and the meal did not really match up to this. The food lacked flavour to such an extent that I found myself wondering if I had some sort of cold when we left. We won't go to the restaurant again, but will hopefully be back for lunch and afternoon tea in the other parts of the house.
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