95a Main Street, Gorey, Co. Wexford.
The Pigs Tale is a new restaurant in Main Street Gorey run by Garrett Bradshaw and Deirdre Waddock. We previously reviewed their restaurant in Dingle, the Old Smokehouse, and the couple have now moved back to Deirdre’s home town and set up the Pigs Tale in a first floor space on the Main Street.
The restaurant is surprisingly large and airy. The room is painted in a restful green, somewhere in the olive end of the scale, and the kitchen is open plan at the end, adding a bit of theatre to the proceedings. Simple wooden tables and chairs complete the look, and the real theme here is in the name.
When we first met Garret and Deirdre they had just become small holders with a vision to supply as much of the meat and produce that they use in the restaurant from their own land. We wrote at the time; “The menu in the Old Smokehouse is based around the ingredients. Owner and Chef Garrett has recently become a small farmer, to date there are nine chickens, two guinea fowl, five turkeys, four ducks, two geese, three pigs and 40+ sheep, all of which are for the table in his restaurants. It is too soon to have any of his hand reared animals on the menu yet, but it certainly shows his commitment to sourcing the best produce for his kitchen.”
The same philosophy underpins the menu in The Pigs Tale, and Garrett has become a dab hand at making his own chorizos, puddings and sausages, and the pork served in the restaurant is their own. Vegetables likewise are grown at home where possible, and this approach is a social experiment as well as a clever business strategy.
We thoroughly enjoyed starters of a robust portion of the chargrilled baby ribs, which were packed full of flavour and came with a honey glaze sauce on a bed of Mediterranean couscous, and a really excellent hack hock terrine. The terrine was exceptionally good; fresh, light, full of flavour and not too much jelly, definitely one of the better ones I’ve tasted. We followed this with a falling off the bone lamb shank, perched on top of creamy mash with a chickpea and smoked bacon cassoulet. This was very well done, while a plate of fish and chips with mint pea puree was excellent. Fish and chips is one of those dishes that is so ubiquitous, people think it’s easy. One thing is for sure, it’s easy to mess it up, but this one was two pieces of fresh cod in a super light batter, some crispy outside and fluffy inside thick chips and a generous portion of the peas. The chef was plating one up when I passed the kitchen earlier, and I couldn’t resist. We finished with a shared chocolate cake and some coffees.
The Pig’s Tale isn’t fussy, it’s friendly, the service is good and the food is well above standard. Prices are easy on the pocket, and it’s definitely somewhere I’ll return, not least when some air dried pork Garrett is curing hits the menu. Well worth a visit.
