{"id":517260,"date":"2026-06-25T06:11:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517260\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T06:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:11:31","slug":"51-cornmarket-review-a-cork-city-hotspot-with-heartfelt-cooking-and-a-well-chosen-wine-list-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517260\/","title":{"rendered":"51 Cornmarket review: A Cork city hotspot with heartfelt cooking and a well-chosen wine list \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

51 Cornmarket <\/p>\n

\ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d8 <\/p>\n

Address: 51 Cornmarket Street, Cork City, T12 VK88<\/p>\n

Telephone: 083-0102321<\/p>\n

Cuisine: Modern International<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/51cornmarket.ie\/Opens in new window<\/a><\/p>\n

Cost: \u20ac\u20ac\u20ac<\/p>\n

A street with an edge, with a sense that it is being sensitively regenerated, always gives me a little frisson as I walk down it, counting the units that have found a new purpose and envisioning what independent business might come next. Cornmarket Street in Cork<\/a> has been embracing its legacy bones in this way, with the Saturday Coal Quay food market providing a thread of continuity as the street evolves around it. Counterintuitively, the pandemic sparked some of this change. <\/p>\n

Brian McCarthy\u2019s Cork Rooftop Farm perched on the 6,000sq ft flat roof of a larch-clad building began as a lockdown project. Documenting it on social media, his urban farming venture with raised beds of microgreens and vegetables captured the public imagination. It has since grown into a 60-acre organic farm on the outskirts of Cork city. <\/p>\n

A few hundred metres down the street, Ballymaloe-trained Anne Zager and chef and Cork native David Devereaux had only opened the doors of their new daytime restaurant, 51 Cornmarket, in February 2020, when everything shut down. Operating just four months out of the following 12, they adapted, opening as a takeaway offering baked savoury and sweet treats, a daily soup and a hot pot.<\/p>\n

Investing in a wine licence meant that the restaurant began to operate in the evenings, and it now offers dinner only. This is not a restaurant you want to chance your arm on booking. It is full as we rock up for our 7pm reservation on a Thursday, and settle into a high table with a nosy-parker\u2019s view of the long table beside us, occupied by a group of about 10 men. They have gone down the three-course route, none of this sharing plates carry-on, but there\u2019s so much of interest that we plan a nibbles, snacks and plates strategy.<\/p>\n

Zager\u2019s enthusiasm for wine shows on a carefully-chosen list that begins with a few accessible bottles and moves into more adventurous territory with an emphasis on organic and low intervention producers. Margins are reasonable \u2013 in some cases 20 per cent lower than you would normally find \u2013 so it is well worth having a chat and discovering something new. We keep things simple with a crisp Loire Chardonnay, Aurore, St Fiacre sur Maine (\u20ac45), which immediately comes into its own alongside a \u201cnibble\u201d of plaice ceviche served on four crispy corn chips (\u20ac12.50). The fish clearly hasn\u2019t been left to cure for too long, as it has texture and freshness.<\/p>\n

Asparagus from Ultan Walsh\u2019s Gort na Nain farm (\u20ac16.50) is lightly cooked and topped with roasted hazelnuts, a lovely touch. A poached egg, hazelnut butter and anchovy mayonnaise provide plenty to dip the tender stems. Also from the snacks section comes a cuttlefish bun (\u20ac16.50) dusted with nori and served in a nduja-spiked bouillabaisse that is as playful as it is delicious, the cuttlefish spilling from the bun like an intense seafood rag\u00f9. We face a pile-up on our small table as our third snack arrives, three chicken tortellini in a chicken consomm\u00e9 (\u20ac16). They have good flavour, although the filling is firmer than expected, closer to that of a dumpling.<\/p>\n

The market fish is cod (\u20ac36), a substantial piece skilfully pan-roasted and served with asparagus and clams in a roast chicken sauce mounted with butter for extra richness. On the side, the house chips (\u20ac6.50) are spectacular \u2013 golden, crunchy and piping hot.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been noticing something of an affogato trend lately. It may seem like a bit of a cop-out as desserts go, but they can vary considerably. At 51 Cornmarket, the affogato (\u20ac9.50) arrives exactly as I like it: home-made vanilla ice cream in a glass, with a shot of espresso and a measure of whiskey served alongside, leaving you in complete control of the final result. <\/p>\n

\"ClamsClams in wild garlic cream: Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision \"ConfitConfit pork belly, crispy pork cheek, glazed Carrot, onion and parsley, and jus. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision \"CrabCrab raviolo, onion broth and nori. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n

The Basque cheesecake (\u20ac9.50) could perhaps have been pushed a little further to develop more of the characteristic burnt flavour on the outside, but otherwise it is good, still with a bit of give in the middle and nicely matched with batons of poached rhubarb. <\/p>\n

There is an energy to 51 Cornmarket, a narrow, laughter-filled room that simply feels like the place to be. Everything comes from the heart, from the focus on locally sourced produce to the thoughtfully-chosen wine list and the warmth of the service.<\/p>\n

Dinner for two with a bottle of wine was \u20ac168.<\/p>\n

The verdict: Organic produce, precise cooking and a room bursting with atmosphere<\/p>\n

Food provenance: Skeaghanore Farm duck, Ballycotton Seafood, Rossmore Oysters, Caherbeg pork, O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s Butchers, The English Market <\/p>\n

Vegetarian options: ccommodated on request, seasonal dishes such as west Cork asparagus and chive flower gnocchi<\/p>\n

Wheelchair access: Fully accessible with an accessible toilet. <\/p>\n

Music Funk and jazz<\/p>\n

\"AnneAnne Zagar and Dave Devereaux, proprietors at 51 Cornmarket, Cork. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision \"5151 Cornmarket, Cork city. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision \"5151 Cornmarket, Cork city. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney\/Provision <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"51 Cornmarket \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d8 Address: 51 Cornmarket Street, Cork City, T12 VK88 Telephone: 083-0102321 Cuisine:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,46,631,61,60,709,5861,5863],"class_list":["post-517260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cork","tag-for-you","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-magazine","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurant-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}