When the Brittas Bay summer types want to leave the mobiles or cottages behind for the evening, dress up and go out to dine, they often choose The Bakery restaurant in Wicklow town. This is a charming-looking restaurant in the old part of the town, on a narrow street where it stands out with its facade painted all over with greenery. Steps lead down into a long, narrow room decorated in Mediterranean villa style with low sofas smothered in huge, squashy, mustard-coloured cushions, candles burning along a raised hearth and walls, in an adjoining dining-room, painted a striking aquamarine green and hung with gilt mirrors.
The main dining-room is upstairs, but people were lounging around downstairs having a drink before eating under the glow of some extraordinary DIY lampshades that were simple drops of net curtaining threaded onto hoops around the lightbulbs.
We arrived behind a large party of people and the young man behind the bar was so busy putting their drinks on a tray that he didn't notice or greet us. This was fine for a minute or two, but still he didn't look up, and finally a flustered waitress - one of only two on the floor - came to our rescue.
She took us straight up to our tables in the lofted dining-room overhead, and left us there with the menus but also forgot to ask if we would like drinks: so we contemplated the first page of the menu which suggested aperitifs of Kir Royal, Kir, Campari and so on, with just a jug of water to keep us company. The dining-room is a stunning place with exposed stone walls - not hefty lumps of granite glistening at you, but ancient, small stones cobbled together under a high, beamed roof with a curious tented ceiling, made of hessian coloured blinds drawn down between beams. This gave the room a dim, church-like feel that was enhanced by spotlights.
The tables were big, the chairs almost like armchairs, and dressed in smart yellow linen loose-covers. The place was three quarters full and buzzing nicely with a tanned, healthy-looking brigade of couples and groups of women dining together.
The service continued as it had started, with the two waitresses flying by at intervals, but still not keen to give us a drink. Finally, leaning out into the path of one, I asked for a glass of champagne. Couldn't be managed, though. A few minutes later she came back with a sorry story about there being only one bottle of champagne left - "a £90 one" - and not being able to open it for one glass. How's that for making one feel special? Amazing that a restaurant that charges £35-£40 a head for dinner can't produce a glass of champagne, especially at the height of summer and with such a well-heeled clientele. No alternative was suggested and I made do with half a bottle of house Chardonnay, which didn't create the same buzz at all.
Meanwhile, a bottle of red was standing by to be opened, but this turned into another delay as it was carried off to the serving table, then halfway down the stairs, then back up before finally being poured into David's glass.
A fairly short menu of five or six starters and main courses offered classics such as parma ham and figs, mozzarella and tomato salad, Wicklow lamb, fillets of sole and so on. I HAD an interesting starter, goat's cheese - the usual white crumbly disc - on top of a handful of summer fruits with some salad leaves peeking out. Nice and colourful, creamy and sharp tasting at the same time. David went for prawns and scallops of monkfish in a hot chilli and garlic oil at £7.90. This arrived sizzling in a really tiny boat shaped dish so that even though there was a good portion of the prawns and fish, it looked mean.
When the sizzling had died down, the fish looked quite unappetising, soaking in its bath of oil, a good deal of which had slopped over the edge was soaking into a napkin on the underplate.
Again, my main course of salmon was a happier choice than David's - a decent piece of fish, nicely cooked. His Wicklow lamb with a mousseline of pistachio and salsa verde, begob, turned out to be nice pink lamb coated in a rubbery green skin that was vaguely nutty flavoured - and pointless.
The vegetables were good - fresh, crunchy cauliflower, beans and courgettes with a mint dressing. Excellent sauteed potatoes came in a dish alongside some terrible lumpy mash. None if it was thrilling food, nor was it cheap at £17 and £18 for the main courses. We ploughed on, though, through a pretty plate of panna cotta with more summer fruits scattered about, and a dark chocolate torte that was simply a slice of moist chocolate cake, nice and fresh but nothing very dark about it.
A camomile tea brought the bill to a hefty £84.90, and with a tip it came out at well over £90. For that I would have preferred just the bread - which was delicious - and that single bottle of champagne.
This is one of the nicest dining-rooms I've been in for ages, but the food should be a lot better and the service more friendly and efficient.
The Bakery Restaurant, Church Street, Wicklow, tel 0404 66770
Orna Mulcahy can be contacted at omulcahy@irish-times.ie
