Menu (well, blackboard, actually) of the Month

Grangecon Café and Foodstore, Grangecon, Co Wicklow

A wet and wild Wednesday in late November, and here is what Jenny and Richard Street are offering at their ultra-simple Grangecon Café in West Wicklow.

It looks simple, doesn't it? And it is. But it is simple and perfect, with every dish home-made in their little kitchen. That cavalo nero soup with cannelini beans is superb cooking - savoury, rich, soulful, superb - and that potato and parsley pie - an old Pierre Koffman recipe? - is wrapped up in the most delicious short pastry, the potato slices cooked to perfection, and the accompanying salads as fresh as the rain lashing outside. And those sausage rolls! And that onion tart! Food this good succeeds because it has an Italianate simplicity, making Grangecon one of the cult addresses in Ireland. One can only hope that Jenny and Richard follow the example of Sue Farmer in Holywood's Bay Tree café, and open for the occasional dinner. Friday nights would be nice, and we'll bring our own wine.

Cavalo nero soup with cannellini beans

Sausage roll with salad

Potato and parsley pie with salad

Spinach and feta filo pie

Onion tart and salad

Rudd's ham, Durrus cheese and salad on focaccia

Grangecon Café and Foodstore, Grangecon, West Wicklow Tel: (045) 403982