If you didn’t take a photo of the food on your plate, did the meal even happen?
Maybe I’m starting to show my age, or maybe my approach to social media use and Instagram in particular has changed, but in sitting down to dinner in Rinuccini’s in Kilkenny on Thursday night, there were no phones at the table bar a late check with the babysitter before leaving, stuffed after three courses of Italian goodness. According to Mrs. Ken On Food, who had the view of the room, there wasn’t a phone to be seen anywhere for the two hours or so we were seated.
However, you don’t need a photograph of the plate or surrounds to know just how good a meal out at Rinuccini’s, and seemingly neither did anyone else in the restaurant, so trust me when I tell you it was just that damn good.
If you’ve never been to Ristorante Rinuccini before (or Rinuccini’s to the locals), there are a couple of things to note. First off, the place is an institution for classical Italian cuisine in Kilkenny. Think less pizza and more about Ireland’s largest grappa selection (it’s a thing), handmade pasta, veal, duck, beef, dishes rich in flavour and tender in delivery. Second, booking is well advised. You might get lucky with a lunchtime walk-in but whether we’re just not getting out enough, or just not getting to Rinuccini’s enough, the door may as well have been revolving on Thursday night with solid numbers coming in up to 8pm. See below for notes on reservations.
With a booking made a week out to mark our 10th wedding anniversary (we also pin Rinuccini’s on one of the reasons we started seeing each other in the first place some 16 years ago), we landed just ahead of 6.30pm to be shown to a quiet table for two just inside the door of the dining room and at that stage there was already a humming atmosphere and though cosy in nature, everyone’s just concerned with their own conversations and what’s on the table in front of them.
A drinks order is taken with a large pinot (€10) and a non-alcoholic Erdinger (€6, I’m driving) on the way before we hum, haw and debate over the menu. My rule for dining out is typically to order something that I can’t cook or won’t cook at home.
Anitipasti
While the antipasti course is brimming with the paté dello chef (a homemade Irish chicken liver paté with hot garlic ciabatta) or the Involtini di Melanzane (rolls of aubergines, stuffed with Ricotta cheese and sundried tomatoes, baked in a fresh tomato sauce and served hot with a dusting of 36-month aged Parmesan cheese), or even the Capesant di Sant’Giacamo (seared Kilmore Quay scallaps with slivers of crispy prosciutto, served with a while wine and lemon sauce), we go our separate ways. For me, it’s the Camamari e Zucchini Fritti (€13), or fritters of fresh calamari and courgettes with homemade lemon and anchovy aioli. Forks are optional here as the fritters are light, plentiful, and moreish. For Mrs. Ken On Food, it’s the minestrone soup (€8), again light, warming, brimming with fresh market veg. These are preceded by a bread course served with some olive oil for dipping, something we definitely don’t do enough of in this country, or at the very least at home.
Off to a good start, we add a large still water (€6) before the mains arrive.
The main event
When it comes to the main courses, there is a choice of six pasta dishes and five meat and fish dishes. The pasta is homemade organic egg pasta, made fresh daily using 100% Italian durum wheat flour, some Italian EVOO and served with freshly grated (tableside) 36-month aged Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. You can go Rigatoni, Futtuccini, or the Cannelloni stuffed with red wine braised beef and Ricotta, a spaghettini tossed on the pan with wild Atlantic prawns or the gluten-free black squid ink risotto with seafood. The pick of the bunch may have been Mrs. Ken On Food’s choice of the Ravioli alla Crema di Gorgonzola (€24), a spinach and Ricotta ravioli served in a gorgonzola, cream and white wine sauce with toasted walnuts. “Sublime, sublime, sublime” is all I can get so I’ll take that as a serious thumbs up from a woman who’s serious about her pasta dishes. Privvy to a sliver, she’s not wrong. It’s melt-in-your-mouth good, the perfect blend of sauce to pasta, tender and full of flavour.
Not usually one to order vegetarian dishes when out, I aim for the Secondi Piatti where there’s some serious competition for choice. The haul from Kilmore Quay (less than 90 minutes down the road features heavily with grilled medallions of fresh monkfish paired with saffron risotto, while the black sole is served on the bone, finished with white wine, lemon, garlic, EVOO and fresh parsley, savoy cabbage with fresh ginger. Maybe next time. Having cooked a lot of beef in the past week I leave the fillet to the side, along with the duck and instead go for the Saltimbocca alla Romana – or escallops of milk-fed veal (€32) to you and me. Two large pieces arrive on 24-month dry-aged San Daniele parma ham, with a sage, garlic and white wine glaze. The grilled sage and parmesan polenta is an instant hit, so too is the savoy cabbage with fresh ginger, the scent alone hitting a really high note. It’s melt-in-your-mouth goodness with each bite savoured.
When the going is good, stay going, isn’t that what they say?
Dessert, anyone?
On matters of dessert, typically I can take or or leave it. I don’t pin a meal on it, I don’t plan around it, and if there isn’t something that catches my eye off the bat, I’m happy to defer to a coffee. Despite playing home to Ireland’s largest Grappa selection, it’s off the cards with the car parked outside the door, but with our starters and mains very much on point, we go all in for round three.
A delicate salted caramel and Valrhona chocolate tart, served with homemade honey and biscuit icecream (€9) landed for herself while I opted for the Tiramisú Classico (when in Rome. Or Lazio. Or one of the top Italian restaurants in the country). I’ll hold my hands up and say I’m not a tiramisu man by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe it was a bad experience or general food disappointment but I tend to ignore it any time it appears on the menu. However, given the setting, and the fact it’s laced with rum, espresso, and zabaglione and rounded off with more cocoa and chocolate shavings (also €9), I had to indulge and it did not disappoint. Incredibly light to the touch, like a really fresh cheesecake, paired for the last hurrah with an espresso, with tea accompanying the chocolate tart.
All told, for the two of us with starters, mains, dessert and drinks, the bill comes in at €136 and there are no complaints to be had. If you’re looking to save a few quid, the early bird/lunch set menus have two courses running around €32 while the three course (ex drinks) comes in under €40.
Will we be back? Absolutely. Will we leave it another ten years? Hell no. There’s never any problem paying for good food, but when you couple it with the atmosphere, friendly staff, a warm and inviting setting and a location few can rival, I’d say a meal for two like that is solid value. I know there are plenty of folk who will eat on the regular in Rinuccini, maybe only eat there when they go out but we’ve always held it in regard as an “occasion” restaurant and for a bitterly cold evening in early January when you would half expect the world to be hibernating post-Christmas, we couldn’t have picked a better time to go.
Food writer John McKenna once described Rinuccini’s as ‘an intoxicating delight’. He’s not wrong.
Reservations at Rinuccini
At time of writing Rinuccini are closing for annual leave from 8-24 January inclusive. Christmas has been hectic for eateries around Kilkenny with a few downing tools over the next week or two. The restaurant uses Tablepath for bookings with the ability to book a number of months ahead (I’m already planning dates for a quicker return visit). Credit card details are required at the time of booking in a bid to cut down on no-shows or last-minute cancellations. In either case, a charge of €50 per person on the original booking would be applied. A reduction in numbers to your booking inside 24 hours from your reservation time will incur a charge of €30 per reduction. Separately and per the printed menu, there is a minimum requirement of one main course per guest.
Open seven days for lunch and dinner with lunch service from 12.30pm, dinner from 5pm. Early evening set menus are available Sunday-Friady from 5-6pm and Saturday 4.45pm to 5.30pm.
If online isn’t your thing, you can also book over the phone by calling 056-7761575. See rinuccini.com for more.
Amazing description of a fabulous night out. Definitely going to book a table to experience this.