Wexford Sets the Focus
Wexford Sets the Focus
Bearu, New Ross: The Clatter of Success
When Dave Rowley was setting about setting up his restaurant, Bearu, in New Ross, County Wexford, he explained to our editor, Eamon Barrett that “We’re just hoping to serve great food, coffee and wine and make it a wonderful space for the customers and employees to enjoy, and have something the locals are proud of.”
It took Rowley and his team about 48 hours to show everyone that he and his wife, Siobhan, who hails from the area, had achieved exactly that. Eamon arrived in New Ross at 12.15 and “The restaurant was already full: completely full. The good people of New Ross had collectively listened to the jungle drums and the jungle drums had declared that Dave Rowley and Siobhán Ward’s all-day restaurant on South Street was somewhere you had to get to early!”
Dave Rowley’s success in getting things right from the off isn’t a huge surprise. He has 25 years experience of cheffing in and around Dublin and in Edinburgh, where he met Siobhan when he was in his early 20’s. Together they nurtured the dream of Bearu for many years and, when Covid hit, they bought an old horse farm and moved down to The Rower. “We want it to be rooted in place, serving the best local and seasonal foods, with some wild ingredients thrown in.” Dave told Eamon.
Dave was also anchoring the restaurant in the wealth of local talent. Whilst Siobhan manages the back-of-house technicalities, Bearu’s manager is Shauna O’Callaghan, a native of New Ross recently returned from Australia. He sources his bread from the iconic Plur Bakery, in nearby south Carlow, where Seamus Jordan grows it, mills it and bakes it. The superb desserts are the work of Claire Butler, well-known from the town’s Cocoa Bakery. “I’d be lost without these guys” he admits.
The team work makes for some great eating, from concise, smart menus. Rowley likes triple time: lunch offers three sparkling salads along with sandwiches on Plur Bakery bread. Dinner offers three starters, three mains, three desserts and a couple of sides. Breakfast has lovingly executed plates such as poached eggs with roasted mushrooms and salsa verde, and a very fine traditional fried breakfast.
Eamon’s Coronation chicken sandwich “has sultanas, pickled carrot, black sesame and baby spinach. A Ham Hock sarnie comes with melted cheddar and house tomato relish. A side of tender broccoli has whipped goat’s cheese and a hazelnut pesto. Everything is perfectly delicious and the room is buzzing with happy conversation. The buzz from happy locals means this is a noisy space and, if the food weren’t so good, the clatter of success might be too much to take but we’re so engrossed in our sandwiches we notice it less.”
Rowley’s local and wilds foods have been making their debut on the weekend dinner plates: pickled blackberries with wood pigeon; Mooncoin choggia beets with pickled mackerel and nasturtium, or served roasted with burrata and hazelnuts; Kilmore crab with radishes and chicory; duck prosciutto with peaches; lamb rump with carrot and cumin purée.
Bearu’s arrival is good news for New Ross, and good news for County Wexford, where a cluster of talents have begun to emerge under the sunshine of the Sunny South-East. The locals have a lot to be proud of. Goes without saying that you’ve got to get there early.
Bearu is open for breakfast, lunch & dinner Wed-Sat. Additional reporting from Eamon Barrett.
