In The Kitchen

At Neighbourhood in Naas, chef Gareth Naughton applies high-end touches to casual dishes

Beef cheek arancini, whole dry-aged turbot and pressed suckling pig belly all feature on a menu that’s big in flavour, and ambition

Gareth Naughton in the kitchen at Neighbourhood. Picture: Barry Cronin

Several years back, I asked a successful restaurateur who had worked in both urban and rural locations what the main differences were when it came to city and country customers. Key among them, he said, was portion sizes.

“It doesn’t matter how good your food is, if you customers don’t leave feeling full, you’re doomed. You can have a Michelin star and be the toast of the critics, but if there isn’t a dish of ...