I’ve been to Coqbull in Cork but last weekend I tried Coqbull Limerick while I was down for the Munster V Toulouse game. I kid. I wasn’t there for that, but it wrecked LPs head thinking I was. I’d been looking forward to a burger all week and had my heart set on the Black Coq since I’m all about chicken burgers lately. My two guests and I decided to go all out and get a starter and dessert as well.
To start I had the COQRUB Prawns with Toasted Brioche Bun.
If you like garlic then get these. Possibly the most garlic prawns I’ve ever had. I was stinking afterwards. Delicious. The brioche bun was also gorgeous.
Guest one. let’s call him John, had White on Black – Deep Fried Brie, Black Pudding & Raspberry Dressing. This looked gorgeous and I was raging when it came out that I didn’t order it myself. Not that there was anything wrong with my prawns but this looked heavenly and I’m a sucker for anything with black pudding.
Guest two, let’s call her Ned, had Crisp Calamari with Pickled Seaweed Mayo. We were all in agreement that there is nothing worse than bad calamari. Ned once had calamari that was so stringy that she started choking on it. Personally, if that had happened me I’d never eat calamari again. Luckily, the calamari from Coqbull was anything but stringy and restored her faith that you can get decent calamari in Limerick.
For my burger, I obviously went for the Crispy Black Coq – Southern Fried Chicken Breast with Caramelised Onions, Jack Mac’s Black Pudding & Pepper Sauce.
My dreams are made up of each of the elements of this burger. I adore pepper sauce, chicken is always better when it’s southern fried and I’ve an unhealthy obsession with black pudding. Did I enjoy this burger? Hell yes. Was it my favourite chicken burger ever? No. I’ve been spoiled with the nicest chicken burger ever lately (I’ll talk about it in another post) so it really is no fault of Coqbull, just nothing will ever be as good. However, I would 100% be getting this again next time I’m in Limerick.
John had the Blue Bull – Crozier Blue Cheese with Portobello Mushrooms, Rocket & Coqbull Sauce.
When I asked him if he enjoyed his burger he said, “It tastes like mouldy cheese, lucky that’s what I wanted”. I think it’s safe to say that if you’re a fan of blue cheese you’ll like this burger.
Ned had Coq Ranch Burger – Marinated Chicken Breast, Crisp Bacon, Chorizo Mayo, & a Parmesan Ranch Sauce.
All burgers came with chips. I feel (and the lads did as well) that the chips were a bit of a letdown. The burgers were just so tasty and cooked perfectly that I expected the chips to be, well, nicer. They just tasted like frozen chips. There wasn’t much potato in them and they weren’t very crispy. They do have some loaded fries such as Smoked Gubeen Chorizo Fries which I was eager to try but I’m not sure that would make the actual chips more appealing.
The special dessert of the day was Raspberry Crème Brûlée. This was another thing that wrecked LPs head. Crème brûlée is his favourite dessert so naturally, I got it just so I could gloat and annoy him.
I’ve often said my favourite part of a meal is a dessert. It’s the last thing you eat so it’s the last thing on your mind when you leave. Unfortunately, this was not a good crème brûlée which left me a bit disappointed when leaving. The best part of a crème brûlée is cracking the sugar top and having a nice hard, sweet texture to cut through the custard. There wasn’t enough of a coating and the coating that was there wasn’t hard meaning it was soggy and just floated around the custard. Is it the worse thing in the world? No, but I was a bit let down by it.
John had Warm Cookie and Ice Cream.
Logically, this was never going to work and it didn’t. As soon as the warm cookie hit the ice cream it melted and poor John was left with a bowl of cream. A tasty bowl of cream but very hard and not very appealing to eat.
Ned also had what can only be described as heaven in a cocktail. Coqbull Mango & Vanilla Daiquiri. If I didn’t have to drive home i’d have happily sat there for the night drinking them.
Overall, we all had a good meal and wouldn’t hesitate to go back. Sure the desserts were a bit of a letdown but to be fair, I’m fussy with desserts and I’ve had some absolutely cracking ones lately so my expectations are probably a bit on the high side.
