Meeran's magic menu, a rare treat in Kinsale

The result is a tantalising eating experience both beautiful to look at and to taste, in a uniquely designed dining room.

The open-plan kitchen is the stage; the dining room the arena. The kitchen is hidden from view until diners ascend the steps toward their table. There, behind a floor-to-ceiling glass-fronted kitchen, is the show. Chefs work busily a la minute, plating intricate dishes with precision and flair. Manzoor conducts his team like an orchestra, and although everyone is working hard, they are having fun.

What is presented to diners are modern classics brimming with alluring aromatic spice.

Chef Manzoor’s first memory of cooking was at home in Chennai, India, breaking eggs to make an omelette, witnessing the transformation of raw to cooked; bubbling, buttery aromas — the magic of making food. He was 12 years old, disruptive at school, stubborn, with dreams of becoming a pilot.

He squeezed his way through the Indian version of the Leaving Cert and went to culinary school in Chennai to study for a Diploma. Then, as a fresh-faced 17-year-old who had never left Chennai before, was suddenly on a plane to London to study for a degree in Culinary Arts.

“Nobody knew nobody in London,” recalls Manzoor, who was collected from the airport by a friends-friend. “That was it. It was like they protected me so much all my life, then they put me off the cliff!” 

It was in London, Manzoor got a taste for the pride that came with his profession, looking up to other chefs, the respect they garnered, what was possible to achieve. College was tough, but recognising it for the opportunity it was, Manzoor applied himself rigorously and passed with flying colours.

His first job came immediately after graduating; an offer to work in the kitchens of the Metropolitan Hotel Park Lane. Later 45 Park Lane at The Dorchester, and from there Florida’s Frenchman’s Creek and onto Belgium working at several award-winning restaurants.

Now, it’s Ireland’s turn to get a taste of Manzoor’s magic in the kitchen, and with Rare 1784, he gets to bring together all that experience into one place, with his own style, in his own kitchen.

The concept of Rare is a monthly-changing menu of either five or seven courses, plus bread and petit fours.

“I’m adamant I’m doing something wrong if I don’t use the local produce,” says Manzoor. “And when I say local, I prefer to use what’s in Kinsale: Horizon Farms, Food for Humans, and close to Kinsale. Maximum distance is Camus Farm in Clonakilty for vegetables.”

Vegetables play a major role in Manzoor’s creations, either as the star of the show or in robust supporting roles. All meats, fish and dairy are sourced from west Cork, with a few additions from the wider county region, and a couple of premier artisan producers from further afield.

“Now I have this, but it took me months to build this relationship with the producers. All the producers are very small and only deliver to a certain number of restaurants, so I had to make them believe I can showcase their produce in a very respectful way,” says Manzoor.

“That’s very important to me, and as a chef I believe that relationship is the purest — especially for a concept like Rare. I should be the first person they have in mind when they have something. If they don’t and it goes to someone else, then I don’t have something special.” 

Rare by name, and Rare by nature. The self-restricting doctrine of hyper-local gets the kind of respectful treatment that comes with classical French technique, something that Manzoor is keen to emphasise.

“I didn’t want anyone to put me in a box. I prefer to be referred to as a chef from India not an Indian chef. Same words but different meanings. That made me very hesitant about using spices.” 

Earlier this year, Manzoor went back to Chennai and immersed himself in old traditional restaurants serving quintessential foods from across the Tamil Nadu region, and rediscovered an ancient skillful cuisine, called Chettinad Cuisine.

The cuisine is as old as India itself, but as modern India grows increasingly enamoured with European-style cuisine as a marker of growing prosperity, in a timeworn food story oft repeated, the traditional, skilful cookery and techniques of the old order fall away. In India, Chettinad is a cuisine at risk of dying out altogether.

Chettinad is characterised by vegetables, cured and air-dried meats, and intricate spice blends known as masalas.

“The spices are from where I come from, what I grew up eating, and that excites me. There’s a bit of me personally: my heritage, combined with local ingredients and classic techniques. I’ve accumulated everything into a way I can showcase the best of everything in a fine dining experience.

“It’s the inspiration of how my grandmothers used to cook. Proper Chettinad food is very skilful, so even in India there aren’t many Chettinad restaurants, and outside India it doesn’t exist. I’ve taken my inspirations from there and converted it into my menus for Rare to create something unique for guests to enjoy.” 

An example of this new-era fusion at Rare is traditional Chettinad salted and air-dried summer lamb.

“I dehydrate lamb with salt, pound it into a powder and use it as a garnish on top of French-trimmed lamb rack finished in a classic sauce, and as espuma of Velvet Cloud Sheep’s Milk Yogurt — like a riata. That is the take we have.”

Rare’s concept, of combining local Irish ingredients, Indian flair and French technique has earned Manzoor and his team a slew of awards in the last year, including Best Cork Restaurant at Cork Business of the Year Awards, 20203, and Manzoor picking up Silver at Ireland’s Chef of the Year — Virgin Media Business Gold Medal Awards in 2022.

“It feels good,” says Manzoor. “When I reflect on my whole career to the stage I am now, I feel like I’m travelling on the right track. Every achievement is good; every recognition is good. It gives the momentum we need as a team to always perform better, pushing us on to where we want to be.”

Summer opening: Wednesday — Sunday, from 5:30pm, last sitting 7:30pm. Cocktails 5:30 – 11pm. Prebooking is advised through www.rare1784.ie