Eat Your Way Around Ireland

Been 3 times, I think, now.

It's wonderful. A true adventure in food. Just enjoy it and don't over think it.

The booze there can make it very expensive, though. Choose wisely.

For some reason, I struggle to justify the cost of wine in restaurants, particularly when you start going towards the top end of the list.

I see what you mean about the alcohol. Jaysus.

Great food though. More thoughts to follow I'm sure.

So yeah, it was great, really enjoyed it. As expected, very different to anywhere else I've been thus far. The menu.

A selection of starters up first with a piece of sea bream sushi. The oyster in puffed rice was my favourite, with the tomato a close second - very simple but delicious. Chicken thigh and fois gras were lovely, but in a way I've not had before. I could take or leave the asparagus/tofu mouthful, but it was the only one that didn't hit the mark. A very tasty scallop dish followed that I forgot to sneakily snap, but actually did a lot to cleanse the palate after the collection of starters.

Followed by a selection of sashimi that was the highlight of the night. All matched with local ingredients, like the gubbeen chorizo (centre), roasted chilli pepper (bottom) and the oyster (top left that I can't remember what it was with but it was fantastic). But really, it was all great stuff. Turns out the wasabi is grown locally, which was a bit surprising.

Then to the 'mains', a mackerel bean curd dish which was the only one that I was a little disappointed with, couldn't really taste the mackerel and the bean curd texture wasn't to my tastes, but the wee turnip and quail egg was something both myself and herself loved. Some thinly sliced beef (which was delicious) with locally sourced truffle (which was strangely bland, for truffle, but then given the amount of it...) and then onto the last four dishes (barring dessert) which were presented at the same time. The egg dashi pot (top right) I'd been looking forward to as I had no idea what it was going to be and it didn't disappoint with the clam and guanciale, very savoury. The rice was very morish with the sea bream through it and the two savoury dishes were balanced out by the sharpness of the vegetable and clam (bottom right). Some miso broth also which herself wasn't a fan of but I thought was perfectly ok.

Lastly, some shiso gelato and rhubarb dessert. I could have eaten a gallon of the gelato, not gonna lie.

We decided (despite it clearly being a bit of a trap) to go with the sake pairing, which as mentioned was pretty pricey. However, we'd not had sake before so decided to just go for it and enjoy the experience, which we did. I won't claim any kind of in depth knowledge of sake, but (particularly the plum sake) it all went very well with the various dishes they were paired with. Odd thing I noticed (not a complaint) sake seems to smell a lot more flavoursome than it is in the mouth. Anyway.

I would heartily recommend and if I'm down in Cork again I'll be going back. It's definitely a nice step away from the richness of the 'regular' ... classical Michelin menus, something very different but equally worth experiencing.

[EDIT: Imgur are some pack of dickheads. I link directlty to the pictures and they redirect to their poxy **** site. ****]

The only meal I've done along those lines was Neven Maguire's McNean House up in Cavan - and that too was incredible. It's years ago so I can't remember exact details, but I know I ate things I'd never normally try, and it all looked and tasted amazing. A brilliant night out.

If you could treat yourself to an overnight in their accommodation, I'd say it'd put the tin hat on it (although I have heard from people who have stayed there that if you do justice to the meal the night before, there's no way you'll be able to make the most of the breakfast the next morning.....)

We got a cheap-ish (and not very nice) airbnb nearby, which fulfilled its function just fine, but I think if I were doing it again I'd go the whole hog.

Gregan's Caste Hotel has been a favourite of mine for years! (Mickael Viljanen started there)

Really liked The Old Convent, too, but haven't been in years. Anyone know if it's still as good?

"There are starred options in Galway and Kilkenny city, but another option you might consider is going up to Belfast. Stay in the Merchant Hotel, have a cocktail, and then have dinner in OX or Eipic. OX is a bit lighter, a little bit French, a little bit Scandinavian. Eipic is more traditional."

If you're thinking of going to Eipic, you need to hurry. According to Jay Rayner in THe Observer last Sunday, it's closing this Friday.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/10/jay-rayner-restaurant-review-deanes-meat-locker-belfast-they-have-the-good-stuff

Lots opening too though!

First time popping into this thread and just had a very entertaining read. Our fine dining (or just plain dining) days have dramatically reduced since the kids arrived and we moved west.

@Dave_The_Sheep I really liked the less formal / relaxed service at Hawksmoor, but I could see there being a potential for it being too casual at times.

We really enjoyed the experience overall. Cocktails were fantastic, one of our group is very much into his wine so he brought a few bottles (a nice option to opt for just the corkage) and they were suitable impressed with his selection. I didn't notice the sides being overly seasoned but I wouldn't mind a heavy hand unless they were really salty. I did have a ribeye experience there as well, though. I am medium rare to rare for steak in general but opt for medium with ribeye... The waiter tried to sell me on medium rare to the extent that it felt a bit awkward sticking to my guns.

Fantastic experience overall though but I wouldn't be surprised to hear of the odd issue with the service.

Interesting reading all the great reviews of Chapter One. Reviews are always very good but my MIL had one of her worst dining experiences there many years ago, it was for a landmark birthday of hers which made it all the worse. It was under RL at the time. She is a coeliac of 20+ years and was served gnocchi, which had been prepped in flour. Her tolerance is so low, you can imagine what kind of reaction she had to it being covered in flour. She just about made it to the end of the meal but spent the night in her hotel bathroom lying on the bathroom floor with severe cramps/vomiting/zero sleep that night for her. They investigated it and admitted the error of their ways, but it's hard to believe that could ever happen in a star kitchen. She could have made a much bigger deal of it.

Yeah, some serving staff just don't know when to shut up. That kind of gender biased chat drives me mad, too. Some think that being friendly means trying to be your pal.

Recently had a waiter pouring water, who pored my wife's first. No problem there, until he comes out with, "ladies first", and then directed at me, "I'm sure you agree." He was met with stony silence 🤣

No one is castigating all servers. There are fantastic serving staff all over the country. But there are some who just seem to have no idea of what's appropriate to say to customers. Getting the balance between friendly/respectful/efficient can be very tricky but many manage it extremely well.

And yes, the customer is, regularly a cnut!

I take your point on the overall experience, which is fair, as we very much enjoyed ourselves in the whole. I think you're probably right about the steaks, having been in London branches a few times, I've had the same experience. For me, my focus was on the steak in a steakhouse for sure.

As for potential sexism, yeah I felt it was a bit patronising based on her being a woman. So did she. Nothing massively egregious, but definitely noticable. He was a bit awkward overall, which I put down to potential language barrier issues, the aforementioned perhaps more conservative country, but definitely didn't nail the fine line of friendliness / respect that service staff have to tread.

How much?