Our first encounter with Irish cuisine and food was back in 2018.

Now it was time to expand that knowledge, or eating activity. Traveling for almost two weeks across the country so deeply marked by a single ingredient (potato) we had loads of it. We ate so much potatoes. To the point that we couldn’t handle it any more. We had as much full Irish breakfast as we could. Didn’t mid that. We had fish and chips. We had average food, we had great food. Sometimes we ate food that we bought in Lidl (God bless that store), sometimes we dined in a restaurant. We had a tons of snack while driving in the car. You should always have snacks in the car, btw. We had loads of craft beer, Guinness, whiskey and gin. We had ice cream and then a gain a bit of beer and gin tonic. Occasionally we had to order pizza for our little, because potatoes were not his thing.

Most of our accommodations were B&B occasionally set in a pub that was convenient to have both dinner and breakfast on the spot. Lunch options were chosen according to the travel location and next destination. The only thing on my mind while planning this extended trip, and moving from one place to another was; is there going to be something to eat? I made sure there was, and I’m willing to share it with the world.

 

BREAKFAST

First meal of the day included inevitable coffee and full Irish plate prepared in the kitchen together with other warm meals, like porridge or pancakes. There was always variety of breads, bagels, croissants, butters, jams, salamis, fruits etc. Enough to get us through our day. Until late lunch someplace.

 

LUNCH

Traveling from one location to another meant careful lunch destinations planning. Knowing the plans can change in a second there was always several locations and plans B, C and so on. As I wasn’t stressing much about the food offers along the way, I did try to fit traditional Irish restaurant into our schedule. Sometimes I succeeded, others not. However, we were not hungry. Here’s and where we stopped for a bite.

The Quays Bar, Cobh

Nice big restaurant on promenade with a beautiful view of the sea although the weather was not so nice. We had burgers (19euro) and fish and chips (24euro). Not bad.

Scoops Gelato is apparently a home of ice cream donut, a hot donut stuffed with and home made ice cream of your choice. Yeah, we could get by without trying that. Thoughts? Well let say that I was grateful to Debeli for discovering this information on the web 🙂

Muckross Garden Restaurant in the Killarney national park was very much needed shelter from the rain and a place to eat.

The self-catering restaurant was packed with people when we arrived in the early afternoon. No wonder as they offer variety of cold snacks and warm meals for a decent price.

Situated in the heart of one of Ireland’s only Gaelic (Irish) speaking areas Páidí Ó Sé’s Pub was our stop before we started exploring the Dingle peninsula.

Named after notable Irish Gaelic football manager and player, the pub is sort of a museum. Decorated with all sorts of memorabilia and photos, it’s a place for locals to meet and enjoy some traditional Irish music.

We enjoyed local ciders and beers, before we had fantastic fish soup (chowder) and warm mac&cheese. Something I was not expecting in Ireland at all, but it turned to be a fantastic lift up of my miserable mood caused by constant rain.

Our fascination with Irish beer did not end her as I found a prefect location to have a break and have some great local beers.

West Kerry Brewery is the first microbrewery established in County Kerry. This low volume brewery uses the well water from 150 feet below the brewery, Irish malted barley, whole hops and fresh yeast.

Their pub on site is lovely and welcoming, but their beers are what’s worth the visit.

Aubergine restaurant is located in a Croom Town Park  in godknows where but on our way to the Curlywurly Glamping and it was probably the best godknowswhere restaurant.

It’s a combination of a restaurant and a wholefoods store set withing a library building with a children’s playground in the park. It’s actually perfect when you look at it.  And its’a family business that wanted to  contribute to the community.

We had the basics; English influenced fish and chips and a bit of ‘merican burgers local style. Tasty, satisfying, not to expensive.

The hard to pronounce restaurant An Craoibhín in Boyle, co Roscommon was, according to Debeli, the best location in Ireland. Maybe not food wise, but definitely setting wise.

 

Non pretentious interior, locals eating on the bar, everybody’s chatting….yes, that was Debeli’s vision of a dining location.

On our way to Galway, before heading to the beach, I bookmarked Harrison’s Bar & Restaurant in Cartronkillerdoo, Cliffony, Co. Sligo. I dare you to say that twice, very fast.

Situated on the side of the road, but in a picturesque setting, not far away from the coast, the restaurant was almost full that weekend. Packed with families or just friends hanging out over a meal, it proved to be a good meal destination.

 

Our first meal in Northern Ireland, Derry was in a restaurant called Exchange.

The restaurant was recommended by someone, on line, FB, instagram or whatever, but it didn’t met our expectations. The portions were gigantic but not of much of a taste. Actually everything tasted the same. And mashed potato, my god there was loads of it. I could have made some gnocchi out of the leftovers.

On our way across the Cuaseway coast we stopped for a lunch in Bushmills Inn restaurant. It was just a quick walk through the city, lunch, another bite at local fish and chips (not documented) as D was not satisfied with the first option.

The restaurant is set within the same name hotel, in a beautiful garden with a very stylish decorated seating area. The menu is colorful with variety of foods created for all tastes. We went for a fish and burger.

Whites in Belfast was Debelis idea, as that was one of the restaurants missing from his to-do-Belfast-list, but it was also the only restaurant open on the 12th. If you’re wondering what’s the issue with the day 12, check it out here ->

Probably best known as a place that holds Ryanairs HQ offices, Swords is situated near Dublin airport which makes it’s convenient location if you have an early flight and don’t want to spend an inheritance by sleeping in the city. I don’t know if you’re familiar but Dublin accommodation prices have gone through the roof.

The Old Schoolhouse was a perfect pub for us that day. Serving comfort food for a decent price, good beers, available parking and close to the sleeping location.

The final food stop before saying farewell to the rainy Ireland was in The Gin Palace in Dublin.

My five minutes alone before taking off back home, I decided to spend feasting on some local gins and a chicken burger.

The burger with fried potatoes was perfect ending to our Irish trip but the gins recommended by the lovely waiters were the star of the show. One couldn’t wish for anything more. Other than sunny day, maybe?

 

DINNER

If I say that we hadn’t the opportunity to dine out while on the trip, that would be a lie. We were out every single day, different location every evening. However, staying in pubs that serve food, we took the opportunity to dine in while being kind of outside. If it makes sense.

It happened several times that we stumbled upon a great restaurant and happened few times that we had something planed. Either way, we ate good and abundant.

The first dinner of the trip was in Rafters Gastro Pub in Kilkenny where we stayed our first night. It wasn’t the best meal every, but it was a nice intro into our Irish gastro adventure.

The restaurant in Killarney, in the Foley’s townhouse where we spent the night after exploring Muckross traditional houses was probably quite the surprise.

We weren’t planning on dining in, but rather on dining out, however the desired restaurant was fully booked and we had no reservations, so instead of roaming the busy 4th of July Killarney (yes there was a parade for all the American tourists, probably descent of some Irishmen from Killarney so I suggested to have a dinner in the restaurant. May I say that the dinner was a hit, and whiskeys helped.

Both appetizers were fantastic in taste, combination of the ingredients and presentation.

A dinner in Dingle, small fishermans town was proper old school fish & chips from the kiosk. The fancy hip fish restaurant was overbooked, so we stayed near our Murphy’s Pub accomodation. We ordered some GT & whiskey to go and enjoyed fatty oily deep fried batter coating the whitefish meat. With a side of bucket of french-fries, of course. Gelato at Murphy’s ice cream shop as an appetizer; mango flavored for M, gin flavored for me.

Dinner in Galway, after Debelis suggestion was a fantastic surprise after Dingles simple fish & chips dinner. It looks like we had alternations of local fishes and burger options and some fancy restaurant gastro inventions. Bringing balance to our life on the road, one would think.

Self described as the inventive new bakery, restaurant & wine bar, Ean (*bird) restaurant is another creation from the Michelin stared restaurant Loam. Their concept of all inclusive meal destination, ranging from morning breakfast until midnight snacks is quite ambitious.

Simple, clean space with both long shared tables, high chares and the normal sitting tables gives a modern and non pretentious vibe.

Their menu is seasonal and they use locally produced ingredients combining them in an usual but very tasty ways.

Surprisingly tasty dishes, especially as most of them were veggies based, and we were truly mesmerized by the fantastic taste of cabbage. I mean, we liked the cabbage more than the dessert. Well, almost more than…but 🙂

 

Set in beautiful decorated castle room, that operated as a wedding reception place just few hours prior, our dinner at the Kilronan Castle was as magical as the whole stay.

The appetizers were crazy delicious, inventive and colorful, but the main dishes kind of lost its purpose and charm somewhere in the making.

Although my main course was quite colorful it did not meet my expectations in taste and flavor. The veggies were overcooked and everything felt out of place kind off. The pasta was ok, I mean it’s pasta and I love it, but the rest not so much. Debelis dish as well, but instead of pasta it was bombarded by large parts of potato. Oh, well, at least we had something good. The first course.

And the dessert. That was tasty. But I’m not that demanding when the desserts are in question.

After a royal dinner in the castle it was, once again time for a survival type of meal; pub meat and burgers in Penny Lane Pub in Donegal.

Back on track with great food but even better beer we were in Walled City Brewery in Derry.

This family-owned brewpub/eatery has been serving craft beers and different types of snack for almost ten years now.

They have a regular selection of beers on tap that we savored completely.  Dishes were offered for a price of 29.5 euros for two courses, or three courses for 30 pounds. Worth every penny!

The sad gastro offer on a public holiday in Belfast, forced us to dine in a local pizzeria, packed with hungry people that no where else to eat. Just like us. At least M got to have something of its own.

Our last meal before saying farewell to the Emerald Island, was in the restaurant situated within our accommodation for the night.

Kettles country house hotel is used as a wedding or funeral venue, for overnight stay or just as a pub / restaurant for a family meal.

We didn’t expect much of the restaurant food offer so it did not surprise us when the service was forgetful or meal not as exciting as it could be. It was what we needed, food and drinks before bed time.

All in all, day or night, from breakfast to dinner we had some truly amazing dishes as well as some average ones. There is definitely variety of foods that one can come across, accent on the local and quality ingredients, sometimes spiced up with great idea and a wonderful presentation. Sometimes not. And that’s completely ok. As long as there’s beers, whiskey and gins! Sláinte!