The West of Ireland

[highchef]

We've just returned from an interesting adventure to Connemara, Dublin and Edinburgh. I say interesting because of the sheer unexpectedness (is that a word?) of the experience. Nothing and everything I expected all at once and on so many different levels: but before I start waxing poetic about genetic memory etc. I will stop and get to the skeletal meat of the matter....the food. It did not play out as I planned, as so many of you helped me with...i.e resturants etc.

We arrived in Clifden late, having been up at that point and en route 24 hrs. Driving, flying, flying, driving. The road from Galway to Clifden is a good 2 hrs. Here it would be 30 minutes. Arrived at the B&B to find 13 of my family already into the 2nd case of wine, so proceeded to destress in a most delightful way. I'll have to post on the wine hilarity on the spirits board later. No food. Morning, no hangover for some odd reason, but starving. Typical Bangers, overcooked eggs and thankfully lovely jam and toast.( What is the reason for the tomato no one eats? I've always wondered.) Hired bus to Athlone to visit the 2nd cousins. cousin Anne married a texan and lived in Houston for 40 years before retiring to Athlone (that was the deal she struck with husband Ken, and he's very happy with it) a few years back. Guess what was for lunch. Barbeque. Very good one too, she's still light on the salt, and I guess I should have brought some Community coffee with me cause sorry. Maxwell House SUCKS. So we flew 4000 miles to have brisket and baked beans.

Cousin has an AGA stove she got on the cheap from the local convent when it closed. It is a beautiful thing, and she says it's completly stopped the mold upstairs in the 108 year old house. The grounds are like a cool rain forest. The herb garden is like a small green world within a world. Angelica to wold. You could cook anything, mend anything, dye cloth, cure avian flu with the bounty of that garden. Left sated, and returned to Clifden to finish off the 2nd case of wine.

Sunday morning. Even though the sun rose at 4:30, nothing opened until 10, so drove to the cliffs, and te'burrens. Froze our asses off, and used an excellent scotch to warm up....started with it in the hot chocolate(a trick I learned 6 years ago in Scotland) and ended with it neat...sooo smooth I almost could not stand it. Almost.

Dinner in Cleggan, a tiny fishing community west, on the coast, from Clifden. We were the only ones not from the town. My 2nd cousin once removed waited on our table. Her father had caught the crabs we ate. It's a wonderful place called Oliver's. The seafood bisque was bountiful, and perfectly put together. It lacked white pepper and salt, but once that was rectified the freshness of the seafood was the nearest thing to purity I've ever tasted. The salmon 'teaser was like butter that was born in the ocean. I will never buy salmon from Albertson's again and expect to be happy. I shall remember the feel of that fish in my mouth for the rest of my life. Unfortunatly no time for dessert as we had to catch low tide at 8pm.

I have to digress for a moment. The reason for this trip was what we did next.

My truly beautiful brother died during the second coming. This is what I call hurricane Rita, as she came on the heels of Katrina which had already saturated athe 5 state area with refugees. This being the case, we had no place to go and chose to ride it out. My brother died and I was not able to be with him. His wishes were that his ashes be spread in Ireland. My great-grandparents, cousins etc. are buried on an island off Cleggan that can only be reached when the tide is out. So we drove across the Atlantic ocean floor to a cemetary that has been there as long as the people themselves have been.. It was 0 degrees C. Raining. Glorious. What a place to go in the end. I'm seriously thinking about it for myself. It gives a

marvelous excuse for a family reunion as well. The wishes were carried out. We retired to yet more wine, scotch and the warmth of a peat fire. I'm sure the owners of the B&B are convinced we are all alcoholics. When we get together we can put it away, but we are also very discerning about WHAT we drink. So she can wonder all she wants, but must admit in the end we have excellent taste. She's lucky we left her the cheese.

Left Mon. am for Dublin. Here is where all hopes of gourmet nights became a nightmare. Everyone is starving by the time we get out of Galway. We stop at a couple of places and check the menues, but they tend to be 'bankers food' types and I have 3 growing boys. They want burgers and there is not a fast food place to be seen from the road. Finally my son who is driving has had enough and pulls into the first place advertised. I wish I'd kept the receipt so I could post a warning here. It's somewhere near Kennegard off the road to Dublin, before the toll road. Some old converted schoolhouse. As we drive up, the owner/chef is sitting outside with his coffee and cigarettes. We are the only one's there. I cannot write anymore about this, because just the thought of whats to come is bringing on a headache and I'm feeling physically sick. I will never, ever, ever be able to eat anything with horseradish again, and possibly ground meat. I literally get a physical reaction from even thinking about that meal. DH is 'feeling funny' in the car. He passes out in the hotel room (Jury's hotel HighChurch SUCKS by the way, but a bed is a bed when you think you are dying) so I get the kids grilled cheese downstairs. I get them in their room with the tray barely in time to get to the toilet and proceed to lose weight from various points of my body. Thank God DH never needed the facilities, we would have been seriously fighting over access. 2 days later, and the second sick child with a garbage bag on his knee we fly to Scotland. Things are better here, at least the 2 kids who remain to fall prey to the insidious menace have a 5 star hotel to recover in. However this means we have to divvy up. One staying 'home' while the other takes the survivours out to the sights. Pub food. Room service. I cannot really say much about food in Edinburgh because I could do nothing except normal maintaince and try to keep potassium in our systems so our muscles would work. I could not bring myself to try haggis, and I apologize for my utter lack of guts, but please try to understand that I was under some serious limitations and did not want to test my inflamed innards to other innards.

I we flew halfway around the world and am no wiser as to the finer resturants than I was before. That's not to say I did not learn anything. Irish cheese is a gift from God. Scotch whisky is a gift from God. There is a paradox in Ireland regarding their seafood. Most resturants seem to think there is a shortage and charge accordingly. If you seek out the local coastal resturants I think you will discover the magic that is in the waters there. At least I've been able to tell you about one. Those of you who live there are blessed, and I promise next trip I will spend more time and money in your resturants than in your shops. Or at least as much.

there no food left in the house as my oldest son's girlfriend house sat, and I told her and her friends to eat away. They are young and skinny and students so they took me at my word. I wiped the fridge and started fresh. 229$ later I begin to cook again. I think I'll bake bread today and open a beautiful marmalade I bought back. I will always love Ireland, but it's good to be home.

edit: clarity

Edited May 30, 2006 by highchef (log)

[Corinna Dunne]

Hi Highchef. Thanks for the tender and at times, very amusing report… well apart from the burger belly trauma.

It seems that you did your brother proud and adopted a very Irish tradition for “waking” the dead. Copious amounts of alcohol are all part of the process, so I’d say your B&B lady didn’t bat an eyelid. There’s a wonderful Irish short story about an American visitor to Ireland who wanted to attend a real Irish wake. So seeing a great opportunity for free food and drink, the villagers told him about a recent death, but an empty will, so no hope for a wake. Of course he took the bait, and gladly footed the bill for the wake. A fine healthy villager took up the role of “corpse”, with the proviso, that for each drink consumed, one was to be placed under the coffin for him. A great wake ensued, and all went well until some of the over-oiled villagers decided to tease the “corpse” by burning his toes with a cigarette, and worse still, started to drink one of his drinks. At which point, he jumped up from the dead with a roar, and the American hightailed it, never to be seen around the place again.

But ehem… what’s all of this talk about drinking “scotch” in Ireland?

Thanks for the recommendation of Oliver’s for seafood. You are right. This is the best way to have seafood in Ireland, and thankfully, there are some great little spots along the west coast. They are generally packed with Dubliners in the summer, although I haven't been for years. The “fish” thing is one of my very, very hot buttons. Don’t get me started. In short, most of the best stuff is shipped directly to Spain and France, where it is sold for less than we could buy it here. When I was in Kilmore Quay in Wexford (southeast) last summer, I had to painfully watch crates of crabs and lobsters being loaded into seawater containers on large trucks, bound for Spain. The local fishmonger had none (although some excellent fish), and in Wexford town, one of the two leading fishmongers was selling mostly frozen Canadian lobster, and only bothered to take in fresh day boat lobster once a week (and then shamefully charged more than you’d pay in Dublin).

Regarding Jurys Inn at Christchurch... I know it's not exactly luxury, but 5 star hotels in Dublin are very expensive, and when you've got a crowd of teenagers to boot, something has to give.

[highchef]

I do apologize Corinna, I had such plans! And you are correct, had we stuck to the Irish whisky (no e in Ireland, right?) we probably would have been protected from whatever tried to kill us.

I really expected Jury's to be the Holiday Inn type. I was not expecting to be stuck in a bed for 2 days there though. The view overlooked the laundry/garbage facilities and garage. The bed sucked and the toilet had to be finagled with to flush. It was not a good thing to be broken at the time. However, we more than made up for it in Scotland. I highly reccommend The Scotsman hotel. I shall be paying for it until Christmas, but at least I'll smile when I write the check. Charming. It's centrally located and has a wonderful ambiance and a terriffic staff. Feather beds. Wish I could tell you about the resturant, but all I had from there were crab cakes (don't bother) and liver pate' (ok). A nice lemon brulee' as well, went well with pistachio biscotti.

Another odd note: Normally I forbid the consumption of ANYTHING from the mini-bar. I'm not a tightflint by any strech, if we want it and have the money, we buy it, but here the mini-bar bill would equal the room rate. I mean, if you got what you paid for, besides convience...it'd be ok. There the prices were the same as in the grocery stores. Very nice way to try local favorites with out breaking the bank. I love the no tax on food, med's and kids stuff...brilliant.

We have a new vocabulary now as well. My oldest can put on the perfect brouge (sp?) and the younger one's noted that it was 'pissing' rain when we got home!

My other lament re:Dublin...the boys did not get to Trinity college, or St. Patrick's.

We could not muster the stomach control for the former, and the latter was closed due to filming (I thought we had lucked out as the hunger strike had just ended the day before). Doesn't matter. When their dad told them in Clifden to pay attention to the history etc. because they'd never be here again, they BOTH immediately corrected him. They have every intention of returning, proclaiming it the 'most perfect vacation ever'. That with all the poignancy and illness, and hours and hours of travel involved. The wild west made quite an impression on my boys, and returning there someday is a goal of their's now. It's good to have goals! Love your weather, btw. I'd rather hike around hills in cold weather than what I came home to which was 90 F and 80% humidity. I was rewarded with a rainbow after the hail storm monday morning. It only lasted a few seconds, but I had my camera in hand and captured the moment.

The fishing business is so sad. I've read recently that the situation seemed to be turning around, and more and more resturants were sourcing the local bounty. I did not see any evidence of that, but then again I didn't go seeking it out. It does makes sense that the West would serve the local fish more readily than say Dublin or Limerick. Their economy is small and the branches are greatly intertwined and interdependant, not the huge global network prevelant in the larger cities. It's kind of like buying Chinese crawfish in Louisiana. They're a heck of a lot cheaper, but you're shooting yourself in the foot.

Slainte'

Patty

[thom]

Well I never, what a coincidence.

I haven't been to Ireland since I was a little boy, but have recently booked a short stay (four nights) in Clifden in Connemara. We're staying at the Quayhouse (www.thequayhouse.com) which is very reasonable and sounds absolutely wonderful. It's recommended by my dad, who is a miserable old git as far as family holidays go so this is high praise indeed.

Thanks for the informative posts Highchef and Corinna; if anyone has any more value to add regarding places to eat in the locale then please speak up.

Any tips on places to visit are also appreciated. We have an energetic 2 1/2 year old boy in tow, so bear this is mind with any recommendations. Our rough plan is to muck around on the beach every day poking around in rockpools and then to eat simple lunches and good seafood for dinner.

Sounds like heaven, and much preferable to being on some tedious sandy strip full of sun-loungers in the Med where you can't let your first born out from under the parasol without coating him with suncream in the manner of icing a cake with a palette knife...

Cheers

Thom

[Mrs Woman]

highchef, to avoid further confusion.

Whisky (no 'e') is from Scotland (i.e. Scotch whisky).

Whiskey is from Ireland.

I have to say I prefer the one with the 'e', much smoother.

[ljr]

Friends from the UK stayed in Jurys ChristChurch recently and also had a miserable experience. They were over for a plastic surgeon conference (the type that put people's faces back together after traffic accidents not the breast enlarging kind) in nearby Dublin Castle. One of the main topics of conversation at the conference was how bad Jurys was - down to simple things like plain unhelpfulness, "no you cant bring food to your room you must eat it in the bar" etc.. If you ever do have to stay there Burdocks Fish and Chips on Werburgh street next door might cheer you up - it still fries its chips in beef fat so is worth checking out (batter too heavy but still tastes great).

If you are a malt person and haven't tried Bushmills 16 year old malt you haven't lived - I have yet to taste a better scotch than it - it is half and half bourbon and sherry matured but spends 6-9 months marrying in port casks prior to bottling; sublime stuff. The Bushmill 10 year old is Bourbon cask aged and is good also but I actually prefer the considerably cheaper Black Bush which is a top quality blend with around 80 per cent malt - mostly sherry cask matured. The Irish Distillers ones are worth checking out too (Powers 12 year old, Jameson 18, Midleton etc) and also the Irish owned Cooley Distillery Connemara (peaty) and particularly their Tyrconnel (bourban cask aged I think but quite fine). By the way whiskey over here has an "e" like Bourbon.

Would love to name and shame the place you visited. Blueberry Restaurant is one place along that road but i dont think that was it - it is near moyvalley on the dublin side of Kinnegad and is well off the road (while still being visible from it). People say that Mother Hubbards has acceptable food but I am not so sure. If I have to stop I usually stop into Kilbeggan to the little cafe beside the old whiskey distillery (with water wheel etc.). Food is simple but almost all home made. So glad you had a nice time in Athlone (my home town) as people often hate the place!

[highchef]

Mrs. Woman, thanks for clearing that up...there was very little whiskey left to consume when we arrived, but loads of scotch. Not to insult the local spirits, but it beat running to the store!

thom, I've seen your place from the road, and between it and the 'castle' right beside/above it (you'll know it from the helicopter pad) I'd say you'll be fine. Great views and you don't have to travel Sky road for miles to get there. Be aware, when the tide is out the bay is dry. Ships sit in the muck waiting to be refloated, but having 'energetic' boys myself I'd say your 2 yr old will love it.

Do watch for sheep on the road from Galway. We had a few near misses with their red and blue rears. How do they get that paint off the butts when they shear them???

And the lamb on the menu at Oliver's is good, but I'd stick with the seafood. Irish lamb is not australian lamb. IMO It's climate and diet make it a muskier meat. Good enough, I just prefer to eat Australian and wear Irish. The mussells and crab claws are very nice. I've already told you about the salmon. If you get the seafood salad and you can eat it all please let me know!

Coming out of Clifden take a left at the church and it'll lead you to the Abby and the Connemara Park. Daybreak is around 4:30, but nothing opens until around 10, so take the tyke to hike the park. The ticket office is closed before then, so it's 'free'. Otherwise you pay a bit. Don't feel bad, he won't be able to hike up the mountain, so if you did pay you wouldn't get your money out of it. Just let him run up the entrance trails for a bit and enjoy the scenery. It's very beautiful.

I take it you'll be there when it's a bit warmer..I'm sure the local resturants will have geared up big time for the tourist season by then, although they were pretty busy last week. I imagine they'll be tweaking the menus.

There is a large grocery store right on the main square. Easy enough to grab picnic supplies for the beach, and cheaper than having someone else make up your basket (your pop will appreciate that!)

If I hear of anything else, or remember specifics that might help entertain the lad, I'll add later with an edit.

have fun.

[highchef]

Friends from the UK stayed in Jurys ChristChurch recently and also had a miserable experience.  They were over for a plastic surgeon conference (the type that put people's faces back together after traffic accidents not the breast enlarging kind) in nearby Dublin Castle.  One of the main topics of conversation at the conference was how bad Jurys was - down to simple things like plain unhelpfulness, "no you cant bring food to your room you must eat it in the bar" etc..  If you ever do have to stay there Burdocks Fish and Chips on Werburgh street next door might cheer you up - it still fries its chips in beef fat so is worth checking out (batter too heavy but still tastes great).

If you are a malt person and haven't tried Bushmills 16 year old malt you haven't lived - I have yet to taste a better scotch than it - it is half and half bourbon and sherry matured but spends 6-9 months marrying in port casks prior to bottling; sublime stuff.  The Bushmill 10 year old is Bourbon cask aged and is good also but I actually prefer the considerably cheaper Black Bush which is a top quality blend with around 80 per cent malt - mostly sherry cask matured.  The Irish Distillers ones are worth checking out too (Powers 12 year old, Jameson 18, Midleton etc) and also the Irish owned Cooley Distillery Connemara (peaty) and particularly their Tyrconnel (bourban cask aged I think but quite fine).  By the way whiskey over here has an "e" like Bourbon.

Would love to name and shame the place you visited.  Blueberry Restaurant is one place along that road but i dont think that was it - it is near moyvalley on the dublin side of Kinnegad and is well off the road (while still being visible from it).  People say that Mother Hubbards has acceptable food but I am not so sure.  If I have to stop I usually stop into Kilbeggan to the little cafe beside the old whiskey distillery (with water wheel etc.).  Food is simple but almost all home made.  So glad you had a nice time in Athlone (my home town) as people often hate the place!

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Well it would have been hard to hate Athlone from what I saw. The cousins are in a lovely area and the river Shannon is down the hill as you leave the drive.

I cleaned my purse and cannot find the receipt from the offending resturant. It was the name of a town with 'school house' after it. I guess it was the old school house for the area and they converted it. I cannot think of that experience too much as it triggers nausea. My DH says it's a psycological reaction to trauma. I kid you not.

I think the main offense I took at Jury's was the utter lack of help from the attitudinal blonde who checked us in. No info was forthcoming, no help, no directions, not even a finger point toward the door to the lifts. If I hadn't felt so bad it would have ended there. I don't pay good money for crappy service. I was in no position to move the family so we had to accept the conditions and move when we were better. I do plan on sending a note to the corp. headquarters. Maybe we'll be compensated somehow here in the states. We go to Boston every other year and the Jury's there is quite nice.

Yes, I like Bushnell's quite a lot. I tried a local whiskey and thought it was quite good, and definately had a peaty aroma...but I'm sure the fire added a bit to that.

When I find that receipt from the resturant I'll post the name. In the meantime avoid anything with 'school' in it! Cheers.

[Corinna Dunne]

Great to see you on the board again ljr. I loved your list for Dublin lunch spots in (Irish) Food & Wine. I was going to start a thread on "good value" lunch spots in Dublin... but if you've got a chance, it would be great if you'd kick it off.

Do you have any more recommendations for the Clifden area?

[ljr]

Corinna - you found me out! I keep forgetting to look at the board (and Ernie's one which I know you also contribute to). I was in Venu on Sunday for lunch and v. much enjoyed it, even had friendly service (if a bit French). V. good lamb kebabs and v. tasty dauphinoise. You should start the posting on lunch in dublin and I promise to contribute! Any thoughts on Hugo Arnold's job at food and wine? As I contributer I dont much mind as long as he takes my articles but I wonder how he will approach it...

[Corinna Dunne]

Any thoughts on Hugo Arnold's job at food and wine?  As I contributer I dont much mind as long as he takes my articles but I wonder how he will approach it...

←

I've no idea what he's got planned. It will be interesting to see where he takes it, although I'd imagine that there won't be dramatic changes to start out. One bit of news though... I've got a piece in his July issue (on El Bulli).

[Adam Balic]

Lovely post highchef. I will be staying just outside of Cleggan for a week in a month, so I will be thinking of your post when I am there.

[tomweir]

A little late chiming in on this but i overheard the staff being interviewed by the manager for their jobs in Jurys at Christchurch. Three questions "do you speak English?" "do you have black pants?" and "You know it's minimum wage?" And that seemed to be it.

Mother Hubbards, Blueberry restaurant, no no no....the N4 doesn't really have any food highlights on it. There's a pub called the Gaelic Cheiftain painted bright red in Rathowen (I think) which has home made brown bread and homemade vegetable soup which was above average.

[Catriona]

Yeah, no, the drive down to connemara is pretty much deserted whenit comes to places to eat.

I should own up to our 3 favourite places to eat in connemara: Crab sandwiches in Vaghans in Roundstone, Mitchells in Clifden - nothing wonderful but good value and usually fairly reliable, and then for good good food, the kitchen of the Zetland Hotel is excellent. We stay there fairly regularly, and find it consistently good.

[thom]

Ah Clifden, I just cannot wait to go back there. Possibly the best holiday I've had; if you have kids in tow its brilliant.

Anyhow, we had some pretty good food whilst we were there. Catriona, is Mitchells the kind of med place that faces onto the little square in the middle of town? If it is, then we were there a couple of nights. Real mixed menu of pizza, pasta, fish, some more traditional (touristy?) dishes etc which were all tasty enough. Nice atmosphere, good service and a great place if you do have children with you.

We also went to G's (I think thats the name) which is just across the square. This has the most ambitious menu in the town and was formal but friendly. The menu is largely classical but they had a few Asian twists as the chef (partner of the owner I think) was from SE Asia (Malaysia?).

My girlfriend had a very good dish of local lamb, and I went for a kind of Thai style prawn curry which was excellent. Again service was great, and the nicest thing was that although it was 'posh' they still had a kids menu of really good homecooked dishes. The chicken with chips (you have to have chips) and fresh peas was simple but delicous and much appreciated by our little one.

We did find it a recurring theme in Clifden that nearly all the places were really happy to have kids. This was partly reflected in the menus and facilities (high chairs etc) but also in the warmth and understanding of the serving staff.

The other interesting thing about Clifden was that in the town's supermarket (called SuperValu or some such) which was a kind of middle of the road place they still had fresh mussels, lobster and oysters in tanks with running water by the fish counter.

This is obviously not a tourist thing as where would they cook such things? I found the fact that there is obviously a strong market for fresh seafood amongst the local community heartening, especially as the cliche is that Ireland produces some of the world's best seafood and immediately ships it off to the continent where it is 'appreciated'.

To complete the set of mini-reviews the Blue Dog cafe was great for coffee and sandwiches, and there was a big bakery along from G's which although it looked nice served absolutely rubbish - bad cakes, cruddy fast food posing as home cooking. Avoid.

Oh the the brakfast at the Quayhouse was exceptional, and they served one of the nicest black puddings I'd ever had.

Cheers

Thom

[highchef]

Ah Clifden, I just cannot wait to go back there. Possibly the best holiday I've had;  if you have kids in tow its brilliant.

Anyhow, we had some pretty good food whilst we were there. Catriona, is Mitchells the kind of med place that faces onto the little square in the middle of town? If it is, then we were there a couple of nights. Real mixed menu of pizza, pasta, fish, some more traditional (touristy?) dishes etc which were all tasty enough. Nice atmosphere, good service and a great place if you do have children with you.

We also went to G's (I think thats the name) which is just across the square. This has the most ambitious menu in the town and was formal but friendly. The menu is largely classical but they had a few Asian twists as the chef (partner of the owner I think) was from SE Asia (Malaysia?).

My girlfriend had a very good dish of local lamb, and I went for a kind of Thai style prawn curry which was excellent. Again service was great, and the nicest thing was that although it was 'posh' they still had a kids menu of really good homecooked dishes. The chicken with chips (you have to have chips) and fresh peas was simple but delicous and much appreciated by our little one.

We did find it a recurring theme in Clifden that nearly all the places were really happy to have kids. This was partly reflected in the menus and facilities (high chairs etc) but also in the warmth and understanding of the serving staff.

The other interesting thing about Clifden was that in the town's supermarket (called SuperValu or some such) which was a kind of middle of the road place they still had fresh mussels, lobster and oysters in tanks with running water by the fish counter.

This is obviously not a tourist thing as where would they cook such things? I found the fact that there is obviously a strong market for fresh seafood amongst the local community heartening, especially as the cliche is that Ireland produces some of the world's best seafood and immediately ships it off to the continent where it is 'appreciated'.

To complete the set of mini-reviews the Blue Dog cafe was great for coffee and sandwiches, and there was a big bakery along from G's which although it looked nice served absolutely rubbish - bad cakes, cruddy fast food posing as home cooking. Avoid.

Oh the the brakfast at the Quayhouse was exceptional, and they served one of the nicest black puddings I'd ever had.

Cheers

Thom

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Thom, I noted the fresh seafood in the market as well, and wished I had access to a kitchen to cook it. It was a good sign.

I agree about the bakery, it had parisian LOOKING food, but actually pretty well sucked. When a 12 year old takes 1 bite out of a pastry that is chocolate inside and out and leaves the rest on his plate, you know its not a good sign.

We did have lunch at a small place on the outside of the square towards the church. It filled the kids up with no complaints.

I can't wait to go back either. It really is a beautiful part of a beautiful country...

Patty