Popular West Cork restaurant to close

The restaurant previously operated as a café, bookshop and a guest house

Pilgrims Restaurant, South Square, Rosscarbery, West Cork. Picture: Denis Scannell

ONE of West Cork’s top restaurants, the Michelin-Guide-approved Pilgrims in Rosscarbery, is to shut its doors on April 2 as the owners say “it’s now time to make life sustainable for us rearing a small family.” 

Owners chef Mark Jennings and Sadie Pearce opened their top-rated village restaurant eight years ago on South Square in Rosscarbery, keeping the name Pilgrims over the door of the landlord-owned building which has also been a café, a bookshop and a guest house in the past.

The No 1 rated restaurant locally according to Tripadvisor, Pilgrims has since become a place of pilgrimage for foodies – no mean feat in West Cork which has its share of Michelin-starred eateries.

Mark Moriarty (right) with Rosscarbery chef Mark Jennings in Beyond The Menu

News of the impending closure leaked out in recent weeks and owners Sadie Pearce and Mark Jennings - who’ve just built a house north of Rosscarbery and who are due a second baby in coming weeks - said in an online posting today it was “with heavy heart we wish to inform everybody that Pilgrims restaurant will be closing its doors on April 2.” 

However, cryptically, the family’s posting concluded “but, never fear, after taking a pause, we will be back. We’re not leaving hospitality and plans are afoot for the next chapter.” “It’s a decision we have not made lightly, we’ve so enjoyed our time here,” they said, “We love the building and Rosscarbery.

“We’ve loved getting to know our regulars, the locals, our suppliers and all our staff members over the years, many of whom are now our friends. We are very sad to let it go.

”Pilgrims has tried to be sustainable, but now it’s time to make life sustainable for us rearing a small family,” the couple posted.

Chef Mark Jennings had previously worked in a number of hospitality venues, including the vegetarian Café Paradiso in Cork city, and Pilgrims brought the same fastidious attention to ingredients, but with the addition of fish, and meat in many dishes.

Mark Jennings featured on RTÉs Beyond the Menu series in 2019 with presenter Mark Moriarty, cooking a meal on the pier at near Mill Cove.

Food lovers will be keen to see what the couple drum up next, and when, and where.