Galway: Simple and fresh food at Chez Azur

Chez Azur, 1 Dock Road, Galway; tel: [phone]; facebook.com/chezazurgalway

A FEW minutes’ walk from Galway’s Latin Quarter there is a bright and hopeful room overlooking the docks. Its stripped-back walls, bistro tables and juicy splashes of art are understated and brave. In early evening, air wafts through open windows.

It’s Chez Azur. Serving seafood in the main (“but we don’t leave out the meat lovers!”), the restaurant anchors itself on a three-course a la carte menu (€31.50pp), and since it opened last March, has been wooing a steady stream of foodies, friends and festival-goers from the city centre. Chef and proprietor Ken Stembridge has taken a punt on a simple philosophy of seafood and fresh local produce, and it appears to be paying off.