Breakfast, lunch, dinner and more: The ultimate guide to eating out in Munster this summer
Crawford Gallery Cafe pictures
I’m wrapping a bow around this list just as I prepare to head abroad on holidays for the first time since May 2019. And as much as I love this country above all other destinations, I am looking forward to visiting a place that is entirely new to me; a little off the beaten track in terms of regular Irish tourist destinations, but the few friends I know who’ve been there tell me I will love it. I am looking forward to waking up in a different town, in a different country. I’m looking forward to immersing myself in a different culture, a different climate, being among different people — hopefully, people as naturally hospitable as the Irish — and I’m especially looking forward to trying different food.
But I’m not looking forward to sorting out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to putting on the nosebag, for it has proven surprisingly difficult over the last few weeks to find any reliable guides to this particular destination. The days of the weighty doorstop from Rough Guides or Lonely Planet appear to be past, and yet there is also a paucity of digital alternatives. And, no, before you say anything, I don’t do TripAdvisor — no disrespect to its contributors or every disrespect in the world, but I prefer to get my advice from a professional guide who does it for a living. When I get there, I’m going to have to wing it and that’s always a precarious place from which to begin when pulling a chair up to an unknown table.
