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.
Then I picture myself as being an entirely different person; heading in the opposite direction, travelling from my permanent home in... oh, you know, somewhere delicious and sunny. I am heading off on holiday to Ireland for the very first time, a comparatively short trip, just a few days. The welcome turns out to be wonderful, such naturally friendly and welcoming people. The culture, I already know, for it has a worldwide reputation. And the place, I never dreamed somewhere so small and isolated, on the very western edge of Europe could be at times so stunning. But the biggest surprise of all is the food. I’d heard Irish produce was superb, world-class, but I had no idea that their hospitality sector did such a splendid job of serving it up on the plate, in cafes, pubs, restaurants, food trucks, in farmer’s markets and specialist food shops and delis; the options are seemingly endless.
What’s more, a food writer I know has racked his brains and tapped into some prime sources on the ground to prepare a list and his word to the wise, his insider tip, is that I will eat better food in Munster than any other province in Ireland. In fact, he says, I will eat some of the very best food in the world and that I need to put aside three whole days of my week travelling through the southern province, 72 hours in Munster for some of the most wonderful eating and drinking I will ever do.
The county of Cork is the birthplace of the modern Irish food producer movement when Veronica Steele first created Milleens Cheese in Beara, in 1977, and going back even further, to 1963, it is also the birthplace of modern Irish hospitality, when Myrtle Allen first opened Ballymaloe House. And, for centuries before that, it has been the ‘breadbasket’ of Ireland, thanks to its rich land, extensive coastline and, in particular, the uniquely temperate micro-climate of West Cork, it has a longstanding tradition of producing some of the finest produce from land and sea in all of Ireland. It was the first part of the country to earn a Michelin star, in 1971, and in 1973, the only three stars in the country were all in Cork. The hospitality offering stumbled a little in recent years but it is now back with a bang, the entire county seemingly caught up in a food fever, bursting with creativity in its delivery to the plate of some of the finest produce in the world. It is not being parochial to say that it is the best county in Munster, and therefore the best county in Ireland. In terms of its overall food offering: three Michelin-starred restaurants and a whole raft of creative young chefs nipping at their heels; and the natural wine revolution is really taking off in the city with pioneers L’Atitude 51 having led the wine, fellow stalwarts, the Black Pig Wine Bar in Kinsale, also coming on board, and now joined by new arrivals in Cork city, Nell’s Wine Bar, and the very gorgeous MacCurtain Wine Cellar.
- Good Day Deli, Nano Nagle Centre, Douglas St, Cork City
- Crawford Gallery Cafe, Emmet Place, Cork City
- Coffee Filter, George’s Quay, Cork City
- Soma, Tuckey St, Cork City
- Alchemy, Barrack St, Cork City
- Cork Coffee Roasters, Bridge St, Cork City
- Farmgate Cafe, The English Market, Cork City
- Sonny’s Deli (Takeaway picnic), Albert Road, Cork
- Iyer’s Cafe, Pope’s Quay, Cork City
- Miyazaki (six stools or takeaway), Cork City
- Monk’s Lane, Timoleague, West Cork
- My Goodness (takeaway), The English Market, Cork City
- The Spice Genie, Midleton, Co Cork
- Caitlin Ruth, various locations in West Cork
- Pompeii Pizza at the Franciscan Well Brewery
- Skibbereen Farmer’s Market
- Mahon Point Farmer’s Market
- On The Pig’s Back, The English Market, Cork City
- Iago’s cheesemongers, Cork City
- Urru, Bandon Organico, Bantry
- The English Market, Cork City
- The Sin É, Coburg St, Cork City
- The Long Valley, Cork City
- The Bierhaus, Pope’s Quay, Cork City
- The Hi-B, Cork City
- Levi’s Cornerhouse, Ballydehob
- L’Atitude 51, Union Quay, Cork City
- Arundel’s by the Pier, Ahakista
- The Glass Curtain, MacCurtain St, Cork City
- Cafe Paradiso, Lancaster Quay, Cork Goldie, Oliver Plunkett St, Cork City
- O’Mahony’s of Watergrasshill, Watergrasshill Garden @ Liss Ard Estate, Skibbereen, Co Cork
- Sage Midleton, Midleton
- Ichigo Ichie, Fenn’s Quay, Cork City
- Dede, Customs House, Baltimore
- Restaurant Chestnut, Ballydehob
- Pilgrim’s, Rosscarbery, West Cork
I have always presumed Kerry is nicknamed ‘The Kingdom’ for, amongst other reasons, the richness of its agricultural land and the waters that surround it, all producing some very fine produce. Curiously, though, while the county’s hotel sector is one of the strongest and most proactive in the country, operating a class of meitheal system which sees them all supporting each other for the greater good, restaurant dining in Kerry, particularly at the highest level, has been more a case of isolated pockets of excellence, yet to join the dots. This is quite possibly because Kerry hospitality for so long-lived high on the hog courtesy of the endless busloads of comparatively undemanding American tourists. That model has changed, possibly forever, and The Kingdom is changing with it.
Unquestionably, Dingle has been to the fore of the best of dining in Kerry, even before the advent of the Dingle Food Festival, and the annual unveiling of the Blas na hÉireann Irish food awards, and Killorglin has also hosted a few doughty outliers but there are real signs that Killarney is starting to also follow suit.
And if Kerry starts to up its culinary game as an entire county — and all the elements are there to do so — then there’ll be a whole new Cork-Kerry rivalry that will truly put the football one in the ha’penny place.
- Lagom, Kenmare
- The Bookshelf, Tralee
- Coffee Bean in Dingle
- My Boy Blue, Dingle Good Boy
- Coffee Roasters, Killarney
- The Cheese Shop, Tralee
- Driftwood Surf Cafe, St Finian’s Bay Ashe’s, Dingle
- Cáis in Dick Mack’s Yard, Dingle
- MexWest, Dingle
- The Hungry Donkey, Faha Court, Killarney
- The Little Cheese Shop, Dingle Bácús bakery shop, Dingle
- Dingle Farmer’s Market Emilie’s (also a cafe/restaurant), Glenbeigh
- Kennedy’s, Dingle
- Foxy John’s, Dingle
- The Purple Heather, Kenmare
- Foley’s, Kenmare
- D O’Shea’s, Sneem
- John M Reidy, Killarney
- O’Donoghue’s, Killarney
- Foley’s, Inch Betty’s, Tralee
- Land to Sea, Dingle
- The Chart House, Dingle
- The Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder, Killarney
- Global Village, Dingle
- Solas, Dingle
- Mulchahy’s, Kenmare
- No 35, Kenmare
- Kingdom 1795, Killorglin
- Park Hotel, Kenmare
Clare is very much the one to watch. Though I am wedded to West Cork, my spiritual sanctuary,Clare, especially West Clare and The Burren is my second most favourite place in Ireland, making it my second most favourite place in the world — and I say that as someone who loves global travelling and visiting ‘out along foreign’. It as not as blessed with the lush rich pastures of other parts of Munster so farmers and food producers in Clare have always had a certain canniness and innovation to their output. Over the last 20 years, a band of very splendid food producers, led by Birgitta Curtin Hederman, of the Burren Smokehouse, and Siobhán Ní Gharbhaith, of St Tola Goat’s Cheese, amongst many others, have done trojan work of showcasing their wares as a highly enlightened combination of food and eco-tourism, illustrating the profound impact of terroir on superb produce, and, more and more, the county’s hospitality sector is responding in kind, not necessarily with big, flash money-driven projects but, in typical Clare fashion, with ingenuity and invention. For example, a small yet beautiful little town such as Ennistymon can be re-invented with funky new offerings such as The Cheese Press, Pot Duggan’s and the late and greatly lamented Little Fox, a victim of the pandemic. But though The Little Fox is gone, the energy and momentum of the county’s hospitality sector appears nigh unstoppable.
- Sweet n Green, Ennis
- Mondo Coffee Shop, Ennis
- Anthony’s, Doolin Inn, Doolin
- Dodi Cafe, Lahinch
- Coffee The Tea Rooms at The Burren
- Perfumery Carran Hugo’s, Lahinch
- Hollys Café, Kilkee
- Under the Oak, Mountshannon
- Linnane’s Lobster Bar, New Quay
- Russell’s, Fiddle & Bow, Doolin
- The Long Dock, Carrigaholt
- Morrisson’s, Doonbeg
- Julia’s Lobster Truck, various locations
- Sourdough O’ Farrell, Ennis
- The Burren Smokehouse, Lisdoonvarna
- The Cheese Press, Ennistymon
- Market place Ennistymon
- Larder Deli Ballyvaughan Ennis
- Gourmet Store Ennis
- The Roadside Tavern, Lisdoonvarna
- Pot Duggan’s, Ennistymon
- Kenny’s, Lahinch
- Egan’s, Liscannor
- Sheedy’s Country House Hotel, Lisdoonvarna
- The Roadside Tavern, Lisdoonvarna
- Vaughan’s Anchor Inn, Liscannor
- Wild Honey Inn, Lisdoonvarna
- Oar, Doolin
- Gregans Castle, Ballyvaughan
- Earl of Thomand Restaurant at Dromoland Castle
It never ceases to surprise me how often I have to defend my grá for Limerick, most especially Limerick city, which I believe to be one of the most overlooked towns in the country. Granted, it has been grossly neglected in terms of national investment over the years and there are parts of town that are still quite scruffy but, equally, there are parts of Limerick that, once spruced up, would be the envy of ANY town or city in Ireland, most of all, its glorious Georgian Quarter, leading up to the People’s Park, and The Milk Market is not only the most beautiful farmer’s market in the country, it is also, when you factor in its cluster of adjacent permanent food outlets, the best. Not only that, it has done sterling work in establishing a “native” food culture that locals are learning to really love.
Limerick is also one of the most creative cities in Ireland; EVA, by far the most original and inspirational annual visual arts exhibition in the country, always featuring work of international quality, found its natural home in Limerick.
But you never really hear Limerick people trumpeting their qualities and merits from the rooftops. In fact, unlike a lot of other counties, including, ahem, my own, Limerick people prefer to do their talking on the pitch — quite literally with the hurlers in the last few years — and leave the self-promotion to others, which is why it has taken so long for others to recognise what is going on in the county. There has always been a rich agricultural tradition, but there is a growing network of smaller producers, epitomised for me by the very splendid Caroline Rigney, of Rigney’s Farm, and Curraghchase Free Range Pork, who in banding together are learning to promote their offering as a more substantial whole, and restaurants in Limerick are responding in kind. You can, of course, target a Michelin star if your pockets are deep enough and JP Magnier’s stretch down for fathoms so in some respects it was no surprise that The Oak Room at Adare Manor should garner a star, but what makes it special is that the immensely talented chef, Mike Tweedie, has gradually come to know and love the local produce and his menus are now utterly imbued with a sense of place, a sense of Limerick. Neither is he the only chef in Limerick to do so.
- The Buttery, Limerick City
- Canteen, Limerick City
- Coffee Fika, Limerick City
- Rift, Limerick City
- The Green Room Cafe, Springfield Castle, Dromcollogher
- Green Onion Cafe, Rutland St, Limerick City
- The Grove (vegetarian), Cecil St, Limerick City
- Wickham Way Market (French Tacos & Street Food Done Good)
- The Urban Co-op, Ballysimon Road, Limerick
- The Milk Market (highlights include Country Choice, at The Milk Market On the Wild Side, at The Milk Market)
- Mother Mac’s, Limerick City
- Tom Collin’s, Limerick City
- The White House, Limerick City
- The Curragower, Clancy’s Strand, Limerick
- East Room at Plassey House, Sreelane
- Taikichi, O’Connell St, Limerick City
- Sash at No 1 Pery Square, Limerick City
- The Mustard Seed, Ballingarry
- 1826 Adare The Oak Room at Adare Manor
Tipp is just too damn rich! That’s about the best explanation I have for why the county’s hospitality offering has always lagged so far behind the quite incredible offering of its food producers. Traditionally, the Golden Vale has always been one of Ireland’s most fertile and most fecund farming counties, its lush, rich pastures ideally suited to the raising of cattle and producing dairy. When you’re struggling to make a living, then you have to draw on other resources of ingenuity and creativity to find alternatives and that has never been too necessary in Tipp, much the same as equally fertile North Cork has far fewer artisan food producers than emerged from some of the wilds of West Cork.
And without that network of local producers, it is harder to present a local hospitality sector with the larder its terroir deserves. That is not for a moment to say the county has been a barren place; far from it. True food heroes such as Con Traas, and before him, his parents, Willem and Ali, have created a national treasure in The Apple Farm, and a whole cluster of other producers in the Tipperary Food Producers Network are doing wonderful things.
Equally, the county has had some very fine restaurants over the years, even Michelin-starred (The Cashel Palace, under the Ryans, in ‘82, and ‘83; Chez Hans, in ‘83), but they are a reflection of a pattern, isolated pockets operating at the higher end of the market. The work of those aforementioned producers is having an impact, giving the Tipperary food culture an identifiable local identity and hospitality is responding in kind, from the very excellent Dook’s, in Fethard, to the sumptuously restored and recently re-opened Cashel Palace Hotel which arrives tailor-made as a blue-chip Irish destination hotel that will attract a huge international audience. That audience will want to explore the locality and will provide an audience for other local smaller hospitality ventures to respond in kind.
- Inch House, Thurles
- Coffee The Old Barracks, Birdhill
- Dook’s Fine Foods, Fethard
- Firedog Pizza, Clonmel
- Country Choice, Nenagh
- Sean Tierney’s Bar & Restaurant, Clonmel
- Baker’s Bar, Clonmel
- Phil Carroll’s, Clonmel
- Una Powell’s, Nenagh The Derg Inn, Terryglass
- Mikey Ryan’s Bar & Kitchen, Cashel
- The Old Convent Country House & Restaurant, Cahir
- Chez Hans, Cashel, Co Tipperary
- The Bishop’s Buttery at Cashel Palace Hotel
With a most beautiful county as the backdrop, Waterford is one of my favourite Irish cities to visit and I count an entirely disproportionate number of Déise citizens as good friends for they combine an honesty, openness, warmth and integrity with a commendable capacity to put on the nosebag and party hard — a winning combination in my book. I have enjoyed some of my finest skites in Waterford, city and county. But there’s no denying, Waterford has been ill-served in terms of economic investment, a sleeping giant that needs to be woken from its slumber and tap into the true potential of its centuries-old food heritage.
We’ll probably be hanging around a while longer for the State to step up to the plate as it should, but individuals throughout the county have been fighting gamely on this front for decades and the entire county’s hospitality offering is gradually building up a head of steam. Especially exciting has been the revival of Tramore, spearheaded by Sarah Richards’ Seagull Bakery, then followed by The Beach House.
While the big-name players in hospitality to date have emerged from rural rather than urban locations — Dungarvan especially springs to mind, with Paul and Máire Flynn’s The Tannery — there are signs of a county-wide cohesion that is set to truly take fire in the coming years, and I shall be there at the heart of the party.
- Grow HQ, Dunmore Road Cass & Co, Dungarvan
- Coffee Trade, Waterford City
- Under the Clock, Waterford City
- Lunch Geoff’s bar, Waterford City
- Engine House Bar & Cafe, Bunmahon
- Little Catch, Tramore
- Seagull Bakery & Bakery Shop, Tramore
- Ardkeen Stores
- Jordan’s, Waterford
- Kennedy’s, Dunmore Road
- The Moorings, Dungarvan
- The Marine Bar, Ring
- Dinner Everett’s, Waterford City
- Copper Buoy Café & Winebar, Dungarvan
- The Old Bank, Dungarvan
- The Old Couch Cafe, Waterford City
- The Tannery, Dungarvan
- Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore
