If I was still following a vegan diet, I'd likely have been unsatisfied with most meals and would have been pretty bored. However, eating cheese, eggs, and .... fish (yes, fish) enabled a broad range of options, most of which were outstanding. I had been toying with the idea of eating fish, especially starting on this trip since Ireland is an island and, one would assume, have fresh seafood readily available. The weekend before we left, the people in my clinic through a bridal shower. Everyone brought some sort of brunch food to share. One of the nurses made a crab quiche made from crab caught the previous day by her son. I didn't want to pass up that opporutnity. Once I started eating fish on the trip, I wanted to keep eating it.
In fact, nearly all of the food that we had in Ireland was touted as being local. It was an impressive country in that way. Also, going into little convenience type stores, one could get fresh (and pretty good looking) produce, good cheeses and breads. The US has a lot to learn.
Rick Steves talks about the traditional Irish breakfast in his guidebook, so we were aware of the concept of their breakfasts, which usually consisted of bacon (more like slices of ham), sausage, egg, sometimes hashbrowns or beans, toast, and a fried tomato (always a fried tomato). In addition to this, most people also offered eggs with smoked salmon. I had eggs with smoked salmonat 4 different B&Bs, and everyone had a slightly different way of preparing it. Some had the salmon mixed in with the scrambled eggs, some had it lying on top of the eggs, and some had it lying to the side. All I thought were excellent.
Lunches were usually pretty small affairs since breakfast was usually pretty large and were mostly of the picnic variety.
Dinners were almost entirely excellent. We sampled some of the following seafood in these dinner: salmon, cod, seabass, periwinkles, lobster, hake, scallops, and mackeral. The following is a list of where we ate for dinner while in Ireland.
Heather Wicklow - Laragh, County Wicklow
Rajput Indian - Cashel, County Tipperary
Vasco - Fanore, County Clare
Inis Meain - Inishmaan, Aran Islands, County Galway
The Exchange - Derry, Northern Ireland
Cayenne - Belfast, Northern Ireland
Indian Restaurant - Trim, County Meath
Hugo's - Dublin
Trocadero - Dublin
Our 2 favorites were Inis Meain and Vasco. I'll write more about staying on the Aran Islands in another post. Suffice it to say at this point that our stay there was one of the most memorable of the trip, and the food was outstanding. The chef grew up on Inishmaan, went away for several years and moved back 8-9 years ago to open a hotel and restaurant with his wife. He had worked at a restaurant in Dublin prior to opening this restaurant. A lot of the vegetables and edible flowers they grow just next to the restaurant and get potatoes from someone else on the island. The fish is caught locally usually that day. Excellent.
Fenore is a tiny town on the west coast of Ireland. We had spent time that afternoon exploring the Cliffs of Moher and the burren. We were driving along the coast as the sun was approaching the horizon leading to some amazing views and photo opportunities - absolutely stunning and beautiful. We had gotten a recommendation for this newly opened mediteranean restaurant in Fenore. We drove through Fenore not knowing the name of the restaurant but on the lookout for a new place with mediteranean qualities. We thought we had missed it but finally drove long enough through town to chance upon it (the place only has a handful of restaurants or any commercial establishments). The food was excellent and we were entertained by children playing with donkeys outside the window.
Rick Steves talks about the traditional Irish breakfast in his guidebook, so we were aware of the concept of their breakfasts, which usually consisted of bacon (more like slices of ham), sausage, egg, sometimes hashbrowns or beans, toast, and a fried tomato (always a fried tomato). In addition to this, most people also offered eggs with smoked salmon. I had eggs with smoked salmonat 4 different B&Bs, and everyone had a slightly different way of preparing it. Some had the salmon mixed in with the scrambled eggs, some had it lying on top of the eggs, and some had it lying to the side. All I thought were excellent.
Lunches were usually pretty small affairs since breakfast was usually pretty large and were mostly of the picnic variety.
Dinners were almost entirely excellent. We sampled some of the following seafood in these dinner: salmon, cod, seabass, periwinkles, lobster, hake, scallops, and mackeral. The following is a list of where we ate for dinner while in Ireland.
Heather Wicklow - Laragh, County Wicklow
Rajput Indian - Cashel, County Tipperary
Vasco - Fanore, County Clare
Inis Meain - Inishmaan, Aran Islands, County Galway
The Exchange - Derry, Northern Ireland
Cayenne - Belfast, Northern Ireland
Indian Restaurant - Trim, County Meath
Hugo's - Dublin
Trocadero - Dublin
Our 2 favorites were Inis Meain and Vasco. I'll write more about staying on the Aran Islands in another post. Suffice it to say at this point that our stay there was one of the most memorable of the trip, and the food was outstanding. The chef grew up on Inishmaan, went away for several years and moved back 8-9 years ago to open a hotel and restaurant with his wife. He had worked at a restaurant in Dublin prior to opening this restaurant. A lot of the vegetables and edible flowers they grow just next to the restaurant and get potatoes from someone else on the island. The fish is caught locally usually that day. Excellent.
Fenore is a tiny town on the west coast of Ireland. We had spent time that afternoon exploring the Cliffs of Moher and the burren. We were driving along the coast as the sun was approaching the horizon leading to some amazing views and photo opportunities - absolutely stunning and beautiful. We had gotten a recommendation for this newly opened mediteranean restaurant in Fenore. We drove through Fenore not knowing the name of the restaurant but on the lookout for a new place with mediteranean qualities. We thought we had missed it but finally drove long enough through town to chance upon it (the place only has a handful of restaurants or any commercial establishments). The food was excellent and we were entertained by children playing with donkeys outside the window.
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