Get French in Kinsale, Ireland

After a few days on our trip, we started doing a rotation to select dinner places.  My sister-in-law picked Max's Wine bar for our first dinner in Kinsale.  Know for its fusion of French and Irish cuisine.  The place was definitely a little more expensive then most places we ate on this trip, but their early bird twp & three course specials made it a little easier.

Oyster Sampler

Definitely plenty of items on the menu that were different from our normal fare.  Between us, we had one fish entree, two Pork Belly entrees and I had a pheasant dish.  We also started with some oysters and some seafood bisque.  The bisque and oyster were quite good.

Pork Belly

As you may imagined, most of the food was very buttery, that is kind of what you expect with French cooking.  The pork belly was quite flavorful, a little rich for most and I tried a bite, did not quite care for the maple glaze, not my thing.

Pheasant

My pheasant was pretty good, but not outstanding.  We split some desserts that were very good as well.  I think we all agreed that it probably wasn't that the food was not good as much as our group is not real big on French style cuisine.

Based on my taste, I will give it 2.5, but I am guessing if you love French cuisine, you would enjoy Max's just fine.

Traditional Stew at Bollards - Kilkenny

We only had a single day in Kilkenny, we had a lunch stop at a cafe just down the street from Bollards, which I believe was called the Pantry, very good!  Don't have pictures, but they had very good sandwiches, quiche and a few other items we split.

After a bit more walking around for sites and shopping we settled in at Bollards based on our B&B owner's recommendation.  We ate a bit early and the place was nearly empty.  I am one to try many different things, so I tried their Traditional Lamb Stew, I found it quite good, would be awesome to warm a person up in the winter.

Traditional Irish Lamb Stew

One of my travel companions had fish & chips, fairly ordinary, we felt like the fish was very good, but breading was ordinary.  We had a pretty good cheese plate, but our chocolate cake dessert was awful and dry.  I think a 2.5 rating was fair for the meal we had.

If you can make it to the St. Francis Abbey Smithwick brewery tour before it shuts down, you have to get there for a pint, best pint of Smithwichs hands down!  If not, the Abbey is still a cool site, worth the visit.

Smithwicks Pint from Downstairs tasting room at original Brewery