Fresh Seafood - Dingle's Best Catch!

Based on our B&B's recommendation, we made reservations at Out of the Blue for my wife's birthday dinner.  It is a pretty small place and their menu is limited to what is brought in that day by the fishermen.  So if it is a stormy day and the boats don't go out, they don't open their doors for dining.  The menu has not meat on it, it is written on black boards daily. 

Don't let the outside fool you

The decor is nothing fancy, but they had some nice touches, like seashells for butter dishes.

Potato Crusted Pollack - Menu Mainstay when they catch'em!

They had a smoked mackerel pate that came with the complimentary bread that was really delightful.  We skipped any appetizers for this meal as we had a late snack at another pub earlier.  The other three in my group all got a Potato Crusted Pollack dinner, they all seemed to really enjoy it.  One interesting thing, is that most of our plates came with different sides, even people that ordered the same entree.

My great Tuna meal!

I had a grilled tuna that was cooked perfectly.  All our dishes came with a multitude of small and well prepared side dishes, a little something for everybody.  We also has some desserts, they were out of what we wanted and what we ended up with was just okay, but you come here for the seafood!  It was a little pricey, but portions were large and in the end, only a few Euros more then some of our other dinners elsewhere.

Wendy's "W" does not stand for winner...

Taking a break from the Ireland food adventures.  Awhile back, I needed some quick food for me and the my young girls.  We bopped through the local Wendy's drive through.  Kids got their usual chicken nuggets/strips/fingers etc they always get at fast food places.

What the Menu Showed...

The "W" burger caught my eye, so I decided to give it a try.  Clearly a direct competitor to McDonald's Big Mac.  In my eyes, pretty ordinary, not as good as a Big Mac and not as appetizing to look at as the picture on the menu.

What I opened when I got home...

In short, not getting this one again, usually I like Wendys, not impressed this time.  I knew I should have got a Frosty!

Fenton's Of Dingle

 Our first night in Dingle we dined at Fenton's based on the recommendation of our B&B (Milestone).  We had the option to eat inside or in the outdoor seating area in back which was like a little outdoor garden patio, nice but there were a few bugs.

Overall the food was pretty good, my favorite part was a smoked mackerel pate that they brought out to our table as a starter.  I believe our group has one fish entree, two chicken and I got the Chargrilled Kerry striploin of (Beef) Steak.  Others very much liked their chicken, my steak was just okay, flavor was okay, but definitely overcooked as I requested Medium Rare and got Medium Well, I am kind of picky when it comes to over cooking steaks.  There was no pink left in this steak :(

Steak overcooked and not overly large portion

Coffee Ice Cream

The sides came family style, they were quite good.  My wife enjoyed her coffe ice cream, but the highlight of the meal was the rhubarb crumble for dessert, we almost returned just to have that again!

Overall, food was pretty good, little pricey for the portion sizes, I'd go again for the crumble.

The White House - Kinsale

Night two in Kinsale was my choice for dinner, so after checking a handful of reviews on TripAdvisor and a few other sites, and reading some menus on the faces of the restaurants, I elected for us to dine at The White House.

They had a nice variety of food on their menu and some multi-course early bird options.  As a bonus they had Coors Light on tap, I very much enjoyed the Irish beers on my trip, but it was nice to have US "Domestic" lager with this meal.

Seafood Chowder

My meal consisted of a very nice seafood chowder and the Half Lobster.  The chowder was very delicious, probably my favorite of the trip, nice large pieces of clam and seafood.  The side salad was well done and the lobster was prepared perfectly.  A very filling meal that did not weigh me down.

Half Lobster & Side Salad

I don't recall what everyone else ate, but all were pleased with their meals and feeling good enough to take in the Kinsale Ghost Walk, which was comedic and entertaining, while allowing us to walk off our meals and then go out for drinks and music afterwards.

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

Music & Eats at Dubln's Old Storehouse

We stumbled upon The Old Storehouse (free wi-fi) adjacent off the main drag of Temple Bar area in Dublin on our second night in Ireland.  As we sat down, two local gentlemen were just getting started with a great love Irish folk music session and the patrons poured in steadily afterwards.

Hungry after a long day of checking out New Grange, I opted for the Guinness  Irish Lamb & Root Vegetable stew, served with mash potatoes & fresh parsley.  Two others got Bangers & Mash, and our vegetarian got the the Fish & Chips.  I found the stew to be very hardy, flavorful and it hit the spot.  I tried a bite of my wife's Bangers, they seemed quite good, they both raved about them, I thought they were just good.  I also tried the fish & chips, I thought this place had the best chips of our trip, but the fish was just okay. The music kept the energy and fun levels high all through dinner, making us all have an extra pint after we were done with our food.

Irish Stew

Bangers & Mash

Overall, the food is a solid 3, but with the music and atmosphere, I definitely would put it on your list of places to dine or grab a pint in Dublin.  I'd go here again!