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!

OShea's Fish & Chips

Besides a little breakfast at our hotel and some snacking along the way, our first real meal in Dublin was at Oshea's.  I did some research and we actually had plans of eating at The Celt Pub, but they only had like 5 or 6 tables and they were all full, so Oshea's was just down the street.  Oshea's is a hotel and restaurant, with a nice bar area as well.  If you stay at Hotel Belvedere, this is a pretty easy 4-5 minute walk.

Three of four of our group went for fish and chips and I don't remember what my vegetarian sister in law got...  Overall we all enjoyed our meal, the fish was firm and flavorful and the breading was to all of our liking.  It was also a very filling portion of fish.

Also, the slaw was tasty and they did a fine job with the chips.  I am pretty sure we shared a chocolate dessert here that was tasty, but I forgot to get a picture and I have forgotten the details. Plenty of beer tap options and they had some live music in the bar area as we finished up our meals.  One of our travel partners, Jacon, swears this was the best Guinness he had on his whole trip of Ireland.  We almost dined here a second time, but there was no seating available and we were starving.  Overall, this was a solid meal, would recommend for some good pub food!

Good Sush in in an Airport?

We had all day at the Detroit airport before catching a flight to JFK and then on to Dublin.  So I cruised the terminal for some lunch options.  I finally had the time to go see if I could get Sushi to go from SORA Japanese & Sushi.  I had breezed by it many times on short connections before.

SORA in main Delta Terminal

Turns out, you can order Sushi to go from there and I am pretty sure it was ready in less then 10 minutes.  So unless you are streaking to get to your gate, you probably have time for Sushi at DTW!  Prices were pretty fare, especially for an airport and the Tuna rolls that I got were quite good.

The To-Go container doesn't do much for plate appeal, but it was tasty!

This will probably be a repeat mainstay on future Detroit connections!  Solid 3.5!

 

Watch soon for the Dublin food posts!

Solid Turkey Breakfast Burrito Westin DTW

This will be the first blog of many in a series, basically chronicling the food from my trip to Ireland at the end of May.  Funny enough the first stop on this blogging adventure is breakfast at the Westin connected to the Detroit airport.  Thanks to a medical diversion on our Delta flight to JFK, we got to have a late night room service (epic fail) and breakfast at the DEMA Lounge at the Westin.

Turkey Avocado Breakfast Wrap

Three of us has a very tasty turkey, avocado, scrambled eggs and cheese burrito stuffed into a wrap.  I thought it was quite good, not sure what the wrap was, but it was not a standard flour or corn tortilla.  The turkey and avocado made it a little lighter and less greasy they your average breakfast burrito offering, although it was quite large and substantial, hold you over for quite some time.

Served with some salsa and tasty hash browns, I'd have a hard time not getting it again if I get stuck at DTW Westin for breakfast again!  Check back soon for a nice Sushi find at DTW!

Good Eats going International

Heading to Ireland for two weeks. So watch the blog in near future for some more airport reviews along with Pubs and eaterys from Ireland.

Cheers!