Made it back to Ireland, after a flight on Friday that resembled a ride on a bucking bronco! I suppose I can expect more of that for the rest of the winter - especially with the tail-end of that hurricane lashing us as I speak.
I spent last night visiting my friend in Garretstown. The drive down was interspersed with torrential showers - at least until I got south of Limerick, then it was sunshine and calm conditions all the way! which was a relief, as I was heading to the coast, and it can get.. uncomfortable.. making that drive in bad weather. Anyway, she'd booked a table for us in Crackpots, in Kinsale - I leave it up to her, she knows the area better. And as that's the "Gourmet Capital of Ireland", I was assured of getting a good meal. As usual.
She had booked for 8pm, to give me time to get there - but the person taking the booking asked whether we could come earlier. In the event, we made it for 7.30; it became obvious why the suggestion had been made, when we saw how empty the place was! Well, it was Sunday night..
She sat us in the window, and we perused the menu. This is one of the many eateries in the area that I haven't been to before. As you might expect in this part of the world, fish features heavily, and you can expect it to be fresh. However, I'm not into fish just at the moment, and went for the sirloin instead. I didn't see a starter I fancied (and prices - for starters at least -are higher than most), and we didn't have any. As we waited, and throughout the meal, we were treated to a soundtrack of pop and easy-listening classics - many I haven't heard in ages, and was delighted to hear again.
In short, the prices are justified. That was simply the tastiest steak I've had in a long time. And every part of my main course was stunning, frankly. Oh, I'm jealous of her, having the chance to eat food of that quality all the time! The phrase "taste sensation" would not be an exaggeration here. We went for desserts - natch - both chocolatey: she had the white chocolate parfait, I had the chocolate and orange mousse, which arrived in a little jar, on a platter with a separate small dish of creme brulée, and decorated with small fruit pieces. Both desserts came with a small piece of what looked like pistachio in chocolate. That was the one criticism of our meal really - these little pistachio pieces were as hard as rocks, and inedible. They had four dessert wines, each matched with one of the desserts; sadly, I was driving and didn't feel comfortable having one, and she didn't fancy more wine. But all in all, a really memorable meal.
I came back today (more torrential rain, but slightly fewer showers) and my mother and I went to eat in the Abbey Tavern, our usual haunt. We were there on Saturday night too, and had a lovely meal - I had the lamb, my mother her usual salmon. Tonight was slightly less successful - I had the chicken and ham, which was tasty enough, but the chicken was a bit dry. Not as good as the night before, for sure. Still, overall, the quality is good here, and the service friendly and attentive. The place was pretty empty, as you'd expect on a Monday night. There was a family at the table next to us, however, and the father fancied a curry. There wasn't one on the regular menu, but his wife knew there was one on the takeaway menu, so they asked the server whether he could have it. She was adamant that there was no way the chef would do a takeaway dish for eating on the premises. Ok, I know it's the takeaway menu.. but honestly! Wouldn't it be easy to just add it to the a la carte, charge more if they felt like it? Black mark there, Abbey Tavern.. I might have felt like one, myself!
Not sure whether we'll be eating out tomorrow, but I am supposed to be meeting a friend for coffee the day after, so there might be something to report..
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