Back in Ireland at the moment, and reviewing three at once because it took until the third to have anything worth saying.
On Saturday, we went to the Abbey Tavern as usual. Got about the last parking space - there had been a confirmation AND a wedding in the church across the road. Plus the regular Saturday crowd - they remarked, as we went in, that we'd arrived at just the right time; the crowd was beginning to leave. Honestly, I wasn't in the mood for this place, but what can you do? I had the steak, which was basically fine, if a bit tough. Hadn't the appetite to finish it. I also asked them out straight not to include salad, which I never eat. And boy, am I sick of the sprig of wilted parsley they always perch on top of every dish. Ah well, anyway it was, as I say, fine.
Yesterday (Mother's Day), my mother wanted to go to Flanagan's on the Lake, where we hadn't been in a while. So off we went, on what turned out to be an unusually nice day, and took the scenic lake drive. Again, we got the last parking space by the water - and when we went in, we saw why. It was packed! The narrow bar in the middle, where you enter, separates the two eating areas, and the corridor there includes a podium with one of those "Please wait to be seated" signs. There's a convenient, and comfortable, bench there, so there we sat until a nice (she turned out to be Polish) waiter got us the manager, who told us there'd be a 15-minute wait. We couldn't have got anywhere else in that time, so wait we did, and watched all the families out with their mothers.
The poor, frazzled manager pointed in our direction every time he dashed past - to remind himself, I think. And he really did his best to seat us as soon as ever he could. Handily, we were seated in the round tower section, which is a bit quieter and has good views. And our waiter (that Polish girl again) suggested that, instead of the table she'd been told to seat us at, we might like to take a wall table that was free, and surrounded by plush armchairs. Ok then, we said - she okayed it with the manager, and we sat there.
We didn't fancy the starters - so I just had chicken, my mother just salmon, and we ordered a side of sauteed mushrooms. They were out of the chicken special, so I had the a la carte coq au vin, which I've had before. It does surprise me how small their chickens always are. Still, it was extremely tasty, and the accompanying veg had been cooked with honey, by the taste. The mash was strangely bland, I thought. Still, my mother was happy with the taste of hers too, and we were both tastily and plentifully fed. Which is just as well, because the mushrooms we'd ordered - which we didn't have the appetite for - were dessicated and rather tasteless. The glasses of wine were generous to a fault - although no-one offered us the advertised free glass of champagne for mothers - and my dessert (lemon chocolate cheesecake - lemon on a chocolatey base) was delicious. I could've done without the accompanying coulis though, and must remember to ask for it without next time. As for my mother, she ordered pannacotta - this is where she first had it. She wasn't as impressed this time with the strawberry one she was offered.
But all in all, service was terrific - despite the crowd - and the surroundings pleasant. The food was very tasty, but the portion sizes, as usual, far too large.
Finally, we had business in Ennis today, and decided to eat at The Grove. Carvery was over - which was lucky, my mother hates it - and we got the last booth by the wall. Curiously, a neighbour of ours seemed to be conducting official-looking business at the table next door, but wasn't inclined to discuss it with us. So our curiosity had to go unsatisfied.
There was a lot of noise from the adjoining section of the bar, where it turned out a 16th birthday party was in progress. It continued right through our visit, with servers passing in with trays of sandwiches and finger food, and constant replenishment of jugs of orange juice. Which does provide some excuse as to the extremely slow service we received. Still, I do think there's a lack of management somewhere if servers have time to wash cutlery and fold napkins while customers are waiting for menus.
I ultimately had the chicken in pepper sauce, which was on special but they actually do here quite often, and which I know is good. And my mother, of course, had the salmon. We also decided to have a side of garlic bread. We got our drinks quite fast.. and waited for our food. And waited, and waited, and waited. Coincidentally, it was just after my mother complained that the food finally arrived. Reminiscent of the bad old days here, when service was patchy at best - I hope they're not slipping back to that.
The chicken was excellent, as ever - as was the fish. And the lack of wilted parsley was appreciated. Don't go for the garlic bread though - they use those hard little bread rolls to make it, and once those are toasted, they go as hard as rocks. Inedible - I left nearly half. We had plenty of time, so decided to order dessert. We finally grabbed someone to get us a menu. She sullenly took our order, and to be fair, the desserts were lovely. I give their chocolate fudge cake a thumbs-up. I didn't leave a tip, though.
Back to The Abbey Tavern tomorrow, probably, and their wilted parsley. And back to London the day after, and the day after that I'm out on the town again, courtesy of Margaret Thatcher, Queen of Soho at the Leicester Square Theatre. It's a drag show, and sounds like a fun night. And was nearly sold out, so I booked..
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