To start, I have to say the food on the trip was just fantastic. Irish food traditionally has gotten a bad rap, the stereotype that all meals contain heaps of potatoes and that everything is boiled to death. However, the Irish people are now waking up to the fact that their island produces some of the richest ingredients, ingredients that until now they have been exporting to the rest of the world and not eating themselves. Joan and I were treated very well with this food renaissance of sorts, especially as we were on a guided tour with the Rick Steves company. We had great breakfasts in quaint B&Bs and dinners in smaller restaurants that prided themselves on good local ingredients. Of course when we went off on our own, Joan and I also hunted out the most unique places we could find.
Going by the order of the day, every morning started with a good strong pot of tea. Joan and I were always asked whether we wanted tea or coffee – and of course we always wholeheartedly answered back “tea please!” I was a bit disappointed to find that it was always bag tea instead of loose leaf but I realized that it’s a lot easier for food service that way. It was still nice and strong though. My favorite cup of tea came on a very foggy day in Kinsale when we touring the embattlements of Fort Charles. As any good Irish (or British) tourist spot should, they had a small tea room where you could get a small pastry, hot chocolate, and of course tea. It was just a simple cup of tea, but it really hit the spot on that cold foggy day. Below is the informational sign at the fort, pointing directions in both Irish-Gaelic and in English.
Moving on from breakfast to lunch, I don’t have any great
pictures of anything we had for a midday meal, but I know right away a meal where
I wish I would have taken a picture. In
Dingle we had a day completely free to explore on our own. After traipsing to the opposite end of town
to explore a cemetery for my wife’s Irish roots, we sat down at a chip shop for
some (what else) fish and chips. Joan
and I knew it was a good place because there were many locals and even the
local Garda (police) eating there. The
second good sign was that they served it the traditional way with the fried
fish and chips wrapped up in the newsprint-type paper. Well those two good signs were correct as it
was the best fish and chips either of us has ever had. The fish was done so perfectly that while the
batter was nice and crisp on the outside, the fish was moist and flaky – so
much so that when Joan just touched her piece with her fork it fanned out
delicately.
Next are the dinners.
The tour’s itinerary took us to some pretty great restaurants. I have a few pictures below, but alas, again
I regret not taking pictures of some of my favorite things. My favorite dessert was banoffee pie. I guess it’s a traditional British Isles
dessert, but I never heard of it until the trip. It’s what I would consider a cream pie,
mixing bananas and caramel (or in British English “toffee”). Banana + toffee = banoffee. Toffee was also part of my other favorite
dessert, sticky toffee pudding. On
almost every dessert menu, it’s similar to bread pudding but I would say more
custard like and usually sweeter… but that could be due to the fact that it was
always covered with caramel sauce.
Whereas I didn’t take pictures of my favorite desserts, I at
least did have the thought to take pictures of the first two courses of my
favorite dinner. (I guess the crème
brulee I had for dessert wasn’t picture worthy.) To some, the dish in the first picture below
may look vile, but to me it was fan-freaking-tastic. From An Port Mor in Westport, Ireland, it’s a
grilled pear, black pudding, and pig’s cheeks salad. The pig’s cheeks may already be turning some
away, but I feel I should also mention that black pudding is basically just
blood sausage. I happen to love the
stuff and since it was paired with pig’s cheeks – something I had always wanted
to try – I had to order it. For those
wondering, the pig’s cheeks were just like eating very tender pork. I then followed that first course of meaty decadence with more
meaty decadence, shown in the second picture below – a main course of roast
lamb with vegetable and mashed potato.
Next, although I don’t have any pictures of my favorites, I
did take some pictures along the way of some very good desserts. In the two pictures below, we have a
chocolate brownie from The Farm in Dublin and a fruit crumble from Fenton’s in
Dingle.
A day in Ireland of course wouldn’t be complete without an
evening capped off in the pub. The good
pubs aren’t just about drinking, but also about music as well. At one of our first pub visits, I was
mistakenly concerned about some rowdy guys who seemed to like their drink. Turned out, they enjoyed the traditional
music as well, with even one of the singing a tune later on.
As much as I went to the pubs for music, I of course also
went for the beer. I made it a point of
trying as many different beers as I could on the trip. I kept a running list of those that I imbibed
and they included:
Smithwick’s – Instead of being pronounced
“Smith-icks” like the Brits, the Irish say “Smit-icks” as there traditionally
isn’t a “-th” sound in Irish Gaelic and thus not in Irish English either
Guinness – Available everywhere…
Murphy’s – Another Irish stout traditionally
from County Cork. I found I actually enjoyed this better than Guinness
Crean’s Lager – Produced by the Dingle
Brewing Company, a microbrewery in Dingle
Galway Hooker – An IPA (which is a rare
thing in Ireland) from Galway
Caledonian Smooth – This was almost like a
Guinness and Smithwicks hybrid, but even more carbonated than a Guinness
draught as it took twice as long to settle.
Bass Ale – Just like the Bass Ale that one
can find here in the States
Tennants – A seemingly decent pale Lager
and nothing much more
Kilkenny – Irish red cream ale
Hop Head – An IPA, just one of the many
offerings from the Porterhouse Brewing Company, a brewpub and microbrewery in
Dublin
I should also mention that besides just touring
the pubs, Joan and I also toured a few producers of alcohol as well. First in Dingle, we toured and took in a pint
of lager at the Dingle Brewing Company.
Even though we did this on a free day where we did everything on our
own, we saw nearly everyone in our tour group at the brewery anyway. The picture below is from just outside the
main doors of the brewery. Under the
advertisement is a pile of peat, the traditional sod/turf heating fuel of
Ireland, which the brewery uses to fuel fires in its tasting room.
Later on in Northern Ireland we toured the Old
Bushmills Distillery with our tour group.
The tour was as I expected of a larger distillery – a large bottling
plant with techy conveyer belt lines and so forth. Of course they were just keeping up with the
times, but I could helping thinking of how much simpler it must have first been
when they started distilling at Bushmills – way back in 1608! (For some perspective, that’s over one
hundred years before Arthur Guinness was even born! Goes to show you that Bushmills truly has the
history; Guinness just has and has had the marketing.) There were definitely two main highlights to
the Bushmills tour. The first was
experiencing the wonderful smell of the whisky aging in the barrels when our
tour guide took us into one of the aging buildings. If they somehow could have bottled that smell
and sold it, I would have bought it. The
second great thing was the very hearty sample of whisky at the end of the
tour. I of course sampled the single
malt that’s exclusively available just at the distillery. For Joan, not much of a whisky drinker, they
luckily offered a hot toddy which she said was the best she has ever had.
After our official Rick Steves tour was over, we
spent a few extra days in Dublin and did indeed do as any first time visitor to
Ireland and Dublin does – the almost mandatory tour of Guinness. Joan had gone through the brewery before
during a college trip and warned me that the tour was a bit put-on and
touristy. Well it definitely was. You don’t actually go through any part of the
brewery at all – well anywhere they do any part of the brewing process anyway. The tour is self guided, leading you through
fancy multi-media displays showing the brewing process and the history of
Guinness. However at the end, you do get
to enjoy a complimentary pint (I’m sure it’s paid for by the tour ticket) in
their Gravity Bar. It’s essentially a
fully windowed room high atop the brewery, giving a 360-degree view of Dublin’s
skyline. This was hands down the
highlight of the tour as it was the only part that wasn’t contrived. It was simply me, my pint of Guinness, and
the views of Dublin. Oh and my wife too…
hi honey! They say too that the Guinness
tastes different at the brewery, from right at the source. I could be wrong, but I swear it indeed was.
And with that, there is the end of my food
highlights of Ireland. For the readers
who made it to the end of this long post – and especially those who did with a
brew at hand – I bid goodbye with the Irish-Gaelic for cheers: “Slainte!”
