The Twelve Hotel,
Galway
If there is one place that re-evaluates the idea that hotel food is unexciting, then it’s the Twelve Hotel in Galway. This multi-award winning boutique hotel has a dining option that is set to impress, inviting guests to “celebrate food, celebrate wine and celebrate life”.
The West Restaurant is a modern take on a classic – a contemporary riff on a New York-style club restaurant. Beautifully lit, flattering and gleaming, with a sweet champagne bar, cosy booths and smooth dark wood, West is a proper restaurant, a grown-up room and a reminder of why some things in life are too good to change.
It has won numerous awards, including this year’s Best Hotel Restaurant in Connacht and Best Wine Experience in Connacht in the Irish Restaurant Awards. It is also the only place in Ireland to win the Wine Spectator Award for seven years running and every other wine industry award in Ireland for its spectacular wine list and service. If you’re looking for something more relaxed, you also have the option of The Pins Bar & Bistro – the hotel’s bar and casual dining option, including Pizza Dozzina.
In fact, this boutique hotel also has its own bakery – The Pins Bakery – baking fresh breads, pastries and cakes on-site daily. This is one hotel where you’ll enjoy something really special when it comes to food and wine.
www.thetwelvehotel.ie
Faithlegg House Hotel, Waterford
There is nothing better than a food journey where you get to taste lots of different flavours. And if you don’t have to leave your seat, even better. To celebrate the newly refurbished Roseville Rooms at Faithlegg House Hotel, head chef Jenny Flynn has created a food journey for guests to savour. Bringing you on a trip from the beaches of the county, up the coast and then inland, it’s a meal to remember. After sampling olive, sourdough and rye breads (made especially for the hotel in Seagull Bakery in the lovely seaside town of Tramore), you then get to taste some of the freshest seafood caught in the Celtic Sea by fisherman John Whittle, which Jenny will poach in seaweed butter with some asparagus, serrano ham and cockles that have been gathered on the shoreline.
Jason Conway from Elda Wild Irish will provide the rabbit for a confit of rabbit terrine, and later the virtual journey continues further inland to the Goatsbridge Trout Farm to collect the ingredients for a medley of trout, including gravlax, rillettes and a smoked velouté served with Faithlegg’s own pickled cucumber. Diners can also enjoy vegetables from Owen Dunphy’s farm in Annestown. The celebratory gourmet package at Faithlegg House Hotel costs €139 for an overnight stay with breakfast and à la carte dinner in The Roseville Rooms per person.
www.faithlegg.com
The Cliff
Townhouse, Dublin
When it comes to afternoon tea, you’re almost always guaranteed buns and creamy whatnots, but the Cliff Townhouse in Dublin (sister to the Cliff House Hotel in Waterford) has put its own quirky and stylish stamp on the popular treat meal. Afternoon Sea is all about the treasures of the ocean and a taste of summer in the city.
Afternoon Sea at The Cliff Townhouse is a selection of the finest and most delicious seafood savouries, where instead of the usual suspects you’ll find potted monkfish with toasted sourdough croutons, poached lobster with lemon mayonnaise, crab claws, mussels, Harty Oysters or Irish smoked salmon open sandwiches on soda bread. As the pièce de résistance, instead of coffee or tea, you’ll be brought a cup of the most gorgeously creamy lobster bisque to complete your Afternoon Sea.
The only traditional element of this afternoon adventure is the three-tiered stand on which it’s served. At €38 per person, it’s an afternoon to remember.
www.theclifftownhouse.com
Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Galway
Staying in Galway, but looking for a whole different culinary experience? The Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa Galway offers something that you won’t find in many restaurants – an authentic Japanese chef. An intriguing proposition, and a perfect fit for this part of the world where some of the finest fresh fish is available, RAW is a stylish destination restaurant at the top of the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa in Galway. Serving an exciting selection of authentic Japanese sushi, sashimi, sakes and whiskies, RAW showcases local fish as much as possible, creating traditional Japanese sushi, led by master craftsman and Japanese native Hisashi Kumagai, RAW’s chef.
The hotel is also a fantastic spa destination and it has a sushi and spa package available for €165 per person. This includes a super buffet breakfast in The Marinas Restaurant, the delicious set menu in RAW and a 25-minute Elemis facial in Spirit One spa, along with full use of the thermal suite and the luxury leisure centre, with its indoor swimming pool, gym and the outdoor hot tub overlooking Lough Atalia. The perfect combination.
www.radissonhotelgalway.com
Delphi Adventure
Resort & Spa
If you’re looking for something different, then the recently launched Chef’s Table is a new concept restaurant created by award-winning executive head chef Stefan Matz at Delphi Adventure Resort. The new 34-seater standalone restaurant brings a completely new dining experience not only to Delphi, but to Leenane and the greater Connemara area. Officially opened since May, all the tables in the restaurant surround an open kitchen, incorporating a theatrical atmosphere and culinary showcase for diners. Again, fresh local produce is at the forefront of the menu. Seafood is picked along the wild Connemara shores, with mussels caught fresh in the Killary fjord, while the organically farmed lamb and beef comes from the hills surrounding Delphi. Experience this dining sensation with a three-course á la carte menu from €46 per person, or indulge in a five-course tasting menu from €49 and pair it with accompanying wines for an additional €39. There’s also a unique Sunday lunch tasting experience, which is a set to be a popular alternative to Sunday lunch.
www.delphi.ie
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