Jenn McKinlay: Originally, I was going to write a lovely post about my recent trip to Ireland full of sheep and green hills, rainbows and ancient buildings. But no. I was lucky enough to have a foodie in my crew and the eating was SPECTACULAR on this trip, which is not what one normally thinks of when thinking of the Emerald Isle. Guinness, sure, but food? Not so much.
Y'all, we need to do a rethink. I had some of the best food whilst tripping along the Wild Atlantic Way and I just want to share a few highlights with you. In no particular order, here are my three favorites and it was hard to choose, let me tell you!
All right, who here has watched Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix? My SIL showed the Dublin episode (my first) the night before Mom and I headed out to Ireland and, let me just say, Phil nailed it. His is a food and travel show that is full of heart and warmth and gentle humor. I've become a fan and have mentioned the show to everyone I know who loves food or travel or both. You may know Phil Rosenthal as the writer for Everybody Loves Raymond.
On the Dublin episode, Phil stops by a place called Gallagher's Boxty House in Temple Bar (if you click the link to their website, there's a visit from Paul Hollywood that's delightful). Our first night in Dublin and we headed out to eat and just stumbled upon it. Felt like fate, so we ate there and it was amazing. Their specialty is the potato pancake (the boxty) reimagined and I have to say it was delicious! My favorite was the boxty chips (french fries made out of boxties with an arugula garlic mayo - OMG!) as an appetizer and then the Gaelic Boxty, finely sliced, perfectly seasoned beef on a boxty. Fabulous. The showstopper for me was their sticky toffee pudding - I still think about it. My friend Annette and I are on a quest to find the recipe.
Next up was a castle dinner family style at Bunratty Castle. It was glorious! The only utensil they gave you was a knife. You were to eat with your hands! I expected the food to be dashed out as it seemed the draw would be the actors in medieval dress who put on a delightful show (which has been running since 1963). Yeah, no. The food was terrific. My fave being the fresh soda bread and the spare ribs.
So, those are my top three but there were so many more delicious stops along the way - Milano in Temple Bar had amazing dough balls, Gatto Rosso in Galway had incredible spaghetti carbonara and a tiramisu to die for, and for real down home pub grub and trad music, I loved The Celt Pub in Dublin with their Guinness beef stew, ham toastie and mash, bangers and mash, and Granny's bacon and cabbage. Yes, we went hardcore Irish for our last night and it was glorious!
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ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness . . . now I simply must add Ireland to my list of places I want to visit, just for the food!
ReplyDeleteHighly recommend!!!
DeleteI love sampling native food and your pictures - where's my plate?
ReplyDeleteLOL, Dru! I love native food, too.
DeleteAmazing, Jenn! Love the food pics. Who'd thunk? OTOH, it's a big mistake to underestimate the food in any culture. Someone's going to make it yummy.
ReplyDeleteJenn, will Ireland be featured in an upcoming book? Inquiring minds...
DeleteYes, TO BE READ (2024) is a romcom set in Ireland! Woo hoo!
DeleteWoo-hoo, indeed!! Hip, hip, hooray!!
DeleteI am SO saving this post for when I go (in the elusive unplanned future, alas)! Yum. Thank you for sharing. My son went about the same time you did, with his wife and in-laws, and also reported great food.
ReplyDeleteTell us who the others in the dinner picture are?
Left to right, it's my college roommate Annette (our food critic) her daughter Alyssa (flower girl in my wedding), my Mom, and me :) Best travel companions EVER.
DeleteSo fun to go with favorite ladies!
DeleteOh dear. I, Edith, am apparently anonymous on my new laptop. Must figure out how to log into blogger!
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ReplyDeleteJENN: You got me with the foodie post! I only knew about the hardcore Irish food but everything you described and showed in the photos look delicious.
ReplyDeleteI agree with others about enjoying the native food and culture when you travelled.
For me, my two trips to Iceland were a surprise. I thought the seafood would be great but I started each morning with the complimentary huge hotel breakfast buffet with rustic bread, cheeses, charcuterie + Skyr (Icelandic yogurt). The mutton soup I ate in remote Iceland was wonderful. And the fresh caught fish dishes were great.
A big surprise was the tiny outdoor hotdog stands in Reykjavik that have a cult status. You order a plain hotdog with brown mustard & onions with a Coke and eat them on benches (in February for me).
https://wakeupreykjavik.com/icelandic-hot-dog
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I've been wanting to go to Iceland forever. You're moving it up my list!
DeleteWhat a great trip report Jenn. I viewed the trailer for Somebody Feed Phil. It looks great, very funny guy. Hubby & I traveled to Ireland about 10 years ago and the food was unremarkable so I look forward to another trip with your recommendations in mind.
ReplyDeleteOh Jenn, how I wish I'd been at your table! I'm saving this too, for a trip that was postponed. I have made sticky toffee pudding. It's on Mystery Lovers Kitchen!
ReplyDeleteOOOHHHHH, STP is incredible! I'll go look!
DeleteI loved having boxty for dinner in Ireland...and finding a whole fresh honeycomb on the breakfast buffet. We ate well all over Ireland and Northern Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI could write an entire blog post on the butter :) Yum.
DeleteOh my goodness Jenn! What a delightful post. I have fond memories of my one trip to Ireland, but it's all about the countryside, the people, the music. I don't remember any of the food.
ReplyDeleteA food travel memory: A brandy crème brûlée topped with berries at a restaurant in Sestre Levante near the Cinque Terre in Italy. I returned the next night to have it again.
Oh, yes. I've had a few moments like that chocolat chaud in Paris, stracciatella gelato in Italy...sigh.
DeleteIt all looks wonderful, Jenn. What about breakfast? Any "bad choices" worth mentioning?
ReplyDeleteMy oldest daughter lived in London for nearly a year, 16 years ago. Her husband got a substantial food allowance while they were there, and they made good use of it, finding great food all over the city. Which I got the benefit of when I visited. I've never eaten so well as when they treated. Traditional Sunday lunch was amazing, and changed our family get-togethers for all time. And made all of us defenders of British cuisine.
The biggest travel eating surprise, though, was on safari in Tanzania. Every meal was fantastic, including the tiffin-packed bush lunches. One lodge even made a special gluten-free bread, just for me (I was having problems with gluten then). Our guide had called ahead to ask that they provide an option. And it was delicious, better than any other GF bread I've had.
Roberta, you are an intrepid cook!
Tanzania - I would love that!!! I'm delighted that the food was amazing. Another reason to go :)
DeleteKaren in Ohio, thank you for recommending EDEN hotels. I looked at their website and they have branches all over the country!
DeleteDiana
Jenn, Kenyan food was even better!
DeleteI'm so glad my recommendation helped, Diana!
Ireland is next on my list of countries to see, tied with Iceland because Icelandic Air is going to have special rates out of Detroit airport next spring.
ReplyDeleteSticky toffee pudding is one of my favorites. The best I had was in England. The food in the UK was fabulous! I’ve traveled mostly in the US, one of my “rules” is never eat at chain restaurants, only local places.
Now I need to make sticky toffee pudding with lots of caramel sauce.
Excellent rule, Ann!
DeleteYes, yes! Lovely to see someone write about the food at home. As Margaret said, both north and south. It wasn't so great when I was growing up there, but now, well, on one visit to Northern Ireland they served the meat and veggies then brought a serving cart along to the table with potato dishes alone! You know, chips, (french fries), scalloped, roast, mashed, (champ), jacket, boiled. There may have been more... My husband was in heaven. Jenn, I have a simple and delicious recipe for STP if you want it. :-) Great post.
ReplyDeleteJoyce Woollcott.
Now THAT'S my kind of travel! Next time I want to travel with you, Jenn.
ReplyDeleteAnd the sticky toffee pudding was a highlight of our trip to Ireland, too. Recipe, anyone? On my last trip to Italy the thing I'd never appreciated before was the pasta. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cacio e pepe - a minimalist concoction of grated cheese, butter, pepper, and pasta. I've tried and tried to duplicate it but to no avail.
The Hub makes a cacio e pepe to die for...seriously. Yum.
DeleteHallie, I so agree! But at home, it just tastes… good, but ordinary. Why do you suppose?
DeleteHank, dry roasting the pepper is crucial.
DeleteA friend sent me a video link for a very good version of cacio e pepe, almost as good as what we had in Tuscany. I'm pretty sure the deficit was my own fault, but it was still the best I've managed.
What a hunger-inducing post, Jenn. Meal-destination travel is my idea of a good trip!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely connects you to the country a little bit more. I loved it.
DeleteWow, Jenn! You sure know how to get our attention! I always thought I would like to visit Ireland and now I know I would. my granddaughter and I had planned a trip 2 years ago but you know what happened to that. We definitely should try again.
ReplyDeleteYes, go! I rented a car and drove around the Ring of Kerry - it was amazing! And everyone is nice and funny - I felt like I found my people.
DeleteHow'd you do with the driving, Jenn?
DeleteOh my goodness, I am swooning! There is nothing better than potatoes, except more potatoes, and that potato restaurant sounds otherworldly. Wow. Grilled lobsters in Nevis— cooked over a fire on the beach. And one particular flank steak in… Somewhere in Tuscany. Astonishing. And you could buy it by the slice. Oh, and a street baguette with butter bought at a stand on the sidewalk in Paris. Amazing. But I still want to try those boxtys!
ReplyDeleteBoxtys (boxties?) are the best!
DeleteJenn, I'm ravenous now--thanks a lot! :-) With a grandmother named O'Bryan, you can be sure Ireland is on my bucket list and now even more so. Pay no attention to the noise, please, just my stomach growling.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Flora above.
DeleteLOL, Flora :)
DeleteMy sister-in-law is from Galway originally, and my husband and I have wanted for years to go to Ireland. We love the music. And now you mention Fish and Chips! We are both vegetarians - or "pescadrians," I suppose, since we eat fish and seafood, and we especially like fish and chips, so The Fish Box is definitely on our list if we ever make it to Dingle. I don't often get into reading food reviews, but yours was great.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I used to enjoy Everybody Loves Raymond so much. Such a funny show.
I loved Galway! The rushing River Carrib, the Skeff Pub, the fabulous statue of Oscar Wilde and his brother. Delightful!
DeleteFirst real international trip coming up in April. Going on a tour of Italy postponed from 2020. I have already told myself I must be adventurous, especially with the food. Thanks for enthusiastically reinforcing that pledge, Jenn!
ReplyDeleteWe have been to quite a few places featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives for our food adventures. My husband is a big fan of Everybody Loves Raymond and also likes to cook and bake so I will tell him about Somebody Feed Phil.
It's a fun show!
DeleteAll that lovely Irish food--thanks for telling us about it, Jenn. My husband and I were in Ireland years ago, and I remember we ate wonderful salmon. As for my best food memory, when I was a 21-year-old English lit major (and an Anglophile), I was in love with a 22-year-old Englishman, a Cambridge graduate, and he punted me down the Cam to Granchester, where we had a cream tea--scones, jam, cream, and a big pot of black tea, the works--in the Orchard tea garden. Beautiful weather, sitting outside under a tree. Ahh. The relationship came to nothing, but those few hours at least were dreamily happy--including the food.
ReplyDeleteThick whipped cream (clotted cream? I'm not sure what it's called in Cambridge) with the scones, I mean, not just thin cream for the tea (which was served with milk anyway)
DeleteKim, have you read my Dreaming of the Bones? Set in Grantchester (and Cambridge), and there is tea at the Orchard. No punting on the Cam, alas!
DeleteThat's the beginning of a novel :)
DeleteJenn, I have always wanted to go to Ireland, and these pictures make me want to call a travel agent and book my tour. I love history and architecture, but what I really want to do is shop for beautiful sweaters and eat like an invading Viking for a week.
ReplyDeleteDO IT!!!! I bought a green and blue Irish wool blanket that I might be in love with - no one is allowed to touch it. It hangs on the blanket ladder simply to be admired :)
DeleteJenn, the interesting thing about sticky toffee pudding is that it was only invented in England in 1966. A new invention! And we also had the best food in Ireland, especially fresh fish. Rhys
ReplyDeleteI had no idea!!! It's fantastic!
DeleteIf I ever have enough money to travel, Ireland will be on my list! I’ve wanted to go there for a long time. One brother-in-law is of Irish descent (and also happens to be an award winning Irish dancer.) My sister and her hubby, and sometimes the now-grown kids have made many trips there. I must ask them about the food they had!
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Definitely go! Gate1 is a tour company that offers budget friendly tours - we didn't do that but I have friends who swear by it.
DeleteOh, it looks marvelous! On the bucket list.
ReplyDeleteNear the top, I hope!
DeleteJENN: Thank you for sharing and the recommendations. I would love to viist the Emerald Isle once that darn pandemic is over! Despite the pandemic, how was it travelling the Isle?
ReplyDeleteDonkey years ago (British idiom), when I visited Amsterdam, I went to a pancake house for breakfast and their pancakes were more like the crepes. So yummy! I had fish and chips in Edinburgh. And tandoori. American friends told me about the wonderful Indian food in the UK. When I was in Paris, we had Kir Royale for the first time! It was the only time I liked the wine in my European tour.
Diana
It was amazing! I drove (yes, me!) over 3,000 km - I think i got quite good at it, actually.
Delete@NanMcCann: ADORE Sticky Toffee Pudding!!! A favorite of mine… as is Ireland!🥰
ReplyDeleteDelicious!!!
DeleteJenn, you are killing me with this! Sticky Toffee is my favorite British dessert and one of the first things I have to have every trip! And the food in Ireland sounds amazing. I suspect, that Irish food, like English food, still gets an undeserved bad rap. I wanted to write a Duncan and Gemma book set around the famous cooking school in County Cork, Ballymaloe, but that book ended up set in Scotland instead. Maybe I'll get to write an Irish book someday!
ReplyDeleteOh, you should, Debs. It'd be grand.
DeleteJenn, I've been to Ireland twice and never had a bad meal. The first trip we were with my parents and staying at a B&B that offered dinner. Lots of guests there from all over. People started asking questions about food: what are vegetable marrows? What is okra? And so forth. It was fun. I remember Dad's face when a big bowl of potatoes was set in front of him without butter, sour cream, or any of the fixings we're used to. Best pizza I'd ever had was made by a transplanted Italian in Costa Rica. Cullen skink in Scotland was so good I ordered it several times for meals.
ReplyDeleteAnd on our trip to India I'll never forget when my friend bit into green beans and discovered they were actually hot peppers. I was afraid she'd never recover!
Oh, good lord, ack! Bean that are peppers!!!! EEK.
DeleteJenn, what a wonderfully upbeat post. Of course, talking about good food is always a happy place for me. And, I love to read about people enjoying food in my fiction reading, too. I'm disappointed when a character doesnt care about food and only eats because he/she has to.
ReplyDeleteI haven't traveled overseas, yet. Hopefully that will change next year. I've been to Acapulco in Mexico, but it was 45 years ago, and I don't remember the food much. I was newly married and had other things on my mind. One of my favorite foodie places is Key West, and you can imagine just how much I love Lucy's series with the all the Key West food. Since it's been a while since I've been there, I count on Hayley to keep me updated. My favorite discovery of food in Key West came the Christmas I spent there, and it wasn't from a restaurant. My daughter and her husband lived for a year in Key West, so both families spent Christmas there that year. Most of the family members are also fishing people. I would say fishermen, but my daughter is as enthusiastic about fishing as any of the men. She and her husband and my granddaughter take fishing trips at least twice a year, usually one in Florida. Anyway, on Christmas Eve morning my daughter and her husband and my son and daughter's father-in-law and daughter's brother-in-law went ocean fishing. My husband was actually in Afghanistan at the time. They caught the fish that will forever be my favorite, cobia. It's not a fish you see on a restaurant menu consistently because the cobia fish doesn't move in groups. They swim in pairs, and it's a hit or miss catch for a restaurant wanting to serve it. I was so glad it was a hit for our crew that day. Of course, these fish also tend to run quite large, so that boded well for us, too. Now, the taste. It has a "naturally mild buttery taste that's unlike any other fish." It melts in your mouth. I was reading about cobia in the Chesapeake Bay (you can find them there spring through autumn), and the record catch being a 97 pound cobia. The world record is 135 pounds. They move to warmer waters in the winter, and the best time to catch one is from October through April in the Florida Keys. I don't know how big the ones our crew caught were, as they had the fish cut up and ready to cook when I saw it, but the ones usually caught in Florida are from 10 to 70 pounds. Oh, and you have to go out on the ocean to catch them, no sitting on the dock fishing. So, once again I have written a dissertation on this topic. (I tend to think every discussion is my master's thesis.)
Just one quick word about Hawaii, Oahu in particular. I am a big fan of the fried egg, and I love how casually they throw around the fried egg on other food, such as hamburgers and club sandwiches. Of course, there's lots more to love about the food there, but this was something I thought quite lovely.
Yes! There's almost nothing a fried egg can't make better! I loved that in Hawaii as well.
DeleteJenn, I love Ireland and our trips there. My hubby is Irish. His grandparents on both sides landed in Boston. My big thing was to see the Book of Kells at Trinity and I did, along with every famous Irish author's transcripts and writing implements. A dream come true.
ReplyDeleteAt his relatives in Dublin, they plied us with food--and that was the afternoon snack! Incredibly tasty and filling.
You mentioned the sticky toffee pudding. Oh, my word yes!! And now that you've reminded me, I'm going to see if my hubby will make it. He's been cooking and baking incredible eats and this one would top them all. Thanks for the reminder.
Your trip sounds amazing. Makes me yearn for the ol' sod. I love the Irish. So warm & welcoming. I think we need to go back. My husband plays handball, and we spent some time looking for the old fashioned one wall handball courts. Next time, I'm looking for sticky toffee pudding. No spotted dick for me!
Thanks for posting.
Drat, I forgot to sign in to Google. That's my post above.
DeleteI loved the Book of Kells - the exhibit it brilliantly put together. And, Trinity was fascinating!
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