What (and where) Should I Eat in Ireland?

[wise_rita]

Ireland travel has been well covered on this board so I'd like to go a step farther and have you people enable my fat ass.

I saw a travel food show once that talked about boxty, pancakes made out of potato.  I'll also find a full Irish breakfast and won't shy away from the blood sausage.

What else local/traditional/tasty Irish food do you recommend?

I'll be mainly in the south/west of the country but will have a night in Dublin.

TIA!

[mbcdefg]

Definitely get some ice cream or another dairy product, if you're willing/able to eat dairy. We had ice cream in several places in Ireland and it was so creamy and rich.

If you're in Kinsale and like seafood, maybe give this place a try as it's gotten awesome reviews. I really wanted to try it while we were there, but it was closed for the day and we only stayed one night: http://www.fishyfishy.ie 

We wound up at Jim Edwards instead, which was very good: jimedwardskinsale.com/ 

I don't remember anything particularly remarkable in Dublin. My brother took us to some place in the Temple Bar area that was fine. I had beef stew a few times, including at the Guinness Storehouse, and that was always good. 

A lot of places put a basket of brown bread on the table, which is very good. Slathered with butter, of course (back to the "really rich dairy products" comment). 

[mrsd2006]

I ate fish and chips almost every day

Seafood chowder (I didn't eat this much b/c every place I asked it had salmon in it, which I don't like). And brown bread.

And OMG the tea was so amazing. I drink it with cream and it was sooooo good.

Lots of lamb/guinness/beef stew, which I wasn't crazy about.

We were trying to get here in Dublin, but didn't make it.
boxtyhouse.ie/

[goldengirlz]

In Dublin, I’d highly recommend:

Fade Street Social
Hatch & Sons
Fallon & Byrne

[Nonny]

Make sure your full breakfast comes with both white pudding and black pudding (blood sausage).  The white pudding isn't blood, it's just like, fat and oatmeal, but it's delicious.  I liked the black pudding too, but the white pudding was my favorite.

Boxty is good; I think it usually comes with a meat filling/topping of some kind, and I got mine with lamb.  (This was at Bricin in Killarney, the one restaurant name I remember.) 

Sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

I also had the absolute best carrot coriander soup in Ireland, but I don't remember which restaurant, and I'm not 100% sure which city we were in (Castlegregory maybe, from looking at the map). It came as a starter to the absolute worst fish and chips I've ever eaten in my life (which my BFF swears up and down was the absolute best fish and chips she's ever eaten in her life - I think we got drastically different quality of fish or something, because mine was seriously inedible and I probably should have sent it back).

[wise_rita]

Excellent suggestions, thank you.

I was planning on eating all the dairy I could find but I hadn't thought about ice cream. I'll definitely seek it out!

[winnied]

I had fish and chips and chowder almost every where because it was dependent on what was caught that day, so it varied. Scones, soda bread, and brown bread.

The one restaurant worth specifically writing home about is Electric in Cork.

Guinness, obvi.

[ribollita]

Tea at Adare Manor.

[wise_rita]

May 17, 2018 19:05:58 GMT -5 ribollita said:

Tea at Adare Manor.

Adare keeps popping up.  Tell me more.

I just read Angela's Ashes in preparation for this trip so I'll be stopping in Limerick to gawk for sure.

[ribollita]

May 18, 2018 2:40:49 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

May 17, 2018 19:05:58 GMT -5 ribollita said:

Tea at Adare Manor.

Adare keeps popping up.  Tell me more.

I just read Angela's Ashes in preparation for this trip so I'll be stopping in Limerick to gawk for sure.

It’s a beautiful town with a beautiful manor and grounds that has just been renovated while closed for about two years. We stayed in the town for a number of nights and had tea at the manor.

I was not a fan of Dublin but loved small town Ireland.

[dorothyinAus]

Be prepared for a lot of food with the full Irish breakfast. I had a full Irish Breakfast once at my B&B. It had eggs, sausages, rasher bacon, sautéed mushrooms, baked beans, broiled tomatoes, toast, black pudding, white pudding, hash browns - booth loose ones and cakes like at McDonalds (but way better), and mashed potato cakes, and then the host came round with a dish of roasted home fries type potatoes, because "we didn't have any potatoes." There was also a full continental breakfast buffet with the cooked breakfast which included cereals, muesli, croissants, English Muffins, butter, jams, fresh fruit, and fruit juices. And we had the option to add a bowl of porridge to the breakfast. It was so. much. food. We had planned to go for lunch at a Thai place, but we we still full from breakfast by the time dinner came around.

After that first day, we skipped the full Irish Breakfast in favor of just a couple of items from the choices.

[wise_rita]

May 22, 2018 1:16:36 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Be prepared for a lot of food with the full Irish breakfast. 

Sister I was born ready!

[neonpink]

Drinking, Cider! I love the hard ciders there.

I'm also a huge fan of a big breakfast, their sausages are always so good. Also YR sauce, I love it on fries.

[fernweh]

May 22, 2018 9:25:33 GMT -5 neonpink said:

Drinking, Cider! I love the hard ciders there.

I'm also a huge fan of a big breakfast, their sausages are always so good. Also YR sauce, I love it on fries.

Yes! Orchard thieves is the best hard cider I have ever had!
We went to the hairy lemon in Dublin. It was a little touristy but we had been walking all day and had to eat now. Anyway the beef and Guinness pie was amazing and I highly recommend it.

[mrsukyankee]

May 22, 2018 9:25:33 GMT -5 neonpink said:

Drinking, Cider! I love the hard ciders there.

I'm also a huge fan of a big breakfast, their sausages are always so good. Also YR sauce, I love it on fries.

But don't call it hard cider because they won't have a clue what you are on about - it's just cider in this part of the world. ;-)

[neonpink]

Jun 11, 2018 4:06:14 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

May 22, 2018 9:25:33 GMT -5 neonpink said:

Drinking, Cider! I love the hard ciders there.

I'm also a huge fan of a big breakfast, their sausages are always so good. Also YR sauce, I love it on fries.

But don't call it hard cider because they won't have a clue what you are on about - it's just cider in this part of the world. ;-)

you are correct. Magner's over ice is my favorite.

[just]

Jun 12, 2018 16:29:58 GMT -5 neonpink said:

Jun 11, 2018 4:06:14 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

But don't call it hard cider because they won't have a clue what you are on about - it's just cider in this part of the world. ;-)

you are correct. Magner's Bulmers over ice is my favorite.

FTFY

[dorothyinAus]

Jun 11, 2018 4:06:14 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

May 22, 2018 9:25:33 GMT -5 neonpink said:

Drinking, Cider! I love the hard ciders there.

I'm also a huge fan of a big breakfast, their sausages are always so good. Also YR sauce, I love it on fries.

But don't call it hard cider because they won't have a clue what you are on about - it's just cider in this part of the world. ;-)

Interesting. More and more of the European import ciders are being labeled as Hard Cider here now. When I first moved it was just cider, but now most are labeled as hard on the labels. I wonder if it's for the import market and they just make the one label for non-European areas.

It's also getting popular for the ciders to be sold pre-mixed as "spritzers" with soda water.