Ireland driving trip ... any ideas?

I know there are a lot of well-traveled forum readers. We will be going to Ireland for 8 days and would like to know if anyone has restaurant suggestions in any of the following areas:

Doolin, County Clare
Recess, Connemara, County Galway
Bunratty, County Clare
Dingle, County Kerry
Ballingarry, County Limerick

Thanks in advance, for any info you can give.

[Robin Garr]

I know there are a lot of well-traveled forum readers. We will be going to Ireland for 8 days and would like to know if anyone has restaurant suggestions in any of the following areas:

Doolin, County Clare
Recess, Connemara, County Galway
Bunratty, County Clare
Dingle, County Kerry
Ballingarry, County Limerick

Thanks in advance, for any info you can give.

Casey, we went in 1989 and just drove and drove and drove. The West country is a beaut - I did love Killarney best, and the Rings of Kerry and Clare. But Galway ... you can't beat it. Just go. Be open. Enjoy the people and the pubs. You must drink Guinness!

If things haven't changed much since '95, dining decisions in Doolin shouldn't be terribly challenging. There were two pubs. And sheep. One seemed to be the day time hang with good stews for lunch and the other was more of an evening haunt with live music, as in lock the door after legal opening hours and keep on drinking and playing.

Attached to the evening pub was what I thought was possibly the smartest food-related entrepreneurial exercise I'd ever seen. A guy had a food stand with couple of deep fryers. Just before the pub closed, he'd pop open his little window, start cooking up fresh cut chips, and douse them with curry sauce. None of the drunks spilling out of the place could resist the smell and everyone ambled home in the cold rain with a warm bag full. Genius.

Galway is such a wonderful place. Even if it's grey and rainy, it is still so beautiful.

I agree with Robin -- Ireland is at it's best when you just relax and enjoy the people and pubs. You can also usually catch some wonderful live music in many of the pubs.

[Robin Garr]

Galway is such a wonderful place. Even if it's grey and rainy, it is still so beautiful.

I agree with Robin -- Ireland is at it's best when you just relax and enjoy the people and pubs. You can also usually catch some wonderful live music in many of the pubs.

One note, though ... it's mostly modern Rock. We found traditional Irish music hard to find, and "touristy" when you could. I wanted more of it!

I third the recommendations for Galway! So beautiful - I recommend it to everyone that says they are going to Ireland!

I know there are a lot of well-traveled forum readers. We will be going to Ireland for 8 days and would like to know if anyone has restaurant suggestions in any of the following areas:

Doolin, County Clare
Recess, Connemara, County Galway
Bunratty, County Clare
Dingle, County Kerry
Ballingarry, County Limerick

Thanks in advance, for any info you can give.

In Lahinch (about 10 miles from Doolin) there are 2 of the best seafood restaurants around. Barrtra Seafood Restaurant & Seafarer's Restaurant. Seafarer's is our choice just for atmosphere. In Doolin proper it is mainly pub grub (good) with the best traditional music at McGann's pub. Gus O'Connor's gets the crowds but both are great for music. Weeknights are best.

Bunratty has the cheesy fun of the Bunratty Castle dinners. Avoid Dirty Nellies unless you like stale beer smell and tourist crowds.

Dingle (An Daingean in gaelic) has The Chart House and Lord Bakers. The Chart House has a cool bistro feel and the food is really good. Lord Bakers is standard bar food (also good). Good pubs in Dingle are O'Flaherty's and An Driochead Beag, both have traditional music in the evening. Since Dingle is one of the Gaeltacht regions the majority of people speak gaelic and english. If you are driving the Dingle Peninsula be forewarned that all of the road signs are now in gaelic only, even hazard signs.

Going west out of Dingle take the R559 road clear around the coast, you will not be disappointed.

Ballinderry is a small town on the Lough Derg Drive Northwest of Limerick proper. Start in Killaloe andtake the Ballina side of R494 around the other side of Nenagh pick up the R493 until it meets the N65 again. In Portumna is the beautiful Portumna Castle and Gardens. Out of Portumna take the R352 back around to Scarriff then the R463 back to Killaloe. All of those small towns have crafts, pubs with good food and the like.

I could go on way to long here. PM me if you like.

[Robin Garr]

I could go on way to long here. PM me if you like.

No harm in keeping it open, Ed. I'm reading with delight, and reckon others are too. We're here to talk about food and fun ... even in Eire!

I could go on way to long here. PM me if you like.

No harm in keeping it open, Ed. I'm reading with delight, and reckon others are too. We're here to talk about food and fun ... even in Eire!

We love Ireland and it has changed tremendously since my first visit in 1988. We're planning our fifth visit very, very soon and talking about it makes the anticipation that much sweeter. The celtic tiger is roaring strong these days.

[Robin Garr]

We love Ireland and it has changed tremendously since my first visit in 1988. We're planning our fifth visit very, very soon and talking about it makes the anticipation that much sweeter. The celtic tiger is roaring strong these days.

We had a wonderful time on our '89 trip ... how can the years have flown? It was our honeymoon! Gotta get back there soon.

Thanks for the GREAT info !!!!!!!!!!

On the food network, they had a special this week, "tasting Ireland". It stated that the food in Ireland has changed greatly over the last 5 years. The country is embracing it's treats from the sea and has some of the world's best meats and raw cheeses.

We are staying in castles and B&Bs throughout the west and south west coast.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks for the GREAT info !!!!!!!!!!

On the food network, they had a special this week, "tasting Ireland". It stated that the food in Ireland has changed greatly over the last 5 years. The country is embracing it's treats from the sea and has some of the world's best meats and raw cheeses.

We are staying in castles and B&Bs throughout the west and south west coast.

You'll love it! We stayed in Cashel, which ws the sweetest li'l castle ever.

When Mom and I were there in 1995, Kinsale was the foodie capital. I more or less made a beeline to this town, and finally annoyed Mom by trying to walk past and stop at every single restaurant entrance to read the menu offerings. <grin>

She was just hungry, though, and not interested in perusing every single menu in town before making a choice!

I went on a driving trip of Ireland exactly a year ago. It sounds like I went mostly a different route though. But I did have some fantastic food on my trip. I actually ate some of the best Japanese food I've ever had in Dublin. Galway's water had a bacteria in it at the time and the entire city was sick with diarrhea so we avoided it. But on a previous trip to Ireland, Galway was one of my favorite places that we visited. It has great pubs.

I did go to Bunratty, but the food there didn't really stick out in my mind. The medeival meals the castle hosts sound like great fun but I think you have to make advance reservations. In County Kerry, I stayed in Kenmare which is right between the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Baera. The place we stayed at served oatmeal with Irish Whiskey in it for breakfast, but I can't remember the name of the place off the top of my head. It was the perfect way to start out a cold day in Ireland though. Kenmare also has an amazing Italian restaurant. I can't remember the name, but it's the only Italian place in town. I highly recommend their pasta, which they make themselves. Kenmare also had great little shops that weren't all tourist traps (though they did have a few of those as well).

If you want names let me know and I can try to dig back further in my mind.

My wife is a native of Ireland, and when she hears about this thread I'm sure she'll be bursting with ideas to share. I'll mention it to her ASAP. In the meantime, I can recommend the restaurant in Castle Durrow, located in Durrow, Co. Laois on the main Dublin-Cork road. We were married there, and to this day all my relatives who were there rave about the steak from our wedding dinner.

Not necessarily food related, but I would like to share a cool story from one of my visits there:

On my first ever trip to Ireland, we made the obligatory trip to the Guinness brewery, but we were having trouble finding the main entrance. We noticed another guy who seemed to be looking for it as well, and we struck up a conversation with him. Strangely enough, he and I went to the same high school right here in Louisville! He was about 6 years younger than me so our paths never crossed in school, but he was friends with the younger brothers of one of my best friends. The moral of the story: don't be shy, you never know who you might meet.