Chips in the night

IF there's one place on earth where you're guaranteed good fun it's Ireland, but the food, according to a recent survey, is far less dependable.

Irish tourism agency CERT has found that while European visitors to the Republic love the landscape they frequently loathe the food, with tourists being especially turned off by escalating restaurant bills and a chips-with-everything culture.

Yet some Irish pubs and restaurants serve incredibly affordable food that's fantastically fresh - you just need to know where to look.

Best breakfast: Garnish House (Western Road, Cork; 00 353 21 427 5111) may look like a modest B&B from the road, but owner Mrs Lucey serves a miraculous range of gourmet breakfasts, from porridge with Baileys to full fry-ups with Clonakilty white pudding. From pounds 30pp per night; breakfast pounds 6.70.

Best value lunch: The Fishy Fishy Cafe (The Gourmet Store, Guardwell; 21 477 4453) in the pretty, popular port of Kinsale in Cork is a bustling yet laid-back spot. Locally caught seafood is the star, from tasty fish chowder to monkfish casserole. Full meals for around pounds 14. Arrive early or be prepared to queue.

Best Sunday roast: High up in the Wicklow Mountains, just south of Dublin, lies the traditional Roundwood Inn (Roundwood, Co Wicklow; 1 281 8107), the perfect place for a long Sunday lunch and short afternoon walk. The bar food is excellent, but it's best to book a table in the inn's restaurant, where hearty portions of Wicklow lamb and roast suckling pig are on offer. Three courses for pounds 15.50.

Best vegetarian: Cork's colourful Cafe Paradiso (16 Lancaster Quay, Western Road; 21 427 7939) is one of Ireland's top-notch culinary experiences, with creative main courses such as asparagus, chard and goats-brie crpes costing no more than pounds 13.

Best Guinness and oysters: Moran's Oyster Cottage (Kilcolgan, Co Galway; 91796 113) is peerless for juicy Irish oysters and creamy pints of the black stuff. Located in a thatched cottage by a weir on the edge of Galway Bay, Moran's serves delicious native molluscs (pounds 16 a dozen) straight out of beds at neighbouring Clarinbridge, a village that's home to an annual oyster festival in September.

Best bargain restaurant: In the fishing village of Baltimore, on the stunning Cork coast, is one of Ireland's true bargain restaurants, the Customs House (28 20200).

Innovative French and Italian dishes are served in three contemporary-styled rooms; seafood is primary, from a wonderful tapas- tasting-plate starter to oven-roasted turbot on the bone. Organic ingredients are used where possible. Three-course tourist menu dinners are pounds 16.50; the menu carte is pounds 23. No credit cards or children under 12.

Best pub food: While Kehoe's (87 239 5363) in Kilmore Quay, Wexford, is worth a visit, especially if you're just off the ferry at nearby Rosslare, Mary Ann's (28 36377) in Cork's picturesque Castletownsend takes the top pub-grub prize.

This charming 19th century bar offers fine steaks and fish dishes, as well as a bountiful seafood platter for two at pounds 24.

Home-baked bread and fine west Cork cheeses, too.

Top location for gastronomes: Handsome Kenmare in Kerry has perhaps the highest standard of cooking in Ireland and not all of it is off the scale price-wise. Head to the Purple Heather (Henry Street; 64 41016) at lunchtime for splendid seafood soup and crab sandwiches; An Leath Phingin (35 Main Street; 64 41559) for refined north Italian cooking; and The Lime Tree (Shelburne Street; 64 41225) for exquisite mod-Irish fare. Mains at any of these places will set you back no more than pounds 12-pounds 14.

Best restaurant guide: Avoid the fabled Bridgestone books - they tell you more about the writers than the restaurants - and go for Georgina Campbell's informative, no-nonsense Jameson Guide (e18) available from Amazon.com

And eating out in Dublin's fair city

Best value lunch: La Maison des Gourmets (1 672 7258, 15 Castle Market) is a small smart and bright caf above a French bakery serving soups, salads, open sandwiches and charcuterie for under pounds 10. Or starkly stylish Mermaid (1 670 8236, 69-70 Dame Street) on the edge of Temple Bar for modern French and American dishes such as New England crab cakes with piquant mayonnaise, as well as bargain set menus (from pounds 12.50 for two courses) and Dublin's best Sunday brunch.

Best priced dinner: 101 Talbot (1 874 5011, 101 Talbot Street) is on the unfashionable northside, but humble and friendly, it has for years drawn arty and foodie folk to its flavoursome Mediterranean and Moorish cooking; main courses for around pounds 12. For something more chic and budget stretching, hit the Bang Caf (11 Merrion Row; 1 676 0898), where ex-Ivy chef Lorcan Cribbin offers classically creative mains for around pounds 15.

Copyright 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.