Edinburgh, Cork or Kinsale Suggestions

Wondering if anyone has suggestions for good restaurants in Edinburgh Scotland or Cork/Kinsale, Ireland?

Any cuisine will do, trying to avoid places that are very expensive.

thanks!

Really? Not a single reply? Guess I'll chime in with some general information about Ireland's West coast and it's cuisine.

Mrs. Roadhouse and I visited the west for our 25th anniversary. She is of Irish descent and had been dreaming of visiting the land of forty shades of green since she was a little girl in St. Joseph, MO. With several decades of self imposed reading and studying under her belt (there is not a bookshelf in our home, and we have many, that does not have at least a couple of tomes related to Ireland nestled in among the other "normal" books) she is well versed in Irish history, folklore, politics, and local customs.

For our 24th anniversary I bought her every current guidebook I could find. I presented her the books in a large box along with a promissory note good for one trip to Ireland the following year. I also picked up the Michelin Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland which turned out to be a total waste of money. If their restaurant ratings are as inaccurate and poorly thought out as this atlas, you might as well eat at McDonald’s rather than take one of their recommendations. Four frustrating days into the trip we stopped at a petrol station and picked up a copy of the Irish Ordnance Survey's Complete Road Atlas of Ireland. Highly recommended; much more detailed and better organized than the Michelin mess. If you're driving in Ireland this book is an absolute must.

Mrs. R. began a year long mission, picking out every sight worth seeing in a two week stay. One of the first things we learned before leaving on the trip was that the square mileage of Ireland is about one third that of the state of Illinois. “Good Heavens,” we thought, “We can cover the entire country twice over in two weeks!” One of the first things that we learned once we got behind the wheel of the car in Ireland was that you can’t get anywhere fast in Ireland.

There is not a straight line to be found on the entire island. And they keep interrupting the drive with all this glorious scenery and quaint towns. Why, it’s almost as if they’d planned for you to stop in each village and explore a bit, spending a euro or ten while you’re there. To give you an idea how hard it is to make good travel time in Ireland; in the first week and couple of days of the trip we had worked our way north from Shannon up to the Mullet Peninsula. We realized that if we didn’t head south double quick we’d miss out on the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula ( I still giggle every time I say Dingle), one the wife’s priorities for this trip.

We left Ballinrobe, just south and east of the Mullet Peninsula in the morning and made it as far as Newcastle West, to the north and east of Killarney, by evening, a distance of about 80 miles. We were national heroes. The combined raised eyebrows upon hearing of this feat could have lifted a County Kerry dairy cow up off the ground. We were treated with awe and compassion at the pub that evening; the mad, weary Americans who broke the speed barrier that is the Irish countryside.

My point is, take your time, enjoy every blade of grass, and be satisfied with whatever you see, whenever you see it. You’ll never do it all in one trip so don’t even try. You’ll only wind up with a strained marriage and a migraine.

Oh yes, the food. That was your question wasn’t it? You said, “Any cuisine will do, trying to avoid places that are very expensive.” The simple solution is the local pub. After the B&B breakfast (more on that later) we ate most of our meals in the pubs. We diidn’t have a bad sup the entire trip. Granted, some were more memorable than others, but all were edible and quite affordable.

Being on the southwest coast of Ireland you will want to focus on fish and seafood. Virtually every pub we visited had their own wonderful version of seafood chowder. Large bowls brimming with fresh caught local fish, mussels, and clams, they were all thick and white and warmly comforting. Among the fish entrees we enjoyed lovely platters of cold smoked salmon, locally caught sea bass, and garlic encrusted rainbow trout. We were a bit disappointed with the highly touted Irish Beef in any form we ordered it. It tended to be tough and bland whether it was served as part of an Irish stew or as a simple, medium rare slab of roast beef. After a couple of tries we decided to stick with the fish as long as we were near the coast.

All of this may be moot to a certain degree depending on what your breakfast habits are. We stayed exclusively in B&Bs the entire trip. I don’t usually eat breakfast unless it involves last night’s left over dinner, but this breakfast was included in the price of our room. Being the cheap bastard that I am, I was not going to pass up that meal.

The Irish breakfast is a long and complex affair that starts with European muesli and a variety of other cereal choices, yogurt, fresh fruit, and fruit juice; then moves on to the fry plate consisting of a slab of Irish bacon, a pair of bangers, hunks of black and white pudding, a fried egg, a broiled tomato and, occasionally, hash browns to boot! Along side all of this is a basket of both toasted white bread (skip it) and beautiful slices of Irish brown bread (hog it all for yourself) crying out to be slathered with Irish butter, marmalades and jams.

My advice is to eat it. Eat it all until your stomach screams out and begs you to stop due to the strain.

During the course of your day, you will find yourself without the will or the desire to eat other than the occasional mid-day bowl of cream of tomato soup (the Irish love cream of tomato soup. The examples I tried were a delight.) or (not and) a sandwich to split with your significant other. In fact we were barely hungry each day as we approached dinner; sometimes forcing ourselves to split an entrée with a shared pint of Guinness.

For the sake of variety, we had the occasional take away meal (consumed at the few bars that don’t serve food) from Indian and Chinese restaurants. The late, great travel writer, Pete McCarthy wrote in his first book, “McCarthy’s Bar”, about how the price of a plate of Singapore noodles is directly proportionate to the economy of the country in which it is being consumed. Unfortunately, we discovered Mr. McCarthy’s writings after our return to the States and did not have the opportunity to test his theory or the quality of the local Singapore noodles. I urge you to investigate.

To stave off potential hunger in the evening, we visited the local grocery and picked up hunks of brilliant cheeses and packs of McVitie’s digestives and HobNobs which we would snack on in the evening once we’d settled in at our B&B after a hard night of splitting a single Guinness or Magner’s Cider down at the pub.

The bottom line is that eating good, economical food in Ireland is a snap. Almost as a further statement of their independence, the Irish have moved away from the stereotype of bad cooking that plagues Britain.

As far as Edinburgh goes, you’re on your own. Have a great trip.

Buddy

Wow, that's a great read. Thanks for your suggestions. We're really looking forward to it.

In terms of Edinburgh, I would say to stick to pub food. I went in November, a pretty dreary time when the sun came up at 8:30 am and went down at 3:30, and found some of the greatest food just in random watering holes. Of hand I don't remember any names, but I had great stews with quail and rabbit.
Of course the fish and chips were great. I had some of the freshest haddock with a light crispy breading. Have a great time.

It sounds like you have a great trip planned. I was in Ireland several years ago and spent about three days in Kinsale as I traveled around the country. Of the small towns that I visited on the trip, Kinsale was by far my favorite. Excellent food, and really a charming town with great people (although that could be said for the whole of Ireland). They are right on the water, so I ate almost exclusively seafood and it was the freshest I remember having.

Here are some good places:
Max's Wine Bar and Restaurant-- gourmet and foody but not outrageously priced. Very small place, great service and excellent smoked salmon.

The Shack Restaurant-- Irish, Italian, and Mexican food all in one place! It was decent for fresh fish, and tried to stick to ordering whatever included it.

The Armada Bar-- good place for music and fish 'n chips.

The Mad Monk-- great place to watch football matches and have a pint.

I don't remember the addresses for all of these places, but they will not be hard to find as Kinsale consists of 10 blocks.

As for sightseeing, there's a cool cemetery on a hill that overlooks the harbor, it's gorgeous at sunset.

If this is your first time to Edinburgh and/or Scotland, you will love it. If you can, try to get out in the country a bit. Stirling is also a beautiful town full of history (Wallace Monument, Stirling Castle, etc.) not too far from Edinburgh.

We went about five years ago. There was a wonderful site called Taste of Scotland that highlighted restaurants using local produce and/or classic Scottish recipes. The site was affiliated with Famous Grouse or something. We got lots of good tips off that and had wonderful food during our drive all over Scotland. Unfortunately, although there is a new site called Taste of Scotland, it is not the same information at all. I looked around and these sites seem to have a lot to offer:

http://www.list.co.uk/restaurants/index.php

http://www.rampantscotland.com/besteating/index.htm

Seems like it is easy to get an inexpensive lunch/afternoon snack in the British Isles. There always seemed to be a church or museum around the corner serving tea and high-quality snacks and sandwiches. If you load up on breakfast at the B&B as suggested in another post, you should be able to keep a tight budget and maybe splurge a bit at dinner. (FYI, hotels in Edinburgh are really expensive. You'll get more for your money at a B&B.)

Please give us a report when you get back so we can live vicariously!

i really enjoyed cafe paradiso when hubby and i went to ireland a few years ago. it's a vegetarian place. i believe that i had butternut squash risotto and some sort of terrine that include leek and cabbage. everything we had was excellent.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:Wondering if anyone has suggestions for good restaurants in Edinburgh Scotland....

Don't miss http://www.mussel-inn.com/

There is a location in Glasgow and Edinburgh, we dined at the location in Edinburgh, one of the dining highlights of my trip there.

Mussel Inn serves fresh seafood from the seas off the shores of Scotland.

the mussel pots were delicious.

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Kinsale has a lot of good restaurants; I hit a couple a few years ago, but I can't think of their names right now.

There is a really neat old pub in the center though, called the Shanachie. Great traditional music, decent pub grub, and an almost ancient, cave-like atmosphere to it.