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Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Gourmet getaways: The best places to eat and drink in Kenmare
There's no shortcut to Kenmare – you've got to earn it street by street. Past the houses still marked with an 'L' over the door – the Lansdowne estate symbol – past the dates carved into granite lintels, past the shops run by the people who live above them. The Co Kerry town shaped by continuity, where the line between home and business is often a staircase, and where almost everything worth eating is made by someone who lives within shouting distance of the kitchen. Karen Coakley's Kenmare Foodie Tours is the best way in. The stops change depending on the day, but what holds is the format: a short walk, a direct introduction, a story and a lot of food. The Brennans are first. At Brook Lane Hotel, it's a husband-and-wife team. Úna runs the floor and Dermot does the food – not just in the kitchen, but on the land. Their saddleback pigs are raised a few kilometres away, free-range and fed seaweed for immunity. They're slaughtered locally, and Dermot processes the meat himself – the white pudding, the sausages, the terrines. The tasting on the tour, hosted by their daughter, Megan, includes slow-cooked pork ribs, a sausage roll – rich, flaky, pork–heavy – and a warm slice of pudding with a house–made brown sauce. At their town restaurant, No 35, the same pork turns up as burgers, roast joints and black pudding salad. The next stop is Heidi Ryan's, a food shop named after the owners' grandmothers – Heidi and Ryan. Sabine von Burg is Swiss and Aidan Slevin is from Tipperary. The shop began as a farmers' market stall. It's now one of the best food shops in Ireland, in terms of both sourcing and simplicity. Vegetables come from Billy Clifford and from Mary, a grower in Killarney. There are duck eggs, foraged mushrooms, apple juice from nearby farms and vinegar by Fionntán Gogarty, who left architecture for fermentation after the crash. Charcuterie is by Olivier Boucher, and cheeses by Gubbeen, Coolea, Durrus and Lost Valley Dairy. Everything is sold by weight or portion – minimal packaging, no waste. If you want a wedge of cheese, you say how much. READ MORE Then to Maison Gourmet. It's a small, daytime cafe with highly coveted outdoor seats and an indoor seating area to the back. It looks like a French patisserie because it is – started in 2016 by Emma and Patrick Peuch, who moved to Kenmare when their sons began working at The Park Hotel (one a chef, one in training). They launched with one French pastry chef. Now, during high season, the team runs to more than 20, with a full rota of overnight bakers and counter staff. The croissants are laminated with French butter – they tried Kerrygold early on, but it was too soft to hold structure. The starter for the sourdough is kept alive daily – even taken on holiday. Cakes, tarts, brioches and patisserie are made fresh on site, and there is a tantalising array of millefeuille, pear amandine, strawberry tarts and eclairs in the glass display shelves. From pastry to chocolate. Benoit Lorge, from Lorraine in France, and his partner, Yolanda Serrano from Madrid, run a tiny chocolate shop, Lorge Chocolatier, farther down the street, offering some of Ireland's best small–batch chocolates. They are produced less than a kilometre from where they're sold. The tasting includes milk chocolate with local cream, dark chocolate with tonka bean, and black garlic praline that is intense and balanced, not at all gimmicky. Lorge uses beans from west Cork roaster Dave Barber and Beara sea salt in his caramels. The hot chocolate is made from couverture and draws swimmers and walkers year round. [ Gourmet Getaways: The best places to eat and drink on a weekend break in Galway Opens in new window ] Blasta Cafe is run by Martin Hallissey, in the house where he grew up. His mother is Maura Foley, one of Kenmare's most renowned chefs. She headed up the kitchen at The Limetree before moving on in the 1990s to open Packie's. Hallissey subsequently took over as chef there. It has since closed, and his new environment is filled with pastries – savoury and sweet – from pork and leek swirls in puff pastry to rhubarb crumble tartlets and bread-and-butter pudding with raspberries. Cakes include old–school favourites like lemon drizzle cake, rhubarb and almond, and chocolate biscuit cake. There are a few seats outside, perfect for people watching as you eat. Patrick and Emma Puech, who came to Kenmare to visit their son seven years ago, and never left, opening Maison Gourmet on Henry Street. Photograph: Valerie O'Sullivan Chocolatier Benoit Lorge at work on a giant Easter egg. Photograph: Andrew Downes Martin Hallissey at Blasta cafe The last stop on the tour is the Tom Crean Brewery. It's run by Aileen Crean O'Brien and her husband, Bill Sheppard, and is named after Aileen's grandfather, the Antarctic explorer. The beers are brewed on site, powered by solar, and infused with story as much as flavour. Their Expedition Red Ale marked the family's own journey to South Georgia. Kerry Surf & Turf is brewed with seaweed and boiled turf to give an ancient taste of Kerry. Six Magpies Stout and St Brigid's Lager both picked up national awards. All the beers are additive–free, vegan and brewed in small batches in a modest space behind the restaurant. The taproom is open 5pm–7pm and Saturday tours run at 3pm. That's the loop. And it's not just a trail of independent producers – it's a mirror of the town. Nearly every stop is run by a couple, or is a generational handover, or someone who came here once, fell for the town and simply never left. [ Gourmet getaways: The best places to eat and drink in Connemara Opens in new window ] Across the street from the Tom Crean Brewery, the Lansdowne Hotel is where you stay if you want to be in the middle of it all. Patrick and Aileen Hanley took it over in 2024. It was where Patrick grew up; his mother used to cook in the hotel when he was young. There's no spa, no pool – just good rooms, a relaxed cafe and the Shelbourne Street restaurant, which has a separate entrance from the street. The Nead, the light‑flooded hotel cafe, serves an impressive full Irish breakfast using quality produce and has an all‑day menu. The outside terrace – which captures the sun early in the day – is particularly popular. The Shelbourne Street Restaurant is quite a step above what you might expect – more town restaurant than hotel diningroom. On the menu you will find dishes such as chicken liver pâté with Heir Island bread (Aileen trained there), Tom Crean lager‑battered cod and a particularly good smoked bacon chop with charred cabbage. It's the sort of unfussy food that you often want to eat on holiday, and clearly there's a competent chef in the kitchen. Dining at the Park Hotel, Kenmare Across the road, Park Hotel Kenmare changed hands in late 2023, when Bryan Meehan acquired the property from the Brennan brothers. Since then the art collection – which is being added to on what seems like a daily basis – immediately signals a big change in direction. Gone are the ancestral portraits and in come Dorothy Cross, Sean Scully and Theaster Gates. The first piece to go up – The Rose by Michael Craig‑Martin – replaced a Victorian portrait, a relic of English rule. More than 80 works hang throughout the hotel, with a guided art tour running daily. Gates's powerful work, made from repurposed fire hoses of the kind once turned on civil rights protesters, and Dorothy Cross's foxglove bronze, cast from her own fingers, are prominent in the lobby. The fine-dining restaurant, The Landline (which is open to non‑residents), takes its name from a Scully painting and matches the tone with its food. Dinner might open with a seaweed tart filled with crab. Local prawns are paired with confit chicken, and a pea velouté is poured tableside over the ham hock. A lamb dish includes rump, sausage and shoulder inside a morel, and the meal finishes with a beautiful raspberry soufflé with crème Anglaise and ice cream. Brendan Byrne at Lagom Restaurant, Henry Street. Photograph: Valerie O'Sullivan Sheen Falls Hotel, Kenmare Just around the corner, Brendan and Liz Byrne run Lagom. The name comes from the Swedish word meaning 'just the right amount' – a guiding principle here. The space reflects it with pale woods, birch saplings, soft light and clean lines. The menu is short, the food cooked almost entirely on a Big Green Egg. A squid ink crab croustade with cucumber and dillisk is sharp and theatrical. Goat's cheese tortellini arrive in beetroot borscht. A lamb rump is oak‑seared and plated with cannelloni and roast apple. Vegetables get equal billing – miso‑glazed carrots, baby broccoli and great roast potatoes. Dessert is a semifreddo with Champagne‑marinated rhubarb, served as an 'iceberger' sandwich between slices of gingerbread. A wonderful way to finish. [ Gourmet getaway: The best places to eat and drink on a weekend break in Limerick Opens in new window ] Sheen Falls Lodge sits just outside town, with a spectacular view overlooking the river Sheen. Mark Treacy is head chef at The Falls restaurant, delivering precise, produce‑led dishes rooted in classical technique. The large terrace at the more casual restaurant, The Stable Brasserie, is a bit of a secret, so worth heading to on a sunny day when outside tables are perpetually full in Kenmare. Farther afield is The Boathouse Bistro on the waterfront at Dromquinna Manor estate. Up early, Bean & Batch is where you go for coffee and breakfast. Jamie O'Connell and his husband, John Hallissey, opened it in 2022. The ovens in their nearby bakery crank up at 3.30am. The egg salad sandwich is delicious in that old‑fashioned way – chopped egg, tomato, onion, and lettuce on white batch bread. Sausage rolls are pork and apple, wrapped in crisp pastry. Lemon tarts layer curd and sponge. John's mother's apple tart is always on. Definitely one to order. For something old‑school and with a view, head to Josie's, looking out on to Glanmore Lake with a stunning backdrop of the Caha Mountains. There are picnic benches for al-fresco dining, and a south‑facing window catches the evening light. The well‑priced menu includes langoustines in garlic butter, fish and chips and a memorable dish of Irish stew with deeply flavoured lamb. Dessert is a jelly‑heavy trifle, which could do with a further splash of sherry for a truly home-made flavour. [ Eat your way across Mayo: From garden to grill, the county is fast becoming a food destination Opens in new window ] Farther west, Helen's Bar sits close to the water at Kilmackillogue Harbour, with a substantial number of picnic tables on Bunaw Pier. The open crab sandwich on soda bread with Marie Rose sauce and salad is the thing to order. Mussels, scallops, and fish and chips round out the menu. From there, head down the coast road to An Síbín in Lauragh – a former 1762 coaching inn now run by Katherine Murphy as an atmospheric wine bar and restaurant, with stone walls, wood‑burning stove and low ceilings. The menu mixes local with farther afield: house‑made ravioli, flatbreads, jamón Ibérico, braised beef, mussels, and fish and chips. An Sibín The Buddhist centre of Dzogchen Beara in Co Cork offers stunning views of Bantry Bay. Photograph: For another kind of detour, head to Dzogchen Beara, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat at Garranes on the Beara Peninsula. Set on 150 acres, it has a spectacular view overlooking the Atlantic. It was founded in 1974 by Peter and Harriet Cornish, who donated the property to a charitable trust; it is a joy to know that the expanse of ethereal beauty will be preserved. The vegetarian cafe serves soups and salads made from what's grown on‑site, with freshly made bread. You can stay the night if there are cottages available, or just eat and walk. Finally there's a bottle of vermouth that turns up on several drinks lists around Kenmare – and on Karen's tour if the timing's right. Valentia Island Vermouth is made by Anna and Orla Snook O'Carroll, who began by steeping foraged gorse and orange peel in jam jars in their kitchen. Their flagship white, called Ór for its lovely golden colour, now ships nationwide and many of Kenmare's restaurants, including Mulcahy's and An Síbín Winebar, stock it. Ask for a V&T and you're in for a treat. The vermouth is made with a base of organic Verdejo wine, blended with wormwood, gentian root, heather and about 20 other botanicals. Everything is cold‑infused – no stills, no boiling, no artificial shortcuts. Their small production unit on the Kerry coast beside the Valentia ferry is closed to the public, but they have plans to open a visitors' centre. Their red vermouth, Rua, is in development, built around rose, vanilla and dark chocolate. What marks Kenmare out isn't just the quality of the cooking – though that's high – but how much of it comes from people who've been doing it here for decades: families who breed pigs, bake the bread, ferment the vinegar and cure the charcuterie. You eat here and you taste the hands that made it – sometimes still flour‑dusted, sometimes pouring pints of stout brewed in the shed out the back. Walk the streets and you'll find chefs cooking in the houses they grew up in, chocolate made a kilometre from where it's sold, sourdough starters with their own passport. It's not manufactured – it's Kenmare. And that's what makes it better. Corinna Hardgrave was a guest of The Park and Lansdowne Hotel Where to eat and stay in Kenmare Brook Lane Hotel, Casey's, Killarney Road, Gortamullin, Kenmare, V93 T289; Heidi Ryan's, Bridge Street, Kenmare, V93 C653; Maison Gourmet, 6 Henry Street, Kenmare, V93 A7KE; Lorge Chocolatier, 18 Henry Street, Kenmare; Blasta Café, 29 Henry Street, Kenmare, V93 Y152; Tom Crean Brewery, Killowen Road, Kenmare, Co Kerry, V93 Y6KX; The Lansdowne, Main Street, Kenmare, Co Kerry, V93 YRC8; Park Hotel Kenmare, Shelbourne Street, Kenmare, Co Kerry, V93 X3XY; Lagom, 36 Henry Street, Kenmare, Co Kerry, V93 E28P; Sheen Falls Lodge, Kenmare, Co Kerry, V93 HR27; The Boathouse Bistro, Dromquinna Manor, Sneem Road, Kenmare; Bean & Batch, Killarney Road, Gortamullin, Kenmare, V93 C868; Josie's Lakehouse, Lauragh, Co Kerry, V93 X9ER; Helen's Bar, Kilmakilloge, Co Kerry; An Síbín Winebar, Lauragh Lower, Lauragh, Co Kerry, V93 T4C2; Valentia Island Vermouth,
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘I chose my Confirmation name after my favourite footballer. In retrospect, it's pretty funny'
How agreeable are you? I'm a fairly certain type of person, overall. I wouldn't think that I'm swayed too much when I have a certain way of thinking. I'm quite laid-back, as well, and I don't take anything too seriously. Why? It's probably the job I do, but I just don't think life should be taken too seriously; I think you should enjoy your life. What's your middle name and what do you think of it? My name is David Stephen McCready. For my Confirmation name, however, I picked Gerard, so my full name is David Stephen Gerard McCready. As a kid, it was, like, I had to do it because Steven Gerrard was my favourite footballer . In retrospect, it's pretty funny. It was a bit of a gimmick back then, so it's not something I carry around any more. Where is your favourite place in Ireland? I went to college in Galway for three years. Two of those were during Covid, so I didn't get the full college experience, but there isn't a nicer place in Ireland than Galway on a sunny day. The people there are pretty laid-back as well, which suits me. Describe yourself in three words Chill, optimistic, driven. READ MORE When did you last get angry? I don't think I get angry. From what I said already, I'm pretty laid-back, even when it comes to people. I'm never going to let someone's actions change my emotions. The way I see it is if people are acting odd or strange, it's not in my control. There's only so much I can control in my life, and I'm not going to let someone else change the way I live. What have you lost that you would like to have back? Some things I miss are having interactions that are completely anonymous. I'd never call myself famous. I would say I'm probably on an E-list of being well-known, but I've noticed that people can have preconceived ideas of you, if they meet you and they know who you are. When people pop up from my past, they now know me as a different person, which sometimes is difficult to navigate. Do people tap me on the shoulder and ask for selfies? It happens, but it's not something I have control over, and it's not something that bothers me too much. I'm not playing a character when I go out into the real world. I always show up as myself. As I said, I'm E-List. I'm not Brad Pitt! What's your strongest childhood memory? It was probably picking up my pug, from Kenturk, Co Cork, when I was 12 years old. Clara was the size of a potato when we collected her, waddling along the footpath outside SuperValu. I got her before I started secondary school, and even during times when I didn't have a whole lot of friends, she was always there. Where do you come in your family's birth order and has this defined you in any way? I'm the youngest, which I don't think has changed my life too much. I don't expect to get given anything. I always believe in working hard for what you have. I have one sister, who is four years older than me. I think we've gotten closer over the past few years, especially since finishing school. We both went to college in Galway, and if I was between classes, I would have gone to her house to chill out. She's one of my best friends at this point. What do you expect to happen when you die? Short answer? Nothing. It might sound uninformed, but I don't think that far ahead because all I have is right now. [ Jerry Fish: 'I'm a London-born Dub but I discovered most of my DNA is from exactly where I now live' Opens in new window ] When were you happiest? The fact that I get to wake up every day and do something I love doing and live a life I want to live is more like fulfilment than happiness, but I really like my life, so I'd say I'm happy every day. Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life? I almost can't think of anyone young enough. I'll go with Michael B Jordan for a laugh. I like him. I watched Sinners recently; it's a good film. What's your biggest career/personal regret? I wouldn't say I have any. I get to live my life how I want to live it, and I get to work for myself and a job I love doing. One of my biggest goals in life, when it's all said and done, is that I don't want to ever look back and have any regrets. I don't want to look back and say that I should have worked harder, which is why I'm working particularly hard right now. But as of right now, I don't have any. Have you any psychological quirks? If I find something funny, it'll be a joke to me, and even if other people don't find it funny, I'll run the joke to death just because I enjoy it. Yeah, I'll keep going. In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Comedian Kyla Cobbler: ‘I was sitting having a whiskey with Tommy Tiernan, going, Yeah, this is my life. What a gift'
It took Kyla Cobbler a while to accept that she was a fully fledged comedian. 'Even just adding it to my Instagram bio was tough,' she says, smiling. 'I guess it's because my career has been really short. I only started when I was 31, and it's gone so well, and I'm so grateful for that. 'It was, like, once I started calling myself a comic, the universe was, like, 'Okay, here we go. Now I'll give you a hand,' whereas before I was fighting it. I think being from Ireland and calling yourself an artist is weird. You don't want to come across as having notions.' Notions or not, Cobbler, who is from Cork , has become one of the hottest properties in Irish comedy in the past year or so. When we speak, she is fresh off the back of two dates at Live at the Marquee in her hometown (where she was the special guest of Tommy Tiernan , the headliner, having appeared on his RTÉ TV chatshow earlier this year), as well as an industry showcase in London. READ MORE 'The last four days have been probably the most pressure I've been under in my career,' she says. 'I remember going from clubs of 60 to doing 1,000-seat rooms, and that difference was massive. And I knew going into the Marquee, with 4,000 people in a tent meant for music, it was going to be a bit crunchy.' She grimaces. 'I've never had tension running through my muscles like that. It was mental, but it was amazing. The other times I toured with him, he'd never stay after the show, but this time we hung out. I was sitting having a whiskey with Tommy Tiernan, going, 'Yeah, this is my life.' What a gift.' Cobbler's rise has been swift, but she took a circuitous route into comedy. The 34-year-old, who grew up in Ballincollig – she left when she 18 – is now based in Barcelona. She lived and worked in Italy for several years, and it was in Milan that she inadvertently picked up her stage name (her real name is Mikayla O'Connor) and began uploading funny clips to her Instagram stories. An old post from 2019 shows her gleefully celebrating 5,000 followers; less than six years later, almost 500,000 followers tune into her amusing reels about relatable everyday occurrences. The relatability factor has a lot to do with her success, she reckons. After our interview, she grumbles, she has an appointment to tame her trademark curls, piled atop her head, before a live TV appearance this evening. 'There's so much of these 'Get ready with me!' videos and morning routines' on social media, she says, rolling her eyes. 'It's psychotic. And it's unreachable for busy women. Putting eye cream on every day? If I drink enough water, like, I win.' Humour was initially a defence mechanism for Cobbler, whose dyslexia was not diagnosed until she was 18. Her school years were difficult, she says, adding that she regards the late diagnosis as 'almost to my detriment, because I now know, as a professional comedian and a grown-up, that you have to be smart to be funny. My teachers saw that I was quick-witted, and they were, like, 'Well, you're just not trying, then.' So school was just a massive nightmare.' She pauses. 'But my mom always fought my corner. I wouldn't have had a tap of confidence leaving home if it wasn't for her. 'It's funny: you go through your life being angry at your parents when you're in your 20s, and then you get to a certain point where you're, like, 'Okay, I need to take responsibility for my own life.' And now, at 34, knowing my mom had three kids and a mortgage and a husband at my age … 'Like, last week, I was using kitchen roll instead of toilet paper because I just kept forgetting to buy it for four days.' She shrugs. 'Who am I to be angry at my parents?' Kyla Cobbler: 'I know my toxic trait as a Cork woman is looking at a troll's profile and going, I could take you' The key to unlocking her love of comedy and performing lay in social media. She remembers the first 'funny' post she uploaded. 'I was working in the fashion district in Milan at the time, and one of the filters was an underwater one, with fish. 'I posted myself dancing 'under the sea'. I left it up for, like, an hour, and then my sister was, like, 'Ehh … What are you doing?' And I thought, 'You're right. What am I doing?' and I took it down,' she says laughing. 'But then I just started doing daily stories and building it slowly. I remember the feelings of insecurity about doing them [at first], whereas now I could not care less. I'm, like, 'There you go. Feed the monster.' [ The funny thing about Irish comedy: Why it doesn't hurt to be rich if you want to be a stand-up Opens in new window ] Her willingness to feed the monster and speak her mind has also led to some interesting reactions online. One quip about how Donald Trump supporters stuck to their guns after the assassination attempt on the US president led to death threats. She is immune to trolling by now. 'I know my toxic trait as a Cork woman is looking at their profile and going, 'I could take you,'' she says with deadpan sincerity. 'I've done this for so long now I have a thick skin about it. And [the internet] is just such nonsense. It's not real. It's always funny when I always get trolled about my looks; they always call me a man, or say, 'You look like this guy.' But they're always really handsome men, so I'm, like, 'I'll take that. He's gorgeous.'' Cobbler has always been open about her own life, too. Her South African fiance, Simon, a master builder whom she calls her 'oak tree', features regularly on both her social-media posts and occasionally at her live shows. She has comedy to thank for their relationship, after first crossing paths with him at a comedy club she was appearing at. The transition from an online comic to stand-up in May 2021 was daunting initially, but now she adores performing live, she says. 'It was the hardest thing I've ever done. When I look back on it now, I just can't believe that this is my career. It was just never on the cards, because I come from a 'shush' family. Like, if you're talking, my dad will be, like, 'Shush, shush, shush',' she says, laughing again. 'So being told you've got seven minutes to fill, I was sitting there shaking – 'They don't want to hear this stuff.' And also because of the online thing, I feel there's definitely this begrudgement [of people thinking], 'Oh, well, that's the internet. That's what got you your following.' 'But it's hard to do, and it just didn't get easy for a really long time. It took a year. I would book myself into open mics and then cancel, because I wouldn't sleep. I remember cracking up about doing my first 15 minutes in a nightclub in Barcelona. And now,' she says, grinning, 'I can't shut up.' [ Stand-up comedy: I never knew that five minutes could feel like a lifetime Opens in new window ] Cobbler's plan for world domination doesn't end with live stand-up; she would love to explore comedic acting, perhaps in a mockumentary-style show like The Office. Given the way she has risen to every challenge over the past three years, stranger things have happened. In the meantime, her new show, Not My Lemons, explores more personal topics – an advancement from her debut show, Gone Rogue, which saw her praised for her 'blunt storytelling'. 'It's very different, for sure, because now I'm in a relationship, so it goes into personal things like my family dynamic, and different stories from growing up and being in school,' she says. 'I'm really proud of it. And it's a cool name, too – you'll get it if you come.' Cobbler recently signed with Off the Kerb, the agency that represents some of the biggest names in British and Irish comedy. It will inevitably lead to more touring and British dates in the future – her seven-show run this weekend at Edinburgh Festival Fringe sold out some time ago – and she might try to squeeze in her wedding this year, too. 'Things are selling really well in Ireland, and a lot of the new tour is sold out,' she says, noting that venue sizes across the country have steadily increased for her Not My Lemons tour, in early 2026. 'And Ireland is amazing, but I just want to take over the world. Why not? I just want to do it everywhere. And I can do it. I'm having just the best craic, especially when people come to my own show, because I'm not proving myself. 'And a lot of them are women, and we'll be cackling away … Oh, it's just class,' she says with a giddy chuckle. 'I don't have a bucket-list vibe. If I can just keep doing this for the rest of my life, I'll take it. I'll keep showing up as long as they let me in.' Kyla Cobbler 's Not My Lemons tour begins at the Mac, Belfast, on February 5th, 2026, and ends at the 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on April 12th, 2026
