Restaurant review: ‘Plenty of hits and a few misses at one of Ireland's culinary institutions'
Courtesy of a generous Blue Book voucher and a new dog sitter, we make a last-minute escape to Ballymaloe. It's been a while since I stayed here but things seem much the same. Tea and cake – raspberry and cream, almond and praline – in the drawing room set the tone.
Ballymaloe is the most sacred cow of the Irish food world; so much has been written about the legacy of the late Myrtle Allen and the huge part she played in the evolution of a modern Irish food culture. Her influence is baked into the DNA of restaurants with a genuine commitment to using the very best of local and seasonal ingredients – some, like Ballymaloe, even growing themselves or forming close relationships with local farmers, rather than those paying cynical lip service to the notion.
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