Lucinda O'Sullivan's restaurant review: Is chef Angelo Vagiotis on track for a Michelin star with the exquisite Pullman?
Having caught them by surprise on her previous visit, our critic goes back aboard the Pullman carriages at the five-star Glenlo Abbey Hotel & Estate
Whirling up to the magnificent five-star Glenlo Abbey Hotel in Galway last September while on my own Poirot mission as a judge/hotel inspector for the Gold Medal Awards, I didn't quite discover a murder on the Orient Express in the Pullman carriages of their eponymous restaurant, but I did unearth one of the best-kept culinary secrets of 2024.
'How did she know I was here? I'm not ready for her,' chef Angelo Vagiotis, was reported to have said. Truth was, I didn't know he was there, I just got lucky, scooping the story of the new journey he was embarking upon — a journey that would take place in the two historic train carriages that were once indeed part of the original Orient Express travelling the rails of Europe in the early 20th century.
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Start your adventure at the Clonakilty Park Hotel - Where family fun begins
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Irish Times
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The Pullman review: Is this restaurant on a train carriage travelling towards a Michelin star?
The Pullman Address : Galway Telephone : 091-519600 Cuisine : International Website : Cost : €€€€ There are, in theory, many ways to spend €130 on dinner in the west of Ireland. You could eat bog butter from a scallop shell or endure a 12-course 'textures of hedgerow' menu. Or you could board a train. The Pullman reopened in March after a restoration, overseen with the kind of obsessive commitment usually reserved for vintage watches or papal funerals. Leona (1927) and Linda (1954) – two Orient Express carriages at Glenlo Abbey Hotel outside Galway – have been restored to brass lights, marquetry panels, 1960s crockery and pressed linen. The chef in the kitchen is Greek-born Angelo Vagiotis, whose CV includes Noma , Manresa and Terre in Castlemartyr , where he helped the team land two Michelin stars in 2024. Joined by Terre pastry chef Linda Sergidou and Shauna Murphy, Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year 2023, he's not playing it safe. He has made no secret of his Michelin aspirations. A bill of €130 for seven courses puts it firmly into tasting-menu territory – you expect technique, precision and at least a nod to theatre. What you do not necessarily expect is a lone, suspiciously cheerful diner with a French accent, who chats with waiters, orders the full menu, and finishes with pour-over coffee. Vagiotis does a walk-by. Sergidou personally delivers dessert. Is he a Michelin Guide inspector? Who knows. But the kitchen isn't taking any chances. READ MORE The meal opens with bitter leaves, herbs and edible flowers from Bullaun Ark, tied like a posy over a sharp foam of cider vinegar. A smart, seasonal opener. Enrico Crippa does something similar at Piazza Duomo in Italy's Alba. Then a Rockfield cream puff – a gougère: light, delicate, filled with assertive cheese mousse. Goatsbridge trout follows – three thin slices alternated with golden beetroot beside horseradish cream and trout's roe. The first hard test comes with Jerusalem artichoke and monkfish liver – a course with nowhere to hide. Ankimo, the foie gras of the sea, demands precision, and Vagiotis meets it. Two agnolotti filled with artichoke mousse are flanked by cubes of liver. A clear broth – poured from a teapot – carries roasted artichoke flavour, lifted by a shimmer of lemon verbena oil. A separate artichoke fritter adds textural sharpness. It is an intelligent, tightly composed course of serious confidence. Tension rises with the turbot – cooked in brioche butter, resting in a glorious Champagne sauce. Connemara mussels bring salinity, and steamed spinach provides ballast. The dish could close with authority – but does not. A purée of what might be black garlic or olive paste muddies the line, and a lone morel distracts. General manager Rónán ÓHalloran and chef Angelo Vagiotis in The Pullman. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy Rainbow trout from Kilkenny, beetroot and horseradish Turbot with Champagne, Trompette mushroom and mussels from Connemara Then the duck – Skeaghanore breast, probably cooked sous vide and finished in the oven. The skin lacks crispness, but the meat is pink, rested and tastes right. A leg-and-offal sausage is gently gamey, slightly salty. Red radicchio sits over preserved berries, with a quenelle of puréed celeriac to finish. Dessert steadies the course. The Colonel, a sharp rhubarb sorbet, is served with a dimple in the centre, into which a neat pour of Redbreast 12 Year Old is delivered at the table. Two ingredients, instant classic. The parsnip and apple finishes the meal with its nerve intact – a light mousse over a sweet purée, topped with a crisp Arlette and Velvet Cloud sheep's milk ice cream. It resists the temptation to overcomplicate and lands with clarity. The wine list is where the Pullman's ambition dips. One page of white, one of red, and a page of wines by the glass. Smart picks – some Burgundies, a few Bordeaux – but too narrow for a kitchen pitching for Michelin. An €80 wine pairing is offered – serviceable, though it needs the bold curation shown on the plate. We go for a bottle of Château Haute Carizière at €42. Across seven courses, the menu shows its hand – quietly confident, technically sharp and largely well-paced. The best dishes show real intent. The pastry is particularly strong. Even when the kitchen falters, the missteps are slight rather than structural. Service keeps a cool head: precise without theatre, unfussy without drift. It makes for a dinner that feels earned rather than staged. [ Sea Shanty review: Quietly rewriting the rules of seafood in south Dublin Opens in new window ] If the cheerful stranger was an inspector – and the suspicion holds – they will have found a kitchen cooking with purpose and ambition. They will have seen the cracks too. A wine list this cautious does not match the kitchen's reach. A handful of the dishes would benefit from a stricter edit. None of it fatal. But if the Pullman means to join the sharper end of the guidebooks, the margin for small lapses is narrow. Dinner for two with a bottle of wine was €302. The verdict: Sharp, confident cooking on track for its Michelin goal. Food provenance: Achill Lamb, Glenmar Seafood, Goatsbridge Trout, and vegetables from The Bullaun Ark, Burke's Farm, Galway, and Bia Oisín, Claregalway. Vegetarian options: Vegetarian tasting menu, €130; no vegan option. Wheelchair access: No accessible room or toilet. Music: Atmospheric vintage hits. Pullman Restaurant, Galway.
