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Published: July 14th 2010
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The entrance walk
to a fine country home. This is pronounced neenah . Since we spent our first two day outside of Galway we spent the morning looking around Galway and doing a little shopping before we hit the road. I bought my grandson a hurling stick and ball. When he gets old enough, this will make him the coolest kid in little Vale, Oregon. He will also need some supervision as he may want to use it on his sisters.
Galway is a very lively place. It is located very nicely and being that it was Saturday morning, it was quite crowded with locals and tourists. This has been our favorite of the three large towns we have visited.
We hit the road for Nenagh around noon. Along the way we stopped in Portumna and checked out a castle. The govt now owns it and is restoring it. It originally was built both as a defensive place and a “country home” for the English overlord. The English wanted to impress the locals of their status and admittedly this place would have done that. It must have been quite a place in its day.
We drove into to Nenagh and checked in at the Willowbrook B&B. This is an
Portumna House & Castle
Just a little place to show off and impress the local yokels...in its day. extremely nice B&B. It is very modern and immaculately clean. It is on the outskirts of Nenagh and is centrally situated so the visitor has access to the main highway/roads to Dublin, Limerick, and/or south toward Cork. The grounds are very well kept and spotlessly landscaped. If you are looking for a quaint little cottage - this isn't it. If you want spotless and spacious rooms - this is it. I especially liked the shower. The shower head is the large oversize type and has the kind of power flow I like - none of that wimpy weak or dribbling spray. The bed was comfortable and I slept well on it. The service was faultless. Tricia the landlord was extremely helpful from the moment I contacted her via email prior to departure to our arrival and stay. I can't say enough good things about her B&B. This is absolutely the best B&B we have ever stayed in. This is one of those places that one can comfortably stay for an extended period of time.
We settled in and then headed out for some dinner. The landlord recommended the restaurant The Fairways. This is hands down, no contest, the best dining
The Flower Gardens
They have been restored accorded to the descriptions that a visitor wrote down. we had in Ireland. The menu is not extensive (always a good sign) and the chef specialty is seafood. This restaurant has won acclaim in Ireland and is highly thought of by the important food critics in Ireland. This place is an absolute must if you are in this part of Ireland.
A few minutes after we arrived the chef came by and I told him that he had an impressive menu and would he recommend fish for us to eat. He brought out a tray of fresh fish and explained the qualities of each one. He said that one of us had to eat the hake as he considered it the best fish. I was starving and said I wanted something meaty so he suggested the loin of cod.
We started with chicken satay...not on a stick...actually thin slices of breast with jalapeno mango sauce. The dish was super. The we moved onto crab cakes with some kind of chili chutney with lemon zest...yowza. Although he recommended a pinot grigio I went with a nice bottle of french sauv blanc.
The sauces which accompanied the fish were imaginative and dee-licious! The hake is very good; it is white, meaty
The Castle Garden
Large homes needed their own garden for foodstuffs. and has flavor that halibut could have provided it had been born a hake. My cod was superb as well. The best cod I have ever had. This has spoiled me for cod. When I am spoiled for something I refuse to ever eat it again unless it of the same high quality. Take for example tamales, I can't eat any other tamales and consider them my mom's equal. There it is; that is how I am.
Our dessert was “boniff pie” it was some kind of fresh whipped cream (no sugar added) on petit fours with a layer of homemade toffee. I usually dislike toffee because it is either brittle or sticky sweet. This was unlike any toffee I have ever had or tasted. I am now spoiled for that kind of toffee as well.
The entire meal was just amazing. The chef came by and asked how we liked our meal. And like all Irish that we have encountered, he wanted to know if we were enjoying our visit to Ireland. He also suggested a place to go to that is unknown by the touristas on the Loop Head Peninsula...he said that he would call someone to take
The Fairways Bar
An award winning eatery and the best dining we had during our three weeks in Ireland. us out on a boat if we wanted...we unfortunately were headed elsewhere. There were Irish spooks to visit.
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Ken Guest
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Map of Nenagh
http://short.ie/nenagh - if anyone needs or wants [an openstreetmap] map of Nenagh.