Eat and Drink Friday

Friday

Again a perfect weather day. We did a lot of sitting around in the sun. In the morning we did drive over to Tralee to visit T K Maxx (Yes, it’s T K, not T J, in Ireland – some kind of copyright thing, I guess) and the Tesco Superstore (groceries and everything else). We stocked up on some stuff not available in the smaller Supervalu in Dingle. And we stopped at a much photographed (including by me on previous trips) overlook for a couple of snapshots including a panorama of the north Dingle Peninsula coast. Review your map from yesterday’s post.

When we got back home, we had soup (Elaine) and a sandwich (Joe) for lunch. Elaine decided to sit in the sunny backyard and read while I walked into town for a beer at Curran’s. Well, two beers – this time Rockshore lager (made, naturally, by Guinness). After walking back home it was time for a nap. Cocktails were abbreviated as we were going out to dinner at 7:00 pm.

Dinner was at Solas, a wine bar and tapas restaurant, that I resisted going to for years until our old landlord, Grainne, convinced me to go. It is really quite good! We have become friendly with the owners since discovering it two Christmas’s back. It’s family run – Ann (front of house) and Nicky (chef). The food is fantabulous.

We started with a wine (Australian Shiraz) and some Grilled Sour Dough, Confit Cherry Tomatoes & Dingle Sea Salt. Absolutely delicious.

Then it was a selection of tapas dishes including:
Queen Scallop Ceviche, Apple & Ginger, Mustard Seed & Chilli Pickle
Cantabrian Anchovy Cracker, Cured Tomato, Ramson & Pine Nut Pesto
Dingle Bay Crab Tartlet, Avocado Mousse, Nori & Sesame
and all highlighted by the
Annascaul Belly of Pork, Carrot Ketchup, Peanut & Sesame, Grilled Baby Gem
and dessert!
Lemon & Almond Cake, Lemon Curd, Pumpkin Seed Crumble, Madagascan Vanilla, and local Camp honey

Ann and Nicky have opened a second venue where Ann’s daughter is in charge. It’s called the Fish Factory and serves Asian fusion food. We’ll probably give it a try.

Then we walked the few feet to O’Flaherty’s for after dinner cocktails and some music. I didn’t record anything except for a few pictures when we arrived.. Music doesn’t start at O’Flaherty’s until 9:30 (which in Dingle time means more like 9:50) and we arrived at 8:45, so it was pretty empty. It filled up (we chatted with two nice American couples) and Fergus was at his best – singing and playing five different instruments. So we stayed for awhile and then headed home to bed. I posted a link below the pictures to Fergus singing Dingle Bay in the pub. He sings this during every session, and it is really marvelous.

Link to Fergus singing Dingle Bay