Search Results for 'good chef'

One of our favourite family spots has to be Mulberry’s restaurant in the village of Barna, on the coast road to Spiddal, close enough to Galway city to be almost considered a suburb. Set back from the main road, in a line of pretty shops, this is usually a busy spot with well thought out menus and family friendly dining. The two very hands-on owners, James and Deirdre Cunningham, are blessed with a good chef, Ziggy Kolanczyk. There is real focus on local seasonal produce and James himself can often be found foraging among the rocks on the local shores. The quality of ingredients, reasonable prices, and the casual elegance of the decor all adds up to a very good dining experience, with an emphasis on seafood and European style cuisine. Parking is both ample and free and the sky blue frontage is conveniently located next door to Ali’s Fish Shop, so you are guaranteed the seafood will be as fresh as can be.

Have you ever really thought about what goes into the plate of food that is brought to your table in a restaurant? If you think about it, a large proportion of it comes down to the chef. It all starts at the back door of the restaurant, where products are unloaded every morning. Depending on the time of the year, chefs experiment, create, and make menus that are fresh, exciting, and appealing to customers all year round. Strawberries and fresh salad greens have come and gone, game and autumnal fruits are featuring now. If you do not have a good chef, then you do not have a good restaurant.

Last week I visited McGinns on the Docks (previously Sheridan’s) to see what the new owners are serving in that lovely room upstairs overlooking the dockside area. The first thing I noticed is that it is now also an exhibition area and currently features some stunning limited edition framed photos by Joe Geoghegan of scenes from the Volvo Ocean Race. They are quite spectacular, well framed and mounted. In fact from any small viewing distance they look like paintings. There is also an exhibition by six local Galway photographers downstairs. I understand this will be a venue for further exhibitions.