Eating Well in the West

Eating Well in the West

Because the West has a brief high season -- from mid-June to early September -- and a quiet off-season, it doesn't have as broad a choice of small, owner-operated restaurants as do other parts of Ireland. Often the best place to eat is a hotel -- Sheedy's Restaurant and Country Inn in Lisdoonvarna, for example, which has one of the best chefs in County Clare, or Rosleague Manor in Letterfrack. The dominant style of cuisine in the West is an unfussy, traditional approach that allows the natural flavors of fresh local delights -- locally reared lamb and beef, and freshly landed seafood -- to shine through. Look out for wild salmon or sea trout, fresh from one of the region's fast-flowing rivers, and Connemara mountain lamb, which has a particular flavor from grazing on mountain herbs and grass: these three regional delicacies that are well worth the premium. Most of the chefs working in the region have traveled widely, and on many menus you will find a whiff of Asia -- Thailand especially -- along with the expected classic French repertoire. A handful of restaurants, including Kirwan's Lane Creative Cuisine and K. C. Blake's in Galway, showcase adventurous contemporary Irish cooking with a bold fusion element. But many of the best things to eat in these parts are extremely simple, which makes a bar-food lunch a tempting option. It's hard to beat a platter of freshly sliced smoked salmon with half a lemon squeezed over it, home-baked brown bread with butter, and a glass of dry white wine. Oysters, too, (the local one is the European oyster, ostrea edulis) are often ordered in their shells and slipped directly into the mouth, followed by a bite of soda bread and butter and a sip of black stout; a combination made in heaven, many say. Galway oysters are in season from September to April. Fans say they taste of the sea, but not everyone likes the rubbery texture -- the good news is each oyster contains only seven calories. Home-baked brown bread, whether soda (made with buttermilk) or yeast, is one of the great pleasures of the region, and another is the home-baking -- porter cake, fruit scones, breakfast muffins -- which is on offer at many of the region's B&Bs and inns.