Paolo's Reviews

It’s probably true to say that fanatical foodies don’t often put a lot of emphasis on their surroundings when they go out to eat, the quality of the food is their overriding preoccupation. For most of us though, our surroundings are a major part of the eating out experience - a comfortable room, pleasingly decorated is an inherent part of the pleasure to be had when dining.

There’s an obverse to this coin, and it’s one I’ve experienced more than once over the years. It’s when a restaurant believes that its nicely decorated interior is sufficient enough for the customer and puts the food firmly into second place. That’s no more in balance than good food in disagreeable surroundings. Ideally, both the food and the ambience of a restaurant should complement each other.

I found that happy combination this week when I went with John Boorman to Ballykealey Manor Hotel. In the past when I’ve gone out with John we haven’t always been lucky, so when I told him we were going to dine in the south of County Carlow he didn’t exactly jump for joy. ‘How long will it take to get there?’ he asked. ‘Oh, about forty minutes,’ I lied. Actually my sat nav had predicted a journey time of 75 minutes, but it can be very pessimistic I told myself.

So an hour after leaving we were in Tullow, following the N81 when the sat nav went berserk. ‘Turn right in 400 metres’, it said. Okay, but there was no road there. ‘Recalculating route’ it said when I failed to turn onto the non-existent road. ‘Turn right in 800 metres,’ it then ventured. That turned out to be a housing estate. ‘Recalculating route’, it said. ‘Shut up’, I said and turned it off. What it should have told me was ‘stay on the N81 until it hits a ‘T’ junction with the N80. Turn right and just after you’ve gone through Ballon, you find Ballykealey Manor on your left.’

A long drive through parkland leads you up to a very handsome house in the Victorian gothic style. Designed by Thomas Cobden, who designed Carlow cathedral, the house is three storey with a gabled front, high Tudor chimney stacks, granite Gothic arches and large window bays.

Inside a modestly proportioned hall gives access to the dining room, which runs the entire length of the left side of the house. Unlike many big houses that have been through the hands of religious orders, Ballykealey still has period features, from the fine fireplaces to the beautiful doors and the fine ceilings.

We sat at a large linen-covered table near a blazing open fire. The menus arrived with the maitre d’hôtel, a man who we recognised as Philippe who was the front of house in Dublin’s Frères Jacques for many years. It’s a set menu priced at €55 and it offers four courses with tea or coffee. The menu isn’t avant garde, but a good blend of solid, popular dishes. Starters include warm goats’ cheese, a smoked chicken salad, crab and salmon roulade and wild mushrooms in puff pastry. Main courses listed rack of lamb, duck breast, fillet of beef, salmon, sole with langoustines and Chinese beef.

Hotels tend to mark up their wine lists more than restaurants do, but Ballykealey is an exception to this rule. There are forty or so wines on the list, most of them priced between €19 and €25, which is very much at the lower end of mark-ups these days. It’s a one wholesaler list, which is not a plus point, but there are decent wines on it and we settled on the really excellent Lawson’s Dry Hills Pinot Noir from New Zealand at € 38.50.

For starters John had chosen the leek and rosemary soup, which turned out to be really good. It was full of flavours, including I though a hint of bacon. Quite delicious. I’d chosen the wild mushrooms in puff pastry which was nicely presented and very tasty. A touch of truffle oil gave it a bit of a kick.

With good starters under our belt I was looking forward to main courses. We also had some very well made fresh rolls on the table to pick on while we waited, and thankfully no one tried to take the bread away from us. In fact, the bread basket was replaced with more bread.

John had the sole and langoustines for his main course, which he really enjoyed. It came with a white wine and cream sauce and not only did the plate look good, it tasted good. I’d picked the Chinese beef, a dish I used to do in my restaurant years ago. The tender strips of beef stir-fried with vegetables, ginger and soy sauce worked very well and brought back happy memories for me.

We managed just one dessert between us, the home-made apple crumble with pineapple. Sadly this dish didn’t work so well, the acidity of the pineapple conflicting with the sweetness of the apple.

On balance I thought Ballykealey Manor did very well. The service was excellent, the room is pleasantly furnished and the food was pretty good. If dining in grand surroundings is to your liking, Ballykealey will fit the bill well. Our bill came to €148.50