Review
The newly refurbished Hazelwood Restaurant is located off the main foyer, with large mirrors placed on the rear wall it open the space up. Booths around the walls and tables to the centre, burgundy and cream tones give a regal feel to the room. The conservatory to the front overlooking the mature gardens and chef’s herb garden is the perfect setting for larger groups, still feeling part of the main restaurant.
Recently promoted head chef Chris Friel has been with the hotel 17 years, and having grown with the group is quietly confident in his new role and the changes he has made both in the look and feel of the restaurant and also in the menus.
The dinner menu is very reasonable priced at €30 for 3 courses or €25 for 2 courses. With starters as simple as cream of homemade vegetable soup to a more complex warm tartlet of goat’s cheese & sundried tomatoes with balsamic glaze, rocket and pine nuts. Other choices included a smoked salmon plate with lemon mayonnaise and wheaten bread or a Cajun chicken Caesar salad. For main courses seared medallions of Clarke’s dry aged fillet appeared with a €6.50 supplement, or within the set menu there were options such as Glen Valley chicken, roast rump of lamb or roast fillet of hake, while the vegetarian choice was wild mushroom and baby spinach linguini.
I started with the house style crab claws which were served with garlic herb butter and mixed leaves; cooked to perfection they were divine and the portion generous with 6 good sized claws. The other half enjoyed the goat’s cheese tartlet, with good cheese that tasted as it should, and another good sized serving.
Main courses brought us the medallions of aged fillet; tender, flavoursome and perfectly cooked pink. Fred worked his way through a chunky fillet of hake wrapped in Parma ham which was served on crushed black olive potato with lemon cream. This Med style treatment worked well and still let the fish shine through.
The wine list was comprehensive with four house reds and the same of white all priced at €19.00 with appearances from the Terra Mon as well as Willowglen as a Semillon chardonnay or a Shiraz cabernet. Other reds were priced from €22.95 for Lawson’s Dry Hills Pinot Noir to €49.95 for a Chateauneuf du Pape. Whites were priced between €21.00 for a Pinot Grigio to €41.00 for Chablis Premier Cru Fourchaume. There were also some champagnes and sparkling if a celebration was on the cards. We chose half bottles at €13.00 as I wanted red and he opted for the white to accompany the hake, Paulita Sauvignon Blanc and Chateau Lamarche Bordeaux superior, were both good choices.
All desserts are homemade by in-house pastry chef Brid Flynn, and the evening we were there she had dark chocolate and pecan brownie, brandy & almond cake, vanilla crème brulee or fresh fruit Pavlova on the menu. I had the Pavlova, one of my favourites and hubby had the crème brulee, which was really rich and tasty.
The Sligo Park serves good food well. It’s casual and also an ideal spot for families as a base to explore Sligo and the North West. Food is also served in the Rathanna bar for a quick bite or just a more casual experience.
