Review
Brogan's Bar has been a mainstay of Ennis for ages. As a child I used to love going to Brogan’s en route to the coast for holidays, I was excited to visit somewhere I hadn’t been in about thirty years, I could still remember some of the dishes, few restaurants create this kind of nostalgia.
Brogan’s is a charmingly decorated building, painted buttercup yellow and is cosy and welcoming with booths for seating and plenty of character and characters at the bar. We were greeted by charming staff, full of enthusiasm for the menu, and the banquet began. A simply described Seafood Platter was generously laden with rolls of the softest smoked salmon, crabmeat, crab claws and mussels, I was in seafood heaven. My boys had the chicken wings, polished off in minutes, and a chowder that was declared to be “one of the best yet”.
The fish and chips had one of the most perfectly cooked pieces of cod, tender and juicy with a light and crispy thin batter coating. The sirloin came with pepper sauce, decent, chunky, onion rings and a lovely salad. There was enough for dinner the next day too and the steak was full of flavour and was cooked to perfection. The duck was crispy as it should be and it’s sauce was a refined reduction of orange and wild berries, earthy and grown up, quite a punch. We had a slab of ribs as the server was quite keen that we taste their signature dish. Being marinated in Jack Daniels made them sound very appealing and they were the meatist, tenderest, stickiest, yummiest ribs I’ve eaten, so delicious. They were gone in seconds between us.
The menu has a broad and well priced kids section with plenty to choose from. For us it was time for desert. The sticky toffee pudding was packed with dates, that essential ingredient that makes it what it is, this was one of the best I’ve tasted. My Eton mess was heaven with lots of berries, not just meringue. I was happy to see brown bread ice cream on the menu too, but will have to try that on a return visit.
Brogan’s is a perfect spot for a bowl of chowder and a pint, a family meal or an intimate dinner, with music, people and life it has everything you need and no nonsense. A family run business serving the community for generations, may they keep doing so.
