Review
Situated in the heart of Letterkenny, Warehouse Bar & Kitchen offers a big city industrialised-styled atmosphere, with as many large open spaces as intimate corners. Stained glass windows in conjunction with retro lighting adds to the ambience, and brings together an otherwise vast space.
You really could be anywhere in the world, it’s big City meets small town cool. The staff are from a variety of countries, and the first thing one might notice is the camaraderie they share. As they walk round the bar shaking, stirring and blending a plethora of drinks from a mammoth cocktail menu, you get the feeling of fun.
If first impressions hold merit, an immediate conclusion might be that training is sharp and aimed at delivering a good experience. If there were a few bumps in the road, they could safely be put down to vast crowds, and simple oversight.
Sitting at any table there's a birds-eye view of the workshop-like kitchen - unconsciously providing assurance that what one is about to eat has no secrets. The menu is not pretentious; just enough on there to instill a degree of faith that all is doable and the food when it arrives is not disappointing.
Two friends accompanied me, and I must say I was somewhat jealous when a large cut of Hereford beef, cooked on unique lava stones arrived opposite. The smell of the carmelised onion puree that was served with it was a marriage made in a temptresses oasis.
Me, I had the Chilli King Prawn followed by Butter Chicken Curry. Apparently chilli king prawn in Donegal is heavenly, or at least it is here. The main course continued to impress and I wish I knew what made that curry so good. A combination of adroitly cooked chicken perhaps, with a beautifully balanced spice and the right amount of cream, produced a lively and mouth-watering dish.
The third member of the crew had the New Yorker, which is possibly not a burger for the faint hearted, but it was nonetheless a hearty piece of beef from a farmer down the road, as it were. The thing to remember about Donegal is that the fish and the beef will rarely let you down and if a native, you'll know the farmer, or the fisherman, just down the road. Accompanied by an array of crispy, tobacco onions and skinny chips the burger and its relish/salad, was a very welcome blow in. I had a sample and would seriously recommend it, even to my fussy foodie friends.
All in all, the whole experience was a delight. To know that I can bring some of my Vegan and Veggie friends there is also reassuring. The manager and assistant manager were lovely and the volume of people spoke loudly of the establishment's reputation.
