DINING OUT

Mary Anne’s Tea Rooms Denny Street SOMETIMES, as natives, we really underappreciate the beauty of Denny Street. Walking up the grand old street on Friday, I tried to imagine myself as a tourist seeing it for the first time and admiring the Georgian buildings with the imposing Ashe Memorial Hall […]

The Station House Blennerville LIVING on the west side of town near the canal, I really missed The Station House over the past few years. It was nice to stroll over the bridge for a bite to eat and a pint in the evenings before a picturesque walk home. I was […]

THE Tralee Food Festival, which proved so popular last year, is returning in September and events are being organised to make it an even bigger success. Despite clashing with All-Ireland final weekend last time out, thousands enjoyed the food market, food and beer trails and cookery demos around the town over the […]

UP to 20 jobs are to be created when a new restaurant opens in Tralee town centre early next month. Lana Asian Street Food, which has a restaurant in Galway and two in Limerick, is opening at a premises in Ashe Street which was previously The Dragon Inn and later the Royal Palace Chinese restaurants. Area manager, […]

A LOCAL restaurant owner was delighted to wake up on Sunday morning to a glowing review for his business. One of Ireland’s most popular newspapers, The Sunday World, ran a review of Il Forno Woodfired Pizzeria And Italian Restaurant in Courthouse Lane and they were impressed to say the least. The […]

Gastro Pub @ Benners Hotel Castle Street AS much as the curmudgeon in me complains about the Hallmark-promoted racket that is Father’s Day, I confess that I really enjoyed it this year. I resolved to take the afternoon off work and my better half declared we were going to a restaurant in the […]

Sponsored THE Rose Hotel has introduced something special this summer. Executive Head Chef, Odran Lucey at the popular hotel has introduced Afternoon Tea to the menu, served in the lovely surroundings of the Rose Room. Afternoon Tea includes all the favourites; Selection of Sandwiches, Scones with Preserves & a Selection of […]

Dermot Crean sees why Vilamoura is so popular with Kerry people heading to the Algarve this summer…  “EH, what the hell am I doing up here?” It’s a pertinent question I’m asking myself, having spent the previous few minutes climbing 20 flights of steps, to get 32 metres on high overlooking the biggest, most spectacular waterpark on […]

YOU can’t bate a good fry-up and the people at lifestyle website, Lovin.ie, are partial to their sausages in the morning. The Dublin-based business decided to pick the best place in each county to get a breakfast fry and they picked a Tralee institution for their Kerry choice. “Greased to perfection, […]

AS the Summer tourist season begins to crank into action, Kirby’s Brogue Inn held a hospitality night for fellow businesses who bring in and cater for visitors to the town. “It’s something my parents did for years and we wanted to continue the tradition,” said Fiona Kirby of the Brogue Inn. […]

THE Stationhouse Restaurant opened its doors this afternoon after months of work. Nick Wang of Tomásín’s Bar and Restaurant in Stradbally and his business partner Jane Liu, were on hand to welcome customers to the restaurant in time for the lunchtime trade on Wednesday. Around 15 people will be employed at […]

Gallys Bar Castlemaine Road BEFORE heading out to lunch on Friday, I looked up my review from the last time I was in Gallys and saw it was May 17, 2014. Two years is a long time in the food game, so I decided to see if their standards were as high […]

Johnny Franks Bar Meadowlands Hotel WE finally got some really good weather on Friday and it appears the whole town took advantage of it. There was an exodus to the beaches while the Town Park saw an influx of lunchtime walkers and diners, probably keen to soak up any fine weather ‘just […]

Dott’s Bar The Rose Hotel SO much for waiting for things to quieten down! When The Rose Hotel revamped its bar back in late March, I looked forward to writing about the food, changes to the decor and menu in the amazing new look hotel. But I decided it would be unfair […]

Brooks Restaurant Ballygarry House Hotel THE last time I reviewed food at Ballygarry it was a cold, wet, wintry afternoon 14 months ago. I sat in the Leebrook Bar, in front of an inviting open fire, eating a delicious roast pork lunch and contemplated abandoning the afternoon’s work in favour of […]

The Stonehouse Restaurant The Square THE column changes from ‘Out To Lunch’ to ‘Dinner’ for the second time in as many weeks (I know, I know, the decadent life of a journalist) as there was a birthday in our little family and we decided to head down town for an early bird to a place […]

WORK is in full swing out in Blennerville as a popular bar/restaurant is set to reopen. There is no opening date as yet, but it’s expected that a new restaurant at The Station House will be up and running, serving food to the masses sometime in May. The exterior of the […]

SO Matt LeBlanc and Chris Evans are in Kerry this weekend and a lot of people are getting excited. The Top Gear presenters are on the way to Dingle later, probably via Killarney. But if they decided to pass through Tralee on the way, we’re thinking Matt LeBlanc might be channelling his ‘inner Joey’ and get peckish […]

Gaudinos Castle Street WHEN I last reviewed Gaudinos in January 2015, in its former life as the Allegro (click here), I had the same thing I’d always had as an adult going there – my guilty pleasure of liver, bacon and chips. But it’s no longer the Allegro. The restaurant has a new name […]

OVER 300 people enjoyed a foodie charity event at The Tankard in Fenit on Tuesday night. ‘The Taste For Africa’ was organised by chef Frank Moynihan – the resident chef on the Gay Byrne Show on Radio 1 for many years – who invited people to come along and enjoy some spectacular seafood dishes, […]

Bella Bia Ivy Terrace WHERE do I start with Bella Bia? The ‘sacred cow’ of Tralee dining, praise for Bella Bia is so universal that I almost feel any criticism of the culinary experience would result in an angry mob outside my house with burning sods of turf on pikes demanding […]

A FOODIE’S paradise awaits in The Tankard next week at special fundraiser for three charities. ‘Taste For Africa’ will feature cookery demonstration chef, Frank Moynihan, who has invited 10 local producers, largely from Fenit and surrounding area, to present a dish of their choice on the night. It’s not a sit […]

RTÉ’s The Taste of Success is back and this year the show is going global with ‘The Food Flight’ so Kerry food producers take note! The search is on for the next batch of innovative food entrepreneurs to bag a prize worth a cool €100,000 and the chance to see their product […]

    WHILE Tralee businesses were unsuccessful at the Irish Restaurant Awards last night, they were celebrating a couple of miles out the road in the Spa where the Oyster Tavern won the Best Customer Service category for Kerry. The Munster Regional Final of the awards took place in the Muckross […]

IF you’re heading out for a meal and wondering where you can get really delicious food without ruining your fitness programme, then a Tralee restaurant has just launched something special. Having opened in October last year on Courthouse Lane, Il Forno Restaurant has been bringing a real taste of Italy to […]

EARLIER we told you that Yummy Café and The Roast House received a large amount of nominations each in  the prestigious Irish Restaurant Awards. Well, Kirby’s Brogue Inn just got notification this morning that they received a whopping 13 nominations. “It means a great deal to myself and Kevin to have been nominated […]

The Roast House Denny Street IT’S been a while. We ran an ‘Out To Lunch’ review for over a year on the website but, of course, eventually we ran out of places to write about. Well since starting the column almost two years ago, we decided it was time to […]

Not long now til turkey time! With this in mind, Mark Doe, of ‘Just Cooking’ Cookery School in Firies, gives us his top tips for a stress-free Christmas lunch… Christmas lunch often means a lot of stress if you are the one cooking for friends and family. I think this […]

THE public are invited to what promises to be a very enjoyable evening of Christmas Cookery Demonstrations at Kerry College of Further Education this Thursday evening at 7pm. Chef on the night is the well-known Kay Lanigan Ryan who runs the Professional Cookery and the Hotel and Catering courses at […]

A GOOD crowd of foodies showed up in the Ballyroe Heights Hotel on Tuesday night for a seasonal cooking demonstration. Well-known chef, Darren Thibeaud, was on hand to give Christmas cooking tips in time for turkey season. It was all to raise funds for Ardfert National School, so a large number of people […]