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Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday season and a fun New Year’s Eve and are ready for a fun-filled 2015. In case you missed my Best of 2014 posts, you can find the travel post here and the Best of Boston post here.

Two trips to Ireland were definitely 2014 highlights. On our most recent trip we spent some time in Sligo, where we discovered lots of natural beauty in Ben Bulben in Rosses Point and some culinary beauty in the Sligo town restaurant Eala Bhan.

Eala Bhan means white swan in Irish, and since Sligo is Yeats Country, the restaurant name fits right in.

Sligo town

Decor is whimsical and elegant, and Yeats’ influence is apparent in bits of poetry around the restaurant. Twinkly fairy lights add a magical feel to the space, and overall it’s airy yet cozy, with dim lighting and windows out onto the River Garavogue.

Eala Bhan Sligo

Eala Bhan

Eala Bhan

Yeats

Like many restaurants in Ireland, Eala Bhan utilizes the amazing Irish ingredients available to them, including local seafood and meat.

Eala Bhan suppliers

As we often do, we decided to share a bunch of small plates rather than go with entrees. We started with bowls of piping hot vegetable soup; I pretty much always get soup when we go out in Ireland.

soup Eala Bhan

{Creamy Vegetable Soup}

From there, we feasted on a couple of seafood appetizers which were creative and beautifully displayed. I loved the perfect scallop with the sweet courgette puree.

 seafood trio{Taste of the Sea:  Pan seared diver scallop, kattaifi prawns and house cured salmon with fresh spinach and courgette purée}

This cake made of smoked salmon and prawns encased in creme fraiche was like nothing we had seen before. It was so decadent! It’s something I would love to recreate at home.

smoked salmon{ Smoked Salmon and Prawn Timbale Cake: Light layered pancakes of smoked salmon and prawn encased in créme fraiche and beetroot cream}

Heading back to land, we had the outstanding warm chicken salad which, with punchy blue cheese and sweet almonds, was way better than your average chicken dish!

chicken salad {Crispy Herb Basket of Warm Chicken Salad: Edible herb basket of warm chicken salad tossed with cashel blue cheese, candied almonds in a crispy herb basket, topped with garlic croutons, balsamic reduction}

The wine list at Eala Bhan isn’t extensive, but I found a lovely Barton &Guestier Chardonnay that was a nice pairing with all of my food.

Eala Bhan is known as one of Sligo’s best restaurants for a reason. Everything was so fresh and tasty, and the service was paced perfectly, allowing us to enjoy leisurely conversation and our various courses, If you are in Sligo and looking for a special meal, Eala Bhan is definitely one great option.

How do you choose restaurants when you travel?

Tags: Dining out, Food, food blogger, Ireland, Restaurants, Sligo, Travel, travel blogger, wine, wine blog, wine blogger

With just over a week left in 2014, I have my winner for the best meal of the year. We ate a lot this year and had the opportunity to do some great travel (Best of travel coming tomorrow!), so it was tough to decide. Our experience at Aniar in Galway was just so exquisite though, I couldn’t NOT choose it as the best of 2014. My photos don’t do this meal any justice; the lighting was perfect for a date night but not great for photos. And I definitely know I am leaving details out, since it seems like this dinner was ages ago. Below is my best effort at sharing with all of you an evening that delighted so many senses and left us singing Aniar’s praises all over Galway and beyond.

Aniar Galway

Aniar means “west” in Irish, and much like wine makers, they are driven by terroir. You won’t find lemon in your water at Aniar because lemons don’t grow in Ireland. Our tasting menu feast highlighted meat and produce from Ireland; it was a great testament to the fact that Irish food can be REALLY good, something I have been trying to get across for years. Ireland has some of the best raw materials for amazing cuisine, and it’s great to see places like Aniar showcasing that.

Aniar Galway

We decided to go all out and do the tasting menu with wine pairings since this was my belated birthday dinner, which we didn’t make due to a flight cancellation from Scotland.

I was so glad that we did the wine pairings, as they were spot on perfect. The service was even better. The wines weren’t listed on our menus, and when I asked about them at the end of the meal, our server hand wrote each one on the back of the menu. Throughout the night there were so many little added touches where the staff went above and beyond.

A light, fun, Prosecco kicked off our night, and went nicely with our first course, a fresh piece of mackerel. I love pairing a fatty fish with bubbly, and our first bites set the tone for the whole meal.

Aniar Galway We had a table right by the window, so we were able to watch the hustle and bustle of a rainy Galway evening while we dined. It was cozy and romantic, and despite Aniar being a Michelin star restaurant, there was nothing stiff or pretentious about the place. It felt so homey and relaxed.

Aniar Galway Each bite of the meal was perfect; this fresh hen egg was swoon-worthy.

Aniar Galway

Halibut dusted in fennel, deliciously flaky and meaty at the same time, paired with Chardonnay from Beaujolais (Terres Dorées 2012 Classic) that was acidic and crisp, full of mineral and lemon.

Aniar Galway

Somewhere along the way (I am missing a course, pork neck.) we were served a wine that I was able to instantly recognize as Gamay, the grape in the oft overly fruity and awful Beaujolais Nouveau. This Gamay, by Jean Paul Brun, was a perfect example of how good Gamay can be when aged and finessed the right way. Big, dark cherry notes and a little earthy funk made this wine a new favorite, and I am definitely hoping to get my hands on it in the US.

A beautiful local herbal tea sorbet was the perfect mid-meal palate cleanser.

Aniar Galway

The tasting menu included some things I don’t normally go for, like venison, but I was adventurous and tried it all. And I hate to say it, but I thought the venison was incredible. It was so tender and flavorful and paired perfectly with the earthy, seasonal vegetables served with it. A gorgeous Rhone Valley Syrah rounded out each bite. This was my favorite course of the night.

Aniar Galway

 

wine pairings at Aniar Galway

Dessert was a fun and foamy blackberry, apple, and buttermilk concoction paired with a Chateau Jolys Cuvee Jean, a dessert wine that had so much balance with its honeysuckle sweetness that even I, one who does not like sweet wine, loved it.

dessert at Aniar

I wish I had taken the time to take more photos and notes along the way, but the way this meal flowed, the chat with our servers, watching the people go by and peeking into the insanely clean and busy kitchen all caught my attention before the thought of blogging creeped in. This night was a delicious, long breath of fresh air, filled with flavor and obvious love of food and of Irish ingredients. Bravo to Chef Ultan Cooke and the Aniar team, and thank you for being my best meal of 2014.

Tags: Dining out, Food, Galway, Ireland, restaurants in Ireland, Travel, travel blog, travel blogger, wine, wine blog, wine blogger

Every visit to Sligo absolutely thrills the English major in me. I concentrated in Irish literature (super useful in the real world) and spent a ton of time studying W.B. Yeats. Sligo is Yeats country, and his inspiration and words are everywhere.

Whenever we visit Ireland, we try to find a short side trip from Galway, whether it be to Kinsale or Northern Ireland or Rome or Prague. This time we stayed close to home and went up to Sligo to enjoy the inspiring Irish countryside, some spa time, and simple relaxation with my in-laws.

Ben Bulben

We stayed at the Radisson Blu in Sligo, and we absolutely loved it. The above was the view from our room. We have stayed in a few Radisson hotels, including in Edinburgh, and they are always really enjoyable. Like my favorite, the Radisson in Galway, the Sligo property had a lovely spa with a thermal suite, where we spent time unwinding after a long hike.

Our room, a junior suite, was well appointed and included free still and sparkling water, Nespresso, and a crazy big Irish breakfast buffet. The service in the lounge was very, very slow (probably a good thing since we drank less) but overall the staff were great and very friendly.

Radisson Sligo

Sligo town is quaint and offers  lot of Yeats history, along with great pubs and restaurants. Just outside Sligo town lies W.B Yeats in the Drumcliffe Graveyard, his tombstone engraved with the famous words from the poem Under Ben Bulben : Cast a cold Eye On Life on Death Horseman pass by.

Yeats’ grave is outside a regular church, but there is a small craft and book shop and cafe on site. It’s well worth a visit if you are in the region.

Yeats grave

 

Drumcliffe Church

 

drumcliffe church yard

 

 

 

And then there’s the natural beauty of Sligo. I haven’t seen the whole world, but I know that Ireland will always be one of its most beautiful places for me.

Rosses Point Sligo is a rugged seaside area where the wind and the waves and rocky cliffs come together to take your breath away.

Rosses Point Sligo   Rosses Point Sligo

Yeats Country

Just a bit further inland, farms dot the landscape as they do in most of Ireland. You may want to smuggle home a new friend or two. . .

sheep in Sligo

And then there’s Ben Bulben. Formed during the Ice Age, Ben Bulben’s crazy shape came from shifting glaciers. I have seen nothing like it. The mountain inspired Yeats, and he mentioned it in both Under Ben Bulben and The Celtic Twilight.

Ben Bulben also plays a big part in Irish legend and history, including in the Irish Civil War.

Ben Bulben

Nowadays Ben Bulben is a spectacular and magical place for a hike. You can’t help but stare it its strange formation and beauty. Even in late November, it was green and lush, dotted with fluffy sheep and surrounded by the cry of howling winds.

 

Ben Bulben

Ben Bulben Our walk along the base was all we could do; the mountain itself can be treacherous and with the winds we have, we opted not to climb. Our walk showed us all sorts of things though, including lichen and heather and beautiful wild birds.

Ireland

Ben Bulben walk

walking around Ben Bulben

It was the perfect stretch of the legs after a flight and a big meal at Ashford Castle.

Guinness and soup And there’s nothing better when in Ireland after a long, blustery walk than a pint of Guinness and a bowl of hot soup. The Yeats Country Hotel is cozy and beautiful with views of the sea and a crackling fireplace.  On a cloudy day, all bundled up inside, I struggled to stay awake after lunch.

Yeats Country Hotel

Sligo is no doubt a dreamy place, and it’s easy to imagine the cranky poet and his pen. If you ever go to Ireland, I encourage you to go West. In the meantime I leave you with one of my favorite Yeats poems.

A Drinking Song

By William Butler Yeats 1865–1939

Wine comes in at the mouth

And love comes in at the eye;

That’s all we shall know for truth

Before we grow old and die.

I lift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you, and I sigh.

Tags: Ben Bulben, County Sligo, Food, hiking, hotels, hotels in Ireland, Ireland, Irish, Irish countryside, Travel, travel advice, travel blogger, travel posts, Yeats

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