Prime 74. Pride of Tipperary Town.

Prime 74. Pride of Tipperary Town.

Tipperary Town is serendipitously situated in the centre of a great food producing area. Not just Tipperary county itself but all the neighbours, though the county itself includes the world class cheese producers Cashel Blue. The near neighbours also include the likes of Crowe’s Pork, White Gypsy Beers and Cashel Fine Foods. And a bit further away, in the south west, nationally known producers such as Gubbeen and Skeaghanore Duck. 

You can get all these and more on your plate at Prime 74, a relatively new restaurant in Tipperary Town, less than an hour from Cork City.  Chef and owner Martin Lavelle is dedicated to seasonal and local and is doing a great job in this lovely premises at 74 Main Street (park in nearby Market Place).

We were in early for a recent lunch, just a few ahead of us, but soon the room was more or less full. And soon we would see, and taste, why. Service is friendly here. The menus were at hand as soon as we were seated and that included a list of specials which were detailed to us. And we were also told of a Duck Spring Roll that hadn’t made the list!

The lunch menu is served from 12.00pm to 4.00pm and is a tempting list. I was looking at the Warm Chicken Harissa Salad (also available as a mains). The Red Wine Poached Pear and Cashel Blue salad was also tempting.  But, in the end, we decided to do mains and dessert.

And my mains, the Pappardelle Dexter Beef Ragu, rocket and Parmesan, came from that specials list. The beef was top notch and well cooked and the combination of flavours was amazing. A superb dish for €13.50.

And our other mains, Deep Fried Curried Fish Cake, Baby leaf Spinach, Poached Egg and Chips, was another flavoursome gem, this too fairly priced at €14.00. The curry element was nicely judged.

With the way cleared for dessert (all 5.50), I again picked from the specials and was very happy with my eye-catching Chilled Rice Pudding with Chantilly cream, strawberries, basil and spiced crisps. And happiness too at the other side as the Lemon Meringue Pie with Raspberry Sorbet and Mint was another sweet treat.

Drinks? Well they do have wine (there is a function room upstairs) and that excellent local beer by White Gypsy. Lots of soft drinks too and teas and coffees of course. We were still in the heat wave so we were looking for something cool and non-alcoholic and were more than happy to see the local Sparkling Apple Juice from the Apple Farm in Cahir. A very enjoyable drop indeed. And a very enjoyable meal indeed.

Prime 74 

74 Main Street

Tipperary Town

 062 31388

 prime74restaurant@gmail.com

HOURS

Sun 12:00 - 19:00

Mon Closed

Tue 10:30 - 16:00

Wed 10:30 - 16:00

Thu 10:30 - 16:00, 17:30 - 21:00

Fri 10:30 - 16:00, 17:30 - 21:00

Sat 10:30 - 16:00, 17:30 - 21:00

And since you're in Tipperary why not visit

Mitchelstown Cave?

Recent Tipp calls:

Mikey Ryan’s Cashel 

Stef Hans Thurles 

French Quarter Tipperary town 

Holycross and Farney Castle 

Dooks Fine Food, Fethard Walls, Apple Farm

Not so recent:

Glen of Aherlow 

Swiss Cottage Cahir 

Cahir Castle 

The Vee 

Rock of Cashel 

The Lakeside Hotel Ballina 

The Grubbs. Blessed be the cheesemakers. 

The Apple Farm Cahir 

Aherlow House Hotel 

Great West Cork Distillery Tour. Beautiful Baltimore

Great West Cork Distillery Tour

Beautiful Baltimore. Bountiful Clonakilty. 

A terrific tour of the West Cork Distillery in Skibbereen was the highlight of the first part of our twenty four hours in West Cork. A twenty four hours that had some changes to the “plan”, a rather loose one admittedly.

First hiccup, if you could call it that, came on the way down when a phone call to Baltimore revealed that the two o’clock trip on the SeaSafari was off as the craft was out of the water for the afternoon and being cleaned up.

So then the Distillery tour, one o’clock start, was pencilled in. Got into Skibbereen in good time and called to a busy Apple Betty’s. Ordered a panini. That was a little slow in coming but it was gorgeous, a terrific filling of bacon, Cashel blue and a fantastic relish. Rushed it a bit and hot footed down the street to the Distillery.

John O'Connell (foreground) in the Distillery

Things didn't look good here as people were coming away rather than going in! Apparently, the Distillery weren't very happy with the time published in the "Taste of West Cork" brochure. Director John O’Connell explained they couldn't do the tour at one but would have “a good one” at three.

It worked out well, at least for us. We headed off in the sun (the weather forecast was not exactly spot-on either) to Baltimore, packed with people who seemed to know more than the forecasters. So packed, we didn't find a space in the car parks.

Off out the road we went to the Beacon and enjoyed marvellous views both on the way and during our walk up to the Baltimore landmark. Great views over the islands, Sherkin the nearest, and back to the little town. Later, we had a pause and a walk by the harbour. Hiccups yes but this day was going very well indeed.

The Beacon

So well, we nearly missed the tour or so we thought. But there was no rush as dozens and dozens of people arrived, the big numbers a surprise to John and his friendly staff. Still we were all settled, with a glass of their Drombeg, perhaps their most famous whiskey so far, and a good one too for this time of day as it is just twenty per cent abv.

John then took us on a walkabout of the distillery where the staff were still working. He took us through the process, from the malted barley coming in, and along the journey to the casks (they use sherry casks) and the bottling at the end.

Great informative stuff and more whiskey before we left, with tastings of their West Cork whiskey, the normal and the cask (57% abv!). If you like your whiskeys flavoured then Kennedy’s is the one for you. You may have it Spiced, Honied, Limed and Chillied! They also do a gin, poitin and a vodka here, under the Two Trees brand. And that’s not all.

The ferry, from Sherkin, just arrived in Baltimore

But that was it for us and we headed through the town and off to the Inchydoney Island for that evening’s magnificent nine course dinner “A Taste of West Cork”, all part of the week long food festival in the area. Read all about it here.

And there was yet more whiskey on arrival as we were pleasantly surprised with a glass of the lovely Irish Mist. Time then for a walk on the fantastic beaches here.

The Inchydoney Island Lodge and Spa is a four star hotel on the Wild Atlantic Way but I must say that the facilties and service that we enjoyed there were closer to five star. Great place with great staff. The only hiccup perhaps was a delay at breakfast but I think that was down to the many customers that all came together at about ten o’clock on the Saturday. Hard to legislate for that!

At Apple Betty's

They support local produce here obviously and I enjoyed my Scrambled Egg and Ummera Smoked Salmon before we headed off to Clonakilty in the morning mist. It had dried up by the time we arrived and we wandered through the streets looking for the Lettercollum Project shop.

We found it and it was busy, selling salads, tarts, cheese, wine, nuts, seeds, breads and so much more, much of it based on produce from their walled garden in nearby Lettercollum. We went off with enough salad (mixed beans) and bread for two delicious lunches over the weekend.

And we also found Vic and his organic Dexter beef in the market. The main market is on Friday but you’ll find some stalls operating on Thursday and Saturday. I’ll soon have a separate post up about Vic and his tasty beef but for the latest check out his Facebook page . 

Our twenty fours in West Cork were up and it was time to head back to the city. But we’ll return. Again and again!