Six Reasons to put Sligo on your Food and Drink list for 2018

Sligo. On the Food Trail

Sligo. October 2017

Lough Gill Brewery
Strandhill Food Festival
Sligo Cafés

Embassy Steakhouse
Rugantino
The Swagman

Best Steak. Best Game. 2017

Best Steak 2018

Sligo steak

Cork butcher, Tom Durcan, turned up more than once in the the steak stakes in 2017, benefitting from the decision of the Globe to go local (after the takeover by Clayton) and by the return of the Oyster Tavern (a few yards from Tom's stall in the English Market). Best sauce was the Jameson at the Embassy in Sligo. The list is in no particular order.

Darwin's, Dublin. ..with an excellent Barolo jus

Embassy, Sligo... with Jameson Whiskey sauce

The Globe, at the Cork City Clayton Hotel... with a trio of sauces

The Cornstore, Cork... always good for steak!

The Oyster Tavern, Cork..outstanding flavour from the Durcan steak

The Ivory Tower, Cork, with a Peruvian touch

The Commons Inn, Cork ... Irish Hereford beef steaks are aged 35 days

Sage, Midleton, County Cork. Superb beef from Charlie Terry.

The Maestro at Radisson Blu, Little Island, Co. Cork. Outstanding fries & Portobello mushroom

Murrisk Pie

Best Game Dishes

The Tavern at Murrisk, Westport

Blairs Inn, Cloghroe, Co. Cork

Barnabrow, East Cork

Sligo's Embassy Steakhouse. Jameson Whiskey Sauce is a Must!

Sligo's Embassy Steakhouse

Where Jameson Whiskey Sauce is a Must!

When I told a bartender in a Sligo pub that I was heading to the Embassy Steakhouse for dinner, I got a tip. “You must have their Jameson Whiskey sauce. I used to work there and it is magnificent.” And it is!

Indeed, the building, with its five large arched windows by the Garavogue River, is itself eye-catching on the outside and the decor on the inside is also impressive. The menu is not confined to steak but the reason most people visit is to sample the chargrilled meat and that whiskey sauce.

Even CL, who loves her fish, picked the steak, an 8 ounce Hereford fillet. My choice was the 10 ounce Rib Eye. We both had the Jameson sauce, of course, and the steaks came with onion marmalade, sautéed green beans and grilled asparagus. And there were sides, salad and ratatouille. Indeed, you could have added sautéed king prawns for an extra fiver but we said no to that. As it happened we had enough on the plate, a very well cooked and presented plate of top quality meat and that magnificent sauce. Highly recommended.

You are not confined to steak. There are mains featuring fish and chicken and the starters give you ample opportunity to stay away from meat until the main event itself. Indeed, the starters are top notch as well.

My potted Mullaghmore crab, with seasonal salad leaves and sourdough toast, was an excellent opener. The fresh crab was exceptional, great flavour in that packed pot. CL meanwhile was enjoying the Pan-seared King prawns with lemon, chilli and garlic. 

Took a wee bit of a pause after the mains. The place was packed, it was packed all night. A hen party had two large tables and another two had a birthday party. There was a great buzz in the Embassy, a convivial one, happy voices.

We didn't get to hear the most distinctive voice in the place though. That, I’m told, belongs to Head Chef Marc Gabbidon and has been described “as a truly wondrous thing”. Marc is yet another of Sligo’s wanderers. He has “wandered in” from Jamaica, via East Coast US. In the US, while working in Connolly’s Irish Pub in NY City he met his now wife Karen. Eight years back, they moved to Sligo. Think I might have enjoyed that melodic voice but we certainly enjoyed the cooking!

And we did decide to share a dessert. Fabio is the man for the sweet stuff but we reluctantly decided to leave the Chocolate Indulgence Cake on this occasion and picked and shared Fabio’s Ice-cream Selection, a trio of house-made Italian style ice-creams. A safe choice but quite delicious also.

The Embassy Steakhouse, with an excellent wine bar, is a chic and comfortable place for a night out. Service is very friendly here but very much on the ball as well. So if you like your steak and are in the Sligo area, you know where to go!

See also: Lough Gill Brewery
 Strandhill Food Festival
Sligo Cafés
Clo's Chocolates
The Swagman Rocks
Rugantino