A few warnings should come with this restaurant. Warning number one is to get there early, as they don’t take bookings. My advice is 12.45pm, which I unscientifically divine is the moment when tables for lunch at 1pm are allocated. Although this is pure conjecture on a day of pummelling winds. You may need to camp outside the night before if sun is forecast.
Such is the immediate love for Blackrock Cottage, a restored famine cottage on the Salthill promenade in Galway that was known as “the Cottier’s House”, and then “Workman’s House”. John Moran took it over in the 1940s, and he and his wife, Ellen, were the last to live there. Their donkey at the end wall was much loved by prom strollers; a sign on the same wall informed them that, should they wish to bathe, they could rent “pants and towel 2d”. The cottage was derelict for 25 years until it was acquired by McHugh Property Holdings in 2018.
Pushing through the door, we are guided to a table in the original house, where exposed-brick walls, a vaulted ceiling and a cosy stove are at one end, with a small glass-walled extension framing the dramatic sea view at the other. A corridor with high stools leads to a second room, a modern, new-build space with a semi-open kitchen. I am not sure if it’s the luck of the draw as to what table you get, but there does seem to be a higher quotient of parents, toddlers and buggies relegated to the less attractive new room.
The lunch menu is divided into sandwiches, small plates, mains and dessert, and the wine list starts at €28, which is a bit of a phenomenon these days. It’s a clever list with broad appeal, peppered with interesting bottles such as Tuffeau, a lightly sparkling white from the Loire, at €38. But it’s a pints sort of day, and Galway Hooker Pilsner (€5.80) hits the mark.
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A hearty bowl of chowder (€9) comes with two slices of exceptionally good, warm brown bread. Fish chunks are bountiful – mussels, prawns, white fish and salmon – and I’m happy to discover that the salmon doesn’t dominate, as it sometimes can. Bacon kicks in with a smoky finish.
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From the starters/small plates section, Moroccan-spiced Connemara lamb belly (€12) is quite substantial. It has been braised slowly so that the cumin, coriander, garlic and spices are gently layered. It’s a fatty cut, but that’s where you get your flavour.
Hummus has peas whipped through it, and is dusted with dukkah. The salad on the side could be improved with a dressing, and a bit of pita bread would be a nice addition. Warning number two: do not order this dish as a starter, as it’s closer to a light main course.
We had ordered the chicken schnitzel (€18.50) in preference to the McGeogh’s smoked beef burger, thinking it a good idea to try something different, but when we see the handsome burger land on the table beside us we immediately regret our decision. So you can guess what warning number three is: don’t ignore the bleedin’ obvious.
While the schnitzel itself, with a salad of chickpeas and fennel, is a bit on the dry side, the home-cut fries are top notch. And, yes, if you order that burger, you get a whole pile of these too. So a bit of bad ordering our end, also driven by the fact that the catch of the day is salmon, which, really, doesn’t float our boat. But the weather has been harsh, and perhaps not much has been landed the day we visit.
From the sweet treats, the incredibly light Callebaut chocolate mousse (€7) comes with a rubble of intense chocolate brownie, boulders of teeth-gluing honeycomb and three triangles of peanut brittle. It is resolutely of sharing-for-two magnitude, and this (the last one, I promise) should come with a dentist’s warning. It is a heroic example of what you can do with chocolate and sugar. Just watch your fillings.
There’s a great team here, headed up by Martin O’Donnell, the former head chef from the Twelve hotel, and there are exciting plans for the future. They will be opening for dinner in March, and installing a large outdoor barbecue for braai-style cooking on their raised outdoor terrace later in the year. If you live in Galway, lucky you, Blackrock Cottage is a few minutes away. If you don’t live nearby, this is one for your list for midterm breaks, bank-holiday weekends and summer holidays. You’ve been warned.
Lunch for two with two beers was €58.10.
THE VERDICT: Just what you want after a walk or swim
Music: Barely audible pop
Food provenance: Gannet Seafood, Ali Fishmongers, McGeough’s meat, Andarl pork, Beechlawn Organics, An Gharrai Glas
Vegetarian options: Acai bowls can be adapted for vegetarians and vegans, vegan poke bowls, roasted beetroot, and vegetable sides
Wheelchair access: Accessible, with accessible toilet
