The sweet sea port village of Kinvara on the Galway coast was my base for some recent explorations into The Burren. After a day spent visiting the Hazel Mountain Chocolate Factory & Shop and The Burren Perfumery over the border in Co Clare, I'd built up an appetite. "You should go to the pizza place," locals advised. "It's really good."
We sit down to supper in the two-roomed space run by Marianne Krause and Joseph Hayden, on the main street in Kinvara. The building used to be the home of famed Kinvara pub The Ould Plaid Shawl, named after a song by a the poet, playwright and songwriter Francis Fahy, who was born in this building in 1854.
Another of Fahy's famous songs was The Tide Full In, which is where this pizzeria gets its name.
It’s always reassuring to see good quality ingredients on display. As you walk into the front door, directly ahead is a small dry-goods pantry, where the team at The Tide Full Inn sell a petite but well-chosen selection of goodies. There is DeCecco pasta, Ortiz anchovies and Periquin smoked paprika among the extra virgin olive oils and Modena balsamic vinegars.
The wine list is short and predominantly Italian, though a few French, Spanish and New Zealand bottles get a look-in. There is also a house white and a house red on tap, at €6 for a quarter litre. Irish craft beer is represented by bottles of Stonewell Cider (€5.20), and the full 8 Degrees Brewing range (€4.90 per bottle). Non-drinkers are well looked after thanks to the Luscombe range of lemonades, made in Devon, England.
There is good-quality bread and olives to start (€3.50), and the pizzas are dazzlingly enormous. The La Mamma pizza (€12) on the Pizza Bianco (a pizza with a mozzarella base instead of tomato sauce) calls out to me. I’m rewarded with a monster personal pizza topped with melted gorgonzola, dotted with chunks of Italian sausage and slices of mushroom. The Dolomiti (€13.50) features a tomato sauce with mozzarella, porcini mushrooms, and speck, topped with large handfuls of crispy rocket. They’re both straightforward and traditional, in a very comforting way. Also on the menu are crowd-pleasing pasta dishes such as lasagna (€9) and the locavore-friendly linguine with Clarinbridge clams (€12).
There’s a little display case of homemade cakes, stuffed with sweet treats enticingly peeping out into the restaurant. The cakes are usually served with cream but they have run out tonight. Do I still want to order cake? I take the risk. A polenta cake (€3.50) is generous in size and pleasing in flavour but it is a little dry, and a culinary moisturiser, like a honey syrup, would have been an even better alternative to cream.
The locals were right; this pizza is really good. They’re open every day, except Tuesdays, from noon to 10pm. Keep them in mind for your next adventure out West.
