Please mention ireland-guide.com when enquiring.

Cherry Tree Restaurant

Harry McKeogh's impressive modern restaurant is a favourite weekend destination for discerning Limerick residents, who enjoy the waterside location and consistently excellent contemporary cooking.

A high-ceilinged room with well-spaced, classically appointed tables and River Shannon views makes for a fine restaurant although its exceptional spaciousness can make it seem a little short on atmosphere and some added factor, such as a host with a big personality, is perhaps needed to bring it fully to life.

All is well in the kitchen, however, and as you arrive, you will notice Chef de Cuisine Mark Anderson and his team at work, and Harry or one of his staff will show you to a small reception area nearby or straight to your table. Mark, who was our Chef of the Year in 2006 is committed to using the best local ingredients, many of them organic.

These special foods and their suppliers are highlighted on simply worded seasonal menus offering a well-balanced choice of dishes - perhaps three on each course on the set menu, five on the á la carte - peppered with luxurious ingredients like truffles, foie gras, crab and diver caught scallops.

But simpler foods have always been just as good here - the Cherry Tree's salads are legendary, for example, and an outstanding ingredient that has inspired more than one speciality dish is their superb beef, especially perfectly cooked dry-aged steak - and the Comeragh Mountains 'black-faced' lamb has also provided the base for outstanding dishes.

Excellent puddings, each with a suggested dessert wine to accompany, might include a seasonal raspberry panna cotta with raspberry sorbet: perfection. There's a fine Irish farmhouse cheese plate too, and an interesting, carefully chosen wine list includes seven half bottles.

Set menus - especially Sunday lunch - offer outstanding value, and a dedicated Children's Menu has been introduced, with three delicious choices on each course.

Seats 60 (private room, 10). Toilets wheelchair accessible. Children welcome until 7pm (children's menu). D 6-10 Tue-Sat. Set D €48; also á la carte; Sun L 12.30-3, Sun L €29; house wine €18.50. Closed Sun D, Mon, 24-26 Dec, last week Jan, 1st week Feb. Amex, MasterCard, Visa, Laser.

Directions:

At Molly's Pub in Ballina turn down towards the Lakeside Hotel, the Cherry Tree Restaurant is just before the hotel, on the left