Jean and Peter Perry’s wonderful gardens just outside Baltimore attract a growing number of visitors each year and they have a delightful café for those in need of a restorative bite; it’s all very wholesome - and they generously allow you to bring your own picnic too, if preferred.
The cafe is run by three of the Perry sisters, Tessa, Keziah and Jo-Jo, and their menus are sensibly short - but the food, using organically grown ingredients from the garden and from named local craft suppliers, is unpretentious, and cooked (to order) to a very high standard.
For example, you might try a Glebe Gardens salad with Pete's dressing and pecorino cheese - exact ingredients will depend on what's at its best, but it will be the freshest salad ever. The choice offered in the evening is limited to three main courses - possibly including rack of lamb with fresh mint sauce, served with baby carrots and summer cabbage - plus a selection of starters and desserts. All vegetables are picked from the garden 'on the day' - and perhaps the biggest treat for many visitors is the new potatoes from the garden, served with all main courses.
Vegetarians do very well here, of course, but you don't have to be vegetarian to enjoy something like a scrumptious three cheese (Irish farmhouse) and tomato tart accompanied by a delicately dressed salad from the garden.
A children’s lunch such as Rosscarbery sausage with pea & potato mash is simply delicious (for any age group), and shows how using fresh and artisan ingredients can lift an 'ordinary' meal into a special one - and all this at a surprisingly reasonable cost. Simply delicious.
A wine list available.
Gardens open weekends Easter-June and Wed-Sun Jun-Aug. Café open Easter-Sep. Wed-Sun from 10am for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea; D Wed-Sun 7-10pm, in summer; set 2/3 course D, €25/30. Closed Mon (except bank hols, times as Sun) & Tue. No credit cards.
