Although this attractive restaurant on the square is quite modern, it is in a Victorian building and proprietors Cillian Murphy and Mary Redmond retained period features to keep the authentic atmosphere of their former pub (which they had already been running for five years) when they opened Murphy Blacks in 2004.
With Cillian, a former fishing skipper, ensuring the freshest possible fish, and Mary - a Cathal Brugha Street trained chef with four generations of local hospitality in her veins - doing the cooking, they earned a reputation as a destination seafood restaurant, which they retained for 14 years.
Then, in 2018, they decided on a complete change of course, reverting back to the more casual experience they used to offer when they ran the bar. So began a busy winter of renovations to create “BiaBaile”, which is the Irish for ‘comfort food’.
Mary also spent some time in Italy learning how to make authentic pizza and this is the real draw for their new venture, using the best Irish ingredients, including Toons Bridge Mozzarella, St Tola cheese, and Gubbeen smoked meats and cheeses. There is still a strong local seafood focus too, of course - favourites include Carrigaholt crab cakes and claws, Moyasta Oysters, mussels, and monkfish scampi - while meat dishes like steak baps and Moroccan meatballs feature West Clare lamb and beef from Shane Hickie, all accompanied by good wine choices and local beers.
Aside from the restaurant and its good food and atmosphere, Murphy Blacks is the place to come for local knowledge, generously dispensed. Cillian is Chairperson of Loop Head Tourism and, tireless in his promotion of this wonderful area, he likes nothing better than talking to visitors about all the special places they should see and the endless interesting (and, in many cases, unique) things there are to do.
Kilkee is like that.
