Patrick and Helena Keenan’s gorgeous restaurant with rooms is in a stunning shoreside location, looking right up Lough Ramor - where little fishing boats and wildlife activity around pretty wooded islets are a constant source of interest.
It’s mainly a new build and, while it may still look a little raw and ‘nouveau’ from the road, once inside you’ll find a stylishly furnished foyer and bar/reception room and, beyond it, a spacious contemporary restaurant filled with shimmering light from the lough, which laps the shore just at the end of the garden. Even before you eat a mouthful, it’s easy to see why this has become a destination restaurant drawing diners from a very wide area – but there is no undue reliance on the setting, and the cooking by Head Chef Eddie Attwell and his team is seriously good.
Eddie, who is originally from Northern Ireland but has spent some years working in top kitchens in England, is committed to seasonal cooking and both a keen forager and a gardener - on arrival at St Kyrans in spring 2016 he wasted no time in getting some fresh produce going, using every available space in flower beds or wherever while his kitchen garden was under construction.
Although fine dining is his forte, St Kyrans is open for coffees and light bites during the day as well lunch and dinner, and the menus need to be carefully designed to be accessible to those who drop in for a casual bite as well diners for whom it is a destination restaurant. The lunch menus are a simple enough read, but first-time visitors are sure to be impressed by the excellence of cooking that is adventurous as well as having great finesse - and a return visit for dinner is the likely outcome for most..
Accommodation is also available, in eight spacious en-suite rooms; all are furnished to a very high standard and five have lough views. A delightful place to stay and explore the treats that this beautiful area has to offer. [Registration pending.]
