Please mention ireland-guide.com when enquiring.

The Step House Hotel

James and Cait Coady's lovely old house on the main street of this pretty village has offered some of the area's most appealing accommodation for many years and, further to a major redevelopment which has also taken in the family pub next door (in the Coady family for 5 generations), it has re-opened as The Step House Hotel.

Cait has always had a good eye for interior design and the new hotel is stylishly decorated and furnished in upbeat period style, with a mixture of antiques and more contemporary touches.

An impressive foyer sets the tone for handsome public areas that include a fine bar, 1808, (where excellent informal meals are served) with attractive terrace, and The Garden Room, a fine banqueting room that opens onto a landscaped garden and can also used at busy restaurant times, perhaps including Sunday lunch.

Comfortable, very spacious bedrooms are elegantly furnished and include some with four-posters - all are furnished to a high standard with amenities including flat screen TV, tea/coffee facilities and lovely bathrooms with separate bath and shower; one room even has two bathrooms, one of them suitable for wheelchairs.

The redevelopemnt of this fine old house has been accomplished beautifully, and is a great credit to the Coadys - who also own one of Ireland's finest classic pubs, Tynans Bridge Bar, in Kilkenny city.

Rooms 20 (2 suites, 2 family rooms, all no-smoking); not suitable for children. Pets permitted by arrangement. B&B €75pps, ss €10. Fishing, walking, garden. Closed 25 Dec.

The Cellar Restaurant

The restaurant is in the kitchens of the old house and, spread through small interconnected rooms with archways and vaulted ceilings, it has great character and a sense of privacy.

With natural lighting, sage green carpet, off white walls, and grape & vine stencils, it is a really pleasant space – and tables are promisingly set up with crisp white linen, smart tableware and fresh flowers.

Head chef Alan Foley, formerly at Dublin’s Chapter One restaurant (see entry), brings to this kitchen a philosophy of using the best local ingredients, organic where possible, in his classical cooking. His menus are short but full of interesting dishes, which are very well conceived and delivered.

You might start with roast scallops, asparagus and lime with horseradish veloute (€14) for example, or a delicious open ravioli of veal with aubergine purée and parmesan glaze (€12), followed perhaps by Challons duck with pistachio pear, spinach purée and pepper & thyme jus (€30), or roast monkfish with parsnip mousseline, girolles and red wine sauce (€30), all perfectly cooked.

Whilst, in the Guide’s experience (shortly after opening), desserts might not quite live up to the promise of earlier dishes, the experience overall should be most enjoyable, enhanced by well-trained staff with a good knowledge of the menu and the short but well-chosen wine list.


MasterCard, Visa, Laser.

Directions:

From main Carlow-Kilkenny road, take turning to Bagenalstown. 16km (8 miles) to Borris.