Please mention ireland-guide.com when enquiring.

The Quarry Restaurant

Pat Golden's family run "one stop shop" on the Ring of Kerry is extremely useful to know about - not only will you get good home cooking here, but there's a post office and foodstore, filling station, tourist information point and bureau de change.

Aside from these practical points, there are more interesting aspects to this many-sided venture as it also includes a fine craft shop, with quality Irish clothing and gift items and a unique attraction in the shape of 'The Golden Mile Nature Walk' up behind the quarry, which is just the place to walk off your lunch.

The restaurant is on the first floor with large windows to take in panoramic views over Kells Bay to the Dingle Peninsula and - another surprise - the cooking style includes genuine Mediterranean influences as well as Irish dishes as head chef Elena Stavri is a Greek Cypriot and "cooks with the heart". So you'll find real home-made Greek food like moussaka, hummous, tzatziki and baklava sitting happily alongside Irish stew and wild Dingle Bay salmon.

The pricing is reasonable (most main courses around EUR9; top price, for sirloin steak, about EUR16.95) and, best of all perhaps, this is somewhere you can get a decent bite to eat during the day on a Sunday, when most of our recommendations in the area are closed.

* On alternate Friday nights in summer, Greek mezza style banquets are held (about EUR35); ring the restaurant for information and booking. Seats 86. Air conditioning. Children welcome. Open daily 9am-6pm, Easter-Oct. A la carte; house wine EUR13.95. Closed Oct-Easter.

Directions:

Midway between Glenbeigh & Cahirciveen