Strolling And Dining Around Galway, Ireland

One of the most sentimental songs in the Irish repertoire, made famous by Bing Crosby, is “Galway Bay,” which, though written in 1947, paints a pretty if wholly rural picture of a town where there are “women in the meadow makin’ hay” or “in the uplands diggin’ praties.” You won’t see any of those activities going on these days in Galway, which has been a trading port for centuries and is now the fourth most populous city in the Republic of Ireland.

In 2020 it was named a European Capital of Culture and in 2018 a European Region of Gastronomy. This latter distinction is to be found in the city’s food culture, which may best be appreciated by joining up with Galway Food Tours, which offers six programs ranging from €65-€130, that includes daytime and nighttime food tours, a cycling tour, a whiskey tour and others. (https://galwayfoodtours.com/corporate-tours/ ]

There is a good number of attractions in this seaside city, which has more of the feel of a town, centered by Eyre Square in front of the railroad station and the setting for a seated statue of poet Patrick O’Connor, looking a good deal like either Tony Bennett or Chico Marx. The beautifully situated Galway Cathedral on the river is a fine example of Renaissance Revival architecture. Also adjacent to the train station is the hotel called the Hardiman, built in 1845, still Galway’s finest, now wholly modernized with every amenity.

It’s a quiet city and the Hardiman is a quiet hotel, with 103 rooms and 19 luxury suites, all recently renovated—with a splendid lobby— but keeping some traditional design elements. Breakfast—a substantial one including the full Irish version of eggs, sausage, black and white pudding, grilled tomato and hash browns, and pancakes with a berry compote—is included in the room rates. At the moment the hotel is running a special for two nights in a double room and one dinner for €588.

There are two dining venues, the main Gaslight Brasserie with a fine bar and counter, excellent lines of mirrored walls with tall windows, glowing chandeliers, flowers on each table and scattered palms. At dinner options include warm duck salad with chard figs and feta cheese (€14.50) ; a seafood chowder with Pernod and coriander cream (€9.50); and a duo of lamb with a mini shepherd’s pie and a corn feet of garlic (€26).

The smaller dining area is the very convivial Oyster Bar, where after a morning’s train ride, I slouched down onto a comfortably stuffed fabric-covered chair with sunlight (something of a rarity in Galway) streaming through the windows and very much enjoyed a leisurely lunch of golden, hot beer-battered cod fish and chips with wasabi-laced peas, lemon and tartar sauce (€18.50), and a mildly spiced, terracotta colored chicken curry with fragrant basmati rice, pappadum cracker and mustard chutney (€19.50). There’s a farmhouse cheese selection at €12.

Ard Bia at Nimmos (“high food” in Gaelic) near the quaint but modest Spanish Arch overlooks the Claddagh basin from a two-story stone house dating back to at least 1651, and it was long a place local sailors and merchants would hie to from the nearby docks. Various owners in the 20^th century used it for various shops until taken over in 1991 by Harriet Leander, then by Aoibheann MacNamara, with chef Ronan Reynolds for the past twelve years.

Among the sillier things the clueless Michelin Guide has ever printed is that Ard Bia has a “shabby-chic, bohemian style,” which is far from the truth about this absolutely beguiling, rustic space with great bones, vibrant colors and a comfort level akin to dining at one’s very tasteful Irish relatives’ home. The Tweed Project’s Triona Lillis designed the interior with a “moodboard” of images, chestnut high bar table, Donegal tweed cushions by Giusy Degano and handmade pottery lampshades by Spiddal potter Martha Williamson, with painted white walls, simple wooden furniture, wine bottles on shelves, a shamrock filigree on the window doors, country flowers in coffee pots and rough wooden tables set with stoneware. It all looks just as it should.

Menus change all the time at Ard Bia. Start off with a Kraken rum with chilli-infused ginger beer (€10), and there’s a short but well-chosen wine list, though no liquor. I enjoyed the Galway Bay Brewery’s Lost at Sea Stout.

The night I dined at Ard Bia, the meal began with fabulous breads and butter, and an appetizer of pork belly fritters with dates, bok choy, and an apple fennel slaw with beautifully reduced pork jus (€13) and Connemara crab with pickled kohlrabi, radish, burnt apple and a squid ink cracker (€14.) Killary mussels are highly spiked with hot harissa, ‘nduja, sesame seeds and orange (€12.5). Succulent, fleshy hake fillet comes with mussels in a purple potato broth, with fennel, broad beans and a lovely salsa verde (€29), while good and rare Morgan’s ribeye comes with hasselback potato, oyster mushrooms and chimichurri (€33).

You can always tell when a restaurateur is mad about her own desserts. Our meal’s ending (all €9) involved bittersweet chocolate mousse with luscious roasted plums and a dollop of mascarpone; vanilla and buttermilk panna cotta with a tangy lemon-almond crumble, rhubarb and pistachios; and banoffee buns with chocolate ganache and vanilla ice cream.

The rain came and went, and our walk back to the center of town smelled of the sea and the ozone, which it very likely will when you visit this town where a

spell or two of rain is likely, even though the locals never pack an umbrella.

Now eleven years strong, Kāi (22 Sea Road) takes its name from a Maori word for food, which is not something one expects in a city like Galway. But New Zealand-born chef-owner, Jess Murphy, is as staunchly Kiwi as she is now Galwegian, and Kāi is down among the winding streets of the city’s West End, which now bustles with eateries, bakeries and pubs.

The management proudly announces, “What’s in season is what will be on the menu,” listing the sources for their provender, and its décor is as inviting as you could wish, with big wonderful hanging lamps that warm the atmosphere over wooden tables, stone walls, flagstone floors, baskets of apples, an old iron-faced fireplace and strong local black and white photography.

There is a very fair fixed price menu, that may, on any given evening, include cured meats or a carrot crudo. Of course there’s local crab from Clare, with celeriac and pumpkin seeds (€14); Silken, rosy Serrano ham is enhanced with fior de latte mozzarella and translucent slices of apples (€12.50). Here hake is served simply with borlotti beans and romesco sauce (€27). Socca, the weekend snack of Nice, is made with nettles, minted beans and almonds (€25.50), and the pork chop was superb, with harissa-spiced beets and chimichurri (€27). In season there will be venison.

Desserts are a delectable reward for finishing your supper, with malt ice cream topped with ripe strawberries and milk crumble (€10); crispy Pavlova meringue with rhubarb and lemon (€9), almond pudding with burnt butter ice cream (€9), and a blueberry and basil sorbet with Viennese Florentine cookie (€8.50).

The very decently priced wine list runs to about 40 labels, with plenty of choices under €50.

Like everywhere else these days, Galway is rife with casual Italian restaurants, and Trattoria Magnetti, on Quay Street, is a bright storefront with clean, modern lines. Owned and run by brothers Sean and Marco Magnetti, it was originally opened in 1989 by their parents Sergio and Mary, and all of the excellent fresh pastas are made on the premises. So well known is their pasta that they sell it to other shops around town. I found the ravioli stuffed with Irish beef, mortadella, Parma ham in a pea-studded white wine sauce (€11.50) truly sumptuous, and the tagliatelle with pancetta, mushrooms scented with thyme and a white wine cream sauce (€10) just as richly rewarding.

When you sit down you get some warm bruschetta topped with sweet chunks of olive-oil moistened tomato. There are eight pizzas and calzones as good as any I’ve had in most major cities, including a diavola (11.50) with sausage, salami and chili, and veneta (11.50) with creamy Gorgonzola, sweet sliced pear and Parma ham.

There are 30 wines from unusual Italian producers and poured in three sizes, with whole bottles averaging under €30.