Dining at Ballyfin

I have to wonder, do beautiful settings make good food taste even better?

We ate very well at Ballyfin!

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Breakfast

The beautiful breakfast setting of blue and white Spode china and sterling silver got us off to an elegant start each day.

D and I never made much of a dent in the menu since we don’t tend to eat big breakfasts, but if your tastes run to a full Irish you’re in the right place.

For me: porridge with honey from the Ballyfin bees, a piece of white soda bread with butter, and maybe some yogurt.  For D: a cup of coffee and some granola, maybe a little grapefruit.

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Lunch

After a morning of adventures, it’s back to the dining room for lunch.  A little more soda bread?  Definitely – mostly so I can have more of that Irish butter!  And maybe some smoked salmon with potato salad, or the world’s fanciest fish and chips (“breaded goujons of Irish cod”), or an onion tart.  And, if you’re in the mood, a glass – or a bottle – of wine.  After all, there’s nothing pressing on the afternoon agenda…

For a special treat, you can request lunch in the picnic house, which is much more than a picnic.  Drive your golf cart up into the hills, and you’ll find a simple structure with big glass doors overlooking a fabulous view.  Inside, a fire is roaring in the wood stove, and the table has been set with everything you might want: tea sandwiches, salads, meats and cheeses, a thermos of white asparagus soup, tea and scones with clotted cream and jam.

We ate until we could eat no more (my favorite was the tomato and cheddar tea sandwich), then closed up and drove back to the main house for a much-needed walk around the lake.

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Tea

At Ballyfin, tea is always the answer.  Need a little something between breakfast and lunch?  Yes please, some tea.  To accompany an afternoon of reading?  Yes please, some tea.

And unsurprisingly, they really do tea right – no tea bags in sight!  Perfectly brewed black tea in a silver pot, accompanied by milk, sugar cubes, and a plate of cookies, is set up wherever you happen to be.

One afternoon I asked for some scones with my tea, and received a tower of scones and cakes.  Yep, this was all for me.  Ballyfin is not the place for a diet!

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Cocktails

I felt rather Downton-esque each evening as we dressed for dinner and headed downstairs for cocktails.  Our drinks were brought to us wherever we decided to sit – I was partial to the library, where I could flip through some of the interesting coffee table books – along with canapés.

Dinner menus are presented as well, so you have time to review them at leisure and place your order.  Then, whenever you’re ready, simply stroll into the dining room.

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Dinner

Dinner always starts with an amuse of soup, something different each day.  Then, there’s a choice of à la carte or a tasting menu of five or seven courses.

The tasting menu was a delight:

• Kilmore Quay scallop with chicken wing and winter radishes
• Ballyfin hen’s egg with truffle
• Kilmore Quay John Dory with seaweed butter and lobster mayonnaise
• Dexter beef sirloin & brisket pasty
• St Tola goats cheese with rhubarb
• Citrus fruits with frozen Irish vodka
• Pistachio soufflé

We also tried quite a few of the à la carte dishes.  D was partial to everything lamb – from sweetbreads to a duo of loin and breast.

One of my favorites was the cured monkfish with cultured milk, hazelnuts, and caviar.  So unusual, and delicately salty-sweet.  I was also so fond of the scallop and chicken wing combination that I ordered it twice!

I should mention the wine program, too.  Until our time at Ballyfin, I’d had no idea about the “wine geese” – Irish winemakers who emigrated from Ireland to France between the 16th and 18th centuries.  Many of the most famous chateaux in Bordeaux, including Lynch Bages, Léoville Barton, and Phélan Ségur, originated with the wine geese.

Somehow, we always managed to find room for dessert.  The pistachio soufflé was excellent (and D’s favorite), and I also enjoyed the dark chocolate tart with mango.

The perfect ending to a Ballyfin dinner?  An evening stroll around the house to admire the cascade and enjoy the cool night air.  Then, up the stairs and time for bed!