“The decor is... well, everything”, said The New York Times, before going on to praise the cooking in Mick and Joyce Soden’s famous pub. The Derg is a local hero, and as a destination it works because everything in it works – the bricolage style, the friendly service, the tasty cooking, the good drinks, the teeming atmosphere on the weekends and on the music nights. A key destination in this lovely village.
When they do the classics of pub food - battered hake and chips; bacon and cabbage; medallions of pork with wholegrain mustard sauce - they do them right, and the food is correct, satisfying, logical, not messed about with. So, a day sailing on the waters of Lough Derg, and then the thirst for a pint, and the hunger for pan-fried crab claws, and then a Hereford sirloin with mash and creamy shallots. Ah.
