Ballymore Inn

Georgina and Barry O’Sullivan have been running The Ballymore Inn for more than twenty years and, somewhere along the line, they must have sipped the elixir of eternal youth, for there is a youthful, spritely energy about the way this couple work. Ms O’Sullivan’s cooking, in 2019, is so modern and up-to-the-minute that it puts many youthful pretenders to shame. Recently, she has begun to focus on vegetarian and vegan choices, and these demonstrate her piercing culinary intellect and sense of enquiry: herb falafel with cabbage salad and green tahini dressing; chilli paneer with lime dressing; saffron risotto with Ballyhoura mushrooms. With ingredients travelling mere metres from the polytunnels out behind the Back Bar, the freshness, texture and quality of everything the kitchen sends out simply cannot be bettered, not least the peerless mashed potato.