The Tannery

You can scarcely book a room at the Tannery Townhouse these days, as Paul and Maire Flynn’s rooms, adjacent to their Tannery Restaurant, fill up every weekend with cyclists who have made their way along the Waterford Greenway. It’s one of the best examples of how food and activity tourism are bedfellows: after 60kms in the saddle, all you will be dreaming of is a hot shower, followed by a gin’n’tonic, followed by their classic crab creme brulée and then some beef salt ribs with brown butter root vegetables and a big bowl of fries with aioli. Mr Flynn has been serving some of the savviest, smartest, most enjoyable food that you can eat in Ireland for two decades, and age doesn’t seem to bother him: the guy is as wise and as wise-cracking as ever.