The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Go West Young Man

The Route By going west, I'm talking about West Cork, the southern coast to the west of us ... but more about that in a minute.

After another lazy morning (which appears to be becoming a habit), the first order of business was lunch ... and where better than a second try to get into Bulman Bar? It appears that most restaurants don't open for lunch until noon and Bulman doesn't unlock the doors until 12:30. I don't know if that is due to laws regarding alcohol service or just local custom, but it seems counter-intuitive from a business point of view.

By 12:30 there was quite a crowd milling around the car park in front of Bulman. Fortunately it was a delicious early spring day -- quite pleasant in the sun and chilly in the shade, so most people seemed to be enjoying the wait. Once the doors opened, though, there was a rush to get inside and claim a seat. It didn't take long before all the seats were taken and the crowd was two and three deep at the bar.

My sense is that they have an opening crush like this every day and was surprised they didn't seem to have a system that could deal with it. Service was well-intentioned but sporadic, with long waits between contacts with the staff. We've seen this in every restaurant we've visited in Ireland, at least to this point of the trip. Surely it must have occurred to someone that it would be helpful (and more profitable) to have an efficient way to deal with peak demand, particularly when it was so predictable.

Having done our duty at Bulman, we tossed a coin and decided to head west along the coast. We had no particular destination in mind, just an urge to get out of the house and see something new. The roads are narrow and a bit the worse for wear, so the going was slow. If we averaged even 30 mph I'd be surprised. In the end, I suppose that in the end, our destination was determined by the answer to the question, "How much longer do we want to do this?"

The Bulman Bar is located in the hamlet of Summercove between Charles Fort and Kinsale Town. The area has a decidedly 17th Century look to it. The red house on the cobblestone street next to the Bulman was the old post house (or so says the sign by the door).


We were the first ones through the door when the Bulman opened for the day and it didn't take long for the place to fill up. I knew how quickly the kitchen would back up, but being the first seated didn't mean we were the first orders to be taken or that diners who arrived well after we did wouldn't get their food before us. Maybe the Irish don't notice things like that ... or maybe that's just what they've come to expect.

I liked the paper folder, their alternative to the ubiquitous silverware roll-up. Those always look tacky to me, especially when using paper napkins to wrap the utensils. I was impressed with the products coming out of the kitchen, even if they took longer than I expected. The rib meat just slid off the bone and the light-bodied BBQ sauce had a nice hint of almost Asian-like heat. Margene is still waxing philosophical about her gnocchi in Gorgonzola cream sauce. I had a few bites when she wasn't looking and it was memorable. I suspect we will have to make it back to Bulman at least one more time before we leave. Such is the power of a truly exceptional product. What on your menu is that memorable? If nothing comes to mind, get busy and Do the Work!


We did see some great old buildings on our road trip, some in ruin and others better-maintained. We played thread-the-needle through the streets of a few little towns and finally ended up at Drombeg, an ancient stone circle that has been carbon dated to the late Bronze Age (1100-800 BC). This one was the burial site of a young man.

Elsewhere on the site are the foundations of several huts from the same era. The photo is of one that was used as the kitchen. They would build a fire in the recess next to the pool of water and use it to heat stones which would then be rolled into the water, heating it for cooking. Experiments conducted on the site in 1957 demonstrated they could bring 70 gallons of cold water to a boil in 18 minutes. Pretty impressive!


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