Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

About The Restaurant

On a recent ‘safari’ of Killarney restaurants and hotels, I went to visit Hilliard’s, a restaurant and cocktail bar, owned by the Sheahan family, prominently located on the town’s main drag. It's not just any restaurant for this is set in what was for 148 years a famous landmark department store, home to the finest handcrafted goods, from drapery and footwear to haberdashery and everything in between. Now though, it’s become a beacon of old-school hospitality offering a wonderfully welcoming atmosphere, a buzzy contemporary setting, and serving great food and cocktails.

Their brunch menu, for example, available on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, has a superb selection of decadent delights from Southern style buttermilk biscuits and gravy to cinnamon brioche mini doughnuts with a warm Belgian milk chocolate sauce and a seasonal berry compote. There’s a Japanese style spicy gambas stir fry with prawns, pork and yakisoba noodles, not to mention their excellent Hilliard’s artisan breakfast featuring their butcher's grilled breakfast sausages, BBQ pork belly strips, beer-battered Clonakilty black pudding fritters, baked ham, a smoked cheddar cheese egg cup, spicy cubed potatoes and thyme roasted vine tomatoes. Their Kenmare Bay smoked salmon is popular too, as is their Hilliard’s super superfood salad. There’s a variety of brunchtime cocktails available Martini or spritz style as well as a selection of house favourites like peach sangria, passionfruit mimosas or their own The Pearl Hilliard, a delicious concoction Tanqueray gin, elderflower liqueur, Poacher's citrus tonic, fresh rosemary, lemon & juniper.

The evening menu, which is available throughout the week, is equally impressive with the menu being divided into small plates and mains. So, you aren’t bound to the traditional starter and mains formula. You can have that if you like, but if you’d rather try out a selection of small plates instead, you’re good to go. Small plates at Hilliard's include a half dozen fresh Glenbeigh oysters served with shallots, lemon and a red wine vinegar and thyme dressing; house patatas bravas with fiery tomato, shaved Parmesan, sour cream, and a smoked avocado pesto; as well as Spanish style Wagyu beef with smoke pancetta meatballs served with a side of grilled focaccia bread.

For the mains, think butter & thyme roasted wild Atlantic halibut with a curried Cromane mussel and pea risotto, crispy onion strings, salt and vineagar fries and a roasted garlic and herb mayonnaise; or maybe a sumptuous rosemary and garlic marinated slow-roasted rump of Kerry lamb. Dedicated carnivores will be in heaven with a great selection from their family butcher, including a grilled 8oz fillet of Irish Hereford beef with balsamic roasted shallot, honey roasted carrots, colcannon potato cake and a pink peppercorn sauce; Hilliard’s Cashel blue steak frites featuring grilled Irish Hereford ribeye with Cashel blue cheese, sauce Bearnaise, tasty homecut skinny fries and a port wine and thyme jus. Veggies aren’t left out in the cold either with an excellent sans meats curry of roasted butternut squash with chickpea, baby spinach, peanut and coconut milk served with saffron vegetable biriyani rice. For dessert, treat yourself to a delicious chocolate brownie sundae with Belgian chocolate sauce, a summer berry crème brulee or maybe their own superb tiramisu.

It will come as no surprise that the evening cocktail and drinks menu is expansive with an ocean of great mixes to discover along with varied menus of vodkas, rums, poitin, tequila, mescal, wines and beer, plus an array of Irish and International gins. Their whiskey selection is sure to impress any true aficionado, with a great catalogue of premium bottles sourced from all over Ireland and beyond.

All in all, a visit to Hilliard's, at any time of the day, is sure to be a great experience. The food is great, as are the drinks, and the service and atmosphere are delightful as well. So, what are you waiting for?

And, if that’s not enough, right next door, and also under the same ownership, is the wonderland that is Reidy’s, a legendary sweet shop and bar, now a mini town within a town, with a winding ‘street’ out the back lined with old shopfronts featuring all sorts of snugs and cosy corners.
 

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