Restaurant Review - Fagan's and The Chester Beatty Inn
Wednesday 01 May 2024
I received an email from a publican recently which, sans all the usual puffery, rather tickled my fancy. Telling me that they were a small family business with a bar, lounge, restaurant, and 12 bedrooms, he said: “We are nothing fancy but are a genuine Irish pub serving good-quality food, have great service, best staff and love what we do.” But here’s the bit that both made me laugh out loud on the one hand, and astounded me on the other in a world of ‘celebrity’ chefs clamouring for Instagram recognition. “We have 50 staff in total, including a team of eight chefs — none of whom you will ever have heard of! We make everything in-house, serve food every day from 8am-8pm and approximately 500-600 meals on a Sunday.”
Well, holy moly, I knew Sunday lunch was back bigtime but this had to be investigated. So, coming up from Cork via the east coast on a Sunday afternoon with my friend Carmen, we made a beeline for Padraig Humby’s Chester Beatty Inn, just off the M11, in Ashford, Co Wicklow.
lucindaosullivan.com
First Published In The Sunday Independent