How lucky are we to have 2 great places to eat in our small village (and more to open soon if the rumours are true!). Last night we went for my belated birthday family dinner to The Clubhouse bar. The food here is great – better by far than your average pub grub but then it has a distinct advantage over many others in that it’s located in the same building as The Riverbank Restaurant, with food coming from the same kitchen under the eye of head Chef John Kelly. Now John Kelly previously worked with the famous Neven Maguire, whose gaff is not too far away. John has made his mark in Dromahair and he really applies his skills well in both the Riverbank and the Clubhouse. It’s the little touches that make the difference, the attention to detail.
I had lamb burger with brie, bacon and onion marmalade which was served on a breadboard with a little bucket of hand cut chips – delicious, perfectly cooked, generous, and the side salad was dressed perfectly (I keep meaning to ask for a bottle of the dressing). Himself had an open steak sandwich – the fact that he didn’t utter a word until his plate was cleared says it all. Granny had duck. Now Granny likes her food to be really hot, and having tasted it she asked for it to be heated a little bit more. When it returned she had been given an entirely new plate of food and with a portion of garlic potatoes by way of (superfluous) apology. Now that’s service.

The kids menu has all the usual, including half portions of roast of the day. The chicken goujons are actually whole pieces of chicken in a light breadcrumb coating that are made on the premises.
With a hot fudge brownie and 2 x kids icecreams for dessert, soft drinks and a glass of Shiraz, the whole meal came to €85 excluding service. The place was hopping (and a quick check upstairs in The Riverbank looked like it was busy there too), all tables were full with people waiting.

Keep up the good work John and well done to your hard working staff for keeping everyone happy. See you again soon! (Hope you don’t mind me using your photos from Face book!)