For the first night of our staycation, we’re in Delphi Lodge which is a short hop away from the Delphi resort. The lodge back in the day was used mainly for people visiting Connemara for fishing in the nearby lakes and is still used for that purpose today, if fishing is your thing.
As you drive up towards the lodge, it looks impressive and the grounds are well kept. We parked up and headed inside. We were greeted by the manager who checked us in, interesting that there was no reception desk anywhere to be seen, we were just handed our key and shown to our room.
The room was spotless and roomy. It has a good size living area and a large ensuite with a huge old bathtub, after all the lodge would have been used mainly by men so hence, the large bathtub. It also had a nice view out towards the lake.
For the evening we took a walk around the lake and hung out in the library before getting ready for dinner. We had been informed that some canapés would be served in the lounge area before dinner, which was pencilled in for 8:00pm. In normal non-Covid times, dinner is served at a long communal table with everyone sitting together but given the current climate, every party has their own table.
Once seated in the lounge area, we ordered some drinks and chatted to some of the other guests. The canapés arrived, consisting of a bonbon with black pudding, smoked salmon on brown bread and mushrooms on sourdough, they were tasty, nothing special but tasty. At around 8:15pm we all made our way to the dining room for dinner. Dinner was interesting, like a previous place we stayed in before, Currarevagh House, it was Hobson’s choice. So if you were in any way a fussy eater, you’d struggle a little, however, with advanced warning to the Lodge they will try their best to accommodate any food issues you may have.
Once seated, we ordered another drink and bread arrived, a homemade brown soda which was not too bad at all. For our starter, it was mussels, cooked in a creamy apple, cider and tarragon sauce. It was really tasty, the mussels were fresh, the sauce had the perfect balance of flavours without being overpowering, which can sometimes happen with the aniseed flavour of tarragon.
Things were off to a good start but soon started to spiral a little downhill. A ho-hum middle course arrived consisting of a raspberry sorbet which was nothing special, we really don’t get the sorbet thing, especially as a second course.
The mains arrived, fillet of beef. While the beef was reasonably well cooked, it was easily one of the most unbalanced plates of food we have had in a long time. It was served with a very over-powering thyme jus, celeriac purée, onions, a béarnaise sauce topped with pea shoots along with some potatoes and a ratatouille of all things. There was just too much going on, the thyme jus was too strong and the celeriac tasted as if sugar was added as it was strangely, sweet.
Dessert followed, a bought-in lemon tart served with some berries and a honeycomb ice cream. The ice cream was actually ok, the tart, even though was not freshly made, was tolerable. Still though, the mind boggles as to why so many places use bought-in desserts and the like, it’s so simple to put together, say, a Victoria sponge or an apple tart or even a pavlova that will taste far superior than any of the bought-in variety.
To finish off the evening, homemade (apparently) chocolate truffles along with tea and coffee were to be served, but for some reason, they never arrived and we were not offered any (perhaps the delivery never came in).
We had one final drink in the comfortable lounge before retiring for the evening.
The following morning, we grabbed breakfast, which was a slight improvement on the previous night’s meal. I opted for the full Irish, C went with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. The smoked salmon was a good sized portion and the salmon was tasty. The full Irish was the standard affair but better than ones I have had in the past. The same bread from the night before was served, however, the coffee was not the best.
Delphi Lodge is a decent place, it has fantastic rooms, great location and with less than twenty rooms, it never feels over-crowded. While the food was a bit of a let-down, it did not take from the comfort of the place, would we stay again, perhaps if we were looking to stay in the area again.
Until next time
Bye for now
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 