Bloggers Recommend: Val’s Kitchen

Limerick is the focus this week in our Bloggers Recommend series: the very fabulous Val O’Connor has rounded up some reviews of her favourite Limerick restaurants from her blog Val’s Kitchen.  Not all of these places are cheap, but Val promises that they’re all great value for money!

Val’s Limerick Favourites

The Wild Onion, High Street, in the Milk market area of Limerick City

The Wild Onion is so popular on Saturday mornings that it’s name is uttered in hushed tones. The owners have a bit of a Michael Caine like reputation for getting loud and boisterous with the staff and customers, but we’ve found them very nice.  The menu is American style breakfasts, Reubens and burgers.  The grub is all cooked by Bob in the diner style kitchen that’s right there in front of you, and they delivered a flask of coffee and a jug of iced water as soon as we sat down. I’ve had a hard-core fry up there but none of that greasy after taste or yukky feeling you often get after this kind of cook up.

Read Val’s full review of the Wild Onion

The Sage Cafe, Catherine St, Limerick

The décor in the Sage café can be best described as modern French rustic. Lots of cream coloured painted walls and banquettes make a bright airy and clean-feeling space. The food which ranges from an amazing-looking fish pie, braised lamb shanks to refreshing salads is excellent. Breads and desserts are all made on the premises and feature some fine looking coeliac-friendly scones. For afters we tried the baked orange cheesecake and it was dense, yet light with a warm hint of orange. It was the best baked cheesecake I’ve eaten. The sprogs amused themselves with hot chocolates and marshmallows. Filled with lunching ladies, families, friends and even some men, the Sage Café deserves it’s early and roaring success, just like the Cranberries.

Read Val’s full review of the Sage Cafe

Turkuaz Kebab, Milk Market, Limerick

It may seem to normal cosmopolitan dwellers of the world that a kebab shop is nothing to shout about. Having enjoyed the slobby but yummy fruits (or meats) of Abrakebabra, post pub, for many years, we felt quite well served. Having lived in Hamburg, Germany for years I was spoiled by all the amazing Turkish Kebab shops. They stayed open all night so you could have a night on the tiles followed by a feast at 7am. No dodgy pitas here, just fresh flat bread filled with freshly grilled lamb shish and filled with fresh salads and hummus, yum.

So the great news is that we now have one of these great places in Limerick, woo hoo. Turkuaz Kebab at the Milk market is not just a fast food joint, and a cute website. They do chips and doner sure. All their flat bread is made on site and freshly cooked in their huge oven. The menu goes from doner to lamb shish, Adana Kebab – minced beef with chilli peppers on a skewer, kofte, veggie shish, Pide – little open meat filled pies and all these meaty goodies are cooked to order. My friend wanted his chicken burnt (odd but what the hey) and they did it for him, no questions asked. Their hummus is silky smooth with a deep flavour of olive oil and it seems they make it themselves. Nom nom.

So people, for no fuss, yummy yummy fresh spicy meaty grub, go here.

One Pery Square

One Pery Square is a lovingly restored Georgian house, situated opposite the lovely People’s Park, the new wing of the building is keeping with the architecture of the area, low key, red brick, subtle.  The dining room is simple, French style elegance with lots of mirrors and carefully selected little paintings around the room. The kitchen is open at the front so you can see chef Alan Burns work his magic. “We want to revive the whole Pigtown history of Limerick, we are using lots of more traditional cuts of meat”.

I chose the Rabbit Rillettes with apricot chutney and slivers of toasted sourdough baguette. The rillettes were perfectly preserved, a rough type of pate with lots of flavour, delicious piled on the toasts with the chunky, plump apricots. Mains were hard to chose from, Pigs trotter with mash and salsify, Rpasted Sea Bream with cauliflower and tomato and ceps were pushed aside for my choice of the special, Wild Boar sausage on sauerkraut with scallops in a light cream sauce. My dish was, I’m looking for words here, but it was really outstanding, the sausage was full of the kind of meatiness and strength you can only imagine that comes from wild boar. The cabbage was tart and tangy like it should be, then the sweetness of the scallops just made it all so perfect, heavenly. Must have that again.