Page 136 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

The afternoon speeds by as we sample more the window as a Friday crowd started to elbow next
cheese and charcuterie at the newly open Loose to the long bar. We sought out a table to taste Writer’s
Cannon that also specializes in natural wines, and at Tears from Walsh Whiskey Distillery in Carlow.
Fallon & Byrne, a classy 3-story urban grocer with a Whiskey connoisseurs gush over its apple-vanilla
restaurant upstairs and not-to-be missed cozy wine nose, spice and long chocolate-almond-tinged finish.
bar downstairs. Soon we’re relaxing at an outdoor Novices like us simply gasp at the burn. Still the name
table at Piglet Wine Bar where the drink and tapas proved irresistible to us two veteran journalists who
menus blend local Irish goods with the continental added a bottle to our list of must-have souvenirs.
sensibility of its Italian and French co-owners. Eel At tour’s end, we are sated – and equally full of a
glistening with smoky honey and lardo from Cork’s new appreciation for Irish foodstuffs and their unique
famed Gubeen Farmhouse paired perfectly with our purveyors here. If you’d rather explore after dark, Fab
very quaffable Spanish red. Food Trails hosts evening tours too. And if travel
The tour’s ending is classic – a wee nip in a pub, as takes you to Cork, Eveleen and friends will help you
Eveleen ushers us into The Swan Bar, est. 1661, one sample that city’s bounty as well. Details at fabfood-
of the dozen intact Victorian-era watering holes left trails.ie
in the city. Late afternoon sunlight streamed through

136 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018