Toddies Restaurant & Bulman Bar

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Toddie’s is named after one of Ireland’s legendary urbane Hoteliers, the late Toddie O’Sullivan, Manager of Dublin’s Gresham Hotel in the 1960’s. Toddie O’Sullivan played host to Princess Grace and Prince Ranier, as well as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, when Burton was in Ireland filming “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”.

Friend Carmen and I popped in for lunch to the bar which is really cosy and atmospheric with blazing fires at each side of the room. Here you can have a decent chowder; fish and chips; homemade shepherds pie; Parma ham platter with rocket and Parmesan salad; or goat’s cheese spring rolls. They also plan to enlarge a Tapas style menu in the bar. However, what is really going to have people queuing out the door is their delicious grilled half local lobster. We got a neat little table by the window with views out over the dock, which a kindly American tourist vacated for us by moving to the bar. We kicked off with delicious bowls of chowder with homemade brown bread, and both followed up with a gorgeous half lobster, smartly presented on square white plates, each with little silver sauceboats of Hollandaise topped with chopped chives, a fluff of greenery to the side, and half a lemon stuck with a sprig of rosemary. Absolute Heaven.

Upstairs, the restaurant is a fine atmospheric room with lovely views out over the water. Apart from a fab lobster risotto, other starters include Oysterhaven mussels, Gubbeen ham, thyme and onion; Grilled St. Tola goat’s cheese with lemon oil, organic salad and a tomato vinaigrette. Mains include chargrilled Irish Fillet steak, white truffle oil, mashed potato with garlic butter or pepper sauce; yellow Thai monkfish curry and Basmati rice; grilled John Dory, tomato and fennel risotto with a pesto dressing; roast supreme of Irish corn fed chicken, lemon cous cous and roasted red pepper sauce. We rounded off our delicious lunch with passion fruit crème brulee and a sticky toffee pudding – both yummy.