A quick post trip roundup as this thread led to almost no replies ( that’ll be you and me, John)
Dublin
The Winding Stair - primo location overlooking the river and that famous bridge and still, despite that, very good. Upstairs rooms above a fab bookshop - much better than a basement John. Modern bistro food, charming staff and a marvellous pear and ginger tart for pud that will live in the memory and on the waistline. Recommended
Galway/Barna
O’Grady’s - seafood gaff with great views over the Bay. Noisy and with bit of an odd vibe - seemed like locals downsatirs and tourists upstairs ( for the view ). Consequently chock full of Americans loudly rediscovering their roots and in some cases apparently thus missing the irony of their current regime’s appalling racism and anti immigration sloganeering. Food was old skool - decent fish but spuds served as a side dish for mains one of which had risotto and another of which had saute spuds with it already. Carbs meltdown !Gave all the Irish friends and family a laugh when we shared that, but surely a salad or some veg instead.
Powerful tiramisu for pud -served in an old skool fluted bowl proudly sat on a doily ( doliy’s still very much in vogue over the water,it seems ) . Worth a visit if you are over this way.
The Twelve - Barna
We stayed here and ate in the bar one night after a long day walking. Decent pub style grub - serviceable burger with parmesan dusted chips ( I can hear you seething from here, John) and they sell their own stout (‘Number one’ ) which has a bit more about it than the Guiness. They also have an apparently well regarded restaurant ( West ) which was closed the nights we stayed.
Doolin - Oar
South of Dublin on the far far west coast. Oar is a newish place -opened this March. Owner very friendly ( to the point of perhaps being a bit much- no one wants to hear stories about you glugging Dom Perignon, darling, its a bit gauche.
Nice room unless you get the table literally right by the door with a not splendid view of the bogs. we got this table first but bless him he moved us without us having to ask.
Food trying hard and attractively plated. Decent scallops starter ( though scallops small ). Main of chicken with prawn and chorizo gumbo a nice idea but one of the prawns was shell on ( not clever with the semi soup gumbo as nowt provided to wipe yer paws on afterwards ) and came with a rather sad langoustine atop it which looked whizzy but the dosh would have been better spent on more prawn action on the plate.
That said, we had a splendid blackcurrant souffle for one pud - light n fluffy cloudsville -really good. Then again the other pud was a deconstructed cheesecake thing which was meant to be ginger and simply wasnt fiery enough… and do I need to say how tired we are of deconstruction ? I will respect you more if you just make nice fecking cheesecake, mate.
That said he did us glasses of Gruner Veltliner which is usually bottle only and only charged us seven euro a glass and even topped them up and didn’t charge us. So, yes, go support this place if over that way. Hopefully the eagerness to please/show off will calm down a little with time.
Cavan
The Olde Poste Inn.
Weird place. Recommended by a friend. Set price for menu 66 euro each. eek. Five or six courses. all good but spoiled by the fact that we were staying and the B&B side of things was just a bit tired/shoddy and the breakfast saw the emergence of a sausage which can only be described as being of chip shop standard ( not in a good way ).
So, if you go, go for dinner only !
Now, lets see if anyone other than John reads this 
