Around Ireland, many hotel restaurants are hanging out the holly and organising special menus for Christmas. The choice in hotel restaurant dining out is wider and more enterprising than it used to be with something for every palate, whether traditional or modernist.
Regional availability does come into play. Hotels in the greater Dublin areas and other big urban areas have an abundance of Christmas restaurant offerings, but in more isolated parts, some hotels have either closed for the season or are sticking with their standard a la carte bill of fare.
In Dublin, the hotel restaurant choice is inspiring. Jurys in Ballsbridge includes the new look Raglans restaurant, where all kinds of seasonal specialities are promised. Beside it, the Berkeley Court will be doing likewise with its Christmas catering, while just across the road, the newest of the city's luxury hotels, the Herbert Park, will be adding to the variety.
The Conrad International, another luxury hotel, has a reputation for gourmet dining and its Alexandra restaurant and its Plurabelle brasserie will be offering seasonal menus for lunch and dinner in the weeks before Christmas. The table d'hote lunch menu for £18 in the Alexandra and the daily lunch menu at £14.50 in the Plurabelle both offer good value for money.
The Alexandra does a Menu Gourmand for dinner at £29.50, while the Plurabelle dinner menu is priced at £17.50. The Conrad is a seasoned campaigner in the Christmas stakes at this stage; by way of contrast, the Stakis Hotel at Charlemont Place, overlooking the Grand Canal, is a newcomer to the Dublin hotel scene, since it only opened a few weeks ago but already, it's well into the Christmas spirit.
Other new venues in Dublin include the Red Cow Moran's Hotel on the Naas Road, which was officially opened at the end of last month. It will be adding suitably seasonal variations to the three restaurants on the complex. Also along the Naas Road, other venues include Doyle's Green Isle Hotel and Kingswood Country House.
Other hotel restaurants worth trying include the Clarence, the Shelbourne, the Hibernian and No 10 at Longfields.
Going outside the city, into the greater Dublin area, the choice is still wide. To the north of the city, the Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links is a classy newer venue that offers sophisticated pre-Christmas dining out.
To the west of Dublin, Straffan in north Kildare has become a gourmet hot spot. The Kildare Hotel and Country Club has a selection of private dining menus, where the main courses include traditional roast turkey and goose. On Christmas Day, the Byerley Turk restaurant in the main hotel is doing an exquisite Christmas Day menu for £75. It starts with Bavarois of Celeriac, and continues through such choices as consomme of shellfish or Belgian endive with a truffle mayonnaise, culminating in a choice of three main courses: turkey; fillet of sole and medallions of venison. There will also be a Christmas Day menu for £55 in the Legends restaurant within the K Club. Also in Straffan, Barberstown Castle has five choices on its main seasonal dinner menu: pork; John Dory; guinea fowl; monkfish and fillet of beef. This hotel also has a seasonal tasting menu, for £33 plus 10 per cent service charge, which is served only to complete tables.
Also in north Kildare, the Leixlip House Hotel is doing innovative jazz and blues nights in December, the perfect accompaniment to a Christmas menu. The main course choice is from fillet of beef; fillet of monkfish and roast turkey and ham. The £30 charge per person includes a half bottle of wine.
The Wicklow area is always good for dining out within easy reach of Dublin and this Christmas is no exception. Tinakilly House at Rathnew has, as always, come up with something imaginatively presented and packaged. On Friday, November 21st, guests can enjoy a cookery demonstration from head chef John Moloney, who will be preparing dishes from the hotel's popular Dickensian Christmas programme. A couple of miles down the road, in Wicklow town, the Grand Hotel is putting on a special Christmas Day lunch, where you can fill yourself for £33 per person. Lunch for children under 12 come is £16. Moving on from Wicklow, the south-east generally is a bastion of tempting Christmas cooking. Marlfield House outside Gorey, Co Wexford, has some fine seasonal specials. It is serving up goose, with red onion and cranberry marmalade, cocotte potatoes and port sauce.
Just outside Wexford, the recently extended Ferrycarrig Hotel, which has a superb situation looking out over the Slaney estuary, has an extensive dinner menu during the runup to Christmas. The main course choice is decidedly non-traditional and includes barbary duck; fillets of brill; breast of guinea fowl; entrecote of beef and escalope of salmon. Local touches are added: starters include fresh Duncannon seafood chowder. In Kilkenny city, the famed Lacken House is doing an exquisite five-course Christmas dinner menu for £18. The main course presents a choice between sirloin steak, lemon sole, spicy chicken and baked salmon.
In the south-east new hotels are opening all the time. In Co Offaly, the Tullamore Court Hotel represents an impressive extension to the available choice.
Cork city has plenty of old and new hotel venues serving Christmas specials. Hotels in the city include the Imperial, the Metropole and Fitzpatrick's Cork, which will all be doing tempting Christmas specials. They'll be joined by such newcomers as Maryborough House Hotel, just opened, and another recently opened arrival, the Ambassador Hotel, complete with its Seasons restaurant.
West Cork is also an excellent venue for dining out at Christmas, with a wide selection of places staying open for most if not all of the season. If you are fortunate enough to be in that delightful seaside village of Schull over the next few weeks, then you could try some of the a la carte specials at the East End Hotel, although they'll not be doing particularly seasonal specialities. Also in Schull, the Colla House Hotel is putting on a special Christmas Day lunch. Skibbereen is another useful spot with the West Cork Hotel and the Eldon Hotel, just around the corner. The Westlodge Hotel in Bantry will also be serving up some Christmas specials in the weeks coming up to Christmas.
In and around Galway, the festive spirit is already starting to seep through. In Eyre Square the Great Southern, that traditional bastion, will be serving some Christmas delicacies on its restaurant menu and in its downstairs O'Flaherty's bar. But here as elsewhere in the Great Southern group, the general emphasis will be on corporate parties. A few miles outside Galway city, the Connemara Coast Hotel in Furbo has all kinds of seasonal delights on its a la carte Gallery restaurant menu, including grilled Spiddal salmon, chicken Claddagh style and roast rack of Connemara lamb. You could also try the bar menu in the Sin Sceal Eile bar, which has just won the national Black and White hotel bar of the year 1997 award.
In the North, many hotels are already well prepared for the festive season and have their pre-Christmas menus ready to go. It might be worthwhile dropping into the Northern Ireland Tourist Board office in Nassau Street, Dublin, for a selection of Christmas brochures. In Brunswick Street, in Belfast city centre, the Holiday Inn Garden Court has extensive lunch and dinner menus to get you in the mood for Christmas.
Outside Belfast, the Marine Court Hotel in Bangor, Co Down, is doing Christmas dinners from December 1st to 23rd. It too includes a vegetarian choice. Also in Co Down, just outside Ballynahinch, the Millbrook Lodge Hotel is doing what it calls a Christmas Fayre lunch and also a Christmas dinner menu.
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