Sea Rooms grows into its own in Kelly’s seafront gardens

Destination dining is becoming an increasingly important factor in planning a short break hotel stay in Ireland. Hotels are ramping up their culinary offerings not only to attract more business but to keep guests on the premises for their meals rather than lose them to nearby restaurants.

Kelly’s Resort Hotel in Rosslare, Co Wexford, already had a solid plan in place to achieve that goal, with its popular half- and full-board packages to keep its Beaches restaurant and La Marine bistro busy. But after a pandemic-inspired rethink of how it might better utilise its extensive seafront gardens the family-run hotel now has a stand-alone restaurant that is, as a certain guide might say, “worth a detour”.

The Sea Rooms, a two-storey glass pavilion rising up from the space where a grass tennis court became an outdoor tented dining space during the pandemic, is truly impressive. Designed by LUCA Architects in Dublin, it has expansive views out over the Irish Sea and across the manicured gardens and outdoor artworks. There are 60 seats over two levels indoors and almost the same again outside.

After a soft opening of the new restaurant late last summer, father and daughter Bill and Laura Kelly, managing director and manager of the four-star property, went in search of a head chef to take it on. Chris Fullam, a former young chef of the year finalist, with Amuse and The Greenhouse, both in Dawson Street in Dublin on his resume, did a five-day pop-up in November. “I saw the space, and that was when leaving Dublin came on the radar,” he says, and he moved to Rosslare in February.

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A custom made wood-fired grill and smoker, from local Co Wexford company Smokin’ Soul, marks the entry to the new restaurant and is connected to the kitchen. This handsome piece of kit, in full view of the extensive outdoor dining terrace, gets a thorough workout across Fullam’s menus. In January he did a two-week stage (unpaid work experience) at Ekstedt at The Yard in London, Niklas Ekstedt’s first restaurant outside Sweden. It specialises in cooking over fire, and Fullam found himself manning the grill on only his second day.

In Rosslare the grill and smoker come into their own when used to grill and smoke the vegetables that come from the hotel’s extensive kitchen gardens, overseen by Deirdre Howlin and her team. “It gets lit every morning at 9am, religiously,” he says.

The Sea Rooms is open for dinner Thursday, Friday and Saturday (seven course tasting menu €70, three courses €55) and for a la carte lunch every day during July and August. The menus, which make good use of locally-caught fish and shellfish, and Killenure Castle Dexter beef from Tipperary, will change every six weeks. “It’s my goal to have the food in synchronicity with the building and have a busy restaurant and keep residents happy, that’s the Kelly’s motto,” Fullam says.