Tables set up outside Michael and Joyce Soden’s popular Derg Inn please the summer crowd, and a crackling fire is a welcome sight on a cold day - like many country pubs this is, perhaps, a place seen at its best off-season.
This is one of the area’s best pubs for food and the sight of tables set up for the comfortable enjoyment of a good meal quickly gets hungry guests into a relaxed mood (especially boating visitors, after the walk up from the harbour).
Everything is sourced with care, using the best of local produce including organic food when possible; sea fish is more prominent on the menu than might be expected in a river and lakeland area, and traditional Irish dishes like bacon & cabbage and beef & Guinness pie are always a treat here.
Evening menus are quite wide-ranging with a choice that usually includes delicious house specialities like home-made paté with Derg Inn mango chutney & garlic bread, and salmon in filo pastry with lemon & caper sauce - and maybe fillet steak with wholegrain mustard sauce - along with more-ish desserts like praline parfait with cinnamon syrup.
Sunday lunch is also quite a speciality, but you don’t have to eat to experience the Derg - there’s an interesting little wine list to enjoy with or without food, and a very pleasant bar.
Music in summer - Friday, Saturday and Sunday, various styles; Sunday night is the one for traditional music enthusiasts.
Seats 150 (private function room, 70+); toilets wheelchair accessible. Open daily: food available 11-10. Breakfast from 11 am, L 12-5, D 6-10. A la carte. House wine €19. SC discretionary. Closed Good Fri, 25 Dec. Amex, MasterCard, Visa, Laser.
