A good food destination for many years, Kilkee has long been known for its wonderful fresh fish and seafood - and terrific home baking.
And then - with its bespoke herb-filled windowboxes by Ballyseedy, smart modern decor softened with a little old-world charm, and gorgeous goodies - the arrival of Holly's Café in spring 2021 brought something new to the mix. Modestly described as a coffee shop (and yes, they do excellent coffee by Burren producer, Anam), it's a first venture by two chefs, Holly Kelliher and Jon Butler, who arrived here via some very exalted kitchens indeed, including The London Ritz and Adare Manor - so, if patisserie is your weak spot, prepare to ditch the willpower when you visit.
Beautiful signature pastries which taste as good as they look include a vanilla choux pastry filled with Madagascan vanilla crème diplomat; pistachio macarons filled with chocolate ganache and raspberry gel; and a Manjari chocolate mousse with chocolate crémeux and a caramel centre. There are plenty of the more usual cakes and biscuits too - ever-popular carrot cake, for example, and chocolate macaroons - that go down very well with that Anam coffee or loose leaf teas from Guru Tea House of Ennistymon.
While shrewdly deducing that coffee and cake are the future (along with treats from Harry's Dog Bakery, no less), they do much more than that and offer a short but appealing café menu that changes weekly and offers plenty of variety including two salads, five sandwiches, three desserts and three counter cakes, along with other breakfast pastries and treats - all seriously delicious, and good value too.
Everything is freshly made in-house and based on carefully sourced ingredients, mainly from local and Irish suppliers. So you'll find names like the famed Mossfield Organic Farm in Co Offaly, sausages from Kelly’s Meat Store in nearby Kilrush and the delectable Ballylisk Brie from Co Armagh featuring, alongside the very best continental ingredients needed for patisserie like Valrhona chocolate, Callebaut Belgian chocolate and Ponthier fruit purées.
So here, in the open air low-walled square by the street with its hooks for dog-leads, or inside the chic little café, you can enjoy the salads, sandwiches, desserts and cakes that Holly and Jon so much enjoy making. The ambience here, and what it means to them, is perhaps best illustrated by their custom piece of artwork “Happiness is a place” - and it's a place well worth heading for next time you visit Kilkee.
