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Lignum Restaurant

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For Cooking & Service Well Above Average Denotes genuine Irish food culture, ie special Irish food products/companies/producers, and highlights the best places to shop for regional and artisan foods; the selection excludes obvious 'non-Irish' elements regardless of quality, eg ethnic restaurants and specialists in coffee, wine and other drinks, unless relevant to local production or history. Eat & Stay establishments are chosen for their commitment to showcasing local produce and Irish hospitality. Previous Georgina Campbell Guides Award Winner The "Best of the Best" - Only the very best establishments across various categories have been chosen for this accolade

Lignum Restaurant

If you drive up the track to Danny Africano's Lignum at night, you'll be welcomed by a blaze of light emanating from a giant glass cube, as the restaurant area has floor-to-ceiling windows. Making your way right around the building, you enter a dark wooden door into the subdued and sophisticated interior, passing neatly stacked logs - birch, ash and oak - and a glass-fronted display of hanging meats, poultry and game. Although some of the beautifully designed furnishings and ceramics are Italian, there's an almost Scandinavian feel to the restaurant and the food - all cooked over wood - is simply extraordinary. A must-visit for all food lovers.
Seats 30. D Thu-Sat 6.30pm-9.30pm, 'The Lignum Experience'. 10-course Tasting Menu c.€135, drinks pairing €85, non-alcoholic pairing €49. 6-course Tasting D c.€75 (Thu & Fri only). L Sun only (also Sat in summer) 1pm-4pm, 5-course set menu €55. Wines from about €27, by the glass from €8. Children over 12 welcome. Closed Mon-Wed; annual closure all Jan. Meetings/small conferences/events. Wheelchair accessible. Unisex toilets. Parking (on left entering driveway, short walk to restaurant; wheelchair entrance at front via door to private dining room, parking adjacent). Online reservations. MasterCard, Visa. abbreviations
Georgina Campbell

Handily located about halfway between the Dublin-Galway motorway and Loughrea, chef Danny Africano's unusual restaurant, Lignum, opened to well-deserved acclaim in September 2019.


Instantly making rural East Galway a must-visit destination for food lovers, Lignum quickly earned a reputation as one of Ireland's most exciting new restaurants - recalling memories of the late John Huston's former home nearby, St Clerans (now a private residence), when gifted Japanese chef Kumagai Hisashi  ('Kuma') created magic in the kitchen there two decades ago and attracted many discerning diners to the area.


Today, Lignum at Slatefort House has a similar appeal. Danny's parents ran Slatefort House as a restaurant with rooms when he was growing up, so he cut his culinary teeth here and - while the house is almost unrecognisable following its sophisticated transformation into a spacious, light-filled contemporary restaurant - Danny's palpable sense of purpose is matched by a very pleasing pride of place.


And does Danny ever have a sense of purpose. Although still in his 20s, he brought back sharply focused ambitions from time well spent working around the world and, not only did he supervise the creation of a unique modern restaurant, but he also assembled a highly impressive team.


Lignum is latin for wood - and that's what this kitchen is all about. On arrival you will notice three types of logs - birch, ash and oak - neatly stacked just inside the front door. They are sourced from local woodlands and used for all the cooking, over the bespoke Ox Grills (made in England and revered by top chefs, including Nathan Outlaw) and a woodburning oven - which bake the stunning breads that are such a special feature of the Lignum experience.


The woods are mixed as needed for flavour enhancement and, using the embers from the oven, everything is cooked over the three grills designated for vegetable, fish and meat. "Our principle is to cook over robust burning embers using a variety of Irish wood and from this simplistic method of cooking elevate it to a refined plate,” says Danny. "It is challenging, but we believe it showcases our incredible local produce." The aim from the outset has been to use as much locally sourced produce as possible. All of the protein is Irish and a local organic farm supplies any vegetables not grown on site.


Evening diners choose from a weekly-changing 10- or 6-course tasting menu, with wine or non-alcoholic pairings available. On Sunday there's a more casual experience when a very reasonably priced 3-course sharing style menu is offered and children over 12 are welcome.The drinks list includes well chosen wines with an understandable leaning towards Italy (tasting notes would be nice addition), craft beer (notably Kinnegar, from Co Donegal), kombucha and soft drinks including Tipperary apple juice (from Con Traas at The Apple Farm, although not named) and there's also a mixologist working closely with the kitchen team, to offer "an urban style cocktail list in the countryside". This menu changes with the seasons, "Creating bitters, tonics and drinks inspired by our surroundings.”


The food that is brought to your table, whichever menu you choose, will be extraordinary. Enormous care clearly goes into each dish, and the depth of flavour is exceptional, simply singing with memorable umami tones. And you'll find that the kitchen sends through all manner of extra little treats that you weren't expecting. The chef himself might come along at certain points of your meal, to pour, perhaps, a pork broth subtly flavoured with oriental spicing over an exquisite piece of plaice. Or a server might arrive with bread and crackers that are like no other you've ever had - and butter which is made in-house daily.


Specialities that bring happy diners back established themselves from an early stage - those amazing breads, for example, and Luker's Chocolate, a sublime dessert that will have you hooked even if you tend to pass on dessert.


The portions, as with all tasting menus, are not large, but the intensity of flavour and the number of taste sensations you'll experience in one single item, leave you feeling completely satisfied at the end of your meal. 


Service throughout is attentive and knowledgeable - and the entire experience will linger in the mind for a very long time to come.


 

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2022 Award Winners RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2022
Last Updated: 24-08-2023
Author: Georgina Campbell
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Lignum Restaurant
Slatefort House, Bullaun , Loughrea Co Galway
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M6 Dublin-Galway road, Exit 16 (Loughrea). Follow directions to Bullaun; entering the village turn right. Lignum is 1km from Bullaun village, on the Loughrea side.
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