You can't miss this low bungalow-style building as it's painted pink and set on a superb elevated site overlooking the sea and across the bay to Courtmacsherry. As it is open for lunch as well as dinner in summer, it is a very useful place to know about - and what a lovely, friendly place it is too.
Picnic tables overlook a lawn towards the sea, or you can eat inside in a large room with a piano, which has been painted exuberantly in swirling shades of pink, and is put to good use in the evening when one of the staff tinkles the ivories and sings, along with one of the waitresses.
Delicious food includes outstandingly good home-made bread, and menus naturally favour local seafood - lunch dishes are marked up on a blackboard in the bar (another lists wines available by the glass), and might include an excellent Provencal fish soup, or sausage and mash (Sat only).
Evening dishes depend on ‘whatever the fishermen drop in’, with prime seafood like lobster and brill offered if you’re lucky. Pan seared turbot medallions with wild mushrooms and a local fisherman’s pie containing hake, salmon, prawns and mussels might also be on the menu. Although well-known for fish, meat lovers need not worry – West Cork sirloin steak and slow-braised shank of wild venison are just some of the meats available.
Desserts are tempting – perhaps a Belgian chocolate biscuit cake with pecans and hazelnuts or Bailey’s Irish cream liqueur cheesecake? There’s also a gluten free option of apple and blackberry crumble.
A number of menus are offered at different times but, as everything is cooked to order, vegetarian, vegan, coeliac and dairy intolerant diets are easily accommodated at any time (advance notice is helpful, if possible).
An unusual, informative and evocative wine list is illustrated with labels, and includes a pair of Fairtrade wines and a good choice of wines by the glass, half bottles and dessert wines among many treats.
Service is laid-back but efficient and charming.
