With its impressive entrance accessed up external steps and looking down over the top end of High Street, you are unlikely to miss this stylish restaurant alongside its 'parent', the Ring family's plush Killarney Plaza Hotel & Spa - and that is as it should be, as The Tan Yard offers an unusual experience based firmly on sustainability and local provenance.
At one level it's a normal, popular restaurant where all are welcome, the deliciously wide ranging menu is a model of inclusivity and the staff are exceptionally friendly and helpful - but the attention paid to sustainability is exceptional, going far beyond the (admirable) mission statement and supplier credits on the website, or the focus on local and Irish provenance throughout the menu.
The herbs, micro-greens and salads used in the Tan Yard’s dishes are mainly sourced from the Killarney Urban Farm (KUF), which is at the Plaza’s nearby sister property The Killarney Towers Hotel & Leisure Centre. Ireland's first hospitality hydroponic urban farm, KUF is growing for and servicing bars, restaurants, and hotels in Killarney and it is the flagship of the group's Green Way initiative, with key objectives in Energy Consumption, Food Waste, Water Use, Single Use Plastic and Carbon Emissions - and this is not just some dry backroom ambition, but an exciting development that visitors can share through the weekly Killarney Urban Farm Tour & Taste Experience, which begins at The Tan Yard - and ends there afterwards with a 3-course dinner specially designed to shopwcase local produce, not just from Urban Farm itself, but also from their many nearby suppliers.
A guide takes you, on foot, to the nearby Towers where the farm is located in a former pub and nightclub and clearly visible to curious pedestrians on the pavement outside. Here, towers of thriving vegetables such as chard and radicchio rossa; herbs like marjoram; and edible flowers including nasturtiums are grown without soil, by hydroponics - a growing method based on the key elements of water and fresh air. The doors onto the street are kept open and unwelcome pests are kept out by the ingenious solution of growing plants that attract bugs just outside, so no pesticides required...
Visitors are shown the growng process from the start, when seeds are placed in rockwool (a sterile medium) and set under an LED grow light. The seedlings produced are then transferred to net grow cups in towers, where circulating water allows the plant to become a living part of its lush and leafy installation - magic!
And you get to taste the results on-site, in delicious canapés served with some special drinks, including one with honey from their roof-top hives. Back then to The Tan Yard to enjoy even more local produce, not just from Urban Farm but also from their many local suppliers, in a sit-down 3-course meal, exclusive to the Killarney Urban Farm Tour & Taste attendees, with the chefs on hand to answer any questions. A wine and beer pairing is available too, including the local ales from Killarney Brewing and Distilling in Fossa.
So don't forget to add a visit to The Tan Yard - and their Killarney Urban Farm Tour & Taste Experience - to your wish list next time you're visiting Killarney.
