Where to eat in Kenmare: a food town that punches above its size

People come to Kenmare to eat. For a town of around 2,566 people it carries a run of kitchens, producers and food shops that would flatter somewhere ten times the size, and eating well two nights running is the single best reason to base yourself here rather than drive through on the Ring of Kerry. Here is how the food town works: where to book, where to walk in, and what to take home.

An honest word on Michelin

Start with the thing that gets repeated wrongly online. No Kenmare restaurant currently holds a Michelin star or a Bib Gourmand. Several good ones, Mulcahy's, No.35 and the dining room at the Park Hotel among them, are listed in the Michelin Guide, which means the inspectors rate them worth a visit, but listed is not starred. So come for consistent, produce-led cooking rather than a starred badge, and treat anyone selling you a Kenmare Michelin star as someone who has not checked.

The town restaurants

The names locals send you to are the ones that have earned it over years. Packie's on Henry Street is the much-loved bistro, a snug, buzzy room cooking bay seafood and Kerry produce without fuss, and it is the one to book first. The Lime Tree, in an 1832 cut-stone former schoolhouse on Shelbourne Street, does modern Irish cooking in a warm two-storey room hung with art. Mulcahy's on Main Street has been chef Bruce Mulcahy's contemporary restaurant since 1995, the more adventurous kitchen in town, with occasional international touches. And No.35, family-run on Main Street, has an unusual card to play: much of its pork comes from the family's own rare-breed pigs. All four take reservations, and in summer and around the August festival you will want one.

Gastropubs and the casual end

Not every meal needs a booking. Davitt's on Henry Street is a dependable gastropub for hearty food and a pint, good for lunch or an early dinner when you do not want to plan the evening. Tom Crean Base Camp at 25 Main Street, the rebrand of the old Tom Crean Fish & Wine, is a craft-ale bar, cafe and guesthouse named for the Kerry Antarctic explorer, pouring the family's own brewery beers alongside relaxed food. And a short drive west at Dromquinna, The Boathouse Bistro puts you at a table on the shore of the bay, which is hard to beat on a fine day.

The special-occasion tables

For a grander evening, the two five-star country houses open their dining rooms to non-residents by reservation. The Falls at Sheen Falls Lodge, overlooking the floodlit waterfall, is the most formal dinner in the area, and the Park Hotel Kenmare keeps a classical dining room of its own. Both are top-of-the-market and want booking ahead, and both lean on Kerry produce and their own gardens and smokehouses.

What to bring home

Kenmare is as strong on producers as on restaurants. Kenmare Select is the town's award-winning oak-smoked salmon, one of the signature Kerry food gifts and orderable online. Lorge Chocolatier, a French-trained chocolatier out at Bonane on the road south, makes handmade chocolates and runs chocolate-making workshops, so it doubles as a thing to do. In the town itself, the artisan bakery Jam is the stop for breads, cakes and preserves, and there is small-batch ice cream around the square. Between them they make it easy to put together a Kerry picnic or a box of gifts.

The market and the practical bits

Kenmare holds a weekly market that is worth timing a visit around for local food and craft, and the town has full grocery provision, unusual for its size, so self-caterers are well served. A few practical notes. Book the town restaurants ahead in summer, especially around Fair Day on 15 August and the Arts Festival, when the town fills. Carry some cash for the market, the honesty-box stone circle and cash-only spots out on the Beara. And keep an eye on two moving targets before you set your heart on them: The Purple Heather Bistro on Henry Street, a long-standing institution, is up for sale as its owner retires, so its future is uncertain, and Bella Vita's Italian trading can be seasonal. Beyond those, the town's food scene is deep enough that you will not go hungry, whatever the weather does.