Dining Out

The 12 meals of Christmas: This relatively new Galway eatery already feels like one of the best in the west

In this series, we are sharing some of our most loved and best-read restaurant reviews of 2023. Next up, Blackrock Cottage in Salthill is serving up great food and hospitality

Blackrock Cottage: the restaurant comprises a restored famine-era cottage as well as a more modern extension. Picture: Michael Dillon

The friend I am meeting for lunch in Blackrock Cottage has a warning for me: “be prepared to queue”. This restaurant on the prom in Salthill, which opened last December, has become so popular in the interim, he says, that we will probably have a wait on our hands for a table.

Sure enough, the place is chocker when we arrive. Happily our friend has managed to get there early, and within ten minutes we ...