Best Places To Eat

Ireland's Best Food Part 1: Kilkenny

The Best Burger in Ireland 2018

This weekend we decided to travel a little bit for food. My boyfriend had read an article on the best places to get a burger in Ireland and wanted to try some of the best rated ones. Nothing beats a good burger, so I was certainly up for tasting one that was voted the best in the country. As we wanted to drive up and home in the same day, we decided to go to the 2018 winner and 2019 runner up, The Hungry Moose. Kilkenny is only about 40 minutes from where we live anyway so it was ideal!

The Hungry Moose is a gourmet burger house, located on 60 Upper John Street. The restaurant while specializing in burgers has a wide variety to choose from, along with various starters and sides to keep everyone happy. There's even options for non-meat lovers too. To start we shared the BBQ chicken wings, these also come in spicy or Asian sticky sauce if you would prefer. We also ordered the jalapeño poppers, which we’re possibly my favourite. The poppers were also filled with the best sour cream I’ve ever tasted, with more sour cream offered for dipping. The dish was served with a home-made salsa and a small salad also. Every ingredient used was so deliciously fresh, I couldn’t believe it, especially for a burger house.

For the main, I ordered “The Hungry Moose One.” This was a beef patty with beer battered onion rings, smoked bacon, dill pickles and Canadian cheddar cheese. Personally, if onion rings are involved it’s a winner in my eyes! All mains come with a side of fries and you can choose from chunky, skinny or curly fries. Adam got the award-winning burger, it was amazing. I was glad I didn’t order it though because I don’t think I would’ve finished it. This one involved two beef patties, a fried egg, onion rings, cheese, Ballymaloe relish, tomato and lettuce. I have to admit, it was seriously impressive.

The Hungry Moose

The overall atmosphere of the restaurant was so chilled, it was really relaxing. The kitchen is open so the smell hits you when you walk in, if you weren’t hungry coming, you’ll be starving once that door opens. There isn’t many tables which is nice as the crowd is kept small and manageable, there’s nothing worse than a load room when you can barely hear the person you’re with. The staff were beyond helpful and friendly, when we weren’t ready to order (because everything looked too nice on the menu) it wasn’t an issue at all, they simple told us to give them a shout when we were ready not to put us under any pressure.

The price was reasonable for a gourmet restaurant, especially when you are paying for “The Best Burger in Ireland”. The majority of burgers cost about €15, the award winning one about €19, however it's much larger! Our entire bill was under €50 and we both felt very well fed for it. So I would completely recommend this place if you are in the mood for something really filling.

Europe's Best Ice-Cream:

Even though we were both absolutely stuffed, we had been told that we couldn’t have a trip to Kilkenny without going to Scrumdiddly’s. And thank god we listened, it was one of the best desserts I’ve ever had, not surprisingly considering they've been listed on Europe's Best Ice-Cream: The Bucket List. Scrumdiddly's is an ice-cream store with multiple stores around Ireland.

Definitely deserving of it's title

I ordered the Ferrero Indulgence with whipped ice-cream, a scoop of Belgian chocolate ice-cream, melted Ferrero chocolate, Ferrero Rochers and fresh cream. I don't want to think about the calories with my upcoming holiday, but it was definitely worth every one of them. That's the one on the right. On the left Adam got the Twix Fix, once again with whipped ice-cream, along with crushed biscuit, caramel, melted twix pieces, a hot sugar donut and a Caramel Biscotto sauce. I do love donuts, but there was just no way I could've managed that one after all the food we already had!

Scrumdiddly's pride themselves on the uniqueness of their creations, their original secret sauces and having the best staff. The prices are low ranging from €4-€6 max.

If anyone has visited these places please leave a comment and let me know how you got on, if there's something I need to try next time.

As always, thanks for reading,

Char

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