Food

Out of the many things I have noticed about the food in Ireland, what stands out the most is the different names that they have for the same foods. Our group ate lunch at a small café while we were passing through Tipperary at which the waitress asked Kyle and I if we wanted a salad with our burger. Little did we know that “salad” was code word for cheese, lettuce, tomato, and fixings so we ended up with just a plain burger. However, when the waitress asked Sarah the same question she was brought out an actual garden salad on the side with her meal. Along with salad, French fries are called “chips” in Ireland. Usually enjoyed with ketchup, I had chips almost every day of the trip sometimes even multiple times a day. I jumped on the malt vinegar bandwagon, as the Irish enjoy sprinkling a bit on them to give the fries a bit of a kick.

Along with the chips, I found the beef stew and the chicken goujons to be my two most favorite meals. Especially this chicken goujon sandwich that I had in Ennis at The Abbey Tavern  during one of my last few days in Ireland. For only €6.50, the sandwich was served inside of a pretzel bun and mixed in with chunks of bacon with melted cheese on top, this sandwich was simply delectable.  Served of course with chips on the side along with a coleslaw salad, the pretzel bun was toasted to perfection  creating a smooth combination when dipped into some BBQ or sweet chili sauce. The bacon here tasted almost like chorizo, which is much different than the rest of the countryside where they present bacon in a ham steak like fashion.