I entered the restaurant and immediately was surrounded by an aroma of rich spices and beer. For my first meal in Ireland, I did not know what to expect, but I did know that the smells from the kitchen were amazing and that I had to order something that had the smells of those spices. I looked at the menu and immediately saw Chicken Curry with Vegetable White Rice and a Turkey Club sandwich. I was overwhelmed with which meal to choose. My waiter fortunately helped me make my decision. He was a middle aged Indian man who just started working in the restaurant at the Park Inn after working on cruise ship for two years near the coast of Florida. He said he was away from his family for two years and needed to find a job closer to home in Ireland. Since he just started working there, he said he did not know the menu that well, but said the chicken curry was delicious and very tasty. Once he said that, I knew that was the perfect first meal.
As I am waiting for my meal, I am overcome by excitement, but also with nerves as I have had awful tasting curry in the past. I was sitting in a dining room close to the hallway of the restaurant and when I saw the waiter coming to my table, the aroma of rich spices and chicken reached my nose again. I instantly knew the smells were coming from my dish. It was elegantly presented with the chicken curry in one bowl and then the vegetable white rice in the other bowl. In between the two bowls, there was a crunchy flat bread that I could dip into the chicken curry and rice. I picked up my fork and dug into the curry, blew on my fork to cool it down, and placed it in my mouth. I immediately fell in love with the curry and was overwhelmed with the taste of chicken, ginger and onion.The rice was cooked to perfection and had just the right amount of butter and salt. The rice melted in my mouth. The flatbread was very thin, but I enjoyed dipping it into my curry to add even more flavor. I was in shock as to how good the chicken curry and rice were and it was definitely the best chicken curry I have ever had. Throughout the rest of my trip in Ireland, I realized in most of the restaurants we went to had chicken curry as a meal option whereas many of the restaurants in the U.S. do not offer it as much. It is one of the most popular meals in Ireland as the meat is fresh from the cattle roaming freely around Ireland. Although I did not have curry again for the remainder of the trip, I knew no other chicken curry could be better than the first meal I had in Ireland.