Bantry’s Donemark West Restaurant
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| Chicken |
You’ll find one of the Bantry's best restaurants in Donemark West. Donemark what? You may well ask. Well Donemark West is a small but excellent restaurant in a cottage type building between Bantry and Ballylickey.
You’ll find them waiting at the door for you with a warm welcome and soon they’ll have you seated with menus in hand. Service, from start to finish, was just as friendly as the welcome, helpful too without being intrusive in any way
The seating is varied. There are a couple of tables for two, a few booths for four, a circular booth for six and another free standing table for six. Large windows look out across the road but the blinds were down when we visited perhaps to shade us from the setting sun. There are roadworks in slow progress outside but don’t worry as Donemark has its own parking yard.
We called there towards the end of March for dinner, nibbling on their excellent breads and dips while waiting for our starters. Our options included Warm Scampi Salad, Golden Fried Brie with Sweet Chilli Jam, or Union Hall Smoked Salmon all off the regular menu while the Specials were Leek and Potato Soup, Chicken Liver Paté with Smoked Skeaghanore Duck and Local Crab Toes in Garlic Butter.
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| Crab |
Those delicious crap toes were my pick. CL absolutely enjoyed her Peri Peri Warm Chicken Salad. I got a taste of that and the chicken, so well cooked, was also really high class, as good as you’ll get.
And they kept coming up with the good things. Again I went to the Specials board (they do tell you all about them in any case) for my Grilled Fillets of John Dory with a Prawn and white wine sauce. Looked great and tasted even better.
Meanwhile the fish theme continued with our other mains of Baked Fillet of Cod with a garlic crumb, cauliflower purée and bacon crumb, another delicious and well executed dish.
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| John Dory and prawns |
We knew there were sides coming but more than surprised when four dishes arrived for sharing: red cabbage, mash potato, fries and carrots. Again all nicely cooked, not too hard, not too soft. Lovely and all as they were, we didn’t get through all the sides but the main dishes were certainly polished off with gusto.
Other mains on offer that evening were Honeyed breast of Barbary Duck; two different steaks, Dry aged fillet and Dry aged Ribeye; and a Wild Mushroom Risotto with Parmesan and Salad. And they have a wide ranging selection of wines to choose from.
To finish we could pick from their Cheeseboard or from desserts such as Meringue Kisses with cream, strawberries and caramel sauce; Creamed Rice Pudding with ice cream; or Vanilla Crème Brûlée. We decided to share the Warm Chocolate Fondant with Praline and ice cream, a real treat for the finalé.
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| Cod |
The place was buzzing at this point but that didn't stop our main server from seeing us to the door and saying good night. Like I said, a friendly spot with good food.
Also on this trip:
