Review of 'Éan'

On a cool, rainy Wednesday afternoon we were walking around the tourist area of Galway and not overly impressed by the restaurants in the area. We were delighted to stumble across the understated Éan “restaurant and wine bar” on Druid Lane, a short distance away from the high street, near the harbour.

Inside the cozy wood interior the walls are lined with racks of wine and local art. What had attracted us to Éan was the simple one page lunch menu serving local cuisine. This menu is for dining between noon and 3 pm with familiar items such as “falaffel” (€13.50), and “pork schnitzel” (€14.50) but then some more unusual items such as “squid toast” (€14) and “Ham & scallion croquettes & apple gel” (€9) , all featuring local ingredients. While we pondered the choices we noticed that pretty much everyone in the busy restaurant were having one thing: “Toastie; knockanore [local] cheese, fermented scallions, jalapeno” (€13.5) which looked amazing. Choosing this we were given the option of what bread we wanted (brown, of course) but declined any wine, opting instead for soft drinks.

A short time later the toastie arrived accompanied on the plate with a large rocket salad and a good amount of pesto for dipping. The large sandwich was amazingly good with cheese only slightly sharp but packed full of flavour as was the salad. At the price this was surprisingly good value for the area.

The staff were very friendly and despite the restaurant being so full they were relaxed and brought our orders in good time as we stared out the windows at the wet streets.

A wonderful small, unpretentious, restaurant serving up local ingredients, eschewing the tourist clichés of other local restaurants. Worth seeking out.

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2023-09-13

Cuisine: Irish

Address: Druid Ln, Galway, H91 WD26, Ireland

Location: County Galway (Ireland) - Galway

Map:

Telephone: +353 91 447 592

URL: https://www.eangalway.com/