Tankard Restaurant

This family run bar and restaurant has a great reputation, especially for seafood. Truly stunning views on the waters edge of Tralee Bay overlooking the mountains provide the amazing scenery with equally sumptious food.An imaginative bar menu, which overlaps to some extent with the restaurant à la carte, is available from lunchtime to late evening, serving a good range of food. Seafood chowder with delicious hi-fibre home-made brown bread, salads like smoky ‘Boxty’ (smoked salmon with potato cake & salad), cold seafood dishes such as fresh crab and apple salad (a house speciality) and hot snacks including steamed mussels Tankard-style, and plenty of non-seafood dishes too, including warm chicken salad, home-made burgers, pastas and sandwiches. A phone call or e-mail for a reservation is always worthwhile to get the best of seafood cooking, which can be exceptional: the restaurant style is traditional, mainly classic French with Irish overtones. Simple well-cooked food, based on the finest local ingredients with excellent saucing and unfussy presentation give hardly a passing nod to fashion, which makes a refreshing change from the ubiquitous 'world cuisine'. Seafood is undoubtedly at the centre of the menu, much of it sourced through the owners’ connections with the local fishing community, and the choices range from very simple monkfish to lobster and oysters. A good selection of other dishes is offered too, including duckling and lamb. There are sea and mountain views from the restaurant, which has a patio area and a path down to the sea. A very good wine list, well matched to the menu, completes the experience in this seafood-focused restaurant.