Bestselling author Caroline O’Donoghue’s travel guide to Cork: the best oysters and most fun pub
Bestselling author Caroline O’Donoghue talks us through her best spots from her hometown of Cork and why she loves it so much.
My hometown of Cork is one of the most underrated spots in Ireland. It drives me mad that so many people, when visiting Ireland, go straight to Dublin, which is wonderful but it’s wildly expensive and so full of tech money that it can feel a bit anonymous these days. Cork is a good-sized city that’s fun to walk around, and still has the kind of character you want from a weekend trip to Ireland.
When was the last time you were there, and who were you with?
I’m back in Cork a few times a year, and last time, I brought some American work colleagues with me. They kept saying it was bigger than they expected: particularly as my refrain, when talking about Cork, is always “Cork is so small, everyone knows everyone’s business”. They saw the big streets and the cathedral and thought it felt pretty cosmopolitan. I had to explain that Cork is an optical illusion. It’s a bit like being in Disneyland: it creates the illusion of a city, when really it’s four streets that connect and rotate the same characters, again and again and again. The weather, sadly, wasn’t on our side. We were driven indoors quite a few times by the rain, including to the famous Butter Museum on O’Connell Square. It’s one of those museums that’s so singular in its focus that you can’t help but be charmed by it. Just room after room of butter. My God, do these guys care about butter.
Cork is an optical illusion. It has big streets and a cathedral, but it’s like being in Disneyland: it’s just four streets that rotate the same characters again and again
Where do you like to stay there?
The River Lee hotel is beautiful and has one of the best bars in the city. It’s right near Fitzgerald’s Park and the university, so you can get a really lovely walk in the morning and a peaceful sleep at night, while still being only 10 minutes from the city centre. For old-school charm, I love the Imperial Hotel on Grand Parade. You’re less likely to get a good night’s sleep there (it looks onto the always-busy Crane Lane) but the atmosphere is gorgeous, and there’s a deep sense of history.
Oysters at the River Lee hotel in Cork
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Every famous person who ever passed through Cork has inevitably stayed in the Imperial, so the lobby is decorated with weird little historical curiosities. Letters from the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins’s walking stick and — a crucial addition to any Irish establishment — a photo of John F Kennedy in his motorcade. My husband and I stayed in the Imperial last Christmas and he could not get over how many photos of JFK there were.
What has been your favourite meal there?
I love L’Atitude 51. One of my best meals in Cork was on a rainy night in January when me and my mother took refuge there, and ate the entire menu while sitting at the bar. One of those magic evenings where you suddenly have one of the best meals of your life, without even planning it.
Aberdeen has the deep-fried Mars Bar, Canada has jellied moose nose, and Cork has the roast dinner burito. It’s iconic and slightly grotesque but must be tried
What are your top three restaurants?
I feel like every time I come home four new restaurants have opened, and it’s impossible to get a reservation in any of them. However, three places I make sure to hit up every time I’m home are Arthur Mayne’s, L’Atitude 51 and the café at the Crawford Art Gallery. I also love Market Lane, for some soup-and-sandwich action. If you’re looking for something quick, you have to try Masseytown on Paul Street. Every town has an iconic, slightly grotesque item of fast food that you have to try before you leave: Aberdeen has the deep-fried Mars Bar, Canada has jellied moose nose, and Cork has the roast dinner burrito. Unlike the moose nose, however, Masseytown’s Sunday roast burrito is genuinely worth the pilgrimage. It’s huge, served with a cup of gravy and comes served in a Yorkshire pudding wrap. There’s nothing very “Cork” about a Yorkshire pudding, but Masseytown has made this treat completely iconic.
What is the one unmissable thing you recommend doing?
Climb the Shandon Bells. It’s a cliché, but still great fun, and the ladies who run the place are wonderful.
The one thing you would bring home as a souvenir?
Ballymaloe relish. It comes from Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery School and is a kind of spiced ketchup that instantly improves everything it touches.
Caroline O’Donoghue, New York Times best-selling author and the host of the award-winning podcast Sentimental Garbage
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Is there a hidden gem you are willing to share?
OK, on MacCurtain Street, there’s a bar-restaurant with a waterfall. It’s called Cask, and it never fails to impress people.
Where do you like to let your hair down?
One of the best things about Cork is that you can have one of the best nights of your life in one tiny alleyway. On Pembroke Street there’s a restaurant and cocktail bar called Arthur Mayne’s where you can get dinner downstairs, speakeasy-style cocktails upstairs and, when you’re all done and feel like dancing, you can wander into their club, The Crane Lane. It’s my favourite place on Earth to go dancing: a genuinely lovely vibe and such good music. It’s the one club where you never feel too old or too young.
Though my favourite pub is The Hibernian or Hi-B, a tiny, cosy little spot that encourages conversation between customers by having a zero-tolerance policy on phones. If you take your phone out, you’re asked to put it away, or you have to leave, and that’s that. That might sound a bit curmudgeonly, but I’ve had some of the best nights of my life in that bar.
One of the best things about Cork is that you can have one of the best nights of your life in one tiny alleyway
My mum runs an old-style Victorian sweet shop called Sweet Heart, so I am legally obliged to mention that. She’s also across the street from a traditional toy shop called Pinocchio’s and it’s a really lovely spot to hit up if you’re visiting with young kids.
A rain jacket and a jumbo-pack of Nurofen Plus. The only thing really to do in Cork is drink, I’m afraid, and despite your best efforts you will be hungover.
A song that reminds you of the place?
The Night the Goat Broke Loose on the Grand Parade. It’s an insane song but, if you’ve heard it once, it sticks in your head for ever.
Your dress code for the destination?
Cork is very firmly “jeans and a nice top” country. Thank God.
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