Food authors and restaurant critics The Gastro Gays list their top 25 favourite carveries from across the country.
Scan the room at the carvery, and it becomes clear that this is the great leveller.
Builders in hi-vis, parents navigating the space with prams, an elderly couple who have been coming for decades and know which table is theirs, a gaggle of teachers on an in-service day — everyone from the local councillor to the GP and parish priest.
The carvery is a kind of culinary town hall, the whole community gathering, separately but together, to grab a well-worn brown tray, line up in ceremonial procession and access and enjoy the same comforting, soul-affirming food.
A fixture of Irish life as dependable as The Sunday Game, there’s a grand democracy to what is essentially a roast dinner served in a pub or hotel, sometimes any day of the week — a carvery is not solely for Sundays, with some places setting out their stall of warmed plates, roasted joints of meat, pitchers of ice water and pint glasses of squash from mid-morning to late evening daily.
The real draw lies in the power of personally dictating your plate — “can I have an extra slice of beef?… roasties and mash please… no cabbage but I will have carrots, and an extra portion of gravy” — even in carvery’s industrialisation it remains a deeply personal, self-fulfilling experience, far more à la carte than being a step removed and ordering at a table.
It might not be particularly gourmet or bear the most pristine provenance, but its enduring power lies in its humility and lack of pretension. Hearty, filling and familiar, the same Bain Maries and carving stations found in effectively every town, village and county.
The same cutlery in circulation since the Nineties, bound tightly in a white napkin, the same ice-cream scoops of mash and ladles of gravy, the deepest shade of wood stain and the viscosity of paint. The carvery endures not because of innovation but because it’s rooted in reliability and accessibility.
Crossing county lines, you know what you’re going to get when you access a carvery, though pricing can vary and subtle regional differences do occur, like the consistency of stuffing, the presence of Yorkshire puddings or chipolata sausages and whether ferociously garlicky creamed potatoes are on offer.
The best of them is where beef blushes in the middle, the turkey comes moist and butter-basted and the ham glistens with a sticky glaze; golden roasties so crisp they shatter noisily with each bite and cauliflower cheese so thick you could stand a fork in it.
A carvery is not only familiar in the well-rehearsed routine of it all, lining up dutifully like you’re getting Communion and respecting the queue like the unspoken rule of ordering pints at a bustling bar. It’s a ritual which is the opposite of divine, an entirely terrestrial pleasure, comforting, simple and nostalgic, filling the stomach while soothing the soul.
Here are 25 of the most popular carveries across Ireland to sink your teeth into — how many have you tried?
The Coachman’s Inn, Cloghran, Co. Dublin
The Morgue, Templeogue, Dublin 6
The Yacht, Clontarf, Dublin 3
The Cook of Kells, Park RÃ, Co. Meath
Grainger’s Hanlon’s Corner, Cabra East, Dublin 7
Corrib Oil, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
Clonsilla Inn, Consilla, Co. Dublin
The Headfort Arms, Kells, Co. Meath
An Poitin Stil, Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
The Courtyard, Leixlip, Co. Kildare
Mulcahys of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
Tolka House, Glasnevin, Dublin 9
Halfway House, Navan Road, Dublin 7
51 Bar, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Killarney Court Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry
Clybaun Hotel, Co. Galway
Elm Tree, Glounthane, Co. Cork
The Granville Hotel, Waterford City
Fagans, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
Harvey’s Point, Co. Donegal
The Galway Hooker, Heuston Station, Dublin 8
Cumiskeys, Ashton, Dublin 7
Eleanoras, Drimnagh, Dublin 12
Flannery’s Hotel Galway