Ard Bia & Ard Bia @ Nimmos

Until Aoibheann McNamara came along, the person who put the greatest style into using the endearment “darling” was the great Bunny Wailer. “I’ll play your fav’rit’ song, daarrlingg, so we can rock it all night long, daaarrrlinggg, yeah, yeah”, he sang on the classic “Mellow Mood” from “Bunny Wailer Sings The Wailers”.
But Ms McNamara can out-do Bunny when it comes to turning “darling” into the word that speaks straight, directly, unmistakably, just and only to you. “Good evening, darling” she says as you walk into the cloisters of Ard Bia @ Nimmo’s, and she has you straight away. No contest. You just turned into a little puppy. Aoibheann is a great host and she runs a great downstairs café and a great upstairs restaurant, with food unlike anyone else’s. Mark Leigh’s cooking is vibrant, tactile and fresh, as well as surprising – sea trout with smoked pork; striploin with wild mushroom batter; pearl barley risotto with St Tola goats’ curd. It’s exactly the right food in the right room with the right, languid, laissez-faire, laid-back philosophy. Only in Galway, darling.