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Neptune Hotel Restaurant Review
© November 2005 issue
The Neptune Beach Hotel, The Square, Bettystown, Co. Meath
041 9827107
As our regular reviewer was fortunate enough to be in New Zealand for most of
October, this month’s restaurant review has been written by a guest reviewer.
Recently on a bright Sunday morning, my husband and I decided to try the Jazz
Sunday lunch at the Neptune Beach Hotel.
When we arrived, the first question they asked was if we had booked. We hadn’t.
A table was still available. Next our hostess wanted to make sure we knew what
this was about. There is no menu. It’s a five course buffet meal, you get your
starter, then they’ll serve the soup, afterwards you help yourself to the buffet
for the rest of the meal including the main course and desert buffet completed
with a tea or coffee. The price is €30 per person, exactly as it said on the
door.
As we sat down we reflected that perhaps if we had booked, we may have been
closer to the sea view, but then again we would have been further from the
music.
Meantime, up we went to see what the starter buffet looked like. It was almost a
dream come true for seafood lovers like us. There was a really good choice of
classic seafood; crab claws, prawns, smoked salmon and also not so typical
around here, oysters, mussels, clams, crawfish. They were all well presented,
and the buffet was refilled really regularly.
But that wasn’t all. It is one of the few times that I was presented with actual
tomatoes, not these greenish things that commonly masquarade under the name in
Ireland. These tomatoes were red and tasty, accompanied with mozzarella cheese.
Delicious! All this was completed with lettuce, mushrooms, melon, potato salad.
We came back to our table and started looking around. There were a few big
tables with families, some children playing around. The room itself was
spacious, with a lovely view on the sea and on this particular day, windsurfers.
Then the musicians started to arrive, late. There were three of them, one
playing the trumpet, one the piano and one the guitar. All along they played
mainly classic themes, with some variations as jazz musicians do. I found them
quite good and an enjoyable background through the lunch.
As a real seafood lover, the starters were a delight and to be honest except for
two slices of tomatoes, I didn’t try any of the salads; but my husband did, and
he seemed happy with them, as he did when he tried all of the different
varieties of seafood.
The clams where a bit bland and dry - not the way we French like them; we prefer
to eat them raw but I haven’t yet meet anybody in Ireland who likes them this
way - , or at least served with a bit of their cooking juices and maybe their
shells. I went back for some more seafood, it was so tempting, I was like a
child with ice cream.
Then the soup of the day (veg) came, smooth and creamy, we had asked for just a
half bowl as my eyes were on the left part of the buffet : dessert and whipped
cream. So why fill up ourselves with soup when we could see what was to come
later… we almost regretted this. The soup was very tasty and creamy.
Then came the main course a choice of 4 different roasts (bacon, beef…) and
salmon en croute, and of course the traditional choice of potatoes (mash, roast,
…) and veg. We agreed that one of us would have the fish and the other the
traditional Irish roast.
Both were a delight for the palate. I really enjoy the roast. I had bacon and a
bit of beef (I couldn’t choose), the cook carved it on request. My husband took
the salmon, very elaborate salmon en croute actually, the kind I’ll never do.
This dish showed layers of spinach, fried rice and salmon encased in a pastry.
It came with a sauce that was quite good as well. It was served a big chunk that
filled almost half the plate.
Later on when they didn’t have any salmon en croute left, they proposed some
salmon fillet but it wasn’t as temping and everyone choose the roast instead of
the fish. I was surprised because they ran out of salmon en croute really early,
it’s a pity for those who went there for a late Sunday lunch.
Quickly after we were finished the waiters came to take our plates away. They
looked after us quite well during the meal.
Then came the dessert part, it was what I first saw on the buffet, and by the
time we got there (not so late) we still had a good choice but no more apple pie
and worst of all, no more profiteroles. It’s so frustrating when the dessert
you’d seen and looked forward to has vanished. But we had some really good
chocolate cake, strawberry cheesecake, fruit salad, strawberries and whipped
cream!
All was very good even though I wonder how we managed to eat all of it. We saw
them bring some fruit tart after we left, but couldn’t even think to eat
anything more. We took some time finishing our teas, enjoying the music and
waiting to be able to move again before paying and leaving.
Time to leave and pay. In conclusion we had a good time, and we were happy to be
there early enough to have a wide choice, we might go back when my parents will
be visiting and make them discover the Irish Sunday lunch. The next time we
might try to book a table to enjoy the sea view.
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The
Meath Coaster
