In the Pynck at the Irish Restaurant Awards Best Newcomer 2019

by Kim Mullahey · Published February 7, 2020 · Updated February 7, 2020

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DEEP in the boglands of rural County Kildare lies one of the best kept secrets in Ireland, a restaurant that hit the ground at a run when the Irish Restaurant Awards named The Grill Shack at Roche’s Pub as the 2019 Best Newcomer within months of opening.

The Grill Shack at Roche’s Pub, deep in County Kildare Ireland

The surprise win wasn’t in food alone – it is fantastic and the win, well deserved – and it wasn’t in the restaurant’s location, so very far off the beaten track even by Irish standards, and attached to the back of a pub.

Known as ‘The Sinking Pub’ on the bogland of Derrycrib in Donadea, Ireland, Roche’s Pub has earned world renown as an Irish version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The pub dates to the late 1800s and is nearly the last place in its rural setting on the edge of a bog, in the middle of seemingly nowhere that an eatery of any kind would be expected to pop up.

The surprise secret behind the Shack’s success is in its multi-Michelin star Chef Aidan Kelly, the restaurant’s owner who has brought great food from locally sourced fresh ingredients to earn the Best Newcomer accolade. The Kerry man brought the concept home to Kildare, the same Irish county that his wife is from, and built a place filled with rustic charm around great food.

“It is food for the masses,” said Aidan Kelly of his menu when he spoke with Pynck.com. “We get everything fresh in a constant turnover and that is what keeps it good.”

Open from Thursday to Sunday during the winter months, what was on the menu on this particular night was the special skillet of monkfish with chorizo and leek in a white wine cream sauce that smacked of the USA’s best Deep South seafood gumbo or Cape Cod hot pot. Meaty chicken wings in a fruity hot sauce preceded the main event, and that wasn’t all.

Along came the dessert menu, and the chocolate brownie sundae was worth every bite, rich in hot chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream and underneath, a gooey brownie, right down to the crispy edges.

The Grill Shack’s Brownie Sundae, served in a miniature milk jug

The starter included creamy garlic dip, complete with celery baton while the main course, for all that was in the skillet came with steaming platters of new potatoes and mange tout, lightly blanched and pan seared.

Hot and spicy chicken wings bring the flavour of the USA’s Deep South to rural County Kildare, Ireland

The Grill Shack’s own version of seafood gumbo

Even in its rural setting and even though the secret that this place even exists isn’t quite out, reservations are strongly encouraged. It’s a favourite spot among the locals and with the very entertaining Chef Kelly and the multi-level sinking pub facing the road to Timahoe Village and points beyond, the place is usually packed.

Added Chef Aidan Kelly, “It is good, simple food and lots of it. It’s what people want.”