Sunday was another beautiful sunny day in Ireland. The rain is to come on Monday. The young woman waiting with me for the bus to Galway told me about a restaurant up the road in The Weir where many Americans go to eat fresh seafood. “It’s a bit pricy, but the food is fresh and it is right on the oyster bay.”
I saw the sign for Moran’s when we passed by the turnoff on the way to Galway. On Sunday I decided to treat myself and head out to The Weir. The bridge at the turnoff is a stone bridge and the road takes snake turns around the river. Many places the road is only one vehicle wide and the passing by is tremendously stressful. At the end of the road is the restaurant, out in the middle of nowhere. The seafood chowder recipe has been passed down through seven generations. Baked salmon with the mashed potatoes and green vegetables is a definite, but the brown bread is made with Guinness beer. The entire bill came to 26.95 euros with enough food left over for two more meals. Here is what Moran’s says on their website about their history:
Moran’s Restaurant, The Weir, Kilcolgan, Co Galway, Ireland
“The Weir was named after an old wall constructed across the nearby tidal Dunkellin river to trap salmon. Local people also dredged for Galway Bay Oysters from the nearby Oyster Beds. Throughout the 1800s large boats (Galway Bay Hookers) brought turf (Peat) from the bogs of Connemara and seaweed which was a natural soil fertiliser from the Aran Islands. Local farmers would come with horse drawn carts to buy turf for winter fires and seaweed for their farms. This was thirsty work and could only be satisfied with a pint of Guinness or a glass of whiskey. Three of the nine houses in The Weir acquired liquor licenses and a flourishing trade was done for years. Daniel Moran who came to the village in the 1760s held one of these licenses. This was passed down through seven generations to the present day. During the 1940s sea trade took a different turn as the turf haulage started to be done by lorry so this meant that all the fine turf boats were left idle and faded away. The business at Moran’s went into decline until 1966 when the pub began serving seafood.”
The oyster bay is right in front of the restaurant. Notice the intricate thatched roof and the one on the right has a thatched lizard on the very top of the roof.
Leara Rhodes 