#travelfood | Where Sasha Went

South Pole Inn – Annascaul, Ireland

November 21, 2018

On our evening in Annascaul, after all the dust settled…or rather after we washed off all the dust from the day we chose to eat dinner at the South Pole Inn. There may have been other places to eat in town, honestly we didn’t even check. We just knew that this was the place we were going to eat.

Opened by Tom Crean and his wife Ellen around the 1920s. The pub is small and cozy, once again exactly what one would expect from an Irish Pub. Stone walls, big fire place, small wooden bar and a handful of tables. The interior is filled to the brim with information and memorbelia from Tom Crean’s life. While we were waiting for food I of course had to pick through the stack of books on the mantel.

The meal was exceptional as all of them were. We had a mix of food, curry, fish, pasta, chicken. It was all amazing. The service was quick, we lingered in the cozy atmosphere and never once felt like we were pressured to vacate even though people continued to stream in through the doors all night. Every one chatted merrily and enjoying their time. Including the baby on the floor by the fire and the toddler in the window box. It was clearly a neighbor hood place, and what a wonderful neighborhood to be in.

Finglas House – Camp, Ireland

October 17, 2018

As I mentioned, the second we would get to our rooms after each day our bags would explode. The hiking bootes would come off, clean clothes found and often a quick lay down was needed before dinner. Hence the horrendous picture of our room. Aside from the thrown aside bedding and the opened bags, the point however is to point out that while our accommodations along the way were not always fancy, they were clean and comfortable. Which is exactly what we needed given the type of trip we were on.

Day two ended in Camp and as previously mentioned this is in fact the name of a town. This was also the first day we had experienced the baggage transfer done by our touring company and as promised our bags were awaiting our arrival in the lobby of our guesthouse. We were greeted by a very lovely woman named Kathleen who owns the Finglas Guesthouse. She showed up to our rooms and then the exploding of the bags happened. Then off to the Ashes Pub for dinner which I talked about in a previous post.

After dinner and a shower I set myself up in the lovely second floor lounge. There was tea and cookies provided by Kathleen, which I took full advantage of. The rest of the group congregated after their respective adulations and we spent a lovely evening planning our next day.

Thanks to jet lag I was up bright and early. Dressed, repacked and ready to eat breakfast approximately and hour before it was ready. C’est la vie. Breakfast was severed on time in the downstairs dining room that overlooks the bay. There were a variety of options, I of course chose the “Full Irish” plus coffee, toast and a little more coffee. It was perfection as expected from the quaint little place. We were also given a sack lunch again, this time a suspect sandwich and chips. My chips were cheese and onion, though there was a chicken flavor floating around in one of my groups sack lunches as well. Turns out the suspect sandwich was cheese and tomato which was quite good. Chips weren’t bad either.

Ashes Pub – Camp, Ireland

October 10, 2018

For our second night of the trip we were put up in Upper Camp (this is the actual name of a town, not the activity of sleeping in the woods). The village which is split into upper and lower sections is relatively small, and the area we were staying in especially small. A handful of houses, our guesthouse, a bar that was closed and the Ashes Pub.

I would link the site if there was one, the best I could find is the trip advisor link or if you look it up on google maps where you can find their address and open hours. This is not to be confused with the Ashes Pub in Dingle, which does have a website. I did find a video on YouTube which appears to just be a personal video overlain with Irish music, but it gives you a good idea of the size of the place.

Regardless of a lacking website and its modest exterior the place is perfection. The bar inside is exactly what one would expect from an Irish Pub. Low ceilings, stone work, worn woodwork and the nicest people you will ever meet. The food was outstanding, like 5 star dining outstanding. I had lamb with mint sauce, I inhaled it. Not only was I starving from the hike that day but it was so good I just couldn’t help myself.

We must have gotten there early though, as it was quiet when we first sat down, but by the time we were on our second round of drinks the parking lot was full and the pub was packed to the gills. The food took a while cooked to order as it were, and worth the wait. The wait staff couldn’t have been kinder and the bartender/owner was full of snarky jokes. I loved this place through and through.
Additional Information:

Address: Camp Cross, Ballinknockane, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Hours: 5pm to Midnight daily.
Notes: Cash only, and be patient the food is worth the wait.

The Drive-In – Condon, Oregon

October 7, 2018

A few weeks ago I talked about the Condon Hotel which is a darling historic hotel in Condon Oregon. While we were there we obviously needed to eat dinner. There were a couple restaurants that we wanted to eat at, one was closed and the other was out of to go boxes. Third times a charm took us to The Drive-In, which is on the south end of town across the street from the newly built city park which was also having a farmers market that we had wandered around earlier in the day.
We chatted with the owner a bit while we waited for our burger, which we split with a large order of curly fries and a chocolate shake. He had mentioned that they had recently opened but they were busy so I didn’t get the chance to get too many details about how new or the history of the building they occupied. It was clearly built as a drive in, and was very popular with the locals.

They had an extensive menu with some really fantastically inventive burgers. We chose one that had a slice of ham as well as the burger. It was incredible! If it weren’t a 10 hour drive from my house I would go there for dinner every week.
We had a wonderful time sitting there waiting for our food, not only chatting with the owner but the locals that came and went for their dinners as well. I love getting to witness this kind of small town community and caring. They do not have a full website but a Facebook page with their hours can be found here. I would highly suggest stopping in if you find your way out there. Though as I write this in August they are currently closed as they are feeding the firefighters in the area trying to keep the wildfires from burning any more farms and historic homes. Once again, small town caring and community, it’s so wonderful to see.
Additional Information:

433 S Main St. Condon Oregon
11am to 7pm
Closed Sunday

Hotel Condon – Condon, Oregon

September 16, 2018

Condon Oregon was established in 1893, named by the first post master David B Trimbel after Harvey Condon whoes firm first sold the townsite lots in 1884 after having acquired the land from a local homesteader. The town was once the last southern stop on the Union Pacific line that ran down from the Columbia River. And like most towns in Oregon when the trains stopped running the people stoped coming.

The hotel sits on the main street of town, which thanks to an 1998 initiative has been listed on the National Registry of Historic places and has enjoyed some refurbishment money. Some new businesses have opened up including a number of excellent restaurants, a gift and bookshop as well as the theater and of course Hotel Condon.

Hotel Condon was first opened in 1920. It has been updated with modern amenities and offered complimentary breakfast as well as a wine and cheese reception in the evenings. Our room was just lovely, bright and clean. Updated with comfortable furniture, wi-fi and television. We thoroughly enjoyed the wine and cheese, which we ate outside as it was such a wonderful evening. Then we got burgers to go from down the street and hung around our room. I would highly recommend the hotel, even if it weren’t the only place in town.