In my line of work, I speak with a lot of food professionals and craftspeople. In recent months and years, one town keeps popping up in conversation, time and time again:
Ennistymon.
The Co Clare village is just a stone’s throw away from Lahinch and the ocean, but if Lahinch is surfer-central; Ennistymon has become a hideaway for creatives.
In 2020, Irish Country Living highlighted a café (This Is It) which opened when Ger O’Donoghue moved from Dublin to Ennistymon.
I consistently hear of people who have moved to this part of the country – or at least visit regularly - for a change of pace, the rural coastal setting and access to great food and drink.
Like the town itself, one Ennistymon business which keeps popping up in conversation and within my social channels is Pot Duggans: a food-focused pub located on the banks of the Inagh River.
Owned by Dubliner Trev O’Shea (who has family roots in Co Clare), Pot Duggans is one of the more traditional venues associated with his Bodytonic brand.
Bodytonic creates experiences around music, culture, food and drink, with events including Dublin’s Eatyard among others.
The pub, like so many others in rural Ireland, was historically not ‘just’ a pub. It was once also a dairy distribution centre and a grocers; owned by the local Ahern family.
Nan Ahern, in particular (who ran the pub until her death in 2016), was well-known for her butter-making capabilities as well as the epic parties she’d have in the bar’s basement.
You can still see much of the original décor and design as you walk through the three-storey house (which has been restored by Trev and is on offer for accommodation on Airbnb) and ground-level bar; which is laden with old beer bottles and decades-old wallpaper.
Old and new
While the ambiance – the music, the vibe – can, at times, make you feel like you’re in Dublin, you need only to look over your shoulder to be reminded of exactly where you are.
Pot Duggans is a fun, cosy blend of old and new; the kind of spot you could settle into on a Sunday afternoon for a long, food-filled session.
Pot Duggan sunday sessions article by Janine Kennedy ICL \ Claire Nash
And the food has become as large a draw as the historic setting. Thanks to Ballymaloe-trained chef Ashley Gribben, Pot Duggans has become a real culinary destination for those in the know.
Ashley, a Belfast native, says after several years living and cooking off the Wild Atlantic Way there is no other place she’d rather be.
“[A few years ago,] I was in London and I decided to move back; I had family commitments back here in Ireland,” she explains.
“There’s a Ballymaloe alumni Facebook group and as I was moving back a post came up and said, ‘I need a chef in Ennistymon for five months, for the summer period,’ and I replied saying, ‘Yeah that sounds cool.’ It just got me back to Ireland; I had no idea where Ennistymon was!
What could go wrong?
“I thought, ‘It’s five months. What could go wrong?’ That summer I worked in Pot Duggans as sous chef, not head chef, but I fell in love with Clare,” she continues.
“Then, Little Fox (a local restaurant) opened a few months after and Niamh [Fox, the chef and owner] offered me a job.”
Ashley stayed at Little Fox until it closed permanently during the COVID-19 lockdown. When the restaurant closed, she approached Hugo’s Bakery (in Lahinch) for work.
She loved making bread and, since bakeries largely remained open during the pandemic, she could continue to work throughout the lockdown months.
“I thought I would just be [at Hugo’s] for a few months, but I ended up staying a year,” she says. “During that time I was having conversations with Pot Duggans and knew when they reopened I would be the food offering, but it took a while to figure everything out.”
Ash @ Pots
In June 2021 Pot Duggans reopened with Ashley at the helm as head chef. Her weekend menus (called Ash @ Pots) took off immediately, with a good blend of new and repeat customers – people travelling within Clare would hear about the food and stop by, while those within the locality would come for a takeaway.
Before moving to Ennistymon, Ashley worked in celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s London restaurants and bistros for several years.
She loves his style of cooking – which is heavily influenced by global flavours - and enjoys blending Middle Eastern and Indian-inspired recipes with local Irish ingredients.
Currently, you can stop in to Pot Duggans for a pint and an Irish chicken shawarma pita or Berbere spiced lamb with potato filo parcels.
While admitting her particular flavour might not be for everyone, her food has received high praise from punters and critics (like McKenna’s Guides) alike.
“Sometimes people come in, look at the menu, get scared and leave again,” she laughs. “But I still take the gamble. If I’m going to cook anything, I’ll generally go Middle Eastern or Indian. I couldn’t dream of opening a kitchen and cooking Irish style food - it’s not for me.”
Community support
As a community, you could say that Ennistymon has flourished in recent years – and Ashley would agree with this. She says community support has helped build her confidence to keep going with her unique food offerings and her local friends have helped in many other ways, too.
“I feel like I couldn’t have done this when I first came because I didn’t really know anyone,” she says.
“Everyone is so willing to help as soon as you’re part of the community and it really took a village to get [Ash @ Pots] open – someone made me a blackboard, someone painted, others helped with deliveries - I had about 20 people pitch in just to get me open.
“I love the whole ‘living by the sea’ thing, but a big part of Ennistymon is the people,” she adds.
“I have the same takeaway customers every week; I know them all by name. It’s special; you appreciate it so much. At Ottolenghi I didn’t know a single customer, but here I get to see them and chat.”
Sunday Sessions
While you can get Ashley’s menu items from Thursday to Sunday each week for lunch or dinner, I’d be remiss to write about Pot Duggans without mentioning their Sunday Sessions dinners, which have also helped put Ennistymon on the Irish food map.
On a drizzly evening in early April, I was invited to the first of Pot Duggans’ four Summer Sessions dinners for 2022.
These dinners feature a guest chef from elsewhere in Ireland who takes over the kitchen and cooks a multi-course dinner with local ingredients; adding in their own unique flavour.
Ali Dunworth is a writer and food professional who works on Bodytonic’s many food projects – she develops Pot Duggans’ Sunday Sessions each year.
Pot Duggan sunday sessions article by Janine Kennedy ICL \ Claire Nash
“I always think of our food events as a continuation of storytelling; it’s the same thing with Sunday Sessions – we wanted to tell the chefs’ stories with these dinners,” she explains.
“Once we opened, we got to know a few people here in Ennistymon and they said there was definitely an appetite for a more diverse food offering. The first year, I invited Ross Lewis (Chapter One), Jess Murphy (Kai), Paul Flynn (The Tannery) and Enda McEvoy (Loam). They sold out almost instantly.”
The initial success gave Ali the confidence to keep going with Sunday Sessions. This year, the guest chefs include Aisling Moore (Goldie; 23 October) and Bart Pawlukojc and Nicole Server from Aran Kilkenny (25 September).
On our visit, we were treated to a feast from Chef Kevin Burke. Kevin is based in Dublin at the restaurant Library St, but originally hails from Cork. On the night, he was excited to be working with local ingredients which included St Tola goat cheese and Moyhill Farm vegetables.
“It’s my first time in Pot Duggans, my first time in Ennistimon – it’s absolutely class,” he said.
We sat in the converted sheds and enjoyed oysters, freshly picked greens, slow-cooked beef brisket and delicious chanterelle-stuffed chicken wings.
While we were dining as guests of Pot Duggans, these dinners generally cost €55 per person and bookings need to be made for at least two people, or up to six.
Read more
A brave new world of hospitality
Meet the loved-up faces behind Mezze, a Middle Eastern-inspired café in Tramore
In my line of work, I speak with a lot of food professionals and craftspeople. In recent months and years, one town keeps popping up in conversation, time and time again:
Ennistymon.
The Co Clare village is just a stone’s throw away from Lahinch and the ocean, but if Lahinch is surfer-central; Ennistymon has become a hideaway for creatives.
In 2020, Irish Country Living highlighted a café (This Is It) which opened when Ger O’Donoghue moved from Dublin to Ennistymon.
I consistently hear of people who have moved to this part of the country – or at least visit regularly - for a change of pace, the rural coastal setting and access to great food and drink.
Like the town itself, one Ennistymon business which keeps popping up in conversation and within my social channels is Pot Duggans: a food-focused pub located on the banks of the Inagh River.
Owned by Dubliner Trev O’Shea (who has family roots in Co Clare), Pot Duggans is one of the more traditional venues associated with his Bodytonic brand.
Bodytonic creates experiences around music, culture, food and drink, with events including Dublin’s Eatyard among others.
The pub, like so many others in rural Ireland, was historically not ‘just’ a pub. It was once also a dairy distribution centre and a grocers; owned by the local Ahern family.
Nan Ahern, in particular (who ran the pub until her death in 2016), was well-known for her butter-making capabilities as well as the epic parties she’d have in the bar’s basement.
You can still see much of the original décor and design as you walk through the three-storey house (which has been restored by Trev and is on offer for accommodation on Airbnb) and ground-level bar; which is laden with old beer bottles and decades-old wallpaper.
Old and new
While the ambiance – the music, the vibe – can, at times, make you feel like you’re in Dublin, you need only to look over your shoulder to be reminded of exactly where you are.
Pot Duggans is a fun, cosy blend of old and new; the kind of spot you could settle into on a Sunday afternoon for a long, food-filled session.
Pot Duggan sunday sessions article by Janine Kennedy ICL \ Claire Nash
And the food has become as large a draw as the historic setting. Thanks to Ballymaloe-trained chef Ashley Gribben, Pot Duggans has become a real culinary destination for those in the know.
Ashley, a Belfast native, says after several years living and cooking off the Wild Atlantic Way there is no other place she’d rather be.
“[A few years ago,] I was in London and I decided to move back; I had family commitments back here in Ireland,” she explains.
“There’s a Ballymaloe alumni Facebook group and as I was moving back a post came up and said, ‘I need a chef in Ennistymon for five months, for the summer period,’ and I replied saying, ‘Yeah that sounds cool.’ It just got me back to Ireland; I had no idea where Ennistymon was!
What could go wrong?
“I thought, ‘It’s five months. What could go wrong?’ That summer I worked in Pot Duggans as sous chef, not head chef, but I fell in love with Clare,” she continues.
“Then, Little Fox (a local restaurant) opened a few months after and Niamh [Fox, the chef and owner] offered me a job.”
Ashley stayed at Little Fox until it closed permanently during the COVID-19 lockdown. When the restaurant closed, she approached Hugo’s Bakery (in Lahinch) for work.
She loved making bread and, since bakeries largely remained open during the pandemic, she could continue to work throughout the lockdown months.
“I thought I would just be [at Hugo’s] for a few months, but I ended up staying a year,” she says. “During that time I was having conversations with Pot Duggans and knew when they reopened I would be the food offering, but it took a while to figure everything out.”
Ash @ Pots
In June 2021 Pot Duggans reopened with Ashley at the helm as head chef. Her weekend menus (called Ash @ Pots) took off immediately, with a good blend of new and repeat customers – people travelling within Clare would hear about the food and stop by, while those within the locality would come for a takeaway.
Before moving to Ennistymon, Ashley worked in celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s London restaurants and bistros for several years.
She loves his style of cooking – which is heavily influenced by global flavours - and enjoys blending Middle Eastern and Indian-inspired recipes with local Irish ingredients.
Currently, you can stop in to Pot Duggans for a pint and an Irish chicken shawarma pita or Berbere spiced lamb with potato filo parcels.
While admitting her particular flavour might not be for everyone, her food has received high praise from punters and critics (like McKenna’s Guides) alike.
“Sometimes people come in, look at the menu, get scared and leave again,” she laughs. “But I still take the gamble. If I’m going to cook anything, I’ll generally go Middle Eastern or Indian. I couldn’t dream of opening a kitchen and cooking Irish style food - it’s not for me.”
Community support
As a community, you could say that Ennistymon has flourished in recent years – and Ashley would agree with this. She says community support has helped build her confidence to keep going with her unique food offerings and her local friends have helped in many other ways, too.
“I feel like I couldn’t have done this when I first came because I didn’t really know anyone,” she says.
“Everyone is so willing to help as soon as you’re part of the community and it really took a village to get [Ash @ Pots] open – someone made me a blackboard, someone painted, others helped with deliveries - I had about 20 people pitch in just to get me open.
“I love the whole ‘living by the sea’ thing, but a big part of Ennistymon is the people,” she adds.
“I have the same takeaway customers every week; I know them all by name. It’s special; you appreciate it so much. At Ottolenghi I didn’t know a single customer, but here I get to see them and chat.”
Sunday Sessions
While you can get Ashley’s menu items from Thursday to Sunday each week for lunch or dinner, I’d be remiss to write about Pot Duggans without mentioning their Sunday Sessions dinners, which have also helped put Ennistymon on the Irish food map.
On a drizzly evening in early April, I was invited to the first of Pot Duggans’ four Summer Sessions dinners for 2022.
These dinners feature a guest chef from elsewhere in Ireland who takes over the kitchen and cooks a multi-course dinner with local ingredients; adding in their own unique flavour.
Ali Dunworth is a writer and food professional who works on Bodytonic’s many food projects – she develops Pot Duggans’ Sunday Sessions each year.
Pot Duggan sunday sessions article by Janine Kennedy ICL \ Claire Nash
“I always think of our food events as a continuation of storytelling; it’s the same thing with Sunday Sessions – we wanted to tell the chefs’ stories with these dinners,” she explains.
“Once we opened, we got to know a few people here in Ennistymon and they said there was definitely an appetite for a more diverse food offering. The first year, I invited Ross Lewis (Chapter One), Jess Murphy (Kai), Paul Flynn (The Tannery) and Enda McEvoy (Loam). They sold out almost instantly.”
The initial success gave Ali the confidence to keep going with Sunday Sessions. This year, the guest chefs include Aisling Moore (Goldie; 23 October) and Bart Pawlukojc and Nicole Server from Aran Kilkenny (25 September).
On our visit, we were treated to a feast from Chef Kevin Burke. Kevin is based in Dublin at the restaurant Library St, but originally hails from Cork. On the night, he was excited to be working with local ingredients which included St Tola goat cheese and Moyhill Farm vegetables.
“It’s my first time in Pot Duggans, my first time in Ennistimon – it’s absolutely class,” he said.
We sat in the converted sheds and enjoyed oysters, freshly picked greens, slow-cooked beef brisket and delicious chanterelle-stuffed chicken wings.
While we were dining as guests of Pot Duggans, these dinners generally cost €55 per person and bookings need to be made for at least two people, or up to six.
Read more
A brave new world of hospitality
Meet the loved-up faces behind Mezze, a Middle Eastern-inspired café in Tramore
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