Just before Christmas, down at the BNI we decided to celebrate in style. One of our business colleagues is sales executive for Day's Hotel in Tullamore, so our choice of venue was easy. Not only had we met weekly at Day's, we’d also sampled their cuisine…
Truthfully, it was superb! The choice of courses was limited to a table d'hote menu, but it was more than adequate and the standard overall was very high. Our table was arranged so that all 26 BNI members plus partners could communicate easily with one another. The rest of the restaurant was attended to separately and sectioned off allowing all parties to enjoy their meal without distraction, this worked well.
House wine served with the meal was a very acceptable in red and a white, of a well known label. Each course presented several choices. Starters ranged from a simple soup de jour to a seafood gateau, which was apparently very good. The salad accompanying my confit of duck was overly elaborate, proving to be slightly off-putting. I would have preferred a simple leaf salad.
The main course presented the obligatory turkey and ham, and other choices, including duckling and of course the ubiquitous side of steak! Our membership is mainly of the male persuasion, so it is no surprise that this was the main contender. Steak was ordered by almost everyone, ranging from well done to medium. I am however rather partial to the slightly more adventurous rare steak.
Much to the horror of the maître d, I was served a 'blue steak!' The inside was RAW, bloody and barely warm while the outside was steak coloured and hot! (Yuck!) He dealt with this discretely and efficiently, while compensating me generously with red wine. My only complaint is that in replacing the offending article with a rather larger cooked version and fresh vegetables I hadn’t left enough room for them!
Moving on to the dessert course, once again we were presented with several choices. The majority however went for the traditional Christmas Pudding with the Bailey’s Cheesecake coming a close second, although my bread and butter pudding went down rather well. There other lighter selections offered, although my memory two months later isn’t what it could be.
In conclusion I would highly recommend Day’s Hotel for any celebratory function. Their prices are reasonable, the service and quality of staff is excellent and the food is very good. All in all, while Day’s is not a luxurious hotel, its connections with the upper end of the hotel market are obvious in their attention to detail and quality.
All in all the Uibh Fhaili Chapter of Business Networking International had a thoroughly enjoyable evening and will be returning some nine months hence. Should you wish to join us for our regular Thursday morning business referral meetings please contact me by leaving a comment to that effect…
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