My mother recommended we stop into The Step House in Borris, Co Carlow on the way back from a recent trip to the area, citing their lunch as the best in southeast. We made it just in time to order from the full lunch menu, which runs from 12.30 to 2.30 every day.
Sitting in the very comfortable bar area we perused the small, but perfectly formed, lunch menu. Their lunch special is €16 for two courses. The emphasis here seems to be on simple, fresh and locally sourced produce. It’s a while since we were there and, unfortunately, this menu is nowhere to be found on the Internet, but rest assured, the choices were all delicious sounding and we found it difficult to narrow it down to two main courses!
Jim had a beautiful, succulent serving of pork belly, which came with dried apricots, gravy (or some kind of jus, darn my memory!) and mash. I had bacon and cabbage, served with big floury spuds, parsley sauce and a smear of English mustard on the bacon, as a lover of English mustard, I was delighted with this genius last touch! To say the portions were generous is a serious understatement. Mine, in particular, was huge, perfectly cooked and really tasty. They also brought a very large side dish of vegetables at no extra cost.
We were too full to order a dessert each but felt it would have been remiss to completely forego a sweet treat. We shared a Chocolate Pave with Peanut Butter Ice-Cream, a surprisingly light dessert with a wonderful combination of flavours.
If you’re in the area The Step House Hotel is not to be missed, on top of the delicious food, it’s excellent value and the service was faultless. My mother also informs me that their dinner menu is spectacular and of “Michelin star standard”. That’s some serious big talk and I’ll definitely be returning to investigate. Our bill for two mains, one dessert and two sparkling waters came to €32.20 before service.