{"id":214608,"date":"2025-12-04T07:17:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T07:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/214608\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T07:17:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T07:17:27","slug":"is-this-the-best-sunday-lunch-in-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/214608\/","title":{"rendered":"Is this the best Sunday lunch in Ireland? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thyme<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d8<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Address:<\/strong> Custume Place, Athlone, Co Westmeath<\/p>\n

Telephone:<\/strong> 090 647 8850<\/p>\n

Cuisine:<\/strong> Modern International<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> https:\/\/thymerestaurant.ie\/Opens in new window<\/a><\/p>\n

Cost:<\/strong> \u20ac\u20ac\u20ac<\/p>\n

In a recent Michelin<\/a> Guide newsletter, the restaurant gods finally spelt out what a Bib Gourmand actually is \u2013 overdue clarity now that the old price cap has vanished into fog. And no, it\u2019s not a halfway house to a star, despite the mythology that sprang up after Bastible<\/a> in Dublin<\/a> went from Bib to one star in 2022.<\/p>\n

A Bib isn\u2019t a style. It\u2019s a hunch: inspectors walk in, eat unusually well for what they deem a fair price, and decide someone deserves credit for not fleecing the public. There\u2019s no checklist, no compulsory rustic crockery, no foie-gras origami. Michelin is clear about what you\u2019re unlikely to find \u2013 nitrogen clouds and ultra-precious ingredients \u2013 but beyond all that, the whole point is \u201cdistinct character\u201d.<\/p>\n

Thyme in Athlone<\/a> is deemed to have character enough to merit a Bib. Awarded in 2019, owners John and Tara Coffey have maintained it since. Of more significance is the fact that it is one of Mickael Viljanen<\/a>\u2019s favourite places for Sunday lunch. No small praise from the chef-patron of two-Michelin-star Chapter One. <\/p>\n

The menu will warm your heart, because right at the bottom is a list of organic growers, free-range pork producers and serious butchers and fishmongers. Starters run from ham hock with a crispy egg to partridge ballotine, bluefin with ajo blanco, a shiitake custard and a smoked-mackerel velout\u00e9. Mains land firmly in winter territory \u2013 rib-eye with Yorkshire pudding, wild sika deer, plaice, John Dory, pork in several cuts and a Delicata-squash pithivier. <\/p>\n

The wine list is compiled confidently: European, organically minded and priced with restraint. By-the-glass pours sit around the \u20ac10-\u20ac12 mark, running from Loire Sauvignon and Sardinian Vermentino to Cahors Malbec, Xinomavro and Ribera del Duero. A glass of Domaine Macia Cr\u00e9mant (\u20ac15) and a glass of Veronica Salgado, Ribera del Duero (\u20ac12) sit well alongside the dishes.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Great places to eat at moderate prices in Ireland\u2019: Michelin\u2019s Bib Gourmand restaurants 2025Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

House-made sourdough with a quenelle of butter takes the edge off our hunger before the starters arrive. The bluefin is exquisite \u2013 diamonds of rose-centred fish set in a smooth ajo blanco, the grapes, toasted almonds, bright drops of olive oil, and tiny leaves placed with deliberate care (\u20ac16). The warm partridge ballotine (\u20ac16) is a tight cylinder of bird sitting on pommes pur\u00e9e, ringed with tiny Romanesco florets and small cut-out flowers of Purple Rain potatoes. Someone in the kitchen has serious patience.<\/p>\n

I am here for the roast beef (\u20ac36), a slab of aged rib-eye with a seam of fat to keep it basted as it develops a gnarly char on the outside. Precisely cooked, two thick slices are very much on the rare side of medium, served with roast onion pur\u00e9e, cheek and potato terrine and a neat little jug of gravy. The Yorkshire pudding is enormous and shatteringly crisp, the perfect receptacle for the rich jus.<\/p>\n

\"ThymeThyme in Athlone \"ThymeThyme in Athlone \"ThymeThyme in Athlone <\/p>\n

A generous tranche of John Dory (\u20ac36) is burnished gold on top, pearlescent underneath, set over a glossy, herb-green ring and a seaweed beurre blanc. Around it are little pommes dauphine, a few pickled mussels, and a tight cylinder of leek pressed into a mosaic.<\/p>\n

There are generous portions of sides \u2013 new potatoes and a superb mix of broccoli and cubes of courgette dressed in onion and bacon.<\/p>\n

Desserts stay classic and are all \u20ac12. The apple terrine is exquisite, a neat, amber-glazed slab, the layers pressed tightly over a buttery sabl\u00e9 base. Beside it is a quenelle of vanilla-flecked ice-cream, sitting on a sabl\u00e9 crumb, scattered with thin batons of raw apple standing at angles like scaffolding.<\/p>\n

\"SmokedSmoked Mackerel Velout\u00e9, Crumpet, Mackerel Pat\u00e9, Pickled Onion at Thyme \"LoinLoin and Shoulder of Wild Sika Deer, Fresh Hazelnut Kluski, White Turnip, Damson <\/p>\n

The coffee custard tart arrives as a long, slim wedge with a perfectly even surface, the colour of a flat white. Off to the side is a neat scoop of whiskey ice-cream with two shards of meringue teetering on top. A dark dot of coffee caramel sits nearby for a formidable espresso hit.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Michelin-starred restaurants in Ireland, 2025: The complete guideOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

With serious suppliers, technical skill and clean execution, Thyme does exactly what a Bib Gourmand is meant to recognise. But the tyre men or women might take a harder look and compare it honestly with the places that earn a Michelin star in parts of France \u2013 some of which amount to sous-vide banqueting food served in a handsome room or on a scenic terrace. Despite what they claim, perhaps the one-star threshold still depends on the setting, unless you\u2019re running a street-food operation. Would a smarter room be enough? Or a bit of caviar theatre? In the meantime, this remains the best Sunday lunch you\u2019re likely to find in the country.<\/p>\n

Lunch for two with two glasses of wine was \u20ac155.<\/p>\n

The Verdict:<\/b> Classic cooking at a serious level.<\/p>\n

Food provenance:<\/b> Gillivan\u2019s Butchers, Pigs on the Green free-range pork, Millhouse Organic Farm, Lough Boora Organic Farm, Glenmar Seafood, and Eamon Giblin\u2019s Gourmet Game<\/p>\n

Vegetarian options:<\/b> Mossfield cheese custard, Garryhinch shiitake mushroom royale, and pithivier of Delicata squash.<\/p>\n

Wheelchair access:<\/b> Accessible room with no accessible toilet.<\/p>\n

Music<\/b>: Torch songs and movie classics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thyme \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d9 \ue9d8 Address: Custume Place, Athlone, Co Westmeath Telephone: 090 647 8850 Cuisine: Modern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,361,22906,5281,33646,19871],"class_list":{"0":"post-214608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-magazine","13":"tag-michelin","14":"tag-restaurant","15":"tag-restaurant-reviews","16":"tag-westmeath"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115660079579438893","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}