Dinner In Bunratty Castle

Last Saturday night we arrived at our hotel just outside of Limerick.  We were all really excited because we knew that we were having (a free) dinner in a castle.  That castle was named Bunratty Castle.

We were let through the castle doors at 5:30 and then had to climb up a spiral staircase until you made it to the living room.  We were given a glass of mead.  Mead is a honey based alcohol that is sweet and is a little stronger than wine.  Everyone, including locals and our professors were telling us to "mind the mead" every year supposedly the mead crept on some people and they got a little too drunk.  So we all enjoyed our first glass and then we were escorted downstairs to the dining room which was a huge room full of tables and a stage for entertainment.

  We then took our seats and were told that we were going to have a four course meal, and to a college student that is like heaven to our ears.  We were given a small plate, a napkin, a glass for wine, and a small glass filled with lemon and water.  This cup was for our hands since we were only given a knife to cut the meat.  Our first course was a vegetable soup with some bread and that was really good.  Since we didn't have any silverware we had to drink the soup straight out of the bowl like they would have done in the medieval times.  Our second course was prime rib and the meat literally fell off the bone.  I can honestly say that it was the best prime rib I have ever had.  We were all trying to pace ourselves so we wouldn't get full so I had to slow down on the prime rib.  Our third course was chicken and potatoes, and this was probably the hardest course to eat without any silverware, we all used the knife kind of like a fork.  Our fourth course was a cheese cake and we were given a spoon to eat this.  After they delivered our dessert we were all full, and they filled up our pitchers of wine and water and told us in about five minutes direct our attention to the stage.  We were all stuffed and turned our attention to the stage and listened to some good traditional Irish music sung by the staff.

 

Then we were directed downstairs for our final drink which was either coffee or tea because they knew that we were all really full from the delicious meal that we had just devoured.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my trips so far.