‘I ate at Ireland’s best restaurant in Galway but silly mistake made me return’

I’m ashamed to say that despite living in Galway on and off for nearly eight years it was only a few weeks ago when I first tried the Full Irish in what was crowned the 2024’s Best Irish Traditional Pub/Restaurant at the 7th annual Food Awards.

The 7th Food Awards Ireland 2024 from Creative Oceanic powered by Oceanic Events announced their bumper set of winners at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dublin with hundreds of nominees sat in wait for the results. And Galway fared exceptionally well, further growing its reputation as a culinary stronghold to match its cultural fame.

McHugh’s Pub and Restaurant of Castlegar is an institution in Galway and despite many years of saying “I must go there for a fry”, I always seemed to pick somewhere closer when the time came for the next breakfast out.

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But just a few days before the 7th Food Awards Ireland 2024 announced a whopper seven Galway winners, including the prestigious Traditional Pub of the Year for McHughs Traditional Pub & Restaurant of Castlegar, sat in the perfect spot on the Tuam Road.

A Full Irish can make or break a person’s hangover, it’ll either have you on the pig’s back and ready to face reality or will have you even more shook and counting down the minutes until you’re back in bed with curtains closed away from the world.

When the winners were announced for the 7th Food Awards Ireland 2024, I immediately thought back to the minute I landed up to McHugh’s and said to myself “well, there’s no surprise there”.

A Friday morning at 11am and the place was packed. There was about four or five different groups waiting for tables, me included, and groups, as big as 10+, firing through their sausages and rashers already at tables around the big establishment.

I was looking for a table for two and the waitress had a scout about before smiling and saying “you’re just in luck” – and I really felt I was.

As well as a good fry, a cup of tea and coke with ice is essential for me when I’m feeling a bit on the hanging side and I’d say within two minutes of asking for drinks, they had landed out with them along with some toast and bread.

We tackled into all of this while scanning the menu. I always make the error of my eyes being too big for my belly so I only, and I use that word lightly, ordered the ‘Full Breakfast’ which was just €9.50.

For someone who had previously lived in Dublin for the last five years, you’d be lucky to get a breakfast for double that in the capital – and for €0.50 extra, I could have opted for the ‘Maxi’.

And then it came out. My hungover self had made the correct decision because even the ‘Full’ was just about finished by me that morning.

Anyone that knows me knows that beans is a ‘no-no’ in a fry so instead I was given two extra sausages on top of my original two without me asking for a replacement.

The rashers were the perfect amount of salty, lovely pudding, a nice runny egg and enough chips that would normally go with a burger in any other restaurant for twice the price.

My belly already full-ish from Guinness the night before, I rolled over the line to finish the ‘Full’ cursing myself that I had come to this iconic eatery in the state I did.

I promised myself that next time I came back, I wouldn’t make the mistake of being hungover and that on my return I would be conquering the ‘Maxi’ too.

The service is world class and the food is world class but the price for the quantity and quality of food you get, in this day and age, is out of this world.

It’s no wonder that the public, in their droves, voted McHugh’s as the country’s Traditional Pub of the Year – the meal, the price, the service were all top notch. And the pub itself is a cracking spot that shows the best of Irish pubs in a comfortable wee spot.

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