Savour Kilkenny 27th – 30th October 2017 Bank Holiday Weekend

Well hello there fellow wanderers! Its been a while since our last post!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a wander down to Kilkenny for

Savour Kilkenny was on from the 27th – 30th October 2017 Bank Holiday Weekend

A little piece from their website:

Savour Kilkenny is truly a festival for all food lovers out there. Set against the backdrop of the beautiful medieval city of Kilkenny, in Ireland’s South East, Savour brings together local and national top quality food produce, talented Chefs, a mix of exciting, tasty food options in our food market, and plenty more for everybody to enjoy.

Over the course of the festival, there will an extensive selection of both free and ticketed events. Come along with your family and friends, and browse food markets, watch cookery demonstrations, participate and listen to foodie discussions,  enjoy a wide variety of specially designed drink and dining events in local hotels, restaurants, cafés and bars.

I hadn’t heard of this food festival before but it's in its 11^th year and definitely worth a visit!

I arrived down on Saturday around 12 O’Clock with an empty belly to an absolutely jam packed town, loads of hustle and bustle, and the smell of street food in the air!

Parking was easy enough at the local SuperValu - €13 to leave the car for 24 hours! Happy days

The festival is right beside Kilkenny Castle, what a fabulous setting!

Picture Credit to Savour KK Facebook page

Right my belly is now grumbling but I want to take a full walk around and check out everywhere before committing to where I want to treat my taste buds!
There was probably over 100 stalls there, full of homemade products for sale, street food cooking away,ranging from smoked BBQ to Indian to Gourmet burgers!

First stop – Kikenny Street Feast stall! 

I treated myself to the Hot Chicken Bageutte:

Free range chicken, Aioli, Fresh locally sourced Rocket (skipped the cheese) on the most amazing fresh crunchy white baguette! Like actual heaven! 

The staff were absolutely lovely, you could tell they were so passionate about their food, and so proud of that everything is locally sourced! 

All mains came with a free dessert - Amazing slice of lemon drizzle unfortunately not pictured - I'm worst blogger ever!!! 

Absolutely stuffed - I couldn't even finish the sandwich - and believe me I tried lol, I decided to walk it off by taking a little trip around Kilkenny Castle!

Anyone that knows me knows my OBSESSION with castles and just  barely made the last tour.

Last entrance is around 4.15 and takes approx 45mins to walk around in full and closes at 5

€8 per adult - which I didnt mind paying at all since all the funding goes to the upkeep of the Castle.

The castle was built in the 12th century and fell into great disrepair over the years and a few changes of ownership - my favourite story is the story of the last sale:

In 1967, Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess and 24th Earl of Ormonde, sold the castle which was in a bad state to the Castle Restoration Committee for £50. He felt that "The people of Kilkenny, as well as myself and my family, feel a great pride in the Castle, and we have not liked to see this deterioration. We determined that it should not be allowed to fall into ruins. There are already too many ruins in Ireland."" 

Ha imagine! £50 punts and I could have had my castle! 

the Castle is absolutely stunning and the rooms and furniture are restored to really give you and insight into the look and feel of the castle

It has a fascinating history (well fascinating to me because I'm a big nerd!) over the years and if your interested check out the website here

 Hmmm.. All that learning is thirsty work.. Oh look a bar :)

I stopped by the Bar area and came across The Ballykeefe Distillery stand- An Irish family farm distillery - are you serious? Sounds like my kind of family, am I too old to be adopted? Not even joking :) I had a little snoop on their website and you can do a tour and tasting for a rather unusual price of €21.68 per person! So maybe that's something else to add to my list :) 

Normally I am not a fan of really Dry Gin, but this was absolutely amazing! Crisp and Clean and the dryness just added an extra little bite! 

The most fascinating part of my drink was being convinced there was a little slice of potato in it, and when curiosity got the better of me I unfortunately found out it was raw ginger :/ yes I learned my lesson the hard way! It burns lol

An sure who can ever have just one drink? Tally hoe onto the next Gin Stand!

This time onto the St Patricks Distillery 

A Summer time and I had the Classic Collins! 

The gin was fab, but I'm raging I didn't go for a classic G&T with cucumber and Elderflower, as I discovered Gin and Soda water doesn't have the same appeal! 

 Ha I'm almost ashamed to say I was a bit peckish, well maybe my nostrils took control as I could not resist stopping my the O'Flynns Gourmet Sausage company, based in Cork, all ingredients locally sourced from the Munster Region 

Holy Crapola! Like actually AMAZING! Food winner of the weekend for me!! 

Everything cooked to perfection, nice spicy sausage and seasoned potatoes - also at this moment I am grateful to the inventor of stretchy skinny jeans! :)

Now did someone say dessert?

When I was younger I always told my Dad I had a separate pocket for dessert, not matter how full I was after dinner, there was ALWAYS room for dessert. Glad to update that some things never change! 

An amazing selection of desserts! From handmade to old school sweets, the selection was endless

So as the day came to and end I wanted a last little shop and that's when I came across 

Rubys Fine Foods based in Armagh.  

As soon as I tried their strawberry and champagne jam I was hooked and HAD to own some! And any excuse to bake from fresh scones again :) :) 

As I went to pay, the guy spotted my G&T and insists I try their Grapefruit, Lemon and Ginger marmalade to complement the gin and it was delish!  

On to Kytelers Inn, did I only go in because there was a cat in their logo - maybe :) so the night ended with far too many Gins that care to count, fun, frolics, a bit of Irish dancing and a lovely hangover the next day! :) 

I managed to bag a room in Syd Harkins Pub for a mere €80 on Air BnB. 

Considering the only free hotel available was €340 for 1 night that weekend! It was right in the center of the town and right across the road from KK Castle and the street fair - so if you want basic bed and bathroom, it was cheap and cheerful and the central location was just ideal! 

So overall I highly recommend Savour Kilkenny and its definitely worth a trip down for a wander, and let's be honest, any excuse for a weekend away in Kilkenny is always a good idea! Good for all ages, family, friends, couples, young or old.

The only thing I teeny weeny thing I felt was missing was a little bit more music on the day, or a stage for local bands would have been really nice, but that's my own personal opinion rather than any type of complaint about the event itself, but I'm fully aware, its a food fair, not a concert! 

There was plenty more on than I have even remotely covered, but I didn't go to any ticketed events, talks, food or drink workshops or even any of the many cookery demonstrations on the day, but the full details of what was on is located here There was a nice mix of free and paid for events.

Everyone from The Happy Pear, Nevin Maguire to Simon Delaney was there, far too many to mention, I mean their brochure is 17 pages in total so there is far more to see and do than what I did!

So if you are planning a trip down next year or want to know anything more about the event or any of the companies mentioned just let me know!

Happy Wandering!

Shel x

*All opinions are my own, I am not affiliated or by any means sponsored by any company mentioned