Julie Feeney's Guide To Galway

EATERIES

The Kitchen
Galway City Museum
Spanish Arch
Tel: (091) 534 883
facebook.com/KitchenGalway
When I’m in Galway, I love going to The Kitchen. It’s spacious, bright and friendly and you have the option of sitting outside, looking over the Claddagh Basin. There’s great veggie options, pancakes and platters… I had a breakfast there one morning and it was absolutely divine.

Upstairs at McCambridge’s
Shop Street
Tel: (091) 562 259
mccambridges.com
A great casual dining restaurant, especially good for meeting a friend for lunch. A really good social spot. It’s a family-owned deli and they have great homemade falafels and mouthwatering sweet potato, which I love. Then you have delicious lebanese fries and an old country table with incredible homemade sweet cake.

Kai Café + Restaurant
Sea Road
Tel: (091) 526 003
kaicaferestaurant.com
Amazing fresh organic produce from local suppliers. The menu is just bursting with flavour and texture and colour. Lunch and dinner could be anything from beetroot and fennel soup to lamb koftas to raw John Dory ceviche with avocado and chili. They have very messy deserts, too, in a good way! There’s a really warm atmosphere. The interior design is quite unique; it’s all made up of recycled, found materials. Something different.

Ard Bia at Nimmos
Spanish Arch
Tel: (091) 561 114
ardbia.com
A gorgeous old world style restaurant sitting on the Claddagh Basin. The best of Irish produce mixed with a little exotic magic. They have delicious atlantic scallops and the pomegranate cake with freshly whipped cream is really a must.

DRINKERIES

Tigh Neachtains
17 Cross Street/Quay Street
Tel: (091) 568 820
tighneachtain.com
A real staple of Galway, it’s always been there. It’s quite famous but there’s a real sense of history about the place. One of Galways’s most iconic and adored pubs, the blue and yellow building perched centrally on Quay Street. I love having a glass of wine by the open fire or just relaxing in one of the old-fashioned booths. It’s a great place to go on an autumn or winter evening and just watch the world go by or sit outside during the summer. They have great trad music too. It’s such a cosy place. It never changes and I have so many memories from there.

il Vicolo
5 Buttermilk Walk
Tel: (091) 535 922
ilvicolocafe.com
A really cool wine bar, super cosy and intimate with gorgeous Italian food. Another great place to meet friends. I love the location. Great décor and a warm atmosphere, it reminds
me of…

The Artisan
Quay Street
Tel: (091) 532 655
artisangalway.com
…The Artisan! It’s actually above Tigh Neachtain’s, a gorgeous cosy Georgian-style room above the pub, overlooking Quay Street, again a great spot to watch all the goings-on in Galway. Matt Skeffington is the host, he’s very charming altogether!

SOUNDERIES

St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church
Market Street
Tel: (086) 3898777
stnicholas.ie
Hands down, my favourite place to perform in Galway. It’s an enchanting medieval parish church in the heart of the city that regularly hosts concerts and various musical events. I’ve headlined there as part of the Galway Arts Festival twice now, first with my own show and recently with my opera, Bird, which will be premiering next year. It’s such a beautiful place. I think I’m at home in churches. I wasn’t as much a part of it when I was growing up but it’s a huge part of my adult and music life. I’ve performed more in churches than anywhere else. I just love St. Nicholas’. I also played an intimate evening at…

The Druid Theatre
Flood Street
Tel: (091) 568 660
druid.ie

An absolutely beautiful space. I love it as a smaller venue. It’s recently been done up and it’s even more impressive than before. Same goes for…

An Taibhdhearc
Middle Street
(091) 563 600
antaibhdhearc.com
…which has also been renovated lately. I’m really looking forward to performing there. It was founded in the late ’20s as the national Irish language theatre and its traditions continue to this day with great trad music, singing, dancing and drama.

Tig Cóili
Mainguard Street
(091) 561 294
facebook.com/tig.choili
A great spot for live music, particularly traditional Irish. Sessions seem to just break out at random when you’re there!

SHOPPERIES

Public Romance
52 Abbeygate Street Upper
Tel: (091) 568 771
publicromance.com
Anyone who’s into vintage clothing in Galway knows Public Romance. It’s really cool and the owner goes to Camden Market in London to source all kinds of vintage, quirky things. It’s a really boutique place, really in-keeping with what Galway’s all about.

Emily Jean
No. 1 St. Augustine Street
Tel: (091) 530 207
emily-jean.com
A great Galway-based milliner and jewellery designer. I just love wandering around her store. Speaking of…

Don’t Call Me Dear
8 Mill Street
Tel: (091) 530 760
don’tcallmedear.com
Another store to get lost in! It’s got an old style and packed with beautiful designer robes, gowns and antique items, it’s something of a haven.
OTHER ATTRACTIONS

Galway City Museum
Spanish Arch
Tel: (091) 532 460
galwaycitymuseum.ie
I love the Spanish Arch, just walking around there. It’s a really fantastic place. I shot a video there, a short film called Julie Feeney’s Galway: The making of Clocks. We shot so many parts of it in and around the Spanish Arch, it’s a really picturesque spot. You feel like you’re looking out onto America or something… it has such charm, such heritage. It was built in 1584 and sits on the left bank of the Corrib, where Galway meets the sea. The Arch is a remainder of a 16th century bastion that was added to the town’s walls to protect merchant ships from looting.

The Aran Islands
aranislands.ie
My favourite of the Aran Islands would be Inisheer, the small one. It’s just beautiful. I’ve been out there quite a bit. I consider it a havan, just a gorgeous place to visit. It’s lovely to walk along the Prom, something that everyone from Galway has done, or at least should do!

NUI Galway
University Road
Tel: (091) 524 411
nuigalway.ie
The grounds of the National University of Galway offer a really nice place to stroll around and there’s a lot of interesting things around the campus, like the Zoology department and the Charles Darwin specimens.

NEXT BIG THING

I thought of musicians but I wanted to go for something brand new. I’m going to go for Solas, the new picture palace and cultural cinema that is due to open in the Spanish Arch this winter – picturepalace.ie. It’s a really exciting development for the city.

Julie Feeney returns to Triskel Christchurch, Cork on Saturday December 14. Tickets priced €16/€18 are available now at triskelarts.ie