IF WALLS COULD TALK: A taste of Limerick’s fascinating dining history

Limerick has long enjoyed a reputation for culinary excellence, a tradition that stretches back centuries and continues to the present day. While many readers will fondly remember establishments such as the Stella, the Galleon, Hogan’s, the Treaty Café and Café Capri, the history of dining out in Limerick extends much further than the middle decades of the twentieth century.

Indeed, the evolution of the city’s restaurants, cafés and dining rooms offers a fascinating glimpse into changing fashions and tastes in a culinary context.

In Ireland, restaurants emerged relatively late. Before about 1860, most people who dined outside the home did so in inns, taverns, coffee houses or hotel dining rooms. The passing of the Refreshment Houses and Wine Licences (Ireland) Act in 1860 helped create a more favourable environment for restaurants, and by the closing decades of the nineteenth century Irish cities were developing a recognisable restaurant culture influenced by continental, particularly French, traditions.

READ MORE: Limerick drama group celebrate milestone anniversary with production launch

Before restaurants became commonplace, public dining often took the form of banquets and public dinners held in honour of politicians and notable visitors. One such gathering took place at Moriarty’s Hotel on George’s Street (O’Connell Street) in September 1820 in honour of Thomas Spring Rice (1790-1866), Limerick-born politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer and later 1st Baron Monteagle, while another celebrated the visit of Daniel O’Connell in November 1838 at the Northumberland Buildings, Cecil Street. Contemporary descriptions paint vivid pictures of crowded halls, decorated ceilings and musicians providing entertainment.

Coffee houses also played an important role in the social life of the city. Between 1809 and 1844, Limerick boasted several coffee houses, including Swinburne’s Coffee Room, Sarsfield Street. Coffee houses provided a respectable public space where merchants, lawyers and politicians gathered to read newspapers, exchange information, conduct business, and debate the affairs of the day.

Among the earliest restaurant proprietors in the city was William McNay, a Scotsman who established the Limerick Restaurant and Refreshment Rooms on Patrick Street in 1860. Situated opposite Denmark Street, McNay’s offered an impressive menu that included steaks, sausages, cold ham, soups, tea and coffee. He also sold confectionery and wedding cakes and catered for private dining parties. A sandwich and a glass of ale could be purchased for four pence.

O’Connell Street soon became one of the principal centres of public dining. In 1867, Patrick Coffey established the Confectioner’s Hall and Café at no. 29. His business catered for banquets, weddings, christenings, family dinners and public gatherings. Customers could enjoy soups, tea, coffee, iced puddings, creams and wafers, while the confectionery department boasted Christmas novelties and fancy goods specially imported for the festive season.

By the 1890s, the city’s restaurant culture continued to diversify. Emily Prossor opened the XL Café on George Street and later added hotel accommodation. The establishment became known for French sweets and American candies. Nearby, Marie Geary opened a restaurant in 1905 which served hot and cold luncheons, soups, sweets and cheeses alongside wines and liquors described as being of the first quality.

Cecil Street was home to several restaurants throughout the nineteenth century. Mrs McCarthy’s establishment at no. 44 received favourable reviews in the Limerick Chronicle, which praised both the quality of its cuisine and the moderation of its prices. Thomas Street was home to the restaurants of Mary Coleman and N. M. Slattery, the latter offering a daily table d’hôte menu. On William Street, the Globe Hotel and Restaurant promoted its private dining rooms and even advertised the presence of a patent refrigerator, an innovation that must have seemed remarkably modern in the early 1860s.

The influence of continental Europe became increasingly visible during the twentieth century. One particularly colourful figure was Jacques H. L. Dore, a French veteran who acquired Kidd’s premises at 49 O’Connell Street and opened the Café le Français. A decorated former member of the Free French forces, Dore found himself at the centre of local controversy concerning his residency status and was compelled to publicly deny rumours that he was a communist shortly after opening his café!!

The decades between 1920 and 1960 witnessed what might be described as the golden age of Limerick cafés and restaurants. The Stella Restaurant, established by Grace Angley in 1926, became renowned for its dinner dances. The Town Centre Café, the Hazel, the Rio Café and Café Capri all became familiar names. Mullany’s on Bedford Row specialised in soda fountains and ice cream, while the Treaty Café on Nicholas Street remained a popular institution until a destructive fire in 1960 brought an end to one chapter of its history.

Restaurants were venues for celebrations, political gatherings and business meetings, places where families marked milestones and where visitors formed their first impressions of the city. Their proprietors, cooks, waitresses, confectioners and serving staff contributed significantly to the social and commercial life of the city. Although many of these businesses have long since disappeared, their stories remain an important part of the city’s rich culinary heritage.