Saorsa 1875 - Plant-Based Hotel

I've been a vegan for over 10 years, and suffered continual problems getting decent (or no) vegan meals on holidays. So I stopped going on holiday for 6 years. Then I saw a wildlife trip based at a vegan hotel. Wow! I thought - this'll be my dream holiday! The tour was booked fully inclusive for 4 days. These are my opinions: Room: Pokey, with no room for unpacking. Bathroom was fine. Ground coffee/cafetiere and nice teabags. Ambience: Bohemian except for a freaky picture right outside my door. Music on everywhere you go downstairs - too loud in the dining room - I couldn't hear anything the waitress said, and had trouble hearing those at my table too. Breakfast: Enough to eat if you topped up with serve-yourself toast. The rest was variable: interesting ideas, but quality & serving temperature sometimes very poor (cold porridge, tough pancakes). Good coffee, though. Packed lunch: I could only get this on the departure day, as the collection time was 10am and we set off straight after breakfast for our day's tour. So we ended up buying mediocre prepacked stuff from Tesco. The one I did have was fine, but expensive for what it was - a sandwich, packet of crisps and a piece of fruit for £13.50. Not even a drink or napkin included. Dinner: Well, the nasty surprises started with learning that the kitchen was closed the first two days. So our tour leader found us a restaurant to eat. Not that bad, but stank of fish, and limited vegan choice. Great dessert, though. When we had a Saorsa-provided dinner, I wished in a way that we'd gone to the other restaurant instead. Portions were tiny - we'd been out all day on our feet and I was pretty hungry. There was no choice at all, and no pre-warning of the content - we'd only get the menu when we sat down - this is just as bad as going to a non-vegan restaurant with only one vegan dish on the menu. Granted there were some interesting tastes which I enjoyed for the bite or two provided, but just not enough of anything. Not even any salad or side veg for us to fill up on. The meal on our final evening, cabbage with mushroom XO sauce, was thoroughly burnt, although I did unearth an edible bit by cutting most of the cabbage off. Dessert - again, tiny, but tasty. Oh, and no identifiable protein in any dish. Staff: The waiting staff were friendly and helpful. The manager blew a fuse when we checked out and told her we thought the food was sub-standard.

For mother's day, my daughter bought me a dining experience for two at Saorsa 1875. I didn't know what to expect and not being much of a foodie I thought I would leave hungry. I was pleasantly surprised how filling the 5 courses were. The presentation was excellent with the combination of flavours of each plate better than the last. I really enjoyed the food and the quirkiness of the hotel. I can't rate the rooms or breakfast as we chose to camp rather than stay at the hotel. I would have liked to have a more relaxed atmosphere, however, I accept that this doesn't always come hand in hand with fine dining.