Rye River Café – Kilcock

info@ryerivercafe.com
01 6519322
I Love to support local businesses where I can and when I find a gem I get very excited. Kilcock has a few eateries and more take aways than I can count on one hand, but Rye River Café, in my opinion, is one of the best. I had heard wonderful things about their Eggs Benedict on Brioche with home-made hollandaise sauce…yum. We thought it was closed so went elsewhere but I later discovered it only looked closed but it does in fact open until 2pm on Sunday.

The only bad thing about this visit was that they don’t take credit cards and we had to find a working ATM before we could return and eat. That aside we were impressed by the lovely spacious and homely décor. There are rustic looking shelves on the walls displaying jars of locally produced jam. They sit beside old teapots, lanterns and pots giving the place a granny’s kitchen farmhousey feel.
The waitress was very pleasant and helpful which is a plus straight away and she didn’t mind when she had

to come back twice for our order because we couldn’t decide what to have. This always happens to me….new restaurant + new menu = ages spent agonising over the choices. But secretly I quite enjoy that!

There are the usual breakfast suspects but the lunch menu and the specials (written on a blackboard outside the café and also behind the counter) really took our fancy.
We finally decided on the seafood chowder with brown bread between the two of us and a panini each. You choose your own fillings for the panini which I like – that was you get what you want. Loving Italian food the way that I do, I chose mozzarella, olives, parma ham, peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. The tomatoes were unavailable so I managed to substitute tomato relish instead. I can’t remember what Stephen got (sorry my love!) but he said my sandwich was much nicer……what can i say, I choose well!!

Let me first tell you about the chowder. OH MY GOD! It’s the nicest chowder I’ve had in a very long time…..and for the east coast where good seafood is hard to come by we were pleasantly surprised. The soup was creamy without being heavy, the fish was in small bite size pieces, the prawns were tender (some places use cooked prawns and put them into the soup too early ensuring overcooked tough shrimp) and the flavour was seasoned beautifully with just the right amount of seafood flavour. What I loved was that the chowder was served cool enough that it could be eaten straight away but warm enough that it didn’t get cold half way through. THIS is how chowder should taste! The accompanying brown bread was fresh and delicious – a perfect match with the soup.
The panini were excellent too. Both were served with delightful side salads – not just your average lettuce leaf, slice of tomato & cucumber. Mixed lettuce with diced peppers and onions were married with a delicious dressing. After the fabulous chowder, I was finished half way through my sandwich, but I kept going because I couldn’t stop!!!

We both got delicious americanos…….some people thing ordering an americano is snobby as it’s “just a coffee”, but it’s not. It’s a shot of espresso, topped off with hot water. If a crema on the top (a caramel coloured aromatic foam) is present, it’s a properly made barista coffee and these were perfect examples. The coffee they serve is LaVazza and their staff is barista trained! Uuuuuuhhhhhhh!! The coffees stayed hot for the duration of our lunch too which leads me to believe that the cups may have been warmed before the coffee was put into them.
After a delicious and relaxing lunch a couple came in only to be told that they close at 2pm on a Sunday. They were apologetically turned away. It was only then that we realised that it was 2.30 and they were cleaning up to go home……and not a word had been said to us. We apologised for holding them up and were ensured of that it was fine. The bill came to €21…..

Excellent value for the quality of food. I made sure to pass my compliments on to the chef!
What I also loved about the menu was that the origin of the producers and suppliers of the food used in the Café is printed on the front of the menu. Also the fact that they use only local free range eggs is a real plus ++++
As of next weekend they’ll be opening in the evenings with a limited set menu – 2 or 3 courses. We had a read over the choices and we are so looking forward to trying the evening food. Short menus are usually executed well.
I will DEFINITELY be back

Food: ****
Atmosphere: ***
Price: *****
Returnability: *****

Excellent ***** Very Good **** Good *** Fair ** Poor *

Tags: Americano, Barista, Brown Bread, Eggs Benedict, Kilcock, LaVazza, Panini, Rye River Café, Seafood Chowder