For the last five years, with an annual trip to Latitude Festival in the UK, we have been seeking the best solutions as to how to eat well and stay comfortably when leaving from, or arriving back to, Rosslare Port, in County Wexford.
The following are some of the strategies we use to eat and stay as well as we can. All distances are recorded from Rosslare Harbour.
A reliable hotel -
Ferryport House Rosslare Harbour
It’s a three star destination that looks like it’s arrived straight from Stranger Things, where the team thought it would be fun to fuse a sixties casino onto the front of an Irish bungalow.
But what is important about the Ferryport House is the fact that it is super-clean, it is comfortable, the team are welcoming, and it is 1 minute from the ferry port itself. All that, at a fraction of the cost of an hotel room. Deal done!
The Maldron Wexford
20min drive North.
Right at the New Ross roundabout where the N11 meets the N25, the Maldron is reliable and unpretentious, with a good size car park. A 20 minute drive to the ferry takes the pressure off. The hotel is well set up for early checkouts.
Just off the Ferry breakfast -
The Ferrycarrig Hotel Wexford
20min drive North. Open 7am-10.30 (from 8am Sunday)
Hard by the N11, the hotel is a useful destination for breakfast, and the waters’ edge room is a spacious, bright, calming space early in the morning - and importantly, it’s open to non residents. Breakfast is served hotel-style, from the faithful bain marie, but the ingredients are good and often local. Get the kids filled up and let them sleep in the car the rest of the way home.
Restaurant Solutions -
Crust Woodfired Pizza Wexford
20min drive North. Open 5pm-9.30pm Mon-Sun (from 1pm Sat & Sun)
Richard Whitty’s pizzas are benchmark productions, but we would like to add a note of praise for his superb homemade meatballs, served with side salad and balsamic dressing. Great staff, great vibe, excellent value. Takeaway and pre-order available.
La Marine Rosslare
12 min drive North. Open 12.30pm-2.15pm, 6.30pm-9pm
Comforting, super-tasty food from head chef Michael Gaul means La Marine is always super-busy, and it’s one of the friendliest rooms in which to eat. Some good Wexford lamb with dauphinoise potatoes is just the ticket. La Marine is situated at the front of Kellys Hotel, but once again, open to non-residents. Booking advisable.
Gralinn Fethard-on-Sea
50min drive West. Open 10am-3pm Thur-Sun (Fri & Sat evenings 6pm-10pm)
Okay, so it’s a detour back down to the coastline at Ballyteigue Bay, but Gralinn is a demon spot for Matteo’s fine cooking. Our brunch dish of haricot beans, slow-cooked with basil and cavolo nero with guanciale, pecorino, onion cream and Seagull sourdough, was one of the star brunch dishes of the year. Demon coffee.
The Wilds Enniscorthy
35min drive North. Open 9.30am-3pm (from 10am Sunday)
The Wilds has always offered good cooking along with extremely covetable furniture and lifestyle goods, in a very groovy space on Weafer Street. They have also recently taken over the well-known Beehive Café at Coolbeg Cross, at exit 18 on the M11, where there is a drive-thru for coffee. Ex-Avoca majordomo Leylie Hayes is the operations manager.
Bearú New Ross
50min drive North.
Dave Rowley is bringing a wealth of Dublin restaurant experience to his new New Ross opening, Bearú, which will give travellers reason to ignore the by-pass and instead head to South Street for good coffee and brioche buns and mackerel soused in elderflower vinegar. Dinner service at weekends. Literally just open and we look forward to visiting.
AndChips Dungarvan
1hr 30 mins drive West. Open 4pm-9pm 7 days (from 1pm Sat & Sun)
A personal choice, and one which is enforced by our family with an iron fist: AndChips, or nothing! Who doesn’t want Eunice Power’s Korean chicken wings with yum yum sauce, or the haddock and chips with mushy peas. The Highway to Heaven, just off the n25. On our annual trips to Latitude Festival, we break the journey with fish and chips on the Dungarvan pier, then head to the Maldron (see above) ready for the early ferry next morning.
Gathering Supplies -
Karoo Farm Shop and Cafe Killinick
11min drive North. Open 9.30am-5pm Tue-Sat, 10am-4pm Sun-Mon.
Hard by the main road at Killinick, Karoo has good coffee from Blue Butterfly roasters and there are lots of tasty brunch specialities. All food available for takeaway.
Kelly’s Deli Rosslare Strand
11min drive North. Open from 8am seven days, with pizzas served 6pm-9pm.
This humongously busy food store is jammers from the moment it opens at 8am, but that early opening suits boat arrival times, and it’s not much of a detour off the Rosslare Road – turn off the road at Tagoat to go there directly. Good coffee, good everything, seats out front and back.
Kelly’s Cafe Wexford
15min drive North. Open 9.30am-5pm 7 days (Sun & bank hols from 12pm)
The Café is at the Drinagh Retail Park, hard by the main road, and it’s a great source for breakfast and lunch, and for proper kid’s food, but also for food to take-away. So think of it for bringing dinner home – beef lasagna; sweet potato and lentil dahl – so you can unpack the car in relative peace knowing dinner is in the oven.
Carne Potatoes N25 Rosslare-Wexford
There are lots of roadside stalls around Rosslare selling seasonal soft fruit, and Wexford’s famous strawberries. But look out especially for signs advertising the local Carne potatoes: genuine balls of flour!
This will be hugely useful to one making a trip in the reverse direction to yours before too long I hope
Best fun ever. Love Latitude and Suffolk. You should join us! Already planning 2025.