3 Best Restaurants in The Midlands, Ireland

One of Athlone's culinary highlights, this bistro is noted for its early-bird menu, which runs through the evening (except Saturday, when it ends at 6 pm), filled with such delights as bacon and colcannon mash with cider sauce, or chargrilled pork fillet. Later on, the beige-on-brown dining room fills up for the main dinner menu, which favors steaks, monkfish, duck, and rack of lamb. For lunch, the most popular dish is tandoori chicken breast on focaccia with sautéed potatoes, although the open sandwich of French brie with tomato chutney on brown bread (€9.95) runs a close second. Irresistible desserts include mud cake, banoffee pie, and lemon-and-lime cheesecake.

Ask joint-owner Annie McNamara about the Left Bank dressing, a specially bottled vinaigrette that people come from all across Ireland to buy.

A restored, stone former post office in an elegantly landscaped garden, the Olde Post Inn has won a clutch of awards and, as a result, is often booked solid. Sea bass, steak, game, and bacon and cabbage terrine are main-course favorites and highlight local and seasonal ingredients. The wine selection will appeal to Europhiles: Valpolicella, Pouilly-Fuissé, Sancerre, or if you feel like a splurge, try the flamboyantly fruity Puligny Montrachet at a cool €85. Artwork by some top Irish artists decorates the redbrick and stone walls. Staying overnight is strongly advised; six guest bedrooms, all in the original part of the postmaster's residence, have been modernized with fabrics in bright jewel tones alongside contemporary bathrooms. Special events such as gin evenings or a French wine and game night are held and are available for guests as part of a package.

Originally a standard public house with low ceilings, this Shannon-side resting place on the main street of a tiny village to the west of Longford Town has been transformed into a gourmet's delight—a special gastropub, bustling with locals and tourists alike. Specialties include Thornhill duck, baked sea bream, and renowned John Stone steaks from an artisanal butcher specializing in Irish grass-fed beef. Potatoes and vegetables are abundant and even served al dente. The good-value early-bird menu stretches from Tuesday to Thursday 5 to 9:15 pm, Friday and Saturday 5:30 to 7 pm, and Sunday 4 to 6 pm (when the restaurant is also open for lunch). It's worth leaving space for the Toblerone cheesecake, which has become the sweet talk of Longford and has been a fixture on the dessert menu since 2000. An upstairs gallery has work by some of the finest and best-known Irish artists, including Paul Henry, Graham Knuttel, and Kenneth Webb, the latter noted for his expressionistic, thickly painted landscapes of Connemara.