Takeaway of the Week: Little Saltee – Fresh fish straight from the boats is well worth the wait

At 12.30pm on a sunny Sunday, the doors to The Little Saltee, Michael O’Leary and Michelle Cullen’s takeaway and restaurant on Kilmore Quay, are opened. The queue has already started to form, filing into the shop where orders are taken. You can eat inside, outside at picnic tables or head off with your takeaway.
The fish comes straight from the boats in Kilmore Quay and is cooked to order. This is rarer than you might think. Some fish and chip shops deep-fry most of their battered fish early in the day and finish off the cooking when it is ordered. The result is quite different. A selection of pan-fried fish is also available, which is popular with coeliacs.
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The menu is comprehensive and will appeal to families with a broad range of tastes. As well as daily specials like battered and breadcrumbed fish, eg haddock, cod, sole, plaice and monkfish, there is seafood such as Atlantic prawns and non-fish options of beef burgers, chicken fillet burgers and pizza. The chips are all prepared in-house, sourced from a local grower, Fortune Potatoes.
Freshly crumbed fillets of lemon sole with homemade tartare sauce, a single of chips and the Fish Box of battered prawns with chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce.
You order at the counter, pay and leave your name and telephone number. You get a call when your order is ready to collect, and you go in through the restaurant entrance to access the other side of the counter. Our food was prepared to order and ready in good time.
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The fish here is extremely good. It is incredibly fresh and cooked simply, either in batter or in breadcrumbs. The lemon sole was crunchy on the outside from the golden breadcrumbs and deliciously succulent in the middle. It was very generous, with three fillets of lemon sole. The Atlantic prawns were hot and juicy in a crispy batter. There were huge servings of chips which were piping hot, although not as spectacular as the fish. We sit outside at one of the picnic tables to enjoy our meal.
Everything is packaged in cardboard or wrapped in paper. Cutlery is plastic. There is a recycling bin for plastic and a general bin for waste on-site.
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€34.70 for lunch for two people: crumbed fillets of lemon sole, €12.50; a single of chips, €4.25; and a Fish Box of battered prawns, €17.95.
Takeaway or eat-in only, open Tues-Sun, 12.30pm-9pm, closed on Mondays except for bank holidays.
Yes, I love the fish here, fresh and cooked to order. Get there early.