Bastion in Kinsale

Absolutely amazing experience, some of the best food we’ve ever had, flawless service and great atmosphere. The food reminds of the traditional irish flavours but with elevated and extremely interesting new shapes and textures. All of that complemented with an extensive catalogue of wines. If I could only recommend one restaurant in Ireland it would be this one.

We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary with my parents in Bastion recently and what a special evening it was. The venue is cosy and welcoming with beautiful white table cloths and and intimate atmosphere. The 7 course tasting meal was delicious, and culinary treat. Paul, Helen and Max were all incredibly knowledgeable and informative on the different processes used in making each course. We opted for the wine pairing option and Helen described each wine pairing in detail, heightening our enjoyment of both the wines and the evening. It was a very special evening that we will treasure and I couldn’t recommend this establishment and Helen and Paul highly enough. Thank you Lowry

Lovely atmosphere and fantastic staff. We did the tasting menu and wine pairing and cannot say enough good things about this establishment. Thank you so much for having us!

Absolutely amazing meal. Excellent service. Quality over quantity so we left full but not overstuffed.

Visited with very good friends and our son and his friend ( we were very lucky that we secured a table of 6 , given that they have 12 covers. )This is a very special place , the food was as good as any restaurant we have been in anywhere , Paris , NYC , London …. Exceptional combinations of flavours , very personalised professional impeccable service in a very comfortable environment… its a few days since we had dinner there and are still talking about how good the food was ! Also worth mentioning that there is a very reasonably priced wine list with some exceptional wines . Thanks Sean and Helen we will most definitely make a point of coming back to Kinsale to come to Bastion .

4 of us came here last week and had a very special evening. The staff were fantastic. Helen the host looked after us extremely well and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the wines they sell. We all had the tasting menu and the food was incredible. Extremely interesting and well thought out plates. A destination spot, worth travelling to .

The tasting menu is delicious. I went here in 2019 and still remember it as a highlight of my trip to Ireland. The way that ingredients are combined is creative and fresh yet also familiar and each dish is extremely flavourful and perfectly compliments the plate garnishes and the other dishes on the menu.

Absolutely amazing dining experience and a good wine list with some interesting options. Attentive, friendly service. Nothing to fault here.

Fabulous tasting menu already looking forward to a future visit.

Came here Thursday the 15th of July Paul graciously accommodated me at the 1915 seating even though I originally booked the early 1715 seating hadn’t read through the website properly and realised that the later seating was the only one with the full tasting menu. The restaurant is quite small with decor warm and welcoming but on the minimalist side all the love and attention goes into the menu which is fresh, creative and built almost exclusively around locally sourced items. While there was no low lights there was definitely some highlights my favourites being the cheese and onion dish - Chesse gnocchi, bbq onion broth, alliums, Cais na Tire Mousse and the John Dory course with the white wine veloute, leek was also magnificent. Really enjoyed their play on a bread roll which was done closer to a croissant and served with their homemade onion butter. There are optional extras none of which are pushed on you ( my opinion on the ones I did ) a serving of caviar with the John Dory course for 20 euros extra unnecessary the John Dory was amazing and that first bite , without the caviar, among the best I ever had I don’t think the caviar when I ate with the John Dory added that much didn’t take away anything either. The optional cheese course at the end was amazing and definitely shouldn’t be skipped. I tried the Jamaican blue experience ordered the americano and ended up dumping milk and sugar into it love my coffee but couldn’t tell the difference between that and a fun of the mill coffee shop did they make it by drip? Only disappointing part of the meal. Drink wise I had a couple of Bellinis and went with the wine pairing for the menu again creative and constructed with a lot of love as a solo foodie it’s glorious when staff have a obvious love of their subject and product and want to share and the staff in general and Helen in particular had that in spades. I finished with a tawny 20 year old port recommended by Helen for the chesse course smooth caramel flavours making it one of the best ports I ever tried. It was all capped by friendly, efficient, informative service. Overalll amazing and Bastion is now neck and neck with Terre ( a much more expensive and well funded 2 star restaurant) as my favourite Irish restaurant experience but where that restaurant thrives on exotic ingredients such as A5 Waygu and beautiful and expensive decor Bastion prides itself about being all about the food locally sourced produce in the main. Definitely look forward to coming back at some stage.