Joining the queue at K.C. & Son & Sons is almost as much fun as eating the smashing food. Almost.

Here’s two things about the queue of hungry people at K.C. & Son & Sons, in the tony suburb of Douglas, in Cork city.
First: the queue of people is forever. It’s always there. It’s there when they open, and it’s pretty much there when they close.
Secondly: it’s the nicest queue of people you have ever stood in. Everyone is in great form. It’s a chatty queue – the young woman with her pals queueing behind us, sensing that we were West Cork know-nothings out of our zone, advised us that Douglas regulars order The Bombshell.
Sally duly did that, and what did she get? A pitta pocket stuffed with crispy chicken, shredded lettuce, mayo, chutney, and a wee bunch of chips. Demon.
So, that’s what fuels their tank in Douglas.
John and P.J. McKenna went for the straight ahead: quarter pounder burgers with regular chips. P.J. ordered curry sauce for his chips, because he is a teenager and that’s what teenagers do.
The burgers and fries were bang-on good: excellent dry chips – super-dry, in fact – and good, grassy beef burgers in good buns.
We ate it all sitting in the car, on a Monday evening, parked outside the Eddie Rockets diner at the Topaz service station.
It was brilliant.
The entertainment isn’t just the lovely food, however. As you eat, you also watch the K. C. queue. Oh, it shortens a little at 8.36. Wow! A huge new invasion of hungry folk join the queue! Where did all these guys suddenly come from at 8.45?
It’s street theatre in Douglas, live and improvised.
Wes Crawford and his family have been here, serving delicious food out of a wee space in Douglas, since 1958.
We say give them the Freedom of the City.