Cork International Hotel

Managing director Aaron Mansworth has a great crew working alongside him in the Cork International Hotel and the group’s two other Cork destinations – the nearby Airport Hotel, and the city centre Metropole Hotel, which is being extensively refurbished. If you presumed that an hotel sited adjacent to an airport couldn’t be anything other than an destination for red-eye fliers, think again: the International hotel is charming, and dynamic, and superbly run.
The rooms are excellent – again, they far exceed expectations – the public spaces are fleek, and the cooking is focused and delicious. The cooking in the New Yorker bar may read conventional – chicken wings with blue cheese dip; Cork beef burger on brioche; slow braised pork belly – but the food is full of energy and flavour, and is hugely enjoyable. Breakfast is cooked at a teppanyaki style grill, and is also carefully achieved. Great staff bring the whole success story home, with gas in the tank. Prepare to be surprised, and delighted.