Out of the Blue: Dingle's Extraordinary Fish Restaurant

No chips. Nothing frozen. Everything fresh or alive.

I must be hungry this afternoon, because my thoughts are starting to turn toward food. Which means they are heading straight for Out of the Blue—my favorite restaurant in Dingle Town, County Kerry, Ireland. In fact OOTB is not only my favorite restaurant in Dingle, it is my favorite fish restaurant of all time.

Probably the highest praise I can provide is that even my husband Gerhard, who is a very picky eater and does not generally like fish, loves eating there! (As a fish-only restaurant, no meat is on offer.)

The restaurant is the brain child of Tim Mason, an enterprising restaurateur and former stockbroker and commodities trader from Dublin who happened to visit Dingle on holiday more than two decades ago.

"I drove down to the harbour and passed this tumbledown jumble of a shack with the light sparkling on the bay and boats bobbing up and down," Tim recollects. “And I thought that's it — I could do something here.”*

Tim opened the tiny facility (it had just five tables) in the summer of 2001 and began selling meals as well as fresh fish that people could buy and take home to cook themselves. As chefs, he enlisted the help of Eric Maillard, who comes from Lyon, France, and Jean Marie Vaireaux, who comes from Brittany. All three are still together today. Thanks to their hard work and delicious dishes, the shack has gradually expanded into a full-fledged restaurant with seating for 35 to 40 people.

The warm and cozy interior is filled with bright colors, cheerful artwork, wooden tables, plants, and shelves filled with cookbooks. When I enter the space, words like “gemütlichkeit” and “hygge” spring immediately to mind.

Everything at OOTB begins and ends with the freshest fish possible. This means they do not finalize the evening menu until they see what kind of fish arrives at the dock each morning. Their motto is: “If there’s no fresh fish, we don’t open.”

This is why the servers do not bring customers a menu. Instead, they bring a chalkboard with that day’s options for the starters and mains.

The servers and front of house staff are warm and welcoming, and many return for the season year after year.

One of the things that Gerhard and I particularly look forward to is the bread our server brings at the beginning of the meal. The basket includes both a sourdough and a whole wheat version. The latter is so delicious that we always order seconds.

OOTB also has a delicious selection of wines, which are chosen by Tim and his brother Ben Mason, owner of the Wicklow Wine Company. (Our favorite is the vinho verde.)

I have been collecting pictures of different dishes we have eaten at OOTB for several years. Following are just a few examples.

Soups

Lobster bisque and bouillabaisse

First Courses

All of the first courses are made from fish. Although a stand-alone salad is not on offer, the first courses are usually accompanied by some delicious, fresh salad greens.

Cured salmon, smoked mackerel and tuna ceviche

Main Courses

The chefs use a light hand when preparing the dishes, ensuring that the delicious flavor of the fish shines through every bite. The accompaniments are also simple, fresh and full of flavor.

The most popular main on the menu is probably the pollock in a potato crust. Over time, it has become OOTB’s signature dish, and it therefore appears on every menu.

One of my favorite sauces is the toasted almond and lemon butter, which often accompanies a whole fish on the bone. It makes every type of fish taste absolutely wonderful!

Please note: If I have mis-identified any of the main courses in the pictures below, I apologize. Because I have been collecting the pictures for several years, I’m not always sure what the white fish is—but I am sure that it is delicious.

Scallops, chargrilled seabass fillet, black sole on the bone, pollock in a potato crust, scallop risotto

Desserts

The desserts are also delicious and beautifully presented. (Our favorite is the lemon posset.)

Lemon posset, chocolate mousse, prune pie, strawberry mousse

The Details

Out of the Blue is located on Dingle’s Waterside (V92 T181), across from the harbor. It is open daily for dinner from 4 pm to 9 pm, from mid-March to the end of October. Reservations are an absolute requirement and can be very hard to come by, so reserve as far in advance as you can!

Reference

* Bright, Marilyn. The Seafood Interview Supported by BIM—Out of the Blue, Dingle. Georgina Campbell’s Ireland. https://www.ireland-guide.com/article/the-seafood-interview-supported-by-bim---out-of-the-blue-dingle.10487.html

Celebrating my birthday in April this year at OOTB