Kilkenny Design

Ate here after a tour of Kilkenny Castle. Fancy cafeteria style food. Had the soup and bread which was hearty and filling. Dessert was a walnut cake which was also very good. It’s not high end good but it was worth a visit.

It’s amazing how attentive staff can be when it’s 2 mins from closing time and you (the customer) is still browsing in a mild and only slightly panicked manner because you have left it until now to get a birthday present needed for tomorrow morn.
The result is a battle of wills; until a gift is chosen, you are not leaving. Until you leave, the shop staff cannot close up, the tension mounts, you wander aimlessly as staff follow from a distance like an inept spy, always in your peripheral vision.
I come to the unexpectedly large display of Orla Kiely stuff — she seems to have put her name on everything from notebooks to butter dishes, I brush past the expected Moss and Stephen Pearce pottery and Waterford crystal and on to the selection of odd/​gifyt (yes, it’s a word) books like the Little book of Calm (a must for anyone who watched the comedy Black Books).
The selection is brilliant, lots to browse and inspire but overall, the shop lacks soul; it is a bit too clinical or something, it doesn’t quite mesh with the handmade /​crafty vibe you expect from a Kilkenny Design shop.
None the less, it is there and it is a life saver for the last min shopper, definitely worth a shot if you are out and about.