The best ice cream in Ireland

The closed Murphy's Ice Cream shop in Killarney. Photo by David Lansing.

Two brothers, Sean and Kieran Murphy, started up a little ice cream shop in Dingle in 2000. Thought what they’d do is make the best ice cream in the world. Crazy idea. Have you been to Dingle, now? Lovely area. A bit off the beaten track. In fact, it’s a long ways from anywhere. And since it’s on the bottom of a long finger reaching west out into the Atlantic Ocean, it gets a bit chilly there. (The Irish Times reports that the high in Dingle today will be 48°F with a “real feel of 42°”; but it should cool down this weekend.)

So with a population of just over 2,000 bundled up residents (to be fair the town also has some 50 pubs) on a peninsula that some would say is The End of the World As We Know It, two brothers, Sean and Kieran, come up with the bright idea of not only opening an ice cream shop (because who doesn’t want an ice cream when it’s a balmy 48°F out in summer), but that they’re going to make the best damn ice cream anyone has ever tasted. And you know what? I think they’ve bloody well done it.

Da ting is that Murphy’s Ice Cream shop was such a success in Dingle that they’ve now got shops in Killarney and two in Dublin. Last night as I was walking back to my hotel in Killarney, I passed by the Murphy’s shop on Main Street. I thought to myself, I should get a sea salt flavored caramel and chocolate ice cream but I was just coming from dinner and knew I wouldn’t enjoy it. I’ll get one in the morning before we leave Killarney, I said to myself.

So this morning after breakfast I went for a stroll around the park, chattin’ with the bundled-up jarveys waiting for the sun to come out to warm their horses (and the tourists they were hoping would want to go for a ride in their jaunting cars), and then about 11 I made my way down Main Street to the Murphy’s shop, my mouth already salivating for that sea salt flavored ice cream. But the store was closed. Despite having a sign on the door that said they should be open. Gawd, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was. I hung around for another ten or fifteen minutes, but the shop remained dark. Don’t understand why. Unless Sean and Kieran were just messin’ with me. But that’s something I’ve noticed about a lot of shops in Ireland. Most of them don’t post their hours at all and the ones that do only use them as a rough guideline. Like maybe we’ll be open Wednesday at 11am. And then again, maybe we won’t.

Still, I know I’m going to be thinking of that sea salt ice cream on the drive up to the Cliffs of Moher this afternoon.

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