The first sold-out gig happens on Friday.

As Sea Church, Ballycotton’s magical new seaside music venue opens to the sounds of The Frank and Walters and Lisa Hannigan presented by Coughlan’s Live this weekend, preparations are continuing apace in the schoolhouse next door for the launch of the venue’s restaurant on Thursday, March 5th, 2020.

Described as a “seaside village restaurant where the emphasis is on spending quality time with friends and family around a table”, service at Sea Church will kick off with breakfast at 9am, when the kitchen will be dishing up a hearty selection of egg classics, with pancakes and a Sea Church Full Irish.

Lunch begins at 12pm, with a decent choice of sandwiches and toasties, pizzas and salads, a tempting chowder and a Smithwicks’s Red beer battered haddock served with chips, tartar sauce and buttered garden peas – just what you need after a bracing walk on the cliffs.

The dinner menu is a fish lover’s dream; we’re talking Verrine of Crab with chive crème fraiche, melba crisps and ruby grapefruit salsa, Pan Roasted Hake with chermoula spiced greens, fruit and nut couscous and baked fillet of salmon with seared chorizo, smoked red pepper puree, quinoa and parmesan bake.

Both meat-eaters and vegans are also well catered for, with Mandarin Honey Roasted Half Duckling, a double chargrilled beef burger and a choice of interesting plant-based salads, tagines and veggie dishes – last orders are at 9pm.

With Mick Flannery playing the venue on March 8th, John Spillane on March 21st and Wallis Bird on March 27th (all three gigs are sold out), it’s shaping up to be a busy spot for a night out beside the sea this summer.

Bookings are open now, email reception@seachurch.ie.