Restaurant review: 'The hosts' welcome is warm, but if you'd rather stick pins in your eyes than share a table with strangers, it is not for you'

"Friday evening and the traffic heading north on the M50/M1 can only be described as brutal. Somewhere near Balbriggan, my designated driver, hereinafter to be known as Saint Katia, takes the exit which will bring us to Whitestown House, located a few fields across the north Co Dublin countryside from McNally Family Farm, the source of some of the ingredients for tonight's dinner. An unhappy confluence of Google Maps, poor lighting on dark country roads and an easy-to-miss entrance means we are the last guests to arrive to the Samhain edition of The Dining Club."

"Whitestown demesne dates back to the 17th century, with the current neat Georgian house built in the 1840s by Sandham Symes, chief architect to the Royal Dublin Society. Since the mid-1990s, it has been home to the Keogh family, with Hazel Keogh and her daughters Aoife and Kelly the trio - working with Kelly's co-chef James Gabriel Martin of Leviathan - responsible for The Dining Club, a series of seasonal dinners aiming to revive the tradition of Irish country house hospitality. Kelly and James are both Ballymaloe alumni."

Friday evening traffic on the M50/M1 was brutal, prompting an exit near Balbriggan to reach Whitestown House. Saint Katia served as the designated driver en route to a Samhain edition dinner. Whitestown House sits a few fields across north County Dublin countryside from McNally Family Farm, which supplies some of the ingredients used in the meal. An unhappy confluence of Google Maps, poor lighting on dark country roads and an easy-to-miss entrance resulted in a late arrival. Whitestown demesne dates to the 17th century and the present Georgian house was built in the 1840s by Sandham Symes. The Keogh family, together with Kelly's co-chef James Gabriel Martin of Leviathan, run The Dining Club, a series of seasonal dinners aimed at reviving Irish country house hospitality; Kelly and James trained at Ballymaloe.

Read at Independent