August Tasting Evening at the Step House Hotel

What to Expect

The Step House Hotel in Borris is hosting an August tasting evening on Friday 21 August at 7.30pm, giving guests a chance to sample a run of dishes from Head Chef Alan Foley and his kitchen team. The hotel’s food is built around quality sourcing: Foley’s team works to seasonal, local and artisan ingredients and prepares dishes from scratch rather than leaning on pre-made components. The exact courses are not published in advance, so this is one to book on trust in the kitchen’s track record rather than off a fixed printed menu.

The setting adds real weight to the evening. The Step House is the former dower house of the Borris House estate, seat of the McMurrough Kavanagh family, historic Kings of Leinster, and the Georgian building now holds two distinct dining rooms. Brasserie 1808 takes its name from the year the original building went up and runs as the hotel’s more casual dining room through the week. The Cellar Restaurant occupies the hotel’s old kitchens, with stone archways and vaulted ceilings giving it an atmospheric, candlelit feel that suits a tasting-style evening particularly well. Both rooms normally focus on classical, French-influenced cooking built around Irish produce, and the tasting evening draws on that same kitchen and philosophy rather than being a one-off pop-up.

Good to Know

• Friday 21 August 2026, 7.30pm.
• Venue: Step House Hotel, Main Street, Borris, Co. Carlow.
• Booking is by phone only: 059 977 3209. A deposit is required to secure a place.
• Head Chef Alan Foley leads the kitchen, sourcing seasonal, local and artisan ingredients and preparing dishes from scratch.
• Price is not published online; confirm the cost when booking by phone.
• Normal dining at the hotel runs across the Cellar Restaurant and Brasserie 1808, both bookable separately from this tasting evening.

Getting There

Borris is a small heritage town in south Co. Carlow, on the R702 between Bagenalstown and Graiguenamanagh. The Step House Hotel is on Main Street in the centre of the village, with parking available for guests attending the evening.