The Duck

The Verdict

If you've driven past Marlfield House before and assumed The Duck was too formal or too hotel-restaurant to bother, reconsider. This is the Bowe sisters doing something genuinely useful for Gorey: a bistro-style room that sits at the €€ price point, holds a 2025 Michelin Plate, pulls in seafood landed at Kilmore Quay just down the coast. For a first visit, book the terrace in summer and let the menu's range work in your favour. Booking is easy; this is not a venue where you need to plan weeks in advance; but a same-week reservation is sensible on weekends.

About The Duck

The Duck occupies the converted carriage house and gardener's store rooms of Marlfield House, one of Wexford's better-known country house hotels. The Bowe sisters, Margaret and Laura, made a deliberate choice to pitch this as an accessible, neighbourhood-facing bistro rather than a white-tablecloth extension of the hotel. That decision shapes everything from the pricing to the menu format to the mood of the room. You are not paying hotel-restaurant rates, the atmosphere does not ask you to dress or perform accordingly.

The menu reads as genuinely international rather than internationally themed. You'll find global influences folded into familiar Irish ingredients: a pulled pork bao bun reworked with Irish sourcing, spiced lamb kofta sitting alongside more direct options. None of this is gimmicky. The kitchen appears to be drawing on real culinary range rather than trend-chasing, the Michelin Plate recognition in 2025 confirms there is enough consistency and craft here to warrant attention. For context on how Irish regional restaurants earn this kind of recognition, venues like Campagne in Kilkenny and Bastion in Kinsale operate in a similar register of serious-but-unpretentious regional dining.

Seafood is the strongest argument for choosing The Duck over alternatives in the area. Kilmore Quay, one of Ireland's most active fishing harbours, sits close enough that the catch arrives in good condition and the kitchen treats it as a point of difference rather than a footnote. If you are visiting coastal Wexford specifically, this is the kind of sourcing that makes sense to prioritise. Ireland's better regional tables, dede in Baltimore, Chestnut in Ballydehob, Aniar in Galway, all make a similar case for local sourcing as the core of the offer, The Duck belongs in that broader conversation even if it operates at a more accessible price point.

Cocktail bar inside the carriage house is worth arriving early for. It functions as a proper pre-dinner space rather than a holding area, it gives first-timers a chance to settle into the room before sitting down to eat. In summer, the sunny terrace is the obvious choice for outdoor dining in Gorey, it books out ahead of the interior on good-weather evenings. If a terrace table matters to you, request it when booking rather than hoping for it on arrival.

On a return visit, what tends to solidify is the sense that The Duck has found its register and is not trying to be anything else. The global menu could easily tip into confusion, but the kitchen keeps it coherent. The price point stays honest. The Michelin Plate has not inflated expectations or prices in the way it sometimes does at venues that lean too hard on the recognition. For Gorey specifically, this is the kind of anchor that a small town's dining scene benefits from: a place that locals return to and visitors from Dublin or further afield make a deliberate detour for.

If your frame of reference is Ireland's starred tier, Chapter One in Dublin, Liath in Blackrock, Terre in Castlemartyr, The Duck is operating at a different level of ambition and price. That is not a criticism. It is doing something those venues are not trying to do: making good food accessible in a county town, with a terrace, at prices that do not require justification. For international visitors curious about where Irish regional dining is heading beyond the obvious city venues, Haubentaucher in Rottach-Egern and Loumi in Berlin offer a useful point of comparison for what accessible, internationally-minded bistro dining can look like when it is done without pretension.

Book The Duck if you are staying in or passing through Gorey and want a reliable, well-sourced meal at a fair price. Book it in summer if you want the terrace. Check our full Gorey restaurants guide if you are planning a longer stay and need to cover multiple meals across different formats and price points.

Practical Details

The Duck is located at Marlfield House Hotel on Courtown Road, Raheenagurren, Gorey, Co. Wexford (Y25 DK23). The price range is €€, making it one of the more accessible options with Michelin recognition in the southeast. Booking difficulty is low, walk-ins may be possible mid-week, but weekend bookings, especially for terrace tables in summer, should be made a few days ahead. Hours and booking method are not confirmed in our data; check directly with the venue before visiting. For more on the area, see our Gorey bars guide, Gorey wineries, and Gorey experiences.

Quick reference: Marlfield House Hotel, Gorey, Co.

How It Compares

See below for a direct comparison against other Gorey restaurants.