Kinsale has an exceptional restaurant scene for a town of 5,000 people. It has been called the gourmet capital of Ireland since the 1970s, when a group of local restaurants established the Kinsale Good Food Circle and raised the standard collectively. The claim is sometimes overstated, but the town genuinely has more good restaurants per capita than almost anywhere else in Ireland. The annual Gourmet Festival in October draws visitors from across the country. Fresh fish and shellfish from Kinsale Harbour are the backbone of most serious menus.