Ireland’s food scene is as characterful and captivating as its landscape. While Ireland’s restaurants reflect the best of home-grown ingredients, and markets, tours and festivals champion local producers, the most memorable food experiences are the ones that fly under the radar, the kind locals tend to keep to themselves.
Across the country, smaller producers are adding to the fabric of local communities by approaching food production in inspired and unique ways. From a passionate baker growing his own grain and popping up on weekends in his local pub in Carlow to an innovative family-run fruit winery in Wicklow, these hidden gems reveal the richness in Ireland’s food scene, each one a treasure waiting to be discovered.
Community bakes
In Borris, Co Carlow, Joyce’s pub opens its doors far earlier than others. Not for pints, but for pastries. Queues form before opening every Friday and Saturday morning and the pastries and loaves that adorn the former grocery counter often sell out before lunchtime.
Plúr is the bakery brand of local Seamus Jordan, a chef originally but now one of the leading lights in Ireland’s bakery scene. Passionate about organic, native grains and regenerative tillage farming, he named his bakery after the Irish word for flour and has a hand in every part of the operation. He grows and stone-grinds the wheat, produces the bakes and sells directly to his customers – the epitome of farm to fork.
RM Block
Plúr represents the new wave of Irish baking: thoughtful, hyperlocal, and grounded in community. In his mind, Jordan is just baking each week for his neighbours, but through his dedication and skill he has put Borris on the map as a food destination and given the local, 100-year-old pub a whole new lease of life.
Heroic hedgerows
Ireland’s climate can be as surprising as it is challenging. While Ireland is making early but exciting waves in commercial winemaking with the growth of small-scale vineyards, the hedgerow offers its natural abundance every year. In Wicklow, Ireland’s Garden County, Brett Stephenson is capturing the annual harvest in the bottle by producing a range of complex, food-friendly wines in his family-run winery, Wicklow Way Wines.
With a core trio of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry wines under the brand name Móinéir, Irish for meadow, Stephenson captures the essence of the local landscape in peak season and ferments it into one of Ireland’s most exciting and unique sips. With sustainability at the core and Irish berries as the hero ingredient of each small batch, Stephenson and his family team are not only adding to the diversity of Ireland’s drinks scene but educating curious drinkers by hosting regular tours and tastings to discover one of the country’s most groundbreaking producers.
Atlantic edge
West of Connemara and Galway Bay, the Aran Islands transport you to another world. All limestone walls, golden beaches and jagged sea cliffs, this postcard setting captures rugged and rural Ireland in its prime. Who would have thought a goat herd on Inis Mór would be putting the islands on the map for the quality of the cheese produced?
Gabriel Faherty is one of the great icons of Inis Mór. Not only an expert local tour guide but the farmer and producer behind Aran Islands Goat’s Cheese, an idea sparked by his wife Orla. For 15 years he has been producing some of Ireland’s most celebrated and award-winning goat’s cheese, ranging from soft, fresh Feta-style cheese to harder, aged varieties. No day tour or overnight stay is complete without visiting the goats and getting to see the island through Gabriel’s eyes.
Dairy with a difference
While herds of dairy cows grazing on rolling green fields are one of the most common sights across the country, in Cork there is something a little different. In the Macroom countryside a herd of water buffalo is the key to success for a family farm producing uniquely Irish styles of traditionally Italian cheeses.
The Lynch family are fourth-generation dairy farmers based in the Muscraí Gaeltacht. In 2009 they took an enterprising leap of faith, importing 31 buffalo from northern Italy, and the rest is history. Today, the herd numbers more than 700 and the farm produces a diverse range of dairy products, from buffalo mozzarella and ricotta to Greek-style cheese and yoghurt. What began as an experiment completely changed the fortunes of the family farm, proving that Ireland’s traditional agricultural landscape is surprisingly adaptive and exciting. Take a farm tour to see, and taste, for yourself.
Shore bets
As an island nation, Ireland bears a deep connection to the sea and seaweed has long sustained coastal communities, from use as a fertiliser to foodstuff. Marie Power is the foraging expert behind The Sea Gardener, an experiential tour operator who leads coastal foraging, cooking and educational experiences along the shorelines of the Sunny South East.
Specialising in showcasing the bountiful gifts the sea quietly sends our way, Power takes curious foragers by the hand to impart her decades-long experience in coastal ecology: how to source and forage sustainably, how to use seaweed and wild-growing seaside herbs in everyday cookery and skincare, and all the forgotten knowledge and lore around Ireland’s love affair with the seas that surround it.
Sustainable spirits
Ireland has a proud distilling heritage spanning 700 years and all four provinces. At its peak, in the 18th-century golden age of Irish distilling, the country was the leading producer of spirits in Europe, with hundreds of distilleries. Although the industry declined in the meantime, Ireland is once again becoming a world leader, particularly in whiskey production. Among the shining lights is Ahascragh Distillery, the country’s first zero-emissions eco-distillery, in the village of the same name near Ballinasloe in Co Galway.
Here you can discover the meticulous process of distilling sustainable spirits from grain to glass and delve into the history of the strikingly beautiful, repurposed mill building which houses the distillery. Its tours conclude with a tasting of Ahascragh’s award-winning spirits. Make a day of it and dine afterwards at the nearby Clan Colla restaurant.
Seasonal flavour
Modern Irish cuisine is rooted in seasonality, with a deep connection to the local landscape. Just as ingredients come in and out of season, so too do some of the best restaurants, which operate on limited schedules to offer better work-life balance. In Clifden, the capital of Connemara, Oifig an Fish is a contemporary take on the traditional fish and chip shop. Sibling co-owners Michael and Hannah Nagle source the freshest local catch and serve it simply, allowing the produce to shine, albeit sometimes with a little of the local Micil Poitín, the “secret” ingredient in their shatteringly light batter.
In Castlegregory, Co Kerry, Milesian offers a short, four-month window to book a table. Opening its doors in May and closing in September, Frankie Fitzgerald’s seasonal restaurant, set in a 200-year-old cottage on Main Street, is named after the legendary race of Gaels who came to these shores via Iberia. Even more true to tradition, bookings are only taken over the phone.
An eclectic menu evolves weekly, celebrating local produce and foraged fruits and herbs from across the west Kerry landscape.
Ireland reveals itself most compellingly through its less obvious headliners. Local gems, producers hiding in plain sight, seasonally open restaurants and game-changing distillers. As you travel the country, through tiny villages, across county lines and to remote islands, the most captivating stories are often discovered in the quiet corners and most unassuming places.
Visit discoverireland.ie for more information and inspiration on Irish food experiences.
