The top ten independent food shops in Cork

SOME people like to browse clothes shops, buy new shoes or ogle another handbag, but my ideal version of retail therapy is visiting a really great independent food shop.

I’m at my happiest wandering aisles and browsing the shelves, discovering new producers and ingredients, thinking about how to use them so I can justify the purchase. I guess you could say it’s my guilty pleasure, except I don’t feel guilty about it at all – not one little bit!

Over the past few weeks, this series has focused on great foodie experiences outside the home. But as autumn and winter beckons, I look forward to the comfort of home cooking and special weekend treats, and there’s no better place to get fresh inspiration for that than the local gourmet store…

Farmgate Store, Midleton

Owned and managed by Máróg and Sally O’Brien, the Farmgate in Midleton opened in 1983 with the primary ethos to local producers – a radical proposition back then.

Ever since, the business has continually grown, moving to new premises and expanding to create ever more space to stock the goods from a wide range of producers both established and new.

Wherever possible, the café (which sits at the back of the store), utilises those same producers on its menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner service, and there is a range of gourmet food boxes and meals made in-house available for sale so you can have a taste of Farmgate at home without the hassle.

Shelves are laden with great quality local produce, the best of the rest, and a great variety of wines to pair with your selections. The Farmgate in Midelton is a timeless place and endlessly inspiring; next year it will be celebrating it’s 40th year in business and is no doubt here to stay!

Opening times: shop and café are open Thursday – Saturday. www.farmgate.ie

The Ballymaloe Shop (at the Cookery School and Ballymaloe House), Shanagarry

It’s not just a great selection of food you’ll find in The Ballymaloe Shop, it’s also the cookbooks to spark your creativity for turning out life-affirming dishes, the cookware to do it all in, and the beautiful crockery to present it all on as well.

Some things that are truly unique, such as the fantastic raw Jersey milk yogurt and cheese produced at the on-site Micro Dairy, breads made fresh daily at the Bread Shed, cultured this and fermented that from the Fermentation Shed, as well as freshly picked produce from the acres of organic gardens.

Ballymaloe are vociferous ers of the very best of Irish food and drink and so the curated selection of Irish-made ingredients, condiments, sauces and more are the epitome of the well-made and well-sourced foods of Ireland.

It’s a wonderfully eclectic mix of the traditional and not-so-traditional which reflects the intrepid ethos of Ballymaloe to embrace every imaginable food culture.

Open seven days a week at both sites. See

Brian McCarthy of Cork Rooftop Farm, based on the Coal Quay. The farm began as a lockdown project in 2020 and now has its own shop too. Picture: Larry Cummins

Cork Rooftop Farm Shop, Cornmarket Street

What started as a lockdown project in 2020 has turned into one of the most inspiring success stories of Cork. Not only has a 6,800 square foot barren rooftop in the middle of the city been transformed into a biodiverse urban garden utilising several different growing techniques and technologies, but they also transformed a piece of marginal land just outside the city to create a peri-urban farm, growing vegetables for a Community ed Agriculture (CSA) veg box scheme and pasture-raised eggs.

The Cork Rooftop Farm Shop is located on Cornmarket Street beneath the original farm above, selling excess produce from their urban and peri-urban farm and other local growers as well. They do a particularly roaring trade in organically grown microherbs and microgreens, as well as a zero-waste bulk foods selection, a coffee dock and a small garden centre too.

See www.corkrooftopfarm.ie

SensAsian Fare, Ballincollig

May Kong opened her bricks and mortar store, SensAsian Fare, in 2018, four years after she first began trading at local farmers’ markets with her authentic and delicious cooking from across the Asian region. The store carries a vast selection of ingredients, products and equipment for everyone to create authentic Asian-inspired dishes at home, whether a curious home cook or someone looking to recreate the flavours of a faraway home.

May is originally from Hong Kong, the Chinese island nation that is a melting pot of foods from people all over the Asian continent because of its status as an important trading port. This is where her love of all foods of Asian origin began and extends to her enthusiasm to help her customers to pick the right ingredients for the right dish to create the most authentic flavours possible.

From fresh produce to tinned and packet store cupboard staples, to frozen products too, such variety makes SensAsian Fare the ultimate one-stop shop. While there, pick up some of May’s freshly made hot food dishes to take away with you.

Open Monday – Saturday 10:30am – 6pm.

See www.sensasianfood.com

O’Keeffe’s, St Lukes

There has been a store on the site of O’Keeffe’s since 1899 and under its current owners since 1993; a treasure trove of artisan foods in the heart of the St Luke’s community.

Even in 2012, the Ireland Guide said that, when it comes to this kind of traditional grocery store, “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore”; and while maybe this is no longer true (hence this list), there is something of permanence about O’Keeffe’s that other similar stores don’t have – I guess you could say it’s in the 123-year-old walls!

Here is where you can pick up your pound of spuds grown nearby with some award-winning smoked fish from Belvelly Smokehouse, or some free-range pork from Caherbeg in Rosscarbery, and an enormous selection of Cork cheeses, dairy, charcuterie and Arbutus breads. The selection of goods is a who’s-who of pioneering Irish artisans who also just happen to be dotted about the width and breadth of Cork county and city. If you want an education as to where Cork gets its heady ideals about its food from, a browse among the shelves in O’Keeffe’s will tell you all you need to know!

See www.okeeffes-shop.ie

Leafling Mercantile, Ballinspittle

When Leafling Mercantile first opened, it was in response to another small local food business closing, Lordan’s Craft Butcher. Shannen Butler-Keane, the owner of Diva boutique bakery, saw the closure as another lifeline of village life unpicked; Leafling Mercantile was her answer.

It’s a place where local people can come and purchase good quality, higher welfare, locally raised meats, eggs and dairy, as well as ing some of the great local small-scale vegetable growers looking for an outlet – the likes of Timoleague Vegetables, Horizon Farms, Food for Humans and Gortnacrusha Biodiversity Farm.

It linked perfectly with what Shannen had already earned her reputation on – gorgeous baked goods and breads, enabling her to move the deli over to Leafling Mercantile and keeping the bakery focused on what it does best.

Leafling Mercantile opened with the ethos of chemical-free where possible and minimal packaging with a refill zone for dried larder staples as well. Because of their close working relationship with local growers, there is a seasonality to the fresh produce in the shop that is undeniable – you will never find strawberries here in December, for example, but you will find local apples and pears.

Open seven days a week, Monday to Saturday, 10:30am – 5:30pm; Sunday 10:30am – 5pm.

See www.leaflingmercantile.com

Toon’s Bridge Dairy Warehouse Store, Cloghmacsimon Industrial Park, Bandon

The original shop in Inchigeela is still open as usual, as is their wonderful stall at The English Market, but now there is a new location where we can all go to fill up on our favourite Toon’s Bridge Dairy and Real Olive Co goodies.

Located in a unit just off the by in Bandon, the idea behind this new venue is to have more warehousing space for the business, and that means opportunity for customers to make bulk buys on everything from pasta to flour to cheese and everything in between. The counter is open to the public Fridays and Saturdays and from where a full counter service of the usual favourite deli items is available: olives of all kinds, charcuteries and cheeses, with the chance to try before you buy.

There’s a huge selection of tinned and jarred deli items, including high quality tinned fish – sardines, tuna, etc; and beautiful pottery platters and bowls too. It’s basically all your Toon’s Bridge favourites with plenty of room to browse, taste and buy.

Opening times: Friday and Saturday, 10am – 5pm.

Instagram: @toonsbridge

Rohu’s Country Market, Innishannon

Housed inside an old-fashioned garage, Rohu’s is a mecca for those looking for the very best of Cork food – not to mention those fresh crab sandwiches!

In the summertime, it’s a haven from the heat and in winter there’s a stiff breeze blowing through at all times, but no matter the weather, it’s always worth stopping off.

A few tables and chairs dot the front and fill up fast around lunchtime as people enjoy their freshly made sandwiches on Arbutus breads. There’s always something jazzy playing overhead, fresh flowers on chequered tablecloths and a generally happy vibe to the whole place, and always something intriguing to pick up, too.

From late autumn, Rohu’s stock game meats from Wild Irish Game, providing a seasonal flavour change for those who eat meat; pick up a sushi platter by TokYou Sushi in Skibbereen, or fresh fish on Friday. Fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables from a plethora of local growers and producers overflow the tables with pleasurable things to eat, or wood fired pizzas are available to eat in or takeaway on Fridays and Saturdays.

Open Wednesday – Sunday; pizzas Friday and Saturday, 5-8pm, Sunday, 12-3pm.

Instagram @rohuscountrymarket

Urru, MacSwiney Quay, Bandon

If you’ve never visited Urru, you may have come across owner Ruth Healy’s daily social posts to her Good Food News board of the most delectable, often obscure, morsels of general food knowledge. Ruth’s knowledge of all things to do with food is second to none, and she has her ear to the ground better than anyone I know - a true champion of food producers, and why Urru is such a brilliant culinary store.

As well as a purveyor of great Irish foods, there is an extensive collection of excellent wine, including Irish wine producers such as Wicklow Way Wines, berry fruits wines and apple wines from Nohoval Wines in Cork.

The collection of books run the gambit of recipe to food history to food as part of society, memoirs and journals, and is the most extensive and interesting collection of culinary works anywhere in the county.

There is cookware, a hamper service, and come the approach to Christmas a wonderful selection of dried and glacé fruits for baking festive cakes with. Stay for the sandwiches made fresh to order and with inventive and moreish fillings, barista coffee, or a bowl of warming soup.

Open Tuesday – Saturday, 8:30am – 5:30pm.

See www.urru.ie

Bradley’s, North Main Street, Cork city

This fifth-generation institution has seen it all when it comes to food and drink in Cork, not a trend, fad or fashion has ed it by and why it’s eye for what actually is good is never in dispute. Bradley’s is a catchword for quality you can rely upon, unquestionably.

Of course, the main reason to swing into Bradley’s is because, whatever you’ve decided you need to slake your irreparable thirst, here is where you will find it. Once that’s sorted, allow the eye to meander over tantalising displays of fine artisan foods, particularly something that will go nicely with that bottle of red, white, craft beer, bubbles, uisce beatha… Resistance is futile!

Open Monday – Sunday, 8am - 8pm. www.bradleysofflicence.ie

You can catch up on Kate Ryan’s on the ‘Best of Cork Food’ link below