The Pantry, off Market Square, Castlebar, is the newest most exciting eatery in town.
This family run café is the new hotspot in town serving a variety of tasty homemade food and arguably the best coffee in town if not the county. The cafe sits on the site of the old Kittyhawk’s café so keeps the long tradition of food service on Shamble Street going.
The Pantry is run by Karen Foyle, her husband Andy, and her brother Patjoe, and it is Karen’s vision that has created the homely welcoming environment that awaits each customer. The décor with its pastel colours complemented by different coloured tablecloths on each table and vintage signs and pictures, would take you back to the comforting days of visiting your grandmother and sitting in her kitchen for a cup of tea and a slice of homemade cake. In keeping with the traditional feel the servers all wear floral aprons and the menu keeps in with the traditional feel.
There are traditional dishes on the menu that carry this theme through such as the ever popular full Irish breakfast, and also scrambled eggs with bacon, which along with the rest of the menu is available all day and also for takeaway. Along with the breakfasts there are also baked potatoes on offer with a variety of fillings to warm us up on the chilly days ahead. All the soups such as tomato and basil, sweet potato and butternut squash, and the slice of homemade brown bread they are served with are made on the premises.
This café then takes a step forward in taste and introduces a Caribbean chicken curry and rice, the popular chicken and chorizo ciabatta, and a Mexican flavour of a quesadilla which a wrap served folded not rolled with cheese, chicken, onions, and served with a guacamole and salsa to tickle the taste buds. There are specials made every day as the servers will inform you when they hand you the menu.
What better way to finish the meal other than with one of the homemade tray bakes or a slice of Baileys cheesecake or chocolate fudge cake served with some cream.
The Pantry is also the only place in Mayo where you can have a cup of the exclusively roasted Badger & Dodo coffee which is made in Ireland in Fermoy, Co Cork. This coffee is very sought after and customers will have to travel as far as Galway before they can taste it again although The Pantry has retail bags for sale if you want to take the flavour home with you.
