Castlebar eatery Café Rua continues to clock up the accolades.
The restaurant has been saluted by Irish Times food critic Catherine Cleary for dishing up the best lunch in Ireland.
Cleary’s annual round-up of the best restaurants in the country has been described as something akin to Ireland’s food Oscars.
The critic orginally visited Café Rua last May.
She then named the café as her favourite lunch of the year last week in The Irish Times.
“By making its food from scratch and putting the best that Mayo has to offer on plates that everyone is happy to eat, Rua shows that when you do things properly they will beat a path to your door,” said Cleary.
She was especially impressed by Café Rua’s Mayo mezze plate.
“Their €10 Mayo mezze plate takes all the great food from around them and puts it deliciously together on one wooden board.”
For a sweeter treat, she recommended the café’s desserts, which she described as “old-school brilliant”.
Café Rua is run by brother and sister team Aran and Colleen. The siblings run two branches of their wildly popular café in Castlebar, one on New Antrim Street and a second on Spencer Street.
As well as serving lunch, Café Rua on New Antrim Street is also open every Friday night until 9pm.
Café Rua is no stranger to praise from foodies in-the-know. The Good Food Ireland Guide says the café has “buckets of attitude”.
“This place is all about the good things Irish food has to offer, dressed up in a bright colourful space with staff who smile (and ) clearly enjoy what they do,” says the guide.