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What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Many crimes against food are committed by pubs claiming the dubiously desirable title of 'gastro'. Carefully sourced artisan produce are carelessly piled into sub-standard baps. Bags of breaded mushrooms and nuggets are pulled from the freezer, deep fried, and shovelled onto local organic leaves, melting them to pondweed. A sandwich of home baked ham with a fine Irish cheese will sit on the same plate as the mass produced claggy coleslaw from the catering tubs. The intention is there, but the Devil, as they say, is in the detail.

In many tourist towns both home and away, you will notice that there always seems to be a street full of tacky souvenir shops, a smattering of dull cafes, and some terrible tourist-trap restaurants. Not so in Galway. We are lucky enough to have Quay Street, the buzzing heart of Galway’s Latin Quarter. It has medieval architecture, a pedestrian street for browsing the many quirky little shops full of wooden toys, vintage clothes, and pottery alongside the quality woollens and Celtic jewellery. The atmosphere in the pubs is fun and friendly, with the sound of music from trad to rock spilling onto the street. There are almost always some buskers and performers, a festival or parade, and this is the best place in Galway city on a sunny evening, when the outdoor seating is packed with tourists and locals engaged in 'people watching' and enjoying all the sights and sounds of the streets of Galway.

Fall in love with the spud with the return of Keogh’s National Potato Day 2012 this Saturday August 25.

Cedar Restaurant at the Athlone Springs Hotel in Monksland, a few minutes drive from the centre of Athlone, is a striking impressive space on arrival, with purple-rich curtains cascading down from a high ceiling a level above, over impressive glass windows that particularly capture the morning sun if you happen to be arriving for breakfast. Cream, maroon, and purple upholstery add to the Provencal colour scheme, along with a fetching light purple blind dividing part of the room that captures how you’d imagine the cornfields of Elysium. A baby piano by one of the windows adds an extra layer of sophistication.

BBQ lamb skewers with cucumber red onion and tomato salsa

Serves 4

The Malt House Restaurant has always had a great reputation for serving good food consistently over a great many years. Just over a year ago the restaurant transformed itself into a slightly different, less formal, dining room and focused on creating a menu using the very best of local ingredients. It even has very large pictures of some of its suppliers on the walls, which gives an indication of how seriously the company takes finding the best produce. I called in on a very wet Thursday at 7pm and there were quite a few tables filled with diners. It seems to attract a cross section of tourists, locals, and parties out for the night. While somewhat less formal than before, the service is as polished as ever, and throughout the night it was impressive to watch all the tables being looked after in an efficient, but not pushy, manner. Service is not something to be overlooked when choosing a restaurant for a night out. There is nothing worse than to have an otherwise good meal spoiled by poor service; however I think that recently the standard of service generally has improved in restaurants.

Marks & Spencer stores in Athlone and Mullingar have announced the introduction of branded food products to their range this month. The selected range of hundreds of branded grocery and household products will be available in store by mid-September.

Lovers of good food, and particularly those with a passion for fresh fish, will be tantalised by the opening of the new Fishworks restaurant in Westport, part of the Atlantic Carlton Hotel on the quays.