Where to Eat in Castlebar: A Local's Food Guide

A food town that does not shout about it

For a county town of around twelve thousand people, Castlebar eats well. There is no single famous street of restaurants, and the place does not market itself as a foodie destination, but spend a couple of days here and you will eat better than you might expect, thanks to a handful of strong independents and a county full of serious producers behind them.

The standout: House of Plates

If you have one good dinner to spend in Castlebar, spend it at House of Plates on Upper Chapel Street. It is run by award-winning chef Barry Ralph and his wife Helen, and it takes farm-to-fork seriously, working directly with Mayo farmers, fishermen and artisan producers. The format is sharing plates built around what is in season, which means the menu moves with the year. Book ahead, because it is the town's destination restaurant and tables go quickly.

The town institution: Café Rua

For coffee, lunch and a proper sense of the local food scene, Café Rua is the place. It was set up by Ann McMahon in the mid 1990s and is now run day to day by her children, Aran and Colleen. The café on New Antrim Street and the Rua Deli on Spencer Street are both built around local produce, from Ballina smoked salmon to Mayo cheeses, in homemade food and good coffee. It is the kind of independent that a town is lucky to have, and it has become a quiet institution.

For something older still, McHugh's Café on Main Street is a third-generation family café with a tradition going back to 1952. The appeal is the basics done right: hand-cut sandwiches, real loose-leaf tea, freshly ground coffee and homemade pastries. Generations of Castlebar people have been popping in here, and it shows in the easy, unfussy welcome.

The gastropub and the world kitchen

Bar One on Rush Street is the town's best-known gastropub, voted Best Gastro Pub in Mayo more than once. It has a name with seafood lovers, from battered cod and homemade chips to tiger prawns in filo pastry, and there is live music through the week, so it doubles as a good night out. For something different, The Olive Tree just off Market Square serves genuine Eastern Mediterranean cooking, grills, kebabs, wraps and mezze, courtesy of Algerian-born chef Mustapha Aboubi. It is a real taste of the Middle East in the middle of Mayo, with a cosy room and a covered courtyard out the back.

For a long-running Italian, Al Muretto on Tucker Street has been doing pizza and pasta since the early 2000s, with seafood pastas among the regulars' favourites. And for a no-nonsense feed, Danolla's Diner on Castle Street has built a name on its fish and chips, alongside burgers, fried chicken and sourdough pizzas.

The producers behind the plates

What ties the better Castlebar kitchens together is the quality of Mayo produce on their doorstep. Andarl Farm, founded in 2012 by Dave and Diana Milestone, rears free-range pork in Castlebar itself and supplies its velvet pork and bacon to award-winning restaurants across Ireland. Out near Balla, the Cuinneog dairy has been making traditionally churned country butter and natural buttermilk since 1990, the Irish word cuinneog meaning a churn. And down towards Claremorris, Velvet Cloud produces sheep's milk yogurt and cheese, the only sheep's milk yogurt made in Ireland.

Keep an eye out for these names on menus and deli shelves around town. Eating in Castlebar is, more than anything, a way of tasting the county that surrounds it.