Food file: The west of Ireland has it this week

Rua Deli

, Bakery & Cafe in Castlebar, Co Mayo has come out on top as the overall winner of the Bord Bia Just Ask  Restaurant of the Year 2016.

This is the seventh year of the national initiative that  promotes the use of local produce, and the McMahon  family’s business was selected for the top award for its

use of locally produced meat, vegetables, cheese, jams and chutneys.

Knockranny House Hotel

’s Wine Producers’ Weekend brings representatives from vineyards in Rioja, the Loire Valley, the Languedoc, the Veneto, Austria, Slovenia and Sicily to Westport, Co Mayo for a convivial meet and greet, and to raise a glass or two, on February 26-27th.

The hotel’s sommelier Nick Faujours, together with Sinead Cabot of Cabot & Co wine importers and retailers, will open the weekend with a wine clinic on the evening of the 26th.

The following afternoon there will be an opportunity to meet the producers and taste their wines, as well as a selection of cheeses and Knockranny breads and house-smoked salmon, and attend

masterclasses on each of the regions the participants represent.

The final event is a dinner in La Fougère, at which chef Seamus Commons will match dishes to a selection of the wines.

The B&B, wine tasting, masterclasses and dinner package is €135 per person (€199 for two nights), with a non-resident option for €69.

[  knockrannyhousehotel.ie ]

Olivia Goodwillie

is following her lovely biscuits and cakes cookbook, Something in the Tin, with a series of illustrated books for children, aimed at teaching them where their food comes from. Kevin and Kate’s Bread Book is the first in the series.

With the help of lovely illustrations by Wexford watercolourist Anne McLeod, it tells the story of how the adventurous duo – on discovering that

their granny has no flour to make bread – find a farmer to sell them wheat, and a miller to grind it, and then they bake a beautiful loaf of bread to surprise her.

You’ll find their recipe for white yeast bread at the back of the book, so be ready to get your apron on and get stuck in with any children you give this to.

It’s available for €12 including postage from

[ lavistownhouse.ie ]