Enniskillen – A taste for the senses

Enniskillen – A taste experience!

I had the pleasure of visiting Enniskillen for a fantastic weekend to experience all that Fermanagh lakelands has to offer. It’s safe to say I ate and drank myself all around the island and rolled back to Dublin a very happy lady! (I was actually pretty surprised to discover that Enniskillen is in actual fact an island!) I’m sure you will have followed along on my Instagram stories across the weekend as I uploaded food snap after food snap!

I packed a huge amount into my flying 24 hour visit and cannot wait to go back to take in some more of the sights in detail, especially some of the hikes/walks. In the coming weeks I’m taking another visit and really looking forward to taking on the Cuilcagh trail!

I was delighted to be invited on this wonderful stay by Fermanagh Lakeland Tourism the main focus of which was to go on the Enniskillen Taste Experience and try it out before it was opened up to the public. We were also put up in the Enniskillen Hotel and treated to dinner at their restaurant Becketts, packing a huge amount into just 24 hours we even found time to visit Headhunters Barber Shop & Railway Museum and do a quick fly past Castle Coole!

The Enniskillen Taste Experience, was the absolute star of the weekend, we started off at Enniskillen Castle – the foundation of Enniskillen. Our guide Mark met us there and explained how the tour works and we set of on our adventure. I’ve been going back and forth on which places were my favourites and am pleased to report that I actually found this to be an impossible task. Enniskillen has so much to offer in terms of it’s foodie landscape and the tour allows you to experience a bit of absolutely everything, including the coveted GoT door in Blake’s of the hollow! There are so many amazing places that I would never have found by myself from ice cream parlours/cafes to fine dining.

“Spreadable butter is for people to spread on bad bread!”

The first stop on our tour was up a tiny little lane way to Joe the Baker, where we sampled some of his sourdough with O’Doherty black bacon. *drool*
Joe, a community baker, is an absolute wealth of knowledge about all things baking he opens up his bread table twice a week (Thursday & Saturday) and sells his famous sourdough from his starter “Robin” along with other fabulous creations – cruffins, focaccia, morning buns, bagels… you name it!

He is extremely passionate about what he does and that really comes across both in speaking to him and tasting his produce.

What a great start to an epic afternoon!

(It wasn’t until later that day when I passed by the butchers that I realised that I regularly buy O’Doherty bacon from my local SuperValu – small world!!)

Next up was The Happiness Trap where absolutely everything is prepared in house, all of the fruit and veg comes in fresh the day it’s served with the clay on, it really doesn’t get any fresher than that! Their mission statement is that they are dedicated to making people aware that it’s possible to eat healthy without losing any of the enjoyment – something I personally resonate with so much. All of their fruit and veg is locally sourced and where possible organic, the spread they put on for the taste experience is out of this world! We got to sample almost everything on their hugely extensive menu, rather unlike me, on this occasion, I went straight for the desserts, cut into the perfect sized portions so that you can sample a little bit of everything. I’m torn as to which was my favourite – the cheesecake or the brownie but safe to say they were the two show stoppers here! The savoury options did not disappoint either, I’ve been day dreaming about the sweet potato salad!

Gin Time!!

Stop number 3 was one of the highlights for me, we headed into The Firehouse, previously known as Bush Bar –  it’s been newly renovated and the layout is superb, they have an open kitchen so you can keep an eye on all of the action, I adore when restaurants are set up like this as you can spy your food while it’s in the works and you never know what you might learn!

At The Firehouse we got to try out Boatyard Gin, paired with the most delicious pork belly of all time! I am a huge pork belly & crackling fan – as is Mum so we were happy out! (It was so good I even went back for another helping later that day!) Gavin, the head chef also spoke to us about their full offering and Big Bertha oven, which they use to make epic pizzas!

I know I know – you’re dying to hear about the gin! The Boatyard Distillery is an award winning farm-to-bottle distillery located on the banks of Lough Erne in north west Ireland. Only the best organic ingredients have been chosen for each of their products with the terroir of the land at the forefront of each, their gin botanical, Sweet Gale, is foraged from the family bog. It was delicious and came perfectly timed on our tour! Mark is a timeline wizard!!

Stop 4, after all of that food and drink, it was time to head across the road to Tickety Moo for ice cream. The only thing I will say is be sure and come with an empty stomach – otherwise you will be bitterly disappointed when you don’t have room to sample all of the tasty treats! Tickety Moo comes from jersey cows who believe it or not are milked 5 times a day! I’ve never had ice cream quite like it before. We took our cones to go and headed towards stop no. 5 with Mark pointing out some other great places to eat & drink along the way, including 2 great spots for live music; Blake’s & Granny Annie’s. (Unforchunately by the time it came to 10pm – I was only fit for bed so will have to add these to my must see next time around!)

Stop 5 took us down a little allyway to Butter Market where we stopped at Rebecca’s Coffee Shop for some of her award winning scones and a much needed coffee as I was starting to slip gently into a food coma!!

Refreshed and recharged off we popped to stop 6 – Blake’s of the Hollow – a fabulous Victorian bar with the coolest old fashioned snugs ever!

While we were here I also picked up some cool facts that I never would have guessed walking around Enniskillen by myself – dating back to Victorian times – all of the butchers are on one side of the street in order to be out of the direct sun light – how clever! Also back then pubs were painted black and red to indicate what they were as people couldn’t read. Blake’s is still to this day painted black and red which is a really nice touch.

The snugs are super, our whole group was able to pile in and settle down for a good natter and get to know each other. Of course, while we were there we were again treated to some delicious food and drinks. I didn’t think I had any room left but I managed to find space once I tasted the sausages from Stuart’s butchers – they were ah-mazingg!! Our delicious sausages were paired with a local craft beer, Inish Mac Saint beer which is brewed in Fermanagh, I’m not normally a beer drinker but I really enjoyed it, especially with the sausages!

We headed out then to our penultimate stop, taking a couple of moments to get a photo opp with the coveted GoT door and call in to Stuart’s butchers to check out his full range. Stop 7 was the Jolly Sandwich, a fabulous café with more cakes than you can count lining the window! Mum and I had popped in that morning when we arrived for a quick coffee which we thoroughly enjoyed (I was delighted to see their extensive range of mylks as I’m a sucker for a good almond milk latte!) so it was great to see that they were being showcased on the tour also!

Our final stop was 28 Darling Street for a glass of bubbles and yet another feed! And what a high to end on, Mark has organised for the restaurant to open specially for each tour so we had the place to ourselves to sit back, relax and enjoy even more good food!

Glen Wheeler and the team at 28 Darling Street have done an exceptional job, the venue is fabulous, and so is the food!

A really unexpected and show-stopping finish to a fabulous afternoon. I went on the Enniskillen Taste Experience not really knowing what to expect and was blown away throughout, Mark has put a huge amount of effort into choreographing this amazing experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to go again and also recommend it to anyone who will be in the area!

For more information visit their website, they have a brilliant FAQ for any questions you have that I may not have covered.

Thank you to Fermanagh Lakelands for inviting me up for a wonderful weekend http://www.fermanaghlakelands.com/