We headed back to Galway yesterday to visit the Food Festival, thankfully Bus Eireann were back running, after a strike of almost three weeks, so we were able to get there fairly early.
First stop was The Skeff on Eyre Square, they were having a breakfast demo and we got to hear how they make some of their favourites. I was very impressed with the granola and the cheese and herb scones were delicious. I’ve never been in The Skeff before but it’s a really quirky place with rooms everywhere and painted ceilings, their menu is reasonably priced too.
Next we paid a visit to Halla Bia which is a pop-up indoor food hall for the festival. As it had just started to rain it was great to be able to get inside. We mooched around the various stands, my goodness there’s some fantastic food out there. We sampled quite a few – sure it would have been rude not to! I’m fairly sure I was close to a sugar coma but I did try to balance that up with some kale crisps!
We waddled out of there and paid a visit to the Festival village at the Spanish Arch, we caught a little bit of a pickled food demo and had a stroll around the various stalls. We were quite surprised at the huge queue for hamburgers when there were so many other gorgeous foods on offer. Each to their own I guess.
Next was lunchtime, even though we were fairly full from grazing. I’d won a voucher for The King’s Head from Galway Hour on Twitter so we went there. It’s a cool pub and it was nice to see it open as it was Good Friday and there is a ban on selling alcohol in Ireland on that day. The food looked lovely and I went for the veggie dahl but it was a wee bit spicy for my liking so I didn’t eat much of it. Lucy had the Halloumi salad which she said was delicious.
We went back to The Skeff for their Sweet Treats demo, I have to say their home-made jammie dodgers are the business! Their gluten free almond and raspberry cake was pretty special too. It was a bit hard to hear this demo as the place was packed and the chef was quietly spoken but we will be getting the recipes by emails so I’m hoping to try my hand at them.
I love the buzz around Galway, it really is a special place to visit. There’s always something to see. The busker and his little dog are such characters it was so funny to watch them in action.
As always my day went way too quickly and it was soon time to get the bus home. The food festival runs for the whole weekend and is well worth a visit. I’m looking forward to next year already when Galway becomes the European Region of Gastronomy 2018, the first region in Ireland to receive this designation. You can find out more about that on this website.
The rest of my photos from the day are here.
Magnumlady Blog 
Our family days in Galway always end upstairs at the Skeff with the children and Legos spread across one of their booth tables and Johnny and me at a table of our own. It’s a great spot to just hang before catching the bus to the ferry with decent food, large space, and accommodating staff. Sounds like you had a lovely day. Wish I had made it out now!