Roll out your picnic blanket and take in some of Sligo’s breath-taking Atlantic views with a picnic from some of our Sligo Food Trail’s members!

Joe Grogan has worked in some aspect or other of the food business since he was a teenager, beginning in supermarkets and running a number of different successful restaurants along the way. Along with business partner, the talented chef Grainne Sheridan, he opened Walkers 1781 last March, in the teeth of the pandemic. It’s a beautifully revamped pub, effortlessly combining a comfortable pint drinking environment with a classy gastro pub menu. From June, they were able to welcome eat-in customers for a short period of time, but it’s mainly been takeaway and, as Joe puts it ‘Not a single person has sat at the bar counter’. He’s hoping that will change soon.

We were delighted to run our series of online events to celebrate The Sligo Food Trails 5th anniversary. We invited members, Grainne Gilmartion of Sligo Wellness Centre, Anthony Gray of Eala Bhán Restaurant and Hooked and Dr. Prannie Rhatigan of Irish Seaweed Kitchen to share with us some wonderful recipes.

Ollie Alcorn, Head Distiller at Athrú Whiskey, one of Sligo Food Trail’s newest members, is a man who has definitely led a life less ordinary. That life began closer to wine than to whiskey – in the Barossa Valley near Adelaide, Australia’s biggest wine region. For Ollie, working in the wine industry just meant accumulating [...]

Join Gaz Smith who owns Michael’s and Little Mike’s in Mount Merrion, Dublin at the Sligo Food Trail open online event “Riveting pivoting and canny cooking”, this event will give you a chance to hear his typically honest and frank assessment of all that has happened in the last 15 months and how he has responded. Gaz will be joined for a panel Q&A session by restauranteur Anthony Gray (Eala Bhán and Hooked) and Carolanne Rushe of Sweet Beat, both of whom have a tale to tell about weathering the recent storms.

Tuyen Vu is a man with a fascinating backstory embracing three continents and several career incarnations all of which he has fitted into not much more than four decades. He has finally put down deep roots with his family, in Ballinfull, Co. Sligo and settled happily into a career in coffee which he loves.

Originally from Sligo Town, Jenny French has spent the last decade in Tubbercurry embracing life in the slow lane with her family. Now that lifestyle, encouraged by lockdown, has led to a new business, a retail shop intriguingly entitled ‘From The Ground Up 2020’. It’s the county’s first refill station, selling eco-friendly self-care products and a delicious deli section featuring artisan foods.

Sligo Food Trail are celebrating their fifth birthday with taste and in trademark style, launching a commemorative video entitled “A tasty trip around five years of Sligo Food Trail” as well as a series of exciting online events showcasing some of the talented members. It’s quite a milestone for the network which began in 2016 and has matured into one of the best recognised food networks in the country.

Keep an eye on our social media over the next few weeks. Sligo Food Trail is rarin’ to go for 2021.

The folks on Sligo Food Trail have come up with some superb gifts for your Mum this Mothers’ Day. Now you can give her something she’d really like and buy Irish and local all at the same time.