My Local Food Heroes in Cork

I am quite picky when it comes to where I buy my food. Especially when I am cooking for friends. Although I always praise them when I am there...I think I should 'shout' it to the 'Rest of the World'. Okay, here they are:

• For Meat - O'Flynn's Brothers in Marlboro Street (they even tell you how to cook the meat) just great. Always a smile on their face (Simon and Patrick know their meat).
• For Fish - The Good Fish Shop in Ballincollig (the girls in there might not know what cockles are, but they are friendly and they fillet the fish if you want to). Prices are much lower than O'Connells in the English Market although they would have more choice. For Salmon - the little stall next to Iago - no better salmon. I think his name is Willie Martin.
  
• For Pesto - it has to be Iago in the English Market. It is pricey but worth it - unless you want to make it yourself.
• For spices and ethnic food - Mr Bells in the English Market. Great value, I buy all my rice and dried pulses here
• For cheese - Iago, On the pigs back and the lovely guy at the farmer's markets (keep forgetting his name - but he knows his cheese).
• For wine - It has to be mostly Bubble Brothers. Austin knows his stuff and his food-wine matching skills are second to none. Saying that, Tesco's got some great wines as well. Barry from Wine Buff in Washington Street is a lovely guy who likes to share his knowledge
• For veggies - My dad. I have to admit that I am spoilt here as we store our veggies throughout the year. We freeze our garden produce fresh and we are just finishing our green beans. But otherwise, you can't beat farmer's markets. But again, price matters in times like these, so don't hesitate to go to a supermarket.
• For poultry - again, I normally ask my dad if he can bear a chicken or a goose and if he can, he is slaughtering it for me. Otherwise I go to the English Market (I never ever buy poultry in a supermarket). I only attempted once to buy chicken from the Chicken Inn and although I stopped halfway through - this had nothing to do with the quality of the meat but simply with the attitude of the person behind the counter. I walked away and never came back.... So I buy mostly from Moynihan's and so far haven't been disappointed.
  

That's about it....let me know where you buy your produce and who your local food heroes are. We should celebrate them