Just a few miles inland from the beaches and surfers of Garrettstown, you’ll find the village of Ballinspittle and the Diva Boutique Bakery Café. Shannen Keane also found this village a few years back and named her enterprise after a coffee house in her native Seattle. The story goes on. At one side of the village main street you’ll find the Diva bakery and food store and, at the other side, the busy cafe, serving up breakfast and lunch and more besides.
Everything here is down to earth real, with meat coming from local butcher, Lordans, greens from nearby Horizon Farm and free range eggs from Beechwood Farm - and, of course, all the breads and baked goods are made here in their own bakery.
The breads are very special, many of them made by the sourdough process, which takes two days to complete - and there are some outstanding ones in the range, notably a handsome seeded loaf that’s reminiscent of a sea urchin; then there are yeasted breads, including the unusual golden potato loaf which is made with 50/50 mashed potato and wheat flour; and some classic treats like brioche, croissants and Danish pastries...and that’s before you even think about the likes of cakes (many, many cakes), tarts, cupcakes and more - some of them available gluten free, too.
And they sell all sorts of other gorgeous things in the shop too, including products from another local businesses such as, Toonsbridge Dairy, both their buffalo cheeses and the Real Olive Company’s olives, olive oil and delicatessen products. And so it goes on, sheer quality.
And so to the café. Big smiles in a busy atmosphere and help in getting seated - that’s a good start. What you can expect here is simple stuff, but done really well: everything looks good and tastes even better.
Maybe you are in for the breakfast, then you may fancy the German Breakfast (Diva honey baked ham, Irish cheeses, gherkins, tomatoes and more and not forgetting Diva bread), or perhaps the Veggie Breakfast Wrap (fried eggs, spinach, cheese sautéed onion, and sweet chilli, served toasted).
Lots more to choose from including fries and scrambled eggs, all locally produced and the breakfasts come with local salad greens.
If you come at lunchtime, there’s a great range of sambos and wraps, homemade burgers (beef, lamb, veggie) It might be hard to pass on the roast beef sandwich (rare roast beef baked in-house, red onion, cheddar and horse-radish cream) but then again a Pulled Pork Wrap sounds very tempting too (slow roasted pulled pork, spicy black beans, salsa and cheddar). The classic BLT is superb, packed with tasty rashers, tomatoes and a crunchy salad.
There’s a great a kids’ menu too, for both breakfast and lunch, also and lots of drinks including fresh fruits juices plus different coffees and loose leaf teas.
And since you’re visiting a baker, there’s no shortage of cakes to choose from. Whatever the time of day, Ballinspittle sounds like a good place for a journey break.
