Organico Bantry

In Organico Cafe yesterday a customer commented on her roasted aubergine and chickpea curry saying that it smelt and tasted amazing. ‘I know why’ she said ‘it’s because it is un-polluted food’.

As I carried on serving lunch I reflected on her comment. I think it is an excellent way to describe our food. We are not trying to serve Cordon Bleu. What we are trying to do is serve tasty, nutritious, clean ‘un-polluted’ food.

Today, our menu contains the following:

Organic Lentil and Pumpkin Stew served with Spelt Bread

Roasted Organic Aubergine and Chickpea Curry served with Organic Brown Rice

Spelt Pizza with sundried tomatoes and Fetta served with 2 Salads

Lentil and Seed Loaf served with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Rice and 1 Salad

Shepherd’s Pie (topped with Organic local potatoes and a red lentil and vegetable base) Served with 2 Salads

Fetta Cheese Salad with either Organic Bulgar Wheat or Quinoa, Organic Tomatoes, Cucumber and Lettuce

Cheese sandwich: Local Gubbeen Cheese or Dubliner

Salad Selections: Wild rice, Quinoa, Bulgar, red Cabbage and Pumpkin Seeds, Beetroot and yoghurt, Potato, Thai Noodles (all made with organic vegetables, sprouts and seeds).

A selection of cakes and cookies from our Bakery, all made with Organic Spelt Flour and served with organic cream.

A selection of Fair Trade Organic Coffees and Teas.

Come over for Lunch sometime - and be sure to let us know what you think!

Promoting local artists and facilitating exhibitions and openings is a significant part of Organico Cafe’s activities. We try to change our exhibitions every month and try to exhibit artists who are local. As a result we always have facinating work on our walls to keep us all aware of the incredible amount of creativity out there. At the moment we have a facinating exhibition featuring Celtic Knotwork by Alan Barry-Davis; humorous prints on Nuns in bizzare situations by Roisin Russel and extrordinary flamboyant flights of fancy by Jackie Ovenden. And to add to the colourfulness of this exhibition Jackie’s daughter has submitted a few delightful watercolours.

Please contact us if you have any queries or would like us to host an exhibition for you.

Organico Cafe is an oasis of calm and great food in the middle of Bantry. Our specialitiy is reall home cooked good veggie food - which appeals to both veggies and non-veggies! We love expermenting so you never know what delights await you - and then we know how much reliability means when you are feeling low so we always have our regular sausage sandwiches and tasty soups.

We love feedback and suggestions so please contact us is you have any. Our business is costantly evolving and changing and this is often due to customer feedback.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Hannah Dare

Organico Bakery produces one of the biggest ranges of Spelt breads, cakes and scones in West Cork, possibly in Ireland. We have been baking with spelt for nearly 5 years, and we now make 4 different kinds of bread (white & brown yeast; white & brown sourdough; white & brown soda & french sticks, which are a mix of regular yeasted spelt dough with some sourdough mix thrown in for added texture & taste). We also make spelt scones, spelt chocolate chip cookies, spelt oat & raisin cookies, spelt chocolate fudge cake, spelt ginger cake, spelt lemon drizzle cake, spelt Christmas fruit cake, spelt banana cake, spelt Tarte Tartin, spelt chocolate tart & spelt pasties.

We have a regular bread stall in Bantry Market from April through to December, and from the stall we sell our breads and cakes as well as Spelt Pizza, Spelt Focaccias with all kinds of yummy toppings.
The flour we have found to be the best for the cakes and breads is Hildegard Health Organic Spelt Flour, which we also sell for home baking in our healthfood shop. We also sell Hildegard pastas, as well as the excellent Biona Spelt Pastas and Finestra de la Cielo cookies and crackers.

Drop in and enjoy! More receipes and tips for cooking and baking with spelt to follow.

In Organico Cafe we offer a wide selection for people who are coeliac or are trying to avoid Gluten, dairy, wheat, sugar, salt or saturated fats. Our aims are simple: to provide healthy, tasty and interesting food for everyone. We specialise in vegetarian foods because we believe that they are healthier and we are so enjoying cooking with vegetables, sprouts, beans, pulses and cheeses that we are not thinking of changing at this time, though we will keep you posted! Our customers are not all vegetarians but they all seem to love our food, so we must be doing something right!

All our soups are gluten free, dairy free and wheat free. We make our own stocks so we can be sure of this. Our curries and chilies are the same. We make all our own burgers, falafals and sausages, so we can tell you exactly what is in all of them. We use a lot of unusual grains such as Quinoa which is hugely popular as a salad and is also great in chillies. Our salads are all made fresh and on the premesis and with the exception of obvious ones like Bulgar wheat salad or couscous salad are gluten free.

We also offer a delicious gluten free cake made with apples, rice and millet flours, almonds and cinnamon, which is popular with coeliacs and non coeliacs too.
We can also make breads and cakes to order - we have a great receipe for GF chocolate cake and also for chocolate brownies.

In our shop we offer loads of GF pastas, crackers, bars, chocolate, sauces, and cooking ingredients.

More on this topic to follow.

For the best vegetarian lunch in West Cork, visit Organico Cafe in Bantry. We serve a full menu of Organic Vegetarian food all year round - soups and sandwhiches; salads plates and stews; curries and pasties. We also serve delicious organic Fair Trade coffee, cakes, scones and snacks from our bakery next door.

Organico Cafe is part of a family run business based in Bantry, West Cork, the home of Ireland’s gourmet food movement. West Cork is known for its cheeses, seafood, cured fish and meats, so we decided to complement all the interesting meat and fish restaurants by opening an exceptional organic vegetarian cafe for both locals and tourists who feel like a change. We already had a thriving healthfood shop and bakery, and a cafe seemed a logical next step.

Organico Cafe has been a resounding success. Initially trade was slow, which was a blessing as we were only finding our feet. But now, well into our 2nd year, we have made a name for ourselves in West Cork for delicious food which suits both vegetarians and also non-vegetarians who are open to trying something new. We are not completely vegetarian ourselves, which enables us to put together a menu which appeals to pretty much everyone - even some picky Italian students who were visiting the area found the Falafal Sandwhich to their taste!

Although our first focus in on the food, the Cafe is a great meeting place for people interested in living well in West Cork. We host meeting of West Cork Environmental Forum; of West Cork Homeopathy discussion groups, fundraiser evenings and regular Exhibitions of local Artists work. We also have internet available.