2024 Award Winners IRISH BREAKFAST AWARDS 2024 - CAFE

POTA Café, Inverin, Co Galway

Half an hour west of Galway city on the Wild Atlantic Way, Cork chef Diarmuid O’Mathúna’s vibrant bi-lingual café is billed as ‘the last stop before the Aran Islands’. A perfect breakfast break before a morning ferry, it’s scenically set in a two-storey thatched building besideTG4’s headquarters and easy to spot. A Ballymaloe-trained chef, Diarmuid brings the holistic Ballymaloe ethos (local, seasonal, organic, sustainable) to POTA, which is Irish for pot and embodies his feeling for communal food. Local suppliers feature strongly, with a printed map on each table showing their locations around the county, and menus - in Irish, with willing staff on hand to assist – offer simple, tasty fare including delicious breakfast plates with meats from the famed McGeoughs of Oughterard (Connemara Fine Foods) and sourdough toasties – pulled bacon collar with Kylemore farmhouse cheese & honey mustard mayo perhaps, with locally roasted coffee. POTA is a one-off and set to be a long-term Connemara success story. a great bi-lingual café to try on your next Connemara adventure. And don’t forget to allow time to enjoy the lovely beach out at the back…