MANNINGS
EMPORIUM
Have been promising myself, and one or two others, to visit Manning’s
Food Emporium in Ballylickey for some time. Made it, finally, on a sunny day this week and enjoyed the call which
included a chat with Val, the man who started it all.
Val was in great form and gave us quite a laugh when he let loose as a
delivery man as about to demolish one of his flower stands out the front. It
didn't come to a collision and soon it was smiles as usual.
Manning’s Emporium has
been in the Manning family for over 70 years and has evolved in that time from
post office and convenience store to what it is today: a gourmet shop renowned
for its high quality local produce, fine wines and excellent service.
No doubt in Irish cities you’ll find some similar stores with bigger selections
but remember that Mannings is in deepest West Cork in a country village on the
coast road between Bantry and Glengarriff. That makes the selection here,
mostly locally produced but also some stand-out items from aboard, quite
remarkable indeed.
Just to give you a flavour, here
are some of the items that ended up in my basket: Molaga Honey €3.40, Tikka
Masala Curry Sauce (UK) €4.05, Janet’s Country Fayre Beetroot Blush €4.00,
Healthy Thirst Elderflower Sparkling Drink (UK) €3.25 for 75cl, Cooleeney
Handmade Irish Cheese €3.75, The Apple Farm’s Sparkling Irish Apple Juice €4.45
for 50cl, Donegal Rapeseed Oil €5.95 for 50cl and El Comandante Chardonnay 2010
Argentina.
I’ve forgotten the price of the wine but you’ll see that the others are
priced fairly, better value than in some of the city shops. Quite a lot of
other local producers on display including Lorge Chocolates, Jack McCarthy
(Kanturk), Gubbeen, Durrus and there is a rack of vegetables by the door and
more.
Shopping done, it was time to take a table out-front and enjoy a cup of
coffee and a cake. They have a selection of pastries to chose from, all served
with a smile. Soon, we were ready to check out two other delights of the delightful
area: the unusual Ewe Sculpture Garden and Bantry House. A cool bag in the boot came in handy and some of
the drinks - the Elderflower was
gorgeous – were seen off during the afternoon of what turned out to be a great day
in the west.
