Omagh Food Festival 2018

I’ve been spending the last fortnight writing up my blog post on Omagh Food Festival and, me being me has made it into a full-blown novel lol. So, I’ve decided to do a condensed blog post, giving a round-up of the day. Then, each day for the next fortnight I will feature one of the amazing vendors and their produce so you can get a proper insight into their business.

First off, I’d like to say it was a great day. We all had a blast and I even went back again on the Sunday! If you missed it keep an eye out for it next year. It’s definitely worth a visit!

The food on offer was amazing and I tried everything!!! (the photos don’t do it justice). The smells coming from Main Street over the weekend were out of this world!

The Erne larder was in attendance and had so many goodies but my personal favourite was the Lemon Curd. Just wow. And their bacon jam was a firm favourite among all the bloggers!
Their jams and preserves look, smell and taste delicious, I will definitely be looking out for more of their produce.

II Carro Della Pizza’s pizza was like nothing I have ever tasted before. Their sour dough pizza base was perfectly crisp and the homemade tomato sauce was delicious. This is one stall I wouldn’t pass, and not just cause of the impressive oven! It was brilliant seeing the pizzas being freshly made and cooked in minutes.

Baz and Eds was super busy. Every time I went past there was a queue snaking around the corner lol. The guys working there were lovely and the food sounded amazing. I went back on Sunday and got one of their chicken fajita. Amazing! Fresh, tasty and filling! just the right balance of spicy hot and cool. I got one with the works and I’m not usually one for guacamole but it’s good. bad and Ed’s food is very tasty and I’ll be trying their steak fajita next time!

I rocked up to Baronscourt Brewing Company’s not knowing what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised. I’m not a big beer drinker but the guys spent loads of time explaining their different beers, including their Wheat beer and their Red Ale. I tried their Black Sheep Stout and it was really nice. Smooth and creamy and a little bit sweet. We got to try it with chocolate. Yeah. I could def be converted to beer and chocolate lol.

Amongst the vendors there at the weekend was every kid’s (and big kid’s) dream. Chocolate Fountain WPM, what can I say? multicoloured lollies, candyfloss, popcorn, a mountain of sweets and slush puppies (4 flavours I was tempted to mix them all but MJ wouldn’t let me ?). I’d recommend the fudge and marshmallows for the chocolate fountain…oh and the strawberries too… ah just go for it!!!

Katie Ks Cakes And Bakes let us sample her delicious cakes, including carrot & walnut, jam & cream and lemon drizzle cake. They were fresh, moist, had the right buttercream to sponge ratio and were absolutely yummy. I loved the fact she did gluten-free cakes as well. She also asked were any of us allergic to nuts beforehand which I was very impressed by! There was a great selection available, although be quick because she was sold out of everything by the end!!

I was impressed with the selection Tom & Ollie had to offer. There was such a colorful array of olives, mezzo, tomatoes, cheese and pesto. Honestly, I’ve never really tried this type of thing before but the sun-dried tomato pesto was really good. I say good. I mean “consider how much is too much for a sample before actually buying a tub” good.

Longmeadow Cider was one of my favourite things about today. I like cider. But the flavoured one were a lot tastier than I ever imagined. My favourite was the rhubarb&honey, but that was before I tried the blossom burst. I think I’m just gonna have to get both (in the set because I really want that glass!!!) I’m looking forward to the blackberry one being bottled. It was my available on tap at the Food Festival.

An Creagan some delicious mini burgers for us all to try. Now I’d heard the sauce is “special” but I’m not one to believe hype lol. This definitely delivered on taste. The burgers were perfectly cooked. Tasty, juicy and that sauce…?! They also brought some amazing raspberry cheese cake. If you get a chance to try this please do. Made fresh in-house and you would definitely know. Light base, creamy and tasty top. My kinda dessert! On the Sunday, they kinda outdid themselves. They brought an amazing chocolate fudge cake. I didn’t even get a bit. John decided he was the taste tester for that one. Apparently, it was really good and next time he’ll be having it heated a bit with ice cream lol. I suppose that means we may go out to An Creagan for food soon lol.

Kennedy Bacon there as well and we had a chance to try their bacon (you’d wonder at that!) and I got to taste their sausages as well (I’m nothing of not thorough!) Everyone else was trying the wee bits all cut up and I just went and grabbed a huge slice. It was that good lol. I’m not usually a fan of smoked bacon but this was a lot nicer than anything I’ve ever got from a supermarket! I’ll be looking out for this in future. Plus, MJ loved it so it was thumbs up all round.

The chef and sous chef from Rue came out and told us about the dishes they had made specially for us. There was pasta with pesto, sun-dried tomato and parmesan, Thai brown curry and a Spanish fish dish. It was presented really well and we felt honored the sous chef came out and give us details on the dishes. I’ve had breakfast in Rue numerous times (their pancakes, bacon and maple syrup ?) and lunch a few time’s and I know I’ll be trying their dinner menu in the future now.

Ballyriff Buffallo Farm had a great display of steaks in display. The burgers we tried were meaty, juicy, and cooked perfectly. (we managed to try some on a pizza from ‘II Carro Della Pizza’ With some mozzarella and it was superb!!) I’d be interested to try the steaks. They must be amazing if the burgers are anything to go by! John went for the burger on Sunday and it was definitely a hit (He may or may not have had 2 lol).

The Mellon Country Inn had brought a lovely selection of sweet treats. The profiteroles were out of this would. And so big!!!! And the rocky road squares were delicious! They were displayed beautifully and I have to admit It was enough to tempt me to arrange afternoon tea last week (click here to see the treats that were on offer)

The Silverbirch Hotel had an amazing menu in place for the weekend. I wish I’d had time to drop in and try their surf and turf. Steak, crab claws, prawns, garlic butter and spinach. I do t think you realise how annoyed I am at missing that. After seeing the pic, they put up on Instagram!!! I did manage to bring a few scones home with me and I had them with a cuppa while editing photos for Instagram. Sooooo good. Perfect with a bit of butter and jam!

Apart from all the stalls there was live music and cooking demonstrations as well as kid’s entertainment. It was brilliant. MJ (ahem, and me) loved it. There was a balloon modeler, a chef on a unicycle and face painters as well as a few other things. To be honest MJ was happy walking round and trying the food and chatting to the vendors as well. She’s definitely her mother’s daughter!!!

All in all, I can say Omagh Food Festival 2018 was a total success. The weather was great and the crowd, vendors and food all added to the atmosphere and a fantastic food filled weekend!

If you were at the food festival and have any stories you’d like to share, or any questions you’d like to ask me, please feel free to leave a comment below.