Three Northern Ireland establishments are featured in the 2020 Georgina Campbell Irish Breakfast Awards with Fáilte Ireland, writes Sam Butler.
The Northern Ireland successes were:
- Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen won the Best Five Star Breakfast
- Hillsborough Castle Café won the Best Visitor Attraction Breakfast
- Ardtara Country House in Maghera was highly commended Country House Breakfast
They were among eight businesses across the country crowned Ireland’s top breakfast venues in categories including 5* Hotel, B&B and Guest House.
Now in their fourth year, the Georgina Campbell Irish Breakfast Awards celebrate the people and businesses that strive to make the first meal of the day as memorable as any fine dining experience, and with a real sense of place.
Awards founder, Georgina Campbell, who is one of Ireland’s foremost food and hospitality writers, believes that breakfast is a food experience that Irish businesses, regardless of size, can do particularly well for their guests and customers.
“The great thing about being able to offer a hearty Irish breakfast is that you don’t have to be the biggest to be the best and indeed, can be a venue of any size to compete in this important and competitive arena. Serving up a good quality breakfast can have a lasting impression on customers. Doing the simplest of things well is enough to encourage a return visit and build a strong reputation for your establishment, regardless of how many people you can seat,” said Georgina Campbell.
This year Georgina noticed some marked improvements, notably in the three-star hotel category, which has become more focused on its breakfast offering. “We are considering more three-star hotels than ever before for an award, and this is really heartening, with huge efforts going into producing a fine breakfast from many business owners and their kitchen teams.
“There have been improvements across the board, particularly in the area of food sourcing and local provenance – as seen in the excellent breakfast menus that establishments submitted as part of our Irish Breakfast Survey, undertaken in partnership with Fáilte Ireland. But there is still a lot of work to be done and I am hopeful we will see even greater improvements next year.”
