Review
Builín Blasta Café is located in the Ceardlann Spiddal Craft and Design Studios which is on the left as you enter the village of Spiddal from Barna. The centre features a group of local traders and makers, and the cafe is to be found at the top. It’s bright and airy, with loads of natural light, and the food is created with love and care.
Owner J-me Peaker hails from New Zealand, and made his way to Spiddal via London where he worked in The Ivy, perennial favourite of Kate Moss and the London set. The food in The Ivy is simple and unpretentious, and this shows in the menu J-me has created in his own café. After his London stint he went travelling in Africa, where he met a Galway lass and the result is their baby, the Builín Blasta Café.
Spiddal is a Gaeltacht area and all the staff in the café are bi-lingual and local. During the summer when the Dublin kids come down to learn Irish, the café plays a Bean a Ti role, and only serves them if they use Irish. J-me is learning the cupla focail himself, and coming along pretty well for a Kiwi.
The name means Tasty Bread or Tasty Loaf, and the bread here is delicious and varied; browns, whites, foccacia, Brioche, muffins and the most delicious croissants vie for attention. The rest of them menu is as you would expect to see in a café, however the quality is not.
This is cafe fare taken to it’s peak; which is only a slightly unintentional pun on the owners name as it is his sense of enthusiasm and passion that makes the café as good as it is. Lunchtimes are busy, especially during the summer, but the fresh soup is always good, and they make serious chowder. Spanish tortilla features regularly and eclectic pizzas can be sublime. Desserts are very tempting, and the perfect way to finish before a stroll down to the beach and a paddle in the Atlantic.
Builín Blasta is a find. It’s the place you hope to end up on a road trip, the place where memories of perfect food form and you go back home telling friends and indeed anyone who will listen about this little spot on the edge of the world.
Cheat. We brought home bread and dressings, and the most amazing pineapple and chilli chutney. Don’t leave anything behind.
