With its welcoming, informal atmosphere - local art on the walls, newspapers for customers to browse, well spaced tables allowing room for buggies and outside seating for fine weather, and the smell of good food - this is just the kind of place visitors to Ballycastle will be very happy to find.
It is run by husband and wife Tom and Eimear Mullin, who clearly take great pride in doing the important things right. Eimear is the head chef and has worked all over the world in her 20 years experience of catering - and, when she returned to Ireland, she chose well by working with Elaine Fitzmaurice in Blazing Salads and Eimear Rainsford in Avoca, who are both nationally recognised chefs specialising in producing the really good simple food that should be available everywhere but is all too rare.
Open since 2006, they have earned a following for the delicious home-made flavours of their food, which is based on locally-sourced ingredients as far as possible and has already won several awards including a 2010 Great Taste Awards gold star for their gluten-free coconut and almond cake.
Menus change through the day, beginning with good traditional (and some not so traditional) breakfast offerings, and moving on to a tempting range of lunch dishes including quite hearty meals (homemade pies, stews, quiches and lasagne, for example) along with homemade soups, gourmet sandwiches, wrap, ciabattas and a wide selection of salads.
Home baking is a speciality and includes good breads and pastries as well as an irresistible range of cakes and baked deserts which are equally good as a treat with a cup of tea or (excellent) coffee – delicious orange cake, carrot cake, chocolate cake and traditional fruit cake are just a few...
As if good food wasn’t enough, Thyme & Co sell some crafts and gifts too - and also paintings by local artists.
This is a really nice, relaxing place for a casual meal – and, by popular demand, they decided to extend opening times on Saturday (offering a simple pizza menu in the evening), and they do outside catering and takeaway meals too.
Open daily 8.30am-4.30pm (to 3.30pm Sunday).
