The Farmgate Cafe's full Irish breakfast on the upper floor of the English Market is the most atmospheric cooked breakfast in Cork. All ingredients come directly from the market traders below: Tom Durcan's sausages.

Kay Harte opened Farmgate Cafe on the gallery of the English Market in 1994, on the first floor overlooking the market stalls below. The cafe's farm-and-market sourcing model, every component traceable to a named producer below or to a Munster farm, later inspired similar cafes on the Dublin and Limerick markets. Harte's daughter Rebecca Harte now runs the kitchen; the cafe was visited by Queen Elizabeth II during her 2011 state visit and has been a fixture of Cork food guides ever since. The breakfast plate runs Tom Durcan spiced beef, Clonakilty black and white puddings, market eggs and Gubbeen rashers on Arbutus sourdough.

Where to eat Farmgate Cafe Breakfast Plate in Cork

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Make it at home

Serves 230 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 4 thick pork sausages (Tom Durcan or O'Flynn's if you can find them outside Cork)
  • 4 rashers of Irish back bacon
  • 2 thick slices of black pudding (Clonakilty)
  • 2 thick slices of white pudding (Clonakilty)
  • 4 mushrooms, halved
  • 2 large tomatoes, halved
  • 200g cooked potato (leftover or pre-boiled), sliced into small cubes
  • 4 eggs
  • 30g unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 4 slices of brown soda bread
  • Cork salted butter, for the bread

Method

  1. Heat oven to 100C and place two large plates inside to warm.
  2. Set a wide cast-iron pan over medium heat with the oil. Add sausages and cook 12 to 15 minutes, turning frequently, until deep brown and cooked through. Move to the warm plate.
  3. In the same pan, fry bacon 3 minutes per side until just crisp. Add to plates.
  4. Fry black and white puddings 2 minutes per side until crackling outside. Add to plates.
  5. Fry mushrooms and tomato halves cut-side down in butter for 4 minutes, then turn for another 2 minutes.
  6. Add potato cubes to the same pan and fry until golden, 5 minutes.
  7. Crack 4 eggs into the pan with a touch more butter; fry sunny-side-up for 2 minutes, basting the whites with hot fat.
  8. Plate everything beside each component. Serve with toasted brown soda bread and salted butter.

Editor tip. Cook everything in one cast-iron pan, in this order; the layered fats are what makes a fry-up taste like a proper Cork breakfast rather than a hotel buffet.