Cheese and chive bread is So-dalicious! Limerick cafe shortlisted for prestigious food award

A LIMERICK cafe owner is celebrating a bit of good news after an incredibly tough year in business.

Jane Conlon, who owns Sodalicious at Lower Cecil Street, has made it through to the finals of the prestigious Blas na hEireann food awards, which take place this Saturday.

As the cafe’s name might suggest, Sodalicious focuses on soda bread.

And Jane is hoping for victory in the artisan bread category with their cheddar and chive loaf.

“We were absolutely delighted when we found out we’d been nominated,” Jane told Business Leader, “A bit of independent recognition is always encouraging. What we bake here is all sofa bread. It’s all about celebrating this beautiful indigenous Irish product we have.

Jane feels she is able to challenge perceptions of traditional soda bread through our cafe.

“Many people's perception of soda bread is your traditional farm bread. It's genuinely a really nice way to eat soda bread. But there is a lot more that can be done with it. We flavour most of our sofa bread with fresh additives - herbs, cheese, nuts. The product we put forward for the awards is flavoured with Irish cheddar and Irish grown chives. It's very tasty,” she said.

Jane praised her regular customers who have flocked back to her shop since it began trading again.

“We wouldn't be here without our regular customers. During lockdown when the cafe was closed ,we did do some take-away foods, and our regular customers were absolutely fantastic in supporting that just to keep a flicker of light open in a local business. Since we did open on July 6, they've been coming in every day in droves. They are the most supportive community. We don't get as much passing trade as they do down in town but people come out of their way to visit us. We greatly appreciate that,” she concluded.