If you’re something of a food tourist, you’ll find many opportunities to try traditional Irish dishes like boxty or soda bread. When it comes to dessert arrangements, Irish confectioners often source local milk and salt to create their sweet treats. Below you’ll find three of County Galway’s best sweet spots, where food tourists can satisfy their sweet tooth.
Candyland
Located in the heart of Galway itself, Candyland is a one-stop variety shop that sells many different kinds of sweets. Not only does their selection change with the seasons, but they also stock groceries and treats from America, Australia and New Zealand. Naturally, old and retro Irish sweets are included in their collection.
Candyland is one of those shops that tries to gather new and unfamiliar treats from abroad. No matter the continent, we have a worldwide fascination with sweets due to their agreeable taste and even how they look. In Ireland and beyond, sweets are used to market things that you can’t eat, simply because they’re colourful and eye-catching. This can be even seen in iGaming websites, where users can play Sugar Rush at Paddy Power Bingo, but that isn’t the only slot game out there that uses sweets as a theme. Even some of the earliest slot machines, and many today, use fruit symbols that are brightly coloured and stoke our appetite even if there’s no lemon or cherry to eat.
If you’re a local citizen or a food tourist and you want to experience American sweets, Candyland should have you covered. It’s also great for those who don’t know what they want since they have a wide selection, so something will appeal to fussier eaters.
Gourmet Tart Company
If you prefer baked goods to hard candy, places like the Gourmet Tart Company can also be found dotted around Galway City, including by its coastline at Salthill. Specialising in Irish and European recipes, the company makes a variety of handmade treats from éclairs to croissants and macarons.
The name is slightly misleading since they also make savoury snacks and takeaway meals like boeuf bourguignon or sweet potato and spinach curry. They also operate cafés on their premises, serving coffee and other hot drinks that can be as sweet as you like. Many of their snacks come in small plastic pots, with fruit salad pots being available for those who prefer a naturally sweet pick-me-up. You could use WebMD’s diet guidance to identify the sweetest. Since they have several locations near Galway, visitors near the county’s city can stop here between their travels.
They also create hampers that can be delivered across the island or collected in-store. This means visitors can book and collect a more substantial treat en route to their hotel. Their delivery services also mean that visitors to other parts of Ireland, from Donegal to Cork, can get in on the action.
Abbeyglen Castle Hotel
In the furthest western fringes of County Galway is the Abbeyglen Castle Hotel, a Clifden resort that offers an all-in-one luxury experience. That includes luxury suites and helpings from the castle restaurant and its gourmet food. Being so close to the coast, fresh seafood is their specialty. Salty seafood is anything but sweet, however, but that’s where dessert comes in.
Dessert is presented as a self-service buffet where many different kinds of cake are available – cheesecakes, brownies, crumbles, profiteroles and more. Overall, Abbeyglen is best for tourists who are looking to get out to Ireland’s rural areas, to see its old castles and fractured coastline, but also find a cake buffet waiting for them there.
