Street food life in Cork

Building up an appetite for Eat on the Street in Cork

One of the better things to comes out of the pandemic has been the emergence of European-like café culture spilling out onto Irish streets.

And Cork has embraced this new approach to streetscaping to the full.

Billed as a one-stop shop for food, retail and fun, the city’s Princes Street has had an al fresco makeover to transform it into an outdoor destination that will leave food lovers begging for more.

Better known as Eat on the Street, the initiative is the perfect pairing of clever city planning and design coupled with the creative culinary offerings of the area’s bars, restaurants, and takeaways.

Princes Street has always been a foodie haven – serving as the entrance to the drool-inducing English Market and home to venues like Quinlan’s Seafood Bar, Clancy’s Bar, Kings Cork, Burnt Pizza, Nash

19, and Ristorante Rossini to name but a few.

So forget about needing to travel to France, Italy or Spain for those picture-perfect plazas, Cork’s umbrella-covered pedestrianised street brings a continental vibe worthy of any European city. From wine bars to cafés, this new look style of eating and socialising is all part of council plans to

a more pleasant, safer, and greener city.

Princes Street is also home to several small independent stores like traditional craft shop J Joyce & Co and Cork Art Supplies, perfect for picking up supplies to keep those lockdown hobbies going.

The new Princes Street dining experience is part of a wider pedestrianisation push called the ‘Reimagining Cork’ programme to help with social distancing and outdoor eating.

“The Cork City spirit is nothing if not resilient,” former Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Joe Kavanagh said last year. “Just over a century ago it faced down the devastation of the Burning of Cork and now we find ourselves again ready to rise from the ashes of Covid-19, with new and innovative ways of living, working and doing business.”

Pandemic proofing has spread outside the city too.

Last year, outdoor canopies were put up in Macroom and Millstreet to encourage locals and visitors to take time to enjoy all the Cork towns have to offer.

A mural depicting Millstreet town in the late 19th century was also completed on Main Street by artists Cormac Sheil and Denis Reardon.

Bon appetit or maybe that should now be sláinte!