Hard-working Inishowen inspiration | Bridgend, Donegal
It is safe to say that what Donal Doherty has achieved on the Inishowen peninsula in recent years has been a massive inspiration to others in the Irish food community.
Several years ago, Donal and his brother Kevin decided to take their family business, Harry’s Bar & Restaurant in Bridgend on the remote Donegal peninsula of Inishowen, in a new direction. They wanted to create a unique experience, focusing entirely on local sourcing, and producing a taste of Inishowen on the plate. In the process they created a food destination.
The concept may be simple, but the execution was a lot of work. It involves travelling to Greencastle several times a week to buy direct from fishermen, hanging their own beef, and the set-up of their own two acre walled kitchen garden.
Donal has harnessed the power of social media and told his story to everyone who would listen, in the process creating a name and a brand for ‘made in Inishowen’ food. Harry’s now plays host to a Saturday food market selling produce from the garden and providing valuable additional outlet to Harry’s other suppliers.
In 2012 and 2013 Donal was behind Inishfood, a very special kind of food festival, centring on food skills which attracted chefs, artisans and food lovers from across Ireland. There is a real sense that Harry’s has created a food community in Inishowen.
Donal has recently become a ‘master of both sides of the border’ with the opening of Harry’s Shack, a beach side restaurant at Portstewart strand in North Ireland. Donal sees this as providing a link between Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way and Northern Ireland Causeway Coast and his job now is to champion the food of that northern coastline.