A bit of West Cork in new Skerries deli To say that the food scene in the capital was a little

different in 1995 than it is today is something of an understatement - forget about hipster coffee shops, filter coffee in Bewley's was as exotic as it got. So when Peter and Deirdre Fahy opened Cafe Irie in Temple Bar, it attracted a huge amount of attention. ''We opened it on an absolute shoestring - we borrowed 4,000 from our parents and bought second-hand equipment and furniture, says Deirdre Fahy. ''Our friends helped us paint and decorate and we had the business open in nine days, just before Christmas 1995. It was impulsive but it worked. We got workers from the Temple Bar area, musicians, students. John Rocha came in every day with his daughter Simone, who was only about nine at the time. Dubbed the location of the best sandwiches in Dublin by the Rough Guide to Ireland, Cafe Irie traded successfully until 2005 when the Fahys sold up and relocated to Skerries in north Co Dublin, where they opened a new business, Olive Cafe. ''We fancied a quieter life outside the city, Fahy says. ''We asked Colm, our manager from Cafe Irie, to come with us to the new business and he's still our manager 17 years on. The couple now employ 19 full and part-time staff and have recently opened a stand alone deli where they are stocking produce from some of the country's best artisan food producers. Cheeses from Sheridans, Jack McCarthy's superb black pudding, coffee from Badger & Dodo, smoked salmon from Ummera, and pate from On The Pigs Back are just a few examples. ''West Cork is my favourite food destination in Ireland. The atmosphere down there is just incredible and many of our suppliers originate from there, says Deirdre Fahy. There's also a great range of homemade dips and breads - including a fantastic beetroot hummus with a spicy cumin kick - and a Meal in a Bag' option, where customers can buy a pack containing all the ingredients for a dinner for four. You can also get the ingredients for what, for me, is the perfect quick weekday dinner: top quality pizza bases from Pizza da Piero, a tin of Italian pizza sauce, and buffalo mozzarella made by Toonsbridge Dairy in Cork. oliveskerries.com