Dunboyne’s local foodies

Great food warms the soul and creates memories that last a lifetime. We love to work with the amazing food producers local to Dunboyne Castle whenever we can. Here are just some of the foodie treats these local producers supply us with.

1. Island meat

One of our favourite local food producers is M&K Meats, who are based in Rathcoole in County Dublin. A company dating back to 1990, owners Michael Bermingham and Karl Freeman completed their butcher’s apprenticeships together before opening a traditional local butcher’s shop. Over time, their expertise gained quite a reputation, and they’ve expanded their business significantly, supplying meat to discerning hospitality businesses across Ireland.

Amazingly, the company sources meat from Lambay Island off the Irish coast. With settlers recorded there thousands of years ago, a castle and a natural landscape that boasts immense biodiversity, Lambay Island is like nowhere else in the world. With some farming allowed too, M&K Meats have some truly original origins to their products. Lambay Island even has a population of wallabies, introduced to the island in the 1950s!

M&K Meats has the exclusive rights for the beef, lamb, venison, rabbit and wallaby from Lambay Island. Dunboyne Castle’s menu includes some of these exclusive steaks, burgers and lamb produced by M&K Meats.

2. Breakfast of kings

We’re firm believers that a hearty breakfast sets you up for the whole day. That’s why we work with the County Kildare based Newbridge Meats, a family business which supplies pork, bacon, sausages and pudding products perfect for our breakfasts at Dunboyne Castle.

Newbridge Meats has one-of-a-kind recipes for its bacon, sausages and puddings, meaning the flavour is genuinely original. The company only works with local farms, whose quality credentials mean all products can be traced from farm to fork. 

For local breakfasts like nowhere else in Ireland, we think the combination of Newbridge Meats and Dunboyne Castle is a winner.

3. From the sea

A family business that has been operating since 1904, Wrights of Marino is our go-to local supplier for fish and seafood. Based in Marino and Howth, Wrights of Marino has gained an impressive reputation for sourcing the best fish and seafood off the coast of Ireland, as well as worldwide. Only working with sustainable, well-managed fisheries or responsible aquaculture operations, Wrights of Marino has an ethical backbone too.

One of our favourite products from Wrights of Marino is the company’s smoked salmon, where Atlantic salmon is smoked predominantly by hand according to their own recipe. You’ll find plenty of other Wrights of Marino fish and seafood on our menus too, ranging from hake, trout and mussels to John Dory, scallops and oysters. Sometimes we look to the expertise of Wrights of Marino for more exotic fish from further afield, which ranges from yellowfin tuna from Suriname, sustainably caught using pole and line techniques, to Icelandic prawns and seabass from Greece.

Wrights of Marino has been supplying fish and seafood to Dunboyne Castle since our hotel opened in 2006. We’re proud to be working with the fourth generation of an amazing family business!

Dunboyne Castle Hotel & Spa is a luxury estate, nestled in 21 acres of lush green Meath countryside. The Georgian mansion which welcomes visitors today was originally built in 1764, on the same site as the original castle. Though it’s been extensively refurbished in the centuries since, it retains the charm of the era it was built in. A sweeping tree lined drive and manicured gardens offer a grand approach, while on the interior, pretty stucco plasterwork cornices decorate the halls and chandeliers glitter from ceiling.

Inside each of the 145 spacious rooms, modern comforts melds with traditional luxury. These include 2 exceptional Junior Suites, and an impressive Presidential Suite on the top floor of the hotel.

Though our Meath hotel is an exclusive retreat, it’s located just 18km from Dublin city centre, and 20km from Dublin airport. In fact, it sits at the heart of Ireland’s heritage capital and makes an incomparable base from which to explore nearby historic sites. These include Trim Castle, the Hill of Tara, the majestic Newgrange and the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site.