There’s a new artisan bakery in Kinsale and everyone’s pretty thrilled about it
Kinsale is a town that is bursting with chefs and cooks.
And if you ask them where they’re eating lately, they’ll likely mention frequent visits to a little bakery on Market Quay.
Open just a few weeks, Seeds’s simple and delicious offering has been warmly welcomed by the foodie natives. In fact, the business has settled into its little laneway in the Gourmet Capital like it’s been there forever.
From the outset, owners, Kinsale local Ingrid Kelly and her brother-in-law Benjamin Le Bon, who is from Brittany in France, were determined to create something special. The concept has been years in the making.
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“Benjamin met my sister in Cork about 17 years ago,” Ingrid told Yay Cork.
“They moved to France and he trained as a baker. They moved back to Ireland in 2016 and he has a wholesale bakery business in Cork City. This is his first shop front.”
“My parents had a pub in Cork City when I was very small and then I worked in hospitality growing up in Kinsale and when I went travelling to Australia, New Zealand and the UK.”
When the timing was right, Ingrid quit her corporate job to give Seeds all her attention. The duo started with a responsible fit-out:
“We tried to use recycled, reclaimed or secondhand sources as much as possible when kitting out the shop, as well as using all sustainable packaging,” says Ingrid.
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Much of what they needed was found on Done Deal and at Curiosity Cove at Mother Jones flea market on MacCurtain Street in Cork City. The premises was painted bright white and a little bench outside was handmade by Alan Downing using reclaimed wood.
Breads with benefits
“We developed the menu from Ben’s goal of making natural sustainable nutritious breads, to reproduce the same bread his grandfather used to make on his farm in Brittany,” explains Ingrid.
With the ovens fired up, beans by West Cork Coffee, and a neat little sign hand painted by Laurynas Damijonaitis of Dami Designs, Seeds opened the doors just in time for the busy summer season.
The first day was a sell-out success.
New fans are already returning on the regular for Seeds’ lovely sticky cinnamon rolls, almond croissants, and Danishes. There’s a rather perfect tarte tatin, caramelised apples on croissant pastry, and big-as-your-head creations piled onto trays, waiting to be plucked, bagged, and devoured as you flip-flop around town in the summer sunshine or saved until later and unwrapped at the Dock Beach.
“We wanted the menu to be as simple as possible with the classics we love for the cakes and pastries,” says Ingrid.
Then there’s the bread, particularly the Seeds’ sourdough, a low-salt loaf that’s easy to digest thanks to a long fermentation process. Mixed by hand using flour from Oak Forest Mills in Kilkenny, it’s packed with milled lentils and seeds that are fermented over 24 hours to bring out all the nutrients.
The vibe is rustic, but this is a little bakery with big plans.
“Our goal in the next couple of years is to make a 100 percent Cork bread with the wheat grown and milled on a local farm,” Ingrid adds.
Seeds is open Tuesday to Saturday (8.30am to 3pm) and Sunday (9am to 1pm).
