Ann Sheehy, Bastion Kitchen

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

The award-winning Bastion Kitchen will celebrate eleven years in business this July, and over that time it has proved a big hit with locals and visitors alike for its health conscious, tasty food with a strong emphasis on local, Irish and organic produce.

Kiltoom's Ann Sheehy followed her passion for healthy and nutritious food to open the eaterie on Athlone's vibrant Left Bank area in 2013, and has never looked back since.

Drawing on a background in hospitality and her previous career in the Family Support Service, Ann, who has two daughters Annie (8) and Emily (6), put all of her skills and experience to good use to build a thriving business at 1 Bastion Street, Athlone.

A major part of the ethos of the health food café is offering healthy and wholesome options utilising the best of local and Irish organic produce, to give customers a great choice for breakfast, lunch or coffee with vegetarian, vegan and allergy friendly options all on the menu.

Some customer favourites for breakfast include smashed avocado on sourdough bread topped with poached egg and freshly baked scones. For lunch, options like fresh soup, a falafel and halloumi cheese sandwich, organic red lentil dahl with turmeric brown rice or the famous beetroot and lentil burger salad special are popular with customers.

The cafe's sweet treats and tray bakes, all baked in-store, proved a big hit recently with Sally and John McKenna of McKennas' guides fame, and favourites like roast hazelnut and chocolate truffles, orange polenta and pistachio nut cake earned the Athlone coffee shop a feature in the Hidden Heartlands guide edition.

Another reason for celebration recently was two silver awards at the Irish Takeaway Awards for Bastion Kitchen, named Best Healthy Takeway Cafe and Free from Takeaway of the Year, to join a plethora of other awards over the years.

Bastion Kitchen also stocks local and Irish products on their health food shelves or in their online store, supporting excellent Midland producers like Biasol, Feighery's Farm beetroot juice, Richmond cordial, Kilbeggan porridge and Ardu organic bakery, among many others.

You can also take home great produce from the takeaway fridge, courtesy of the cafe's own Bastion Bia range of hummus, pesto, relish and granola.

For more information, check out https://www.bastionkitchen.online/