Enniskillen saw the return of its Continental Market to the grounds of the Castle on Thursday, with the stalls set to remain until Sunday.
We were there on the first day of the arrival of the market, sampling the delicacies on the way during its first appearance since 2019.
There had been some chat in recent weeks about whether the organisers, Market Place Europe, would be allowed to have a bar open at the event, as well as some confusion about the opening hours of the event.
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In the end what was agreed was to open the market until 7pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (bar stays open until 8pm), with a 6pm finish on Sunday.
On arrival, I have to say it was pretty quiet. Obviously I was there in the early afternoon on a Thursday, so I guess it will get busier towards the weekend but there was definitely a feeling of it just getting started.
There were plenty of food stalls, I counted somewhere between 15 to 20 stalls with a wide range of stuff - Spanish paella to exotic burgers and Dutch pancakes.
Market Place have been organising these markets for years, so at this stage they know what people want I would imagine.
There are plenty more stalls selling various crafts, and then the bar area which seemed to be a pretty good set up, although again it wasn’t overly busy during my visit.
While it didn’t seem to have many different flavours of beer as its Christmas cousin in Belfast, there were a few different variations to keep strawberry beer fans happy.
I had my eyes on some of the chicken and chorizo paella on offer at one of the stalls, but in what has become an all too common occurrence for me, I had no cash and was relying on card to pay.
Some of the stalls do accept card but quite a few are cash only, one to keep in mind if you’re heading down at the weekend.
Disappointed and now ravenous with hunger, I made my way to the Salt & Pepper stall where I spied a ‘Firecracker chicken’ special, which was a little bit of a letdown in all honesty.
It didn’t look like anything had been prepared fresh, and that was ultimately how it tasted.
While the sauce that came over the chicken was indeed spicy, it was all a bit lukewarm and not entirely impressive.
At £6.50 though it didn’t break the bank and I didn’t need anything else afterwards so I wouldn’t say it was overly expensive either.
I had a half pint of Paulaner beer to wash it down which cost £3, and if my maths was correct that would leave a pint at around £6 - something I’m not sure local people would be too keen on.
While the food and atmosphere didn’t quite hit home on the day for me, there is plenty of potential for this event and I imagine it will up its game heading into Friday and Saturday, so it’s still well worth a visit.
Just bring cash!
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