McCooeys Shop & Cafe

Well we arrived here by accident as the Maya café was closed. We did intend trying this place sometime though so this was as good a reason as any. I’d read another review on this place from a chap that seems hard to please as the rating was quite low. The welcome was friendly; the seating comfortable, good ambience. The food is very good value. I had a tasty fry up with bacon, sausage, fried egg, half tomato, all in a Belfast bap which is a very large bread roll. The meats were fine, the sausage did not have a plastic skin it thankfully had a natural skin, and the three bacon rashers were tasty, thick cut and full flavoured with again thankfully not a lot of added salt. All this came with a mug of good filter coffee. I was very surprised to find a breakfast café menu in Northern Ireland with no potato bread and no soda bread; it’s almost unnatural. My wife had the sort of low calorie choice, sausages, bacon with the fat trimmed off, scrambled egg (could have had poached egg) mushrooms, two half tomatoes, beans and brown bread with butter. I got the tomato, mushrooms and some of the bread and butter yes you guessed it I’m not on a diet. This came with tea. The milk was served up in a mini milk bottle which made us smile. The radio played a local station. Change out of a tenner, well fed, so little to find fault with but if pushed I’d say give the sauce bottles on the tables a wipe from time to time just to clean up the little spillages around the neck of the bottles. We rarely eat fries these days but next time we do we’ll go back.

We nipped in here for a tray-​bake and a cuppa, the atmosphere is nice, service is quick and friendly and the price is great (that door-​stop sized piece of white chocolate and aero bar was shared between 3 people!).
Will definitely be back in here before we head State-​Side and next time I’ll try some ‘real food’ before dessert.
Food is all fresh from fresh ingredients and the wee ‘shap’ at the front has lots of stuff to pick up on the way out, there’s even Slimming World friendly options on the menu — healthy selections that I’m told, are delicious!