Scone-sational! Derry café’s scones named best in NI

Derry’s Cottage Café is celebrating after its home-baked scones were named the best in Northern Ireland.

The thatched roofed café, in the city’s historic Craft Village, beat more than 100 other hotels, restaurants and cafes to win the hotly-contested title from the Dairy Council of Northern Ireland.

Michelle Devine from the Cottage Café, who bakes the scones from scratch in a variety of sweet and savoury flavours, entered the competition after a customer told her about it.

“I knew the judges liked our scones when they came around to try them but there were so many other great places in for it, I never thought we had a chance. But then when they called out our name I nearly exploded!” she said.

Michelle, who learned how to make scones from watching her mother bake, said the key to a delicious scone is to go easy on the mixture.

“To me, it’s all in the way you do it and having the oven at the right temperature. There’s not really much else to it,” she revealed.

The Cottage also won the Best Cafe category in the competition, while Patricia’s Coffee House on the Quay was one of five finalists for best cafe.