It’s a familiar sight at the moment, a crumpled ball of foil paper and a torn apart cardboard package. It seems the Easter egg stash has been raided early in lots of homes this year, and it’s no surprise, really, in the circumstances.
But help is at hand. Here are some outstanding Irish Easter eggs that you can buy online for delivery, collect in person, or pick up along with your grocery shop, before the big weekend.
The Chocolate Shop
Rosemary Daly's shop in the English Market in Cork city is currently closed, but behind the scenes, Daly and her three sisters are working flat out to get Easter eggs to customers all over the country, and are accepting new orders at chocolate.ie until Wednesday.
“Business has been incredible. We usually have lots of tourists through the shop, and I bought more eggs than ever this year. We’ve no tourists now, but we are getting Easter egg orders from all over the country, which never happened before,” Daly says.
The Chocolate Shop is one of a few outlets that still has limited supplies of the ever-popular Skelligs eggs available (hazelnut praline and mint varieties, 400g, €19). The online shop also has vegan dark chocolate eggs packaged with a tub of Hadji Bey stem ginger (from €25, click and collect only on these).
Koko of Kinsale
Frank Keane's art background, he previously ran a ceramics gallery, shows in the beauty of the handpainted eggs his Kinsale chocolate shop offers at Easter. It's too late to buy one of these edible works of art this year, but until 2pm today (Tuesday) you can still order one of the foil-wrapped milk, dark and white chocolate eggs, handmade by his team of chocolatiers, for delivery in Ireland. They cost €20 (plus €6.75 p&p) and are available from kokokinsale.com.
Lorge Chocolatier
Benoit Lorge has temporarily closed his two chocolate shops in Kenmare, Co Kerry, but says he has been working "around the clock" to satisfy demand for online orders. Until 11am today (Tuesday), you can order from his Easter range of hollow and filled eggs, and novelties such as this very cute "Hen in the Nest" (€27.60). They are on sale at lorge.ie.
Terroirs
If you can collect from Terroirs wine and fine food shop in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, there are still some of these stunning Easter eggs made by Belgian chocolatier Erik Van de Veken's Dublin-based Arcane Chocolate available. The 70 per cent couverture chocolate eggs are filled with eight handmade truffles and cost €19.50. They can be ordered at terroirs.ie.
Bean and Goose
Easter has been and gone at Co Wexford chocolate company Bean and Goose, run by sisters Karen an Natalie Keane. All of their Easter stock is sold out online, including their signature Irish hare. But a subscription to their Tasting Club would be a longer-lasting purchase.
For periods of three, six or 12 months, subscribers receive two 70g bars each month, by post. One of these is from the company's core range and the other is a seasonal creation from their Bean Lab. It costs from €45 for a three-month subscription, rising to €162 for a year of monthly deliveries. See beanandgoose.ie.
In the shops
If you're buying Easter eggs along with your grocery shop this week, why not pick an Irish-made product? Names to look out for include Aine's, Lir, Butlers and Lily O'Briens. All are widely available.
All seven branches of Avoca, in Rathcoole, Kilmacanogue, Dunboyne, Ballsbridge, Monkstown, Mount Usher and Malahide, stock Bean and Goose, Chez Emily, Lorge Chocolatier, Skelligs and Chocolate Garden of Ireland, and are now offering delivery within a 10km radius of each store.
