Just a couple more examples of the madness of the EHO (environmental health officers) that are attempting to ruin everything that is good about Irish food (mainly its flavour). Remember these people have similar powers to a Garda Seargant and can shut a food business down instantly. Here are some examples I have heard over the past year -
- The EHO that wants to shut down the meals on wheels service for old and sick people because the premises the food is cooked in does not have a second sink
- The EHO (the same one as above) that made a butcher put in a second sink at a cost of hundreds of euro because the second sink he did have was 3 steps away from the other sink.
- The EHO that threatened to shut down a restaurant in the west of Ireland because she found dirty unwashed potatoes in the prep room. After it was explained that these potatoes had been dug by the chef that morning and would be washed before being taken to the kitchen she was slightly mollified but she strongly recommended that vacuum packed washed peeled potatoes (with no nutritional value) should be used in future.
- the EHO that harassed all cheese stalls out of the markets of the south east. She just kept finding fault until they left for good - in particular she wanted all cheese sellers to have fresh running water at their stall. (thankfully it was a different EHO to the one in the west or she might have driven the farmers out with all their disgusting dirty vegetables - "why cant these people grow their vegetables in sterile environments instead of resorting to putting them in the filthy earth!" is no doubt what she would have said.
- the EHO that went ballistic at the fish stall also in the south east becuase her thermometer probe found the ice on the fish stall was at 18 degrees celsius. She relented somewhat when it was explained that she had pushed the probe through the ice box to the other side and was actually taking the temperature of the air and that ice remaining solid at 18 degrees was rather unlikely.
- the EHO that effectively shut down the egg producer becuase she had the audacity to want to introduce new hens to her flock. The egg producer couldnt afford to build a second hen house as requested by the EHO, and as the current stock of hens were not producing enough eggs to make the business sustainable she was forced to give up altogether.
- the EHO in the north west that will allow one of the best butchers in the region sell his fresh blood black pudding in his own shop but not in the shop next door. This amazing product could compete with the best boudin noir of France, Spain and Italy but it will never be allowed to do so because he is forced to use inferior dried blood for any puddings sold outside his own premises.
- the EHO that visited a raw milk cheese maker while the owner was conveniently on holiday and bullied the staff into scrubbing the maturing room with disinfectant thus killing all the good bacteria that made the cheese. It took over a year for the cheese to even begin to resemble what it did before.
The Dept. of Agriculture inspectors are just as bad and in one instance they confiscated cheese from a cheesemaker because they were worried about infection in the cows the milk came from, but yet once the cows were slaughtered they were happy to allow the meat to be sold. The Dept. has virtually wiped out all the small abbatoirs in the country so animals are forced to travel long distances before slaughter causing distress (and affecting the quality of the meat). Trevor Seargant is talking about opening some again but I am not holding my breath.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Steak and Chips - in search of perfection
First published on http://www.bestofbridgestone.com/
Steak Frites is the quintessential French Bistro dish. Whenever I am in France this is the dish I order more than any other as I can be fairly certain they will get it right - or at least less wrong. The chips might be cooked from frozen and the steak underdone (to some Irish palates) but I have come to trust in the simplicity of this dish.
First let me tell you what steak frites is not. It is not tender but tasteless fillet steak with a tournedos sauce (the reason fillet always has a rich sauce is because it is usually tasteless on its own), and the frites are thin and crispy – they are never, ever, ever, wedges of undercooked soggy potato.
The best steak frites is made with a cheap cut such as rib-eye, rump or onglet cooked rare or blue. If you like your steak well done you need to order a better cut as these cuts will not work.
The chewy texture and meaty flavours from the cheaper cuts are essential to match the crispy fluffy chips. Sirloin is just about acceptable and maybe Striploin but the chips had better be damn good.
In France ask for “à point” for what we call medium rare or saignant as the French do. A word of warning - you wont be taken seriously as a diner in France unless you ask for saignant which will only cook the outside leaving most of the proteins un-connected (OK I admit it – raw!). Once you try it a few times you wont want your steak frites any other way.
Sadly many restaurant customers do not understand this and I know that Venu were forced within six months to change their cut (and increase the price) as customers reported their steak as “chewy”. Telling customers “it’s supposed to be that way!” is sadly not an option in Ireland (as it would be in France!).
Now the frites - this may sound like sacrilege, but give me frozen crispy chips over the abomination that are “home-cooked chips” or “hand-cut chips” which turn out to be little more than soapy wedges of undercooked potato – all too prevalent in restaurants of all price ranges in Dublin and elsewhere.
The problem with freshly prepared thin crispy chips is time. Bistros survive on rapid turnover and many believe they just don’t have the time to first blanch their chips in 140C oil, cool them down, and then cook from cold at 180C – as they do in Alexis in Dun Laoghaire (who use maris piper).
Personally I don’t see what the problem is – if Alexis can do it and just charge €22.50 for sublime steak and the crispiest of chips why cant everyone else?
Lockes use Spanish potatoes, blanch their chips three times in oil before the final frying and these are also out of this world good. Blanching three times probably a little over the top but it really does work so I am not complaining.
Balzac cooks a fine steak frites and unashamedly uses frozen chips and I applaud them for this, particularly as they have outstanding duck fat potatoes also on the menu – a reason for visiting on their own.
Venu has tried fresh cut chips (cut raw early in the day – pretty good), frozen chips (not bad) and have finally settled on the blanching and re-frying method (excellent). Currently my sources tell me they are experimenting with oils and have a “secret ingredient” which they believe will give them “the best chips in the city”. Truly a worthy ambition and something for which I wish others would strive.
If you are in Paris the best steak frites I have had was at Le Gavroche on Rue St. Marc, a tiny old school bistro in the 2nd Arr – the best frites in Paris according to Figaro and truly excellent they are; (whisper it though, the ones in Lockes and Alexis are better.)
In New York visit Les Halles on Park Avenue which I still believe was the best steak frites I have ever experienced. At home use Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook which tells you all you need to know about the dish.
As Disreli said “It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world… above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.”
So rise with me as customers of the restaurants of Ireland to stay the encroaching tide of wedges, and let us demand frites.
Steak Frites is the quintessential French Bistro dish. Whenever I am in France this is the dish I order more than any other as I can be fairly certain they will get it right - or at least less wrong. The chips might be cooked from frozen and the steak underdone (to some Irish palates) but I have come to trust in the simplicity of this dish.
First let me tell you what steak frites is not. It is not tender but tasteless fillet steak with a tournedos sauce (the reason fillet always has a rich sauce is because it is usually tasteless on its own), and the frites are thin and crispy – they are never, ever, ever, wedges of undercooked soggy potato.
The best steak frites is made with a cheap cut such as rib-eye, rump or onglet cooked rare or blue. If you like your steak well done you need to order a better cut as these cuts will not work.
The chewy texture and meaty flavours from the cheaper cuts are essential to match the crispy fluffy chips. Sirloin is just about acceptable and maybe Striploin but the chips had better be damn good.
In France ask for “à point” for what we call medium rare or saignant as the French do. A word of warning - you wont be taken seriously as a diner in France unless you ask for saignant which will only cook the outside leaving most of the proteins un-connected (OK I admit it – raw!). Once you try it a few times you wont want your steak frites any other way.
Sadly many restaurant customers do not understand this and I know that Venu were forced within six months to change their cut (and increase the price) as customers reported their steak as “chewy”. Telling customers “it’s supposed to be that way!” is sadly not an option in Ireland (as it would be in France!).
Now the frites - this may sound like sacrilege, but give me frozen crispy chips over the abomination that are “home-cooked chips” or “hand-cut chips” which turn out to be little more than soapy wedges of undercooked potato – all too prevalent in restaurants of all price ranges in Dublin and elsewhere.
The problem with freshly prepared thin crispy chips is time. Bistros survive on rapid turnover and many believe they just don’t have the time to first blanch their chips in 140C oil, cool them down, and then cook from cold at 180C – as they do in Alexis in Dun Laoghaire (who use maris piper).
Personally I don’t see what the problem is – if Alexis can do it and just charge €22.50 for sublime steak and the crispiest of chips why cant everyone else?
Lockes use Spanish potatoes, blanch their chips three times in oil before the final frying and these are also out of this world good. Blanching three times probably a little over the top but it really does work so I am not complaining.
Balzac cooks a fine steak frites and unashamedly uses frozen chips and I applaud them for this, particularly as they have outstanding duck fat potatoes also on the menu – a reason for visiting on their own.
Venu has tried fresh cut chips (cut raw early in the day – pretty good), frozen chips (not bad) and have finally settled on the blanching and re-frying method (excellent). Currently my sources tell me they are experimenting with oils and have a “secret ingredient” which they believe will give them “the best chips in the city”. Truly a worthy ambition and something for which I wish others would strive.
If you are in Paris the best steak frites I have had was at Le Gavroche on Rue St. Marc, a tiny old school bistro in the 2nd Arr – the best frites in Paris according to Figaro and truly excellent they are; (whisper it though, the ones in Lockes and Alexis are better.)
In New York visit Les Halles on Park Avenue which I still believe was the best steak frites I have ever experienced. At home use Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook which tells you all you need to know about the dish.
As Disreli said “It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world… above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.”
So rise with me as customers of the restaurants of Ireland to stay the encroaching tide of wedges, and let us demand frites.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Tallaght - All Fur Coat etc
What with all the snazzy new high rises and apartment blocks in Dublin 24 (including three or four new hotels), might one expect an alternative to Graham O'Sullivan's in the basement of The Square Shopping Centre or the carvery at the Abberley Court - neither of which would be on anyone's trail for a decent bit to eat???? Not entirely.
Three places recently tried are The Carvery at the bar in The Tower Hotel, the bar at The Glashaus Hotel, and Cactus Jack's.
The Tower is apparently a 4 star hotel ( 5th star was denied since the bedrooms aren't big enough) on the N81 on the left as you drive past Tallaght on the road to Blessington. Architecture is quite striking (in not a bad way) so you can't really miss it. I was there for a business lunch and for a carvery I must say I have had much worse. The roast beef was a light pink inside ( if it was rarer I might have gone for it, but at least it wasn't incinerated), usual choices to be had - beef, chicken, pork, salmon. I had the chicken in a mushroom cream sauce which was just a breast roasted on the bone and very good. The mash was clearly put through a ricer - no lumps - which is always a good sign. Desserts were nice too - I had a mini tart tatin with vanilla ice cream. Not bad for lunch on a working day. If you want to see how bad a meal like this can be - try An Poitin Stil if its still under the same management as was a year or two back. Decor is a bit bland and the room is enormous with a very high ceilings. Not even slightly cosy and flat screen TVs mounted everywhere, which I didn't like at all. The coffee was great though.
They also have a proper 'restaurant' called Eon (sounds dodgy). Would love to hear if anyone's been there - only open in the evening I think.
The Glashaus Hotel is Irish owned and managed as is The Tower. All sounds very hip and boutiquey and that is what they are aiming for, if not quite hitting. All these places seem to be geared towards the business market - not too many rock stars then. This is just across the way from the new M and S beside The Square. The food in the bar was pretty good and well priced - they have a restaurant upstairs with the same menu. Service excellent and nice atmosphere - well decorated and I would be back. I had crab cakes with a sweet chilli sauce which was nicely done.
Cactus Jacks is a Tex Mex place and is round the corner from The Glashaus. I've had lunch there twice - poor me. First time I ordered ciabatta with chorizo, cheddar cheese, salsa and some other topping. Anyway, about a quarter of the way through I really felt as if the whole thing was really dry and realised I was missing the salsa and other topping. I asked for and got a side of guacamole and salsa which I wasn't charged for. I left a lot of it. Second time was a work lunch and I order a chicken fajita with rice and salad. It was OK - very bland. All very pedestrian although the portions are decent but would want to be when most mains are 10 - 13 Euro each. I won't be back - it was all very heavy and unexciting. They should call their neighbours at the Glashouse for the sweet chilli sauce recipe which would liven things up a bit.
So, out of them all I would say The Glashaus is definitely the winner. Though I won't be expecting any waves in the little foodie pond of Ireland to be crashing against the cliffs over any of them.
However, the market near The Abberley on Fridays and Saturdays is quite good. There is a butcher there who sells the most DIVINE sausages I've had in years. Also Paddy Jacks have some very nice Basque sheeps cheeses amongst others.
Over and out from Tallaght!!
Three places recently tried are The Carvery at the bar in The Tower Hotel, the bar at The Glashaus Hotel, and Cactus Jack's.
The Tower is apparently a 4 star hotel ( 5th star was denied since the bedrooms aren't big enough) on the N81 on the left as you drive past Tallaght on the road to Blessington. Architecture is quite striking (in not a bad way) so you can't really miss it. I was there for a business lunch and for a carvery I must say I have had much worse. The roast beef was a light pink inside ( if it was rarer I might have gone for it, but at least it wasn't incinerated), usual choices to be had - beef, chicken, pork, salmon. I had the chicken in a mushroom cream sauce which was just a breast roasted on the bone and very good. The mash was clearly put through a ricer - no lumps - which is always a good sign. Desserts were nice too - I had a mini tart tatin with vanilla ice cream. Not bad for lunch on a working day. If you want to see how bad a meal like this can be - try An Poitin Stil if its still under the same management as was a year or two back. Decor is a bit bland and the room is enormous with a very high ceilings. Not even slightly cosy and flat screen TVs mounted everywhere, which I didn't like at all. The coffee was great though.
They also have a proper 'restaurant' called Eon (sounds dodgy). Would love to hear if anyone's been there - only open in the evening I think.
The Glashaus Hotel is Irish owned and managed as is The Tower. All sounds very hip and boutiquey and that is what they are aiming for, if not quite hitting. All these places seem to be geared towards the business market - not too many rock stars then. This is just across the way from the new M and S beside The Square. The food in the bar was pretty good and well priced - they have a restaurant upstairs with the same menu. Service excellent and nice atmosphere - well decorated and I would be back. I had crab cakes with a sweet chilli sauce which was nicely done.
Cactus Jacks is a Tex Mex place and is round the corner from The Glashaus. I've had lunch there twice - poor me. First time I ordered ciabatta with chorizo, cheddar cheese, salsa and some other topping. Anyway, about a quarter of the way through I really felt as if the whole thing was really dry and realised I was missing the salsa and other topping. I asked for and got a side of guacamole and salsa which I wasn't charged for. I left a lot of it. Second time was a work lunch and I order a chicken fajita with rice and salad. It was OK - very bland. All very pedestrian although the portions are decent but would want to be when most mains are 10 - 13 Euro each. I won't be back - it was all very heavy and unexciting. They should call their neighbours at the Glashouse for the sweet chilli sauce recipe which would liven things up a bit.
So, out of them all I would say The Glashaus is definitely the winner. Though I won't be expecting any waves in the little foodie pond of Ireland to be crashing against the cliffs over any of them.
However, the market near The Abberley on Fridays and Saturdays is quite good. There is a butcher there who sells the most DIVINE sausages I've had in years. Also Paddy Jacks have some very nice Basque sheeps cheeses amongst others.
Over and out from Tallaght!!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Enormous White Truffle found
Enormous white truffle weighing over 1.5 kilos found near Pisa by a mongrel dog called Rocco. It is being auctioned in Hong Kong and may make as much as 150,000 euros.Brings back memories of early November last year sitting in an agro tourismo (grow much of their own food) restaurant in Barberesco drinking Barberesco with 10g of white truffle grated on my home made pasta for a supplement of about 27 euro! boy was it worth it - how often do you get to sit in such a restaurant in truffle season.
Ramsey is offering it on his risotto in Powerscourt charging similar amounts but crucially not always telling his customers how much extra they will have to pay (according to Liveline on Wednesday - http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/). I know where I would rather eat white truffle given the choice...
see article here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4292214a19716.html
and here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,2216999,00.html
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Ferreira Vintage Port 1985 - for 15 Euro!!
Had to post this as it is the best wine bargain I have ever seen in 20 years of dilligently searching through wineshops large and small in Ireland, England, France and the US...
Selected Molloys Liquor Stores are selling off this lovely vintage port at 2 bottles for 30 euro. That is an incredible 15 euro per bottle... - you would barely get Sandymans Ruby for that price. I bought mine in Nutgrove (now out of stock) and in Tallaght (still has a few I think). You could try ringing around but dont bother with Leopardstown as he has only three bottles and had heard nothing of the deal. He is still selling his last three bottles at the old price of 30 euro (still between one third and one fifth of what the port is worth). In Nutgrove they told me they were just trying to offload it as they dont sell much.
1985 is considered a good year and probably the best of the 1980s (according to Michael Broadbent who rates the year and this port highly). Ferreira are probably the best known of the Portuguese houses (as opposed to the English ones like Taylors and Dow) and have a good reputation. They are now owned by Sogrape (who own Offley and Sandeman).
Tasting Note - The 85 is still showing a deep ruby colour despite its 22 years and has aromas of carmelised apple, toffee, sweet prunes and baked plums. The initial taste is rich and sweet which develops into attractive sherry notes on the middle palate and with a rich fruity finish. This is quite a sweet style (typical of the Portuguese houses), is immensely drinkable, and will keep for at least another 20 years and probably longer.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Riesling and Pinot Noir
Thanks to my relative poverty at the moment I will not be visiting too many restaurants over the next month so to compensate expect more things about drink including bottles drunk at home or at my wine clubs. So first off Riesling and Pinot.
Champagne Charles Orban, Blanc de Noirs O'Briens €23.99
White Wines - RieslingPeter Lehmann, Australia 2005 Corks €9.50
Grosset, Australia – Polish Hill, Clare Valley 2006 Gift from PRoycroft Approx €28.00
Hugel, Alsace 2005 Vintry Rathgar €15.95
Red Wines - Pinot Noir
Cono Sur, Chili 2006 O'Briens €8.99
Bourgogne, France – Louis Jadot 2005 O'Briens €13.99
Delta, New Zealand –Marlborough Donnybrook Fair €16.99
Gevrey Chambertin, Burgundy, Domain Thierry Mortet 2003 Donnybrook Fair €46.00
Jackie opened the evening with a lovely champagne blanc de noirs (somade only from the black grapes of champagne (pinot noir and pinotmeunier, thus excluding chardonnay). This had earthy aromas and aprominent yeast overlay with touches of hazelnuts. a very goodchampagne - especially for the money. For the rieslings we got theusual aromas but in unexpected places - the dirt cheap Peter Lehmanhad apple and petrol (what you expect) while the Grosset Polish Hillfrom the clare valley was riper with pear and fruit flavours and goodsearing acidity. Grosset are one of the great riesling makers and abenchmark wine so it was interesting to taste with the Hugel which wasdistinctly floral in character and significantly lighter in texture.to be fair this was their basic blend and you would get moreinteresting (and representative) flavours from their premium Rieslings(or from say Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile).
Reds started with simple but very drinkable cherry fruit from Cono Sur and had an unlikely star in the Louis Jadot bog standard bourgogne which had loads of classic pinot character - cherries mixed withearthy tones and subtle fruit. The Gevrey Chambertin (from one of thebetter producers in the region - though his brother Denis Mortet isconsidered more important) was interesting and you could tell it hadmore going on but then it would want to given that it was three timesthe price (3.2857 times the price according to my calculator). TheNew Zealander was much riper (pinot always ripens easier in newzealand thanks to the light) but I confess I didnt write much aboutit. the bottle had been open a day or two and given the importance offragrance to pinot (the first thing to go as a wine gets exposed tothe air) i think it had probably suffered a little.
All in all if you were to test riesling and pinot noir you would goexactly to the places Jackie went so a very useful and representativetasting. you could also go to Germany for riesling (if you could findanyone selling the stuff) or maybe to oregon or washington state (ifyou wanted to throw a load of money at the issue). Carneros inCalifornia is one other place worth considering but again be prepared to pay for anything decent.
Champagne Charles Orban, Blanc de Noirs O'Briens €23.99
White Wines - RieslingPeter Lehmann, Australia 2005 Corks €9.50
Grosset, Australia – Polish Hill, Clare Valley 2006 Gift from PRoycroft Approx €28.00
Hugel, Alsace 2005 Vintry Rathgar €15.95
Red Wines - Pinot Noir
Cono Sur, Chili 2006 O'Briens €8.99
Bourgogne, France – Louis Jadot 2005 O'Briens €13.99
Delta, New Zealand –Marlborough Donnybrook Fair €16.99
Gevrey Chambertin, Burgundy, Domain Thierry Mortet 2003 Donnybrook Fair €46.00
Jackie opened the evening with a lovely champagne blanc de noirs (somade only from the black grapes of champagne (pinot noir and pinotmeunier, thus excluding chardonnay). This had earthy aromas and aprominent yeast overlay with touches of hazelnuts. a very goodchampagne - especially for the money. For the rieslings we got theusual aromas but in unexpected places - the dirt cheap Peter Lehmanhad apple and petrol (what you expect) while the Grosset Polish Hillfrom the clare valley was riper with pear and fruit flavours and goodsearing acidity. Grosset are one of the great riesling makers and abenchmark wine so it was interesting to taste with the Hugel which wasdistinctly floral in character and significantly lighter in texture.to be fair this was their basic blend and you would get moreinteresting (and representative) flavours from their premium Rieslings(or from say Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile).
Reds started with simple but very drinkable cherry fruit from Cono Sur and had an unlikely star in the Louis Jadot bog standard bourgogne which had loads of classic pinot character - cherries mixed withearthy tones and subtle fruit. The Gevrey Chambertin (from one of thebetter producers in the region - though his brother Denis Mortet isconsidered more important) was interesting and you could tell it hadmore going on but then it would want to given that it was three timesthe price (3.2857 times the price according to my calculator). TheNew Zealander was much riper (pinot always ripens easier in newzealand thanks to the light) but I confess I didnt write much aboutit. the bottle had been open a day or two and given the importance offragrance to pinot (the first thing to go as a wine gets exposed tothe air) i think it had probably suffered a little.
All in all if you were to test riesling and pinot noir you would goexactly to the places Jackie went so a very useful and representativetasting. you could also go to Germany for riesling (if you could findanyone selling the stuff) or maybe to oregon or washington state (ifyou wanted to throw a load of money at the issue). Carneros inCalifornia is one other place worth considering but again be prepared to pay for anything decent.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Rhodes D7
Rhodes D7, Capel Street, Dublin 7 - www.rhodesd7.com tel: 353 1 804 4444
My first visit back to Rhodes D7 in over a year and things have changed - for the better. It could be my memory but the menu seemed much longer this time and included enough interesting dishes that I had difficulty making up my mind what to choose. And even more importantly the portions are larger and prices seem lower, or at least more in proportion.
Many Irish people resented the idea of a cheeky chappy celebrity chef invading our city and suggesting by his mere presence that he could do better than us (of course he never implied any such thing - he just wanted to expand his empire and make more money and who can blame him for that?). Personally if the food is good and service polite and efficient I don't care who owns the place. I'm not pushed on the Oirish elements of the decor on the way to the loo (olde dublin photos of street urchins playing happily outside their tenements while granddad dies slowly of consumption inside) but sure Gary is only trying his best to fit in and this is what they told him we would like.
The classic complaint is "but where is gary rhodes if its his name over the door??" again, who cares if the food is good. The food on the menu is clearly Gary Rhodes with the emphasis on local ingredients and new spins on classic English (and Irish) dishes (yes lots of Irish ingredients such as crubeens, ardsallagh cheese, clonakilty black pudding, soda bread etc.).
The problem with La Stampa was not the non-appearance of JC Novelli, it was that the food was crap. New Yorkers dont expect Thomas Keller to bi-locate and be a constant presence in Per Se and the French Laundry and neither do the citizens of Montecarlo and Paris (not to mention New York, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Beirut) expect as much from Alain Ducasse.
The rumour mill has been (gleefully) suggesting that the restaurant was not doing well at lunchtime (surely something they banked on given the vast numbers of hungry legal people in the area with plenty of money to spend on lunch) and barely surviving during the week. We ate at 2.30 on a Friday and there were around 30 people in the restaurant - I realise official Dublin lunch break was over but I reckoned there would be more.
The location has been criticised but I am not really sure why given that it is literally a stones throw from the winding stair and Mick Wallaces' Quartier Bloom and the various Polish pubs, bakeries and restaurants have definitely improved Capel street. When it opened there was a certain superciliousness evident and not a little arrogance it seemed to me. Pricing was too high, portions too small and staff just seemed far too pleased with themselves. Hopefully this last is also a thing of the past as our waiter was pleasant and attentive (though he did do my least favourite thing - he asked if we wanted to taste the wine - of course we fucking do).
Anyway to the food...
For starters we could have ordered beef carpaccio, smoked eel, duck confit or potted crab among other things but we went for Crispy sliced ham hock filled Crubeens with piccalilli and baby gem salad €7.50 and Mushroom, Celeriac and Truffle Risotto €9.50. The slices of crumbed deep fried crubeen stuffed with ham hock were sticky and meaty exactly as they should be and although the piccalilli overpowered them a little they managed to hold their own. The risotto was correctly cooked and tasted rich and creamy with good seasoning - both plates wiped clean.
Our bottle of Telmo Rodriguez Rueda was a lovely tangy fresh mouthful with not a little depth. The wine list is another thing that has much improved since my last visit by the way.
For Mains we ordered Slow roast pork belly with Clonakilty black pudding, caramelised apple
and parsnip colcannon €18.90 and Roast Guinea fowl, wild mushroom and leek fettuccine with pan fried foie gras €22.50. The belly pork portion could have been larger but was the perfect texture with a touch of caramelisation on the top and creamy melting pork beneath, complemented by the clonakilty pudding and the apple with an extra layer of flavour added by the mash. The Guinea fowl was relatively moist (no mean feat with this bird) and the baby fist sized piece of foie gras carmelised on the exterior but delicate and moist on the interior. The fettuccine was a good foil, if a little bland. I can think of no restaurant in Dublin that offers fresh foie gras in any dish for even close to this price so Rhodes is to be praised highly for a) having it on the menu in these politically correct times and b) not overcharging - in fact undercharging.
For Dessert we shared a Passion fruit panna cotta cheesecake, mango and vanilla salad and ginger shortbread €7.90 to share and had a glass each of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise for €5.50 per glass. The wine could not cope with the searing acidity in the passion fruit or the over-spiced ginger shortbread but it fared better with the panna cotta. The dessert had too many loud clashing flavours to be called successful but it was not a disaster either.
So I am not recommending you drive from cork to get to the restaurant but if you are in the area there are many many worse places you could eat for a lot more money.
PS a year ago the "chips" were dreadful hunks of undercooked potato an inch thick and I forgot to enquire if they were still going for this style instead of the crispy ones we all want - so make sure to ask before you order the good value sounding 10oz striploin with Bearnaise for €23.90.
My first visit back to Rhodes D7 in over a year and things have changed - for the better. It could be my memory but the menu seemed much longer this time and included enough interesting dishes that I had difficulty making up my mind what to choose. And even more importantly the portions are larger and prices seem lower, or at least more in proportion.
Many Irish people resented the idea of a cheeky chappy celebrity chef invading our city and suggesting by his mere presence that he could do better than us (of course he never implied any such thing - he just wanted to expand his empire and make more money and who can blame him for that?). Personally if the food is good and service polite and efficient I don't care who owns the place. I'm not pushed on the Oirish elements of the decor on the way to the loo (olde dublin photos of street urchins playing happily outside their tenements while granddad dies slowly of consumption inside) but sure Gary is only trying his best to fit in and this is what they told him we would like.
The classic complaint is "but where is gary rhodes if its his name over the door??" again, who cares if the food is good. The food on the menu is clearly Gary Rhodes with the emphasis on local ingredients and new spins on classic English (and Irish) dishes (yes lots of Irish ingredients such as crubeens, ardsallagh cheese, clonakilty black pudding, soda bread etc.).
The problem with La Stampa was not the non-appearance of JC Novelli, it was that the food was crap. New Yorkers dont expect Thomas Keller to bi-locate and be a constant presence in Per Se and the French Laundry and neither do the citizens of Montecarlo and Paris (not to mention New York, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Beirut) expect as much from Alain Ducasse.
The rumour mill has been (gleefully) suggesting that the restaurant was not doing well at lunchtime (surely something they banked on given the vast numbers of hungry legal people in the area with plenty of money to spend on lunch) and barely surviving during the week. We ate at 2.30 on a Friday and there were around 30 people in the restaurant - I realise official Dublin lunch break was over but I reckoned there would be more.
The location has been criticised but I am not really sure why given that it is literally a stones throw from the winding stair and Mick Wallaces' Quartier Bloom and the various Polish pubs, bakeries and restaurants have definitely improved Capel street. When it opened there was a certain superciliousness evident and not a little arrogance it seemed to me. Pricing was too high, portions too small and staff just seemed far too pleased with themselves. Hopefully this last is also a thing of the past as our waiter was pleasant and attentive (though he did do my least favourite thing - he asked if we wanted to taste the wine - of course we fucking do).
Anyway to the food...
For starters we could have ordered beef carpaccio, smoked eel, duck confit or potted crab among other things but we went for Crispy sliced ham hock filled Crubeens with piccalilli and baby gem salad €7.50 and Mushroom, Celeriac and Truffle Risotto €9.50. The slices of crumbed deep fried crubeen stuffed with ham hock were sticky and meaty exactly as they should be and although the piccalilli overpowered them a little they managed to hold their own. The risotto was correctly cooked and tasted rich and creamy with good seasoning - both plates wiped clean.
Our bottle of Telmo Rodriguez Rueda was a lovely tangy fresh mouthful with not a little depth. The wine list is another thing that has much improved since my last visit by the way.
For Mains we ordered Slow roast pork belly with Clonakilty black pudding, caramelised apple
and parsnip colcannon €18.90 and Roast Guinea fowl, wild mushroom and leek fettuccine with pan fried foie gras €22.50. The belly pork portion could have been larger but was the perfect texture with a touch of caramelisation on the top and creamy melting pork beneath, complemented by the clonakilty pudding and the apple with an extra layer of flavour added by the mash. The Guinea fowl was relatively moist (no mean feat with this bird) and the baby fist sized piece of foie gras carmelised on the exterior but delicate and moist on the interior. The fettuccine was a good foil, if a little bland. I can think of no restaurant in Dublin that offers fresh foie gras in any dish for even close to this price so Rhodes is to be praised highly for a) having it on the menu in these politically correct times and b) not overcharging - in fact undercharging.
For Dessert we shared a Passion fruit panna cotta cheesecake, mango and vanilla salad and ginger shortbread €7.90 to share and had a glass each of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise for €5.50 per glass. The wine could not cope with the searing acidity in the passion fruit or the over-spiced ginger shortbread but it fared better with the panna cotta. The dessert had too many loud clashing flavours to be called successful but it was not a disaster either.
So I am not recommending you drive from cork to get to the restaurant but if you are in the area there are many many worse places you could eat for a lot more money.
PS a year ago the "chips" were dreadful hunks of undercooked potato an inch thick and I forgot to enquire if they were still going for this style instead of the crispy ones we all want - so make sure to ask before you order the good value sounding 10oz striploin with Bearnaise for €23.90.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Another Reason to bring your kids to Ratatouille
So finally a gratuitous pic of my seven year old Grellan who was inspired enough by Ratatouille to want to help me cook dinner. This is genuinely the first time he has wanted to create something rather than just help me chop or stir. The dishes in the pic are of his own creation and were our starters this evening. On the right is Cinte Senese Ham (see here to understand why this is special - http://www.slow-food.info/cinta_senese.htm) a gift from our Italian friend Giulio who stayed with us recently but it was Grellan's idea to arrange it on top of peeled apple and top with chopped sage and drizzle with olive oil. He did have help in choosing sage over basil, rosemary, mint, thyme and marjoram (the fresh herbs available) but the apple-proscuito combination was his own. As for the olive oil he knew it needed something and he just needed to be nudged in that direction. On the left is just cut apple drizzled with maple syrup and lemon juice which was his own starter. He did taste the ham but hated it - he will come around... give him time.
Next we had steak frites with very well hung sirloin from Christy's butcher on Terenure Road North - sawdust on the floor, non-organic butcher that is half the price of the supermarkets and a third the price of his neighbours in the village; O'Tooles and Downeys. Steak was fried for about a minute or two on each side and rested in the oven set at 60 degrees C. We bought enough steak for 3 greedy people or 4 normal people for 12.50. Frites were blanched at 140 degrees, cooled down in the beer fridge (the crappy old fridge in the garage for party wine and beer) and then fried at 190 degrees for about 30 seconds til crisp. sauce was a splash of white wine, a spoonful of creme fraiche and the juices from the resting meat.
Next we had steak frites with very well hung sirloin from Christy's butcher on Terenure Road North - sawdust on the floor, non-organic butcher that is half the price of the supermarkets and a third the price of his neighbours in the village; O'Tooles and Downeys. Steak was fried for about a minute or two on each side and rested in the oven set at 60 degrees C. We bought enough steak for 3 greedy people or 4 normal people for 12.50. Frites were blanched at 140 degrees, cooled down in the beer fridge (the crappy old fridge in the garage for party wine and beer) and then fried at 190 degrees for about 30 seconds til crisp. sauce was a splash of white wine, a spoonful of creme fraiche and the juices from the resting meat.
for dessert we had mars bar ice cream - dont knock it til you try it...
Ratatouille
Just returned from a trip to Ratatouille with a 3, 6, 7 and 9 year old. It truly is as good as you have been hearing. A little long for the 3 year old but he still loved it as much as the other three, but it is likely that none of them loved it as much as me.The attention to detail in the animation is phenomenal from the fine ridges on the sliced leeks to the tiny droplets of water on the rat''s fur to the texture of the sauces. This film takes food and chefs seriously unlike virtually all hollywood films. The dishes sound right and look right and the characterisation is realistic. The wines are a little on the extravagent side - Cheval Blanc 47, Latour 61 etc but in the spirit of the film - or rather the scene (and movie) stealing food critic Anton Ego voiced perfectly by Peter O'Toole. O'Toole is given some fantastic lines and on the true nature of the critic.... quote below from http://www.imdb.com/
uncomfortable but true words. (Nerd alert - For his meal in the restaurant O'Toole orders Ch. Cheval Blanc '47 but at the end there is a bottle of Ch. Lafite and a Ch. Latour on the table. Perhaps they were out of the Cheval blanc given that it is one of the world's most sought after wines (the cheapest on http://www.winesearcher.com/ is around 2000 euro per bottle), and offered him Lafite instead - I certainly wouldn't have complained but they say the '47 Lafite is tiring so I would have looked for the 1945 or the 1959.... I confess I rely on Michael Broadbent and others rather than my own experience!)"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
The film uses sounds and images to explain how combining flavours (say charantais melon and parma ham) can lead you from individual perfect notes to a symphony so kids will actually learn something while laughing uproariously.
Bottom line - this is up there with Babettes Feast and Eat Drink Man Woman and way better than Big Night, Tampopo, or star vehicles like Woman on Top and Simply Irresistiable (despite the charms of Penelope Cruz and Sarah Michelle Gellar)
Mulcahys Kenmare
Mulcahys, 16 Henry Street, Kenmare, 064 42383.
Kenmare is one of the restaurant capitals of the country and really is a gorgeous place to visit. The Park Hotel, the Sheen Falls, Packies, Prego, Bricin, the Lime Tree etc.
Mulcahys has had some of the best reviews of recent times and was open on Sunday night last so we had to go. The menu seems rather conventional at first glance with steak, fresh cod, lemon sole, black sole etc. but dont let this put you off. For starters we ordered sushi and scallops and prawn terrine. Sushi was as good as any I have tasted and better than Aya in my view. I have never been to Japan or Masa in the Time Warner building so am not claiming sushi expertise but this was a generous portion, elegantly presented and just 11 euro.
My terrine was served warm (I had expected a cold terrine for some reason) and again eleganly cooked and full of flavour and great value at 11 euro.
I had dithered over ordering the black sole but decided to see what the kitchen could do with the generally inferior lemon sole which was 18.95. The sole was perfection - barely cooked, correctly seasoned and as good or better than 90 per cent of the black sole I have tasted. Cod was also perfectly cooked and steak for the 7 year old was a good hunk of perfectly pink meat, again perfectly seasoned. Veg. were proper croquettes, crispy home made frites and cumin flavoured mashed turnip - even the 7 year old ate this up. Desserts of chocolate brownie home made toffee sauce and perfect ice cream left us totally stuffed. A bottle of dry tokaii and a bill E. 135.90 - perfect...
Kenmare is one of the restaurant capitals of the country and really is a gorgeous place to visit. The Park Hotel, the Sheen Falls, Packies, Prego, Bricin, the Lime Tree etc.
Mulcahys has had some of the best reviews of recent times and was open on Sunday night last so we had to go. The menu seems rather conventional at first glance with steak, fresh cod, lemon sole, black sole etc. but dont let this put you off. For starters we ordered sushi and scallops and prawn terrine. Sushi was as good as any I have tasted and better than Aya in my view. I have never been to Japan or Masa in the Time Warner building so am not claiming sushi expertise but this was a generous portion, elegantly presented and just 11 euro.
My terrine was served warm (I had expected a cold terrine for some reason) and again eleganly cooked and full of flavour and great value at 11 euro.
I had dithered over ordering the black sole but decided to see what the kitchen could do with the generally inferior lemon sole which was 18.95. The sole was perfection - barely cooked, correctly seasoned and as good or better than 90 per cent of the black sole I have tasted. Cod was also perfectly cooked and steak for the 7 year old was a good hunk of perfectly pink meat, again perfectly seasoned. Veg. were proper croquettes, crispy home made frites and cumin flavoured mashed turnip - even the 7 year old ate this up. Desserts of chocolate brownie home made toffee sauce and perfect ice cream left us totally stuffed. A bottle of dry tokaii and a bill E. 135.90 - perfect...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Blackberry Syrup
Made this last night with my last pick of blackberries and it is fab. This weekend is probably your last chance to pick and you may have to search. In Marley park last sunday there were still lots of red ones about. This recipe (minus the lemon) is adapted from Larrousse Gastronomique.
Put 1 kilo of picked-over de-stalked blackberries in a shallow bowl with a glass of water (about 8fl oz) and leave over night (or for three days like I did). Pour the lot into a food processor or blender and whizz to extract as much juice as possible. Push the pulp through a sieve, scraping to get as much flesh as you can. Add 400g/12oz of caster sugar and stir until the sugar disolves. I heated it slightly to aid the process but be very careful as heat will destroy some of the flavour (and vitamin c). I then added the juice of half a lemon as I felt the taste needed it. Bottle filling to within a inch or two of the top. I filed 2 old grolsch bottles but I am sure plastic coke bottles will work just as well.
I will pour this on ice-cream and apple tarts and crumbles, make kir and other cocktails with it and I also reckon I could add a glass of it to double cream and make into ice-cream as my blackberry ice cream recipe is almost identical.
Note: adding the lemon adds pectin so it will thicken or even solidify a little - but I feel this is not a bad thing.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Pregnant women and drink
Interesting news story on Decanter website this morning on pregnant women and drinking -
"UK health experts now say it is safe for women to drink during the early months of pregnancy – advice which flies in the face of government guidelines.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), an independent organisation, has said it is safe for women to have 'less than one drink' – or 1.5 units - of alcohol a day after the first trimester of pregnancy.
A 125ml of wine at 12.5% alcohol by volume is over just over 1.5 units. Binge drinking is defined as 'more than five standard drinks', and may be particularly harmful during pregnancy.
http://www.decanter.com/news/150192.html
at last some sense on this subject. has anyone out there ever met someone with foetal alcohol syndrome and if they have was that caused by their mother having a glass or two of wine with dinner every evening or was it because their mother drank 1-2 bottles of gin every day.
During my wife's pregnancy and subsequent visits to the rotunda I spoke about this with every consultant we met and the general consensus was that the hysterical attitude on this issue is not generally coming from European studies (with a few exceptions in the UK) but from US ones. The Purtian ethic is alive and well in the US heartland and filters into this debate just as it does into everything from nudity to swearing (cf. janet jackson).
I strongly doubt there is a mother or pregnant woman in Ireland that did not have a few drinks sometime early in their pregnancy (before she knew she was pregnant). And again I ask where are all the foetal alcohol affected babies?
All this is just more bullying of women in my view and causes endless worry about what they did before they knew they were pregnant. I guarantee that worry and stress like this causes more problems than a glass or two of wine.
Of course excessive drinking doesnt do anyone any good (adult, child or foetus), but lets get some perspective on this.
To show I am not alone in this view let me quote Jancis Robinson, (a mother and gifted wine writer)...
“in this, our male dominated society, men feel entitled to lecture pregnant women on how they should best discharge their responsibilities to their unborn children.”
Jancis has written extensively and lucidly on the subject but I found that quote via google on this article - http://www.beekmanwine.com/prevtopak.htm which supports my view.
More of the same in her book - The Demon Drink or her more recent biog Confessions of a Wine Lover or check out her site http://www.jancisrobinson.com/
"UK health experts now say it is safe for women to drink during the early months of pregnancy – advice which flies in the face of government guidelines.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), an independent organisation, has said it is safe for women to have 'less than one drink' – or 1.5 units - of alcohol a day after the first trimester of pregnancy.
A 125ml of wine at 12.5% alcohol by volume is over just over 1.5 units. Binge drinking is defined as 'more than five standard drinks', and may be particularly harmful during pregnancy.
http://www.decanter.com/news/150192.html
at last some sense on this subject. has anyone out there ever met someone with foetal alcohol syndrome and if they have was that caused by their mother having a glass or two of wine with dinner every evening or was it because their mother drank 1-2 bottles of gin every day.
During my wife's pregnancy and subsequent visits to the rotunda I spoke about this with every consultant we met and the general consensus was that the hysterical attitude on this issue is not generally coming from European studies (with a few exceptions in the UK) but from US ones. The Purtian ethic is alive and well in the US heartland and filters into this debate just as it does into everything from nudity to swearing (cf. janet jackson).
I strongly doubt there is a mother or pregnant woman in Ireland that did not have a few drinks sometime early in their pregnancy (before she knew she was pregnant). And again I ask where are all the foetal alcohol affected babies?
we are even starting this bullying in Ireland with new labels on wine bottles coming any day now....http://www.independent.ie/national-news/alcohol-labels-to-have-baby-warning-1197809.html
Given that water was often unsafe to drink for most of the last 1000 years we resorted to drinks containing alcohol - beer, wine, cider etc. (the chinese boiled their water to purify it and put leaves in to add flavour - hence tea), surely a substantial portion of the population of Europe (and those in america of european ancestry) would have had a long history of foetal alcohol syndrome in their families or at very least a long history of babies affected by smaller birth weight and all the rest.
All this is just more bullying of women in my view and causes endless worry about what they did before they knew they were pregnant. I guarantee that worry and stress like this causes more problems than a glass or two of wine.
Of course excessive drinking doesnt do anyone any good (adult, child or foetus), but lets get some perspective on this.
To show I am not alone in this view let me quote Jancis Robinson, (a mother and gifted wine writer)...
“in this, our male dominated society, men feel entitled to lecture pregnant women on how they should best discharge their responsibilities to their unborn children.”
Jancis has written extensively and lucidly on the subject but I found that quote via google on this article - http://www.beekmanwine.com/prevtopak.htm which supports my view.
More of the same in her book - The Demon Drink or her more recent biog Confessions of a Wine Lover or check out her site http://www.jancisrobinson.com/
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Alexis Dun Laoghaire
Alexis Bar and Grill
17/18 Patricks Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Tel: (01) 280 8872
Tu-Fri: 12.30 - 2.30, 5.30 - 10.00. Sat: 5.30 - 10.00. Sun: 12.30 - 3.00pm, 5.30 - 9.00
Alexis Bar and Grill in Dun Laoghaire is named after famous 19th century French chef Alexis Benoit Soyer who ran canteens for the poor in London and in Dublin during the famine, providing nutritious food at knockdown prices.
Well we are no longer poor but we still need good quality nutritious food at knockdown prices – and this is exactly what Alexis does very well.
The room is bright, modern and open plan and on Saturday evening last there were families, couples and small and large groups of friends of all ages all happily tucking in.
We arrived as evening service was beginning and with only a handful of the 90 tables filled. There is only one bad table in the restaurant as far as I could tell and of course that is where we were placed – right beside the busy staff cloakroom on the edge of a banquette. We asked if we could be moved, particularly as we had promised to be gone by around 7pm, and were told no. Just no. With a bit of forcefulness however we got our way.
The rather curt attitude of staff continued during the meal but this was really only a minor irritation and was relatively easily ignored.
The menu is short and to the point with many dishes doubling as starters and main courses. Encouragingly suppliers are listed on the menu, as is a declaration of intent to “source where we can organic free range produce.”
Among the dishes we could have ordered included bistro classics such as confit of duck terrine, smoked haddock tartlet, roast duck with plum sauce, mushroom risotto and slow roasted belly of pork with apple compote.
We started with a half portion of Spinach and Ricotta & Fresh Ham Ravioli with Parmesan, Tomato Pesto and Petit Salad for €8.50 plus a Potted Local Shrimp & Crab with Alexis’ Homemade Brown Bread & Summer Salad at €9.50.
The flavours in the ravioli starter were quite fine with enough complexity and subtlety to make this a successful dish but it was marred by the fact the ham in the ravioli was still cold and the pasta itself a little stodgy. Having said that the solid flavours and the excellent salad leaves meant that I ate it all and might even order it again on my next visit (yes, I will be back).
The brown bread with the potted shrimp (potted with butter in a ramekin) was solid fare with decent fresh brown bread and again quality well-dressed leaves.
For mains I ordered Harry Buckley’s Free Range Grilled Rib Eye of Beef, Gratin Potatoes, Café de Paris Butter €22.50. The steak was almost an inch thick, rare as requested, with good flavour and virtually perfect Gratin potatoes – crispy top and thin creamy slices of potato. The café de paris butter appeared to be flavoured with tangerine (or more likely Satsuma) rind and was not to my taste but was easy enough to push aside.
The bargain of the meal was the very generous portion of Baked Shoulder of Lamb “Nicoise” cooked with olives, tomatoes and herbs at a mere €15.50. The lamb was melt in the mouth tender, and the combination of braising flavours were complementary, without in any way overwhelming the delicate flavours of the lamb. The accompanying mash was declared by my charming wife to be: “as good as it gets – and better than yours by the way!” A perfect dish.
A separate mention must go to our side order of home made chips which were thin, crispy and perfectly seasoned, and at a mere €3 deserve to be ordered with every course including dessert.
Desserts are a mere €5.50 so we ordered three… Warm Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream was exactly as you would wish – rich, sticky, moist hot brownie with cool flavourful ice cream. Fresh Poached Peach Melba with Vanilla Ice Cream was also classic (if understandably served without the ice-sculpture swan) with good quality peach and tangy raspberry sauce. Fresh Fruit Tart, Crème Anglaise could have been better as the pastry was a little spongy and the crème pâtissière a little bland and light on vanilla, but it was still pretty damn good.
The wine list is another bargain point with a short but carefully chosen selection of wines beginning under €20 and with most under €30. How many wine lists, even those that run to 30 pages, include Argentinian Viognier, Torrontes and Sangiovese, Minervois, Dao, Ribero, Priorat, Bierzo, and Brouilly - not to mention two quality rosé’s and an Austrian Gruner Veltliner? Our bottle of Dao Quinta de Cabriz at €23 was ripe and soft and a perfect match for the lamb and steak. The glass of Soave was a little light but still a good foil for the shrimp.
Final bill was just €109 - one of the cheapest meals of this quality I have had in Dublin.
17/18 Patricks Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Tel: (01) 280 8872
Tu-Fri: 12.30 - 2.30, 5.30 - 10.00. Sat: 5.30 - 10.00. Sun: 12.30 - 3.00pm, 5.30 - 9.00
Alexis Bar and Grill in Dun Laoghaire is named after famous 19th century French chef Alexis Benoit Soyer who ran canteens for the poor in London and in Dublin during the famine, providing nutritious food at knockdown prices.
Well we are no longer poor but we still need good quality nutritious food at knockdown prices – and this is exactly what Alexis does very well.
The room is bright, modern and open plan and on Saturday evening last there were families, couples and small and large groups of friends of all ages all happily tucking in.
We arrived as evening service was beginning and with only a handful of the 90 tables filled. There is only one bad table in the restaurant as far as I could tell and of course that is where we were placed – right beside the busy staff cloakroom on the edge of a banquette. We asked if we could be moved, particularly as we had promised to be gone by around 7pm, and were told no. Just no. With a bit of forcefulness however we got our way.
The rather curt attitude of staff continued during the meal but this was really only a minor irritation and was relatively easily ignored.
The menu is short and to the point with many dishes doubling as starters and main courses. Encouragingly suppliers are listed on the menu, as is a declaration of intent to “source where we can organic free range produce.”
Among the dishes we could have ordered included bistro classics such as confit of duck terrine, smoked haddock tartlet, roast duck with plum sauce, mushroom risotto and slow roasted belly of pork with apple compote.
We started with a half portion of Spinach and Ricotta & Fresh Ham Ravioli with Parmesan, Tomato Pesto and Petit Salad for €8.50 plus a Potted Local Shrimp & Crab with Alexis’ Homemade Brown Bread & Summer Salad at €9.50.
The flavours in the ravioli starter were quite fine with enough complexity and subtlety to make this a successful dish but it was marred by the fact the ham in the ravioli was still cold and the pasta itself a little stodgy. Having said that the solid flavours and the excellent salad leaves meant that I ate it all and might even order it again on my next visit (yes, I will be back).
The brown bread with the potted shrimp (potted with butter in a ramekin) was solid fare with decent fresh brown bread and again quality well-dressed leaves.
For mains I ordered Harry Buckley’s Free Range Grilled Rib Eye of Beef, Gratin Potatoes, Café de Paris Butter €22.50. The steak was almost an inch thick, rare as requested, with good flavour and virtually perfect Gratin potatoes – crispy top and thin creamy slices of potato. The café de paris butter appeared to be flavoured with tangerine (or more likely Satsuma) rind and was not to my taste but was easy enough to push aside.
The bargain of the meal was the very generous portion of Baked Shoulder of Lamb “Nicoise” cooked with olives, tomatoes and herbs at a mere €15.50. The lamb was melt in the mouth tender, and the combination of braising flavours were complementary, without in any way overwhelming the delicate flavours of the lamb. The accompanying mash was declared by my charming wife to be: “as good as it gets – and better than yours by the way!” A perfect dish.
A separate mention must go to our side order of home made chips which were thin, crispy and perfectly seasoned, and at a mere €3 deserve to be ordered with every course including dessert.
Desserts are a mere €5.50 so we ordered three… Warm Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream was exactly as you would wish – rich, sticky, moist hot brownie with cool flavourful ice cream. Fresh Poached Peach Melba with Vanilla Ice Cream was also classic (if understandably served without the ice-sculpture swan) with good quality peach and tangy raspberry sauce. Fresh Fruit Tart, Crème Anglaise could have been better as the pastry was a little spongy and the crème pâtissière a little bland and light on vanilla, but it was still pretty damn good.
The wine list is another bargain point with a short but carefully chosen selection of wines beginning under €20 and with most under €30. How many wine lists, even those that run to 30 pages, include Argentinian Viognier, Torrontes and Sangiovese, Minervois, Dao, Ribero, Priorat, Bierzo, and Brouilly - not to mention two quality rosé’s and an Austrian Gruner Veltliner? Our bottle of Dao Quinta de Cabriz at €23 was ripe and soft and a perfect match for the lamb and steak. The glass of Soave was a little light but still a good foil for the shrimp.
Final bill was just €109 - one of the cheapest meals of this quality I have had in Dublin.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Saturday's Haul
Found this lot of Shaggy Ink Caps and Shaggy Parasols on Saturday morning in a quick 20 minute cycle around my usual spots. This lovely mild weather is perfect for mushrooms - and for these mushrooms in particular so expect more until we get a cold snap. I read recently that a small number of people are mildly allergic (skin rashes, slight nausea) to the shaggy parasol but I have never experienced anything untoward. I find more of these mushrooms in Ireland than almost any other. You lose a lot of water from these types so I like to bake them in the oven with some olive oil, lemon and herbs before adding them to risottos, omelettes, pasta or just spread on toasted crusty bread.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Locks
1 Windsor Terrace, Portobello, Dublin 8. Tel: 01 4543391 http://www.locksrestaurant.ie/
12-3 and 6-11 Monday-Saturday
A couple of years ago when L’Gueleton opened Dublin suddenly realised what we had been missing – quality French bistro food at inexpensive prices and an informal atmosphere. Their enormous success led to many more French style bistros opening and many are serving excellent food, but for the best bistro food in the city there is only one place to go – Locks. And who is running Locks? Yes, the man who ran l’Gueleton Troy Maguire...
Put simply, based on the night I was there, this is some of the finest tasting food in the country.
Forgive the extended metaphors, but you occasionally hear of a chef “shooting from the hip,” well Maguire is a practiced, perfectionist marksman –Vasili Zaitsev (the famed Russian sniper of Stalingrad) rather than Billy the Kid – every dish we ate was faultless.
Starters range from €7.50 to €16 and we were hard pressed to choose between them. In the end we had three between the two of us. Mackerel with horseradish, smoked eel, apple and fennel salad (€15) was crisply cooked mackerel with all the flavours in the salad working in harmony to lift and dignify the flavours of the fish. The apple and horseradish elements cleaned the palate of any oil while adding accents, the fennel added depth of flavour, and the dressing bound it all together.
Duck liver and foie gras parfait with spiced pear and cornichons (€14.90) had depth of flavour with lightness of touch – everything a parfait should be; and the Fisherman’s Soup (€9.50) had substance and heart warming flavours and even subtlety – difficult to achieve in a tomato based fish soup.
With our starters we drank a lovely bottle of Rueda from Monsalve at €28 - fragrant on the nose, honeyed and citrus fruit on the middle palate, but with crisp acidity on the finish; it coped admirably with the diverse flavours it was up against.
For mains we had “Mullard duck with puy lentils, glazed navet, broadbeans and devils on horseback (€26.50)” which was served perfectly pink and full of flavour (sourced from the Champagne region according to our waitress, and according to Google a Mullard is a cross between a Mallard and a Muscovy duck). The broadbeans and baby carrots were perfect with it while the devils on horseback acted as a foil and the figs added a touch of class.
Dry aged ribeye steak with bearnaise or snail and Roquefort sauce, watercress and chips (€28.90) was perfection. The chips were quite honestly among the finest I have ever tasted and remained crisp and fluffy from first to last. Upon enquiry I was told they are blanched three times before being fried in oil – such perfectionism pays off admirably. The steak was correctly cooked, full of flavour, and the sauces (we ordered béarnaise and snail and mushroom) were almost licked from their ramekins.
For wine with our mains we had a Ribero del Duero from Hijos de Antonio Polo, a steal at €26, medium bodied and juicy – slightly more suited to the duck than the steak.
For dessert we moved to some comfy chairs near the bar and shared an intense “single estate chocolate brownie with kumquat and vanilla ice cream” (€8.50) and a couple of glasses of sweet Gaillac for €9 each. This was probably the richest and most complex and perfect brownie I can remember tasting – a flavour that lingers even now a week later. The chocolate was Valrhona Palmira from Venezuela (they showed us) but I know this chocolate and excellent as it is, the perfection of the brownie came from the chef.
The bill was €189 .80 with no service charge and we floated out on a high caused by much more than the wine.
1 Windsor Terrace, Portobello, Dublin 8. Tel: 01 4543391 http://www.locksrestaurant.ie/
12-3 and 6-11 Monday-Saturday
A couple of years ago when L’Gueleton opened Dublin suddenly realised what we had been missing – quality French bistro food at inexpensive prices and an informal atmosphere. Their enormous success led to many more French style bistros opening and many are serving excellent food, but for the best bistro food in the city there is only one place to go – Locks. And who is running Locks? Yes, the man who ran l’Gueleton Troy Maguire...
Put simply, based on the night I was there, this is some of the finest tasting food in the country.
Forgive the extended metaphors, but you occasionally hear of a chef “shooting from the hip,” well Maguire is a practiced, perfectionist marksman –Vasili Zaitsev (the famed Russian sniper of Stalingrad) rather than Billy the Kid – every dish we ate was faultless.
Starters range from €7.50 to €16 and we were hard pressed to choose between them. In the end we had three between the two of us. Mackerel with horseradish, smoked eel, apple and fennel salad (€15) was crisply cooked mackerel with all the flavours in the salad working in harmony to lift and dignify the flavours of the fish. The apple and horseradish elements cleaned the palate of any oil while adding accents, the fennel added depth of flavour, and the dressing bound it all together.
Duck liver and foie gras parfait with spiced pear and cornichons (€14.90) had depth of flavour with lightness of touch – everything a parfait should be; and the Fisherman’s Soup (€9.50) had substance and heart warming flavours and even subtlety – difficult to achieve in a tomato based fish soup.
With our starters we drank a lovely bottle of Rueda from Monsalve at €28 - fragrant on the nose, honeyed and citrus fruit on the middle palate, but with crisp acidity on the finish; it coped admirably with the diverse flavours it was up against.
For mains we had “Mullard duck with puy lentils, glazed navet, broadbeans and devils on horseback (€26.50)” which was served perfectly pink and full of flavour (sourced from the Champagne region according to our waitress, and according to Google a Mullard is a cross between a Mallard and a Muscovy duck). The broadbeans and baby carrots were perfect with it while the devils on horseback acted as a foil and the figs added a touch of class.
Dry aged ribeye steak with bearnaise or snail and Roquefort sauce, watercress and chips (€28.90) was perfection. The chips were quite honestly among the finest I have ever tasted and remained crisp and fluffy from first to last. Upon enquiry I was told they are blanched three times before being fried in oil – such perfectionism pays off admirably. The steak was correctly cooked, full of flavour, and the sauces (we ordered béarnaise and snail and mushroom) were almost licked from their ramekins.
For wine with our mains we had a Ribero del Duero from Hijos de Antonio Polo, a steal at €26, medium bodied and juicy – slightly more suited to the duck than the steak.
For dessert we moved to some comfy chairs near the bar and shared an intense “single estate chocolate brownie with kumquat and vanilla ice cream” (€8.50) and a couple of glasses of sweet Gaillac for €9 each. This was probably the richest and most complex and perfect brownie I can remember tasting – a flavour that lingers even now a week later. The chocolate was Valrhona Palmira from Venezuela (they showed us) but I know this chocolate and excellent as it is, the perfection of the brownie came from the chef.
The bill was €189 .80 with no service charge and we floated out on a high caused by much more than the wine.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Walnuts
Walnuts - More of the treasures of Autumn if you know where to look. My hands are black from peeling these damn things (apparantly when they had an empire British chaps used to use juice from walnut husks to disguise themselves as natives and head down to the marketplace in Kabul or New Delhi to find out what the natives were thinking - or so my friend Dermot tells me!)
Best to remove the green husk after a few days as it is easy to break the shell if you do it too soon. They take a few days to dry out but taste fantastic. I seem to have left it too late for Hazelnuts as all I could find were empty husks around my usual tree but I am determined to get a good haul of chestnuts this year - St. Endas has dozens of trees but I reckon the ones in the Phoenix Park will yield better results.
Balzac
35 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 677 8611, http://www.balzac.ie/
According to the website Paul Flynn’s Balzac is designed to “recreate the ambiance and glamour of the best Parisian brasseries”, and he largely succeeds.
The bling of the old La Stampa restaurant has all but gone to be replaced with comfortable cool green leather banquettes and bentwood chairs with green cushioned seats. The lighting is diffuse and the ambiance is comfortable and relaxing. To get the true Parisian Bistro feel the room will need a couple of years wear but so far so good.
The menu is classic French Bistro with the odd twist (French Onion and Beetroot Soup, Brandade of Cod with Catalan Escalivada) and some classic Paul Flynn such as Crab Crème Brulee.
For starters I opted for Oysters Mignonette €12.50 (about as classic as they come) and herself had the Crab Crème Brulee with pickled cucumber. The pacific oysters were spanking fresh and served on the half shell and the accompanying mignonette sauce of shallots, vinegar and herbs worked well. The Crème Brulee was creamy, crabby, sweet and tasty as with the pickled cucumber a perfect foil. One crib however is both of us felt the dish would have worked better had it been served with a hint of warmth throughout rather than stone cold with a hint of warmth in the top.
For main I had “Pot au Feu of Pork” for €22.50 which turned out to be an essentially vegetable broth (albeit one made with meat stock) topped with a slab of slow roast belly of pork and mashed potatoes. Now pot-au-feu is a meat stew (“the foundation of empires” according to the Comte de Mirabeau) made with varied boiled meats and if I had wanted roast belly of pork I would have looked for it on the menu. It tasted fine but badly needs a name change in my view.
“Slow Cooked Beef, Horseradish and Parsley Crust” €25 was rich, full flavoured and melted in the mouth. The horseradish could have been a little more piquant but that is a quibble. The small boy had a perfectly rare and very tasty “Rib Eye Steak with Bearnaise Mousseline and Fries” for €27. Praise the Lord the chips were as they should be – thin, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle - other restaurants take note; if we want wedges we will ask for them.
We couldn’t resist a couple of extra potato dishes – duck fat roast potatoes and dauphinoise potatoes at €4.50 each – the dauphinoise was very good but the duck fat roasties were fantastic, and tasted even better the next day when heated up in tinfoil with some of the left over beef (our doggy bag).
Our shared Chocolate Truffle cake was rich, chocolaty quite fine in flavour rather than unctuous – I would have preferred unctuous, but elegance has its place too.
The wine list is creative and quite interesting but with few bargains – house wines are €26. For something interesting I felt the need to spend €32 (the next cheapest red as it happened) which got a fine elegant, slightly spicy bottle of Cotes du Rhone from the excellent co-op Vignerons D’Estezargues.
Total bill came to just over €190 including 12.5% service charge. On mature reflection this final bill seems a little more than the meal was worth. This is generally very solid bistro cooking, but that price tag seems to lead one to expect just a tad more.
35 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 677 8611, http://www.balzac.ie/
According to the website Paul Flynn’s Balzac is designed to “recreate the ambiance and glamour of the best Parisian brasseries”, and he largely succeeds.
The bling of the old La Stampa restaurant has all but gone to be replaced with comfortable cool green leather banquettes and bentwood chairs with green cushioned seats. The lighting is diffuse and the ambiance is comfortable and relaxing. To get the true Parisian Bistro feel the room will need a couple of years wear but so far so good.
The menu is classic French Bistro with the odd twist (French Onion and Beetroot Soup, Brandade of Cod with Catalan Escalivada) and some classic Paul Flynn such as Crab Crème Brulee.
For starters I opted for Oysters Mignonette €12.50 (about as classic as they come) and herself had the Crab Crème Brulee with pickled cucumber. The pacific oysters were spanking fresh and served on the half shell and the accompanying mignonette sauce of shallots, vinegar and herbs worked well. The Crème Brulee was creamy, crabby, sweet and tasty as with the pickled cucumber a perfect foil. One crib however is both of us felt the dish would have worked better had it been served with a hint of warmth throughout rather than stone cold with a hint of warmth in the top.
For main I had “Pot au Feu of Pork” for €22.50 which turned out to be an essentially vegetable broth (albeit one made with meat stock) topped with a slab of slow roast belly of pork and mashed potatoes. Now pot-au-feu is a meat stew (“the foundation of empires” according to the Comte de Mirabeau) made with varied boiled meats and if I had wanted roast belly of pork I would have looked for it on the menu. It tasted fine but badly needs a name change in my view.
“Slow Cooked Beef, Horseradish and Parsley Crust” €25 was rich, full flavoured and melted in the mouth. The horseradish could have been a little more piquant but that is a quibble. The small boy had a perfectly rare and very tasty “Rib Eye Steak with Bearnaise Mousseline and Fries” for €27. Praise the Lord the chips were as they should be – thin, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle - other restaurants take note; if we want wedges we will ask for them.
We couldn’t resist a couple of extra potato dishes – duck fat roast potatoes and dauphinoise potatoes at €4.50 each – the dauphinoise was very good but the duck fat roasties were fantastic, and tasted even better the next day when heated up in tinfoil with some of the left over beef (our doggy bag).
Our shared Chocolate Truffle cake was rich, chocolaty quite fine in flavour rather than unctuous – I would have preferred unctuous, but elegance has its place too.
The wine list is creative and quite interesting but with few bargains – house wines are €26. For something interesting I felt the need to spend €32 (the next cheapest red as it happened) which got a fine elegant, slightly spicy bottle of Cotes du Rhone from the excellent co-op Vignerons D’Estezargues.
Total bill came to just over €190 including 12.5% service charge. On mature reflection this final bill seems a little more than the meal was worth. This is generally very solid bistro cooking, but that price tag seems to lead one to expect just a tad more.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Shock Announcement: Somewhere to eat in Fairview...
Kennedys Good Food Store on Fairview near the large Centra. Almost all food home-made from brown bread to all the cakes (v. rich chocolate layered cake, baileys cheesecake, banoffi, the usual suspects), plus of course beef lasagne, stuffed flat mushrooms, pork and leek sausages in a Lyonnaise Sauce etc. etc. Specials for 9.95 in the evening including a glass of wine. Not sophisticated food but not half bad if you find yourself in that wilderness. Good little shop element with Green and Black Chocolate, San Pellegrino water etc. Coffee is Palombino.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
wild gourmets - educational or just preachy posh gits?
Just watched the second episode of wild gourmets on channel 4 (Tuesday 8.30) and still not sure what to make of them. While it is great to encourage people to eat wild food, how realistic is it for ordinary people (without a camera crew in tow) to turn up at stately homes in Surrey and ask them for free food from the kitchen garden in exchange for a bit of wood chopping. I'd like to see them do it without a camera crew and without their posh accents. In this week's show they shot some pheasants, caught a couple of pike and picked some mushrooms including parasols (they looked more like shaggy parasols to me but I could be wrong). Last week they swapped some beefsteak fungi for eggs and all manner of things at a local shop. which seemed utterly unrealistic to me. I know what my local veg. shop would say if I turned up with some battered bracket fungi and asked to swap them for a dozen eggs and some olive oil. So far almost all the herbs she has used have been cultivated ones - why is she not using wild garlic and all the other things that woods are full of rather than relying on what she can scrounge from the local toffs kitchen garden? I think we are supposed to fancy them (hence the shot of his arse this week - I will lay odds that there will be more of this posterior in future episodes) - personally I find them both utterly sexless and the recipes suspect but I will probably keep watching.
The mushroom season around dublin has been very erratic this year thanks to the miserable Summer with many mushrooms blooming earlier than usual and some not at all. My usual spots for parasols and ink caps are yielding but I have missed out on some beauties by mistiming my hunts (they were too old to pick on at least 4 occasions). I did find some (slightly maggoty) slippery jacks in Bushy Park last week (my first time finding them in this wood) and some shaggy parasols so there is still lots of growth.
The link above for the slippery jacks says they are not worth eating - this is untrue as they taste just like a blander softer version of the bay bolete (boletus badius). I simply peeled the slimy skin off the top and cut carefully watching for little baby maggots (especially prevalent in older ones) and fried the flesh in olive oil and a little butter, adding some garlic for the last 30 seconds, and spread them on toasted challah (jewish new year bread from the corner bakery in Terenure).
For the parasols I chopped them with some fresh herbs and garlic, placed them in a baking dish with some sea salt and a good dash of olive oil, covered them in tin foil and baked them in a low oven for 20 minutes. They lose their liquid and shrink quite a bit but you can then add them to risotto or spread on toast or add to eggs etc. I often freeze them in their juices in little empty creme fraiche pots for use later on.
Blackberries are just about finished in Bushy Park but there are still lots in Marley and the season in Wicklow is only beginning so get picking.
The mushroom season around dublin has been very erratic this year thanks to the miserable Summer with many mushrooms blooming earlier than usual and some not at all. My usual spots for parasols and ink caps are yielding but I have missed out on some beauties by mistiming my hunts (they were too old to pick on at least 4 occasions). I did find some (slightly maggoty) slippery jacks in Bushy Park last week (my first time finding them in this wood) and some shaggy parasols so there is still lots of growth.
The link above for the slippery jacks says they are not worth eating - this is untrue as they taste just like a blander softer version of the bay bolete (boletus badius). I simply peeled the slimy skin off the top and cut carefully watching for little baby maggots (especially prevalent in older ones) and fried the flesh in olive oil and a little butter, adding some garlic for the last 30 seconds, and spread them on toasted challah (jewish new year bread from the corner bakery in Terenure).
For the parasols I chopped them with some fresh herbs and garlic, placed them in a baking dish with some sea salt and a good dash of olive oil, covered them in tin foil and baked them in a low oven for 20 minutes. They lose their liquid and shrink quite a bit but you can then add them to risotto or spread on toast or add to eggs etc. I often freeze them in their juices in little empty creme fraiche pots for use later on.
Blackberries are just about finished in Bushy Park but there are still lots in Marley and the season in Wicklow is only beginning so get picking.
Eating and Drinking in Dublin (and elsewhere)
Welcome!
This blog will focus on finding good things to eat and drink in Dublin City (and anywhere else we find good food). Obviously this includes restaurants but we will also focus on chippers and cheesemongers, bakeries and butchers, fish mongers and fruitcake sellers.
I am a food and wine writer based in Dublin and I will also be inviting some of my trusted foodie friends to post their thoughts here so you wont just get my opinion...
All primary posters to this blog will be food and wine professionals with their own prejudices and biases but also with well developed taste buds and ruthless honesty.
Here are some random thoughts to get us started...
Some Good things about eating and drinking in Dublin -
- Some of the best pubs in the world - Stags Head, Kehoes, Long Hall, Grave Diggers, Grogans, Mulligans, Palace, Ryans etc.
- Family run butchers in most parts of the city (use them or we will lose them)
- An ever increasing number of ethnic shops and restaurants in which to find good food as our immigrant population increases on a daily basis. Sadly there is little of interest in most of the eastern european shops.
- Bakeries seem to be on the way back (eg. Corner Bakery Terenure, Maison des Gourmets on Castlemarket, Soul Bakery Ongar village etc.)
- Affineurs - Sheridans Cheesemongers and Matthews Cheese Cellar - fantastic cheese for the masses
- Wine and Tapas Bars keep opening and some are quite good - e.g. the Port House
- Finding a decent restaurant is getting easier not harder
- Wild Blackberries grow everywhere in our public parks (get them quick before the Corpo does their annual hedge trim) - also watch out for mushrooms as shaggy ink caps often lurk under blackberry bushes (cf. bushy park)
- Good cheap fish can be found; if only in about 3 locations - howth pier, Kish fish and Moore Street (get there before 11am). Supervalu Churchtown and the coal pier in Dun Laoghaireare also worth a visit.
- Almost all of the world's great wines and beers are available in Dublin if you know where to look.
- Farmers markets keep opening up and amazingly some even have a few farmers at them.
Some Bad things -
- 90% of our pubs are awful places with music cranked loud to make you drink more, surly barstaff, even more surly door staff, and more emphasis on kahlua and baileys shots than on decent beer and wine.
- the price of things - Dublin really is a horrendously expensive place to eat and drink in.
- our over-dependence on supermarkets to the detriment of the small shopkeeper that actually cares about how things taste rather than how they look.
- the lack of proper planning in the city that has lead to the pushing up of rents that keeps driving small food shops out in favour of yet more pharmacies, overpriced boutiques and beauty salons (cf. malahide)
- the total chancers at many of our farmers markets like the guys selling olives at 24 euro a kilo at Ranelagh market
- our utterly braindead, officious, arrogant EHOs (environmental health officers) who only know the bad things about food and none of the good - e.g. they recently tried to shut down the meals on wheels service in Rathgar because they did not have 2 sinks.
- God help you if you work in town and expect to find a decent sandwich for under a fiver - come on Ben Dunne where are those quality cheap sandwich bars you promised us... please save us from the mediocrity that is Cafe Sol and O'Briens Sandwich bars.
- the so called "chips" (that are in fact potato wedges) that have invaded virtually all our restaurants. Lets get things straight - a chipped or french fried potato is thin, crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.
- the fact that Dublin does not have an abbatoir
- the fact that we have virtually no BYOB (bring your own bottle) restaurants
- the fact that we have no street food culture
- the fact that we have virtually no gastro pubs
- our lack of a traiteur culture
That will do for now... more anon...
This blog will focus on finding good things to eat and drink in Dublin City (and anywhere else we find good food). Obviously this includes restaurants but we will also focus on chippers and cheesemongers, bakeries and butchers, fish mongers and fruitcake sellers.
I am a food and wine writer based in Dublin and I will also be inviting some of my trusted foodie friends to post their thoughts here so you wont just get my opinion...
All primary posters to this blog will be food and wine professionals with their own prejudices and biases but also with well developed taste buds and ruthless honesty.
Here are some random thoughts to get us started...
Some Good things about eating and drinking in Dublin -
- Some of the best pubs in the world - Stags Head, Kehoes, Long Hall, Grave Diggers, Grogans, Mulligans, Palace, Ryans etc.
- Family run butchers in most parts of the city (use them or we will lose them)
- An ever increasing number of ethnic shops and restaurants in which to find good food as our immigrant population increases on a daily basis. Sadly there is little of interest in most of the eastern european shops.
- Bakeries seem to be on the way back (eg. Corner Bakery Terenure, Maison des Gourmets on Castlemarket, Soul Bakery Ongar village etc.)
- Affineurs - Sheridans Cheesemongers and Matthews Cheese Cellar - fantastic cheese for the masses
- Wine and Tapas Bars keep opening and some are quite good - e.g. the Port House
- Finding a decent restaurant is getting easier not harder
- Wild Blackberries grow everywhere in our public parks (get them quick before the Corpo does their annual hedge trim) - also watch out for mushrooms as shaggy ink caps often lurk under blackberry bushes (cf. bushy park)
- Good cheap fish can be found; if only in about 3 locations - howth pier, Kish fish and Moore Street (get there before 11am). Supervalu Churchtown and the coal pier in Dun Laoghaireare also worth a visit.
- Almost all of the world's great wines and beers are available in Dublin if you know where to look.
- Farmers markets keep opening up and amazingly some even have a few farmers at them.
Some Bad things -
- 90% of our pubs are awful places with music cranked loud to make you drink more, surly barstaff, even more surly door staff, and more emphasis on kahlua and baileys shots than on decent beer and wine.
- the price of things - Dublin really is a horrendously expensive place to eat and drink in.
- our over-dependence on supermarkets to the detriment of the small shopkeeper that actually cares about how things taste rather than how they look.
- the lack of proper planning in the city that has lead to the pushing up of rents that keeps driving small food shops out in favour of yet more pharmacies, overpriced boutiques and beauty salons (cf. malahide)
- the total chancers at many of our farmers markets like the guys selling olives at 24 euro a kilo at Ranelagh market
- our utterly braindead, officious, arrogant EHOs (environmental health officers) who only know the bad things about food and none of the good - e.g. they recently tried to shut down the meals on wheels service in Rathgar because they did not have 2 sinks.
- God help you if you work in town and expect to find a decent sandwich for under a fiver - come on Ben Dunne where are those quality cheap sandwich bars you promised us... please save us from the mediocrity that is Cafe Sol and O'Briens Sandwich bars.
- the so called "chips" (that are in fact potato wedges) that have invaded virtually all our restaurants. Lets get things straight - a chipped or french fried potato is thin, crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.
- the fact that Dublin does not have an abbatoir
- the fact that we have virtually no BYOB (bring your own bottle) restaurants
- the fact that we have no street food culture
- the fact that we have virtually no gastro pubs
- our lack of a traiteur culture
That will do for now... more anon...
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