Café des Irlandais

So Café des Irlandais is open a month or two now and things have settled down nicely. The original chef (Fred Souty) has moved on due to creative differences and duties have passed to Alan Hamilton who has worked in the likes of Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud and Guilbaud's baby bistro cousin Venu.

Sadly also departed is the meat jelly that Souty used to put in his salads - an intriguing mix of rich meat juices from the rotisserie mixed with agar agar (Japanese gelatin made from seaweed). I was ready for an aspic revival but I am probably in a fairly small minority.

Pictured above is my lunch which could have fed 2. The oyster has a small subtle spoon of lime jelly to add some zing and aromatics and cut through the briny juicy oyster. Of course we are all supposed to like our oysters au naturel and decry anything that takes away from the pure simple flavour, I beg to differ. Why not take the occasional oyster and deep fry it in bread crumbs and make a New Orleans Po'boy sandwich, why not add a dash of tabasco if you feel like it. I don't want to eat my steak with pepper sauce every time. The lime changed the oyster and added an ethereal hint of sweetness to it, a little limey accent if you will.

The Lyonnaise salad had good meaty bacon slices, a melting, barely cooked poached egg and crisp, lightly dressed salad leaves. The bread was airy and light and the glass of Grand Metaire Bordeaux Blanc (6.50) was crisp, lemony and fragrant.

My trainee chef companion (son's babysitter) almost managed to eat her oyster but couldn't quite manage it. She is young yet and has plenty of time to learn to love such things. She did however gobble her way through her 7 hour braised lamb and most of her creamy mash, enormous roast potato and various veg.

This is comfort food. We felt the need for just a little more comfort so we ordered a pear tart to share with an espresso and hot chocolate. Sweet moist pear, crumbly pastry, rich creamy inside.

fine espresso and creamy hot chocolate left us more than comforted, we felt cosseted.

Spelt Olive Bread

Spelt has been the new flour for a few years now. I do like its nutty texture and the aromatic bread it creates but I still think it benefits from a little added something.

I actually adapted this from the recipe on the back of the Dove Spelt packet.

Spelt Olive Bread
300g Wholegrain Spelt Flour
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp dried yeast (or 2 of fresh)
1 tsp brown sugar
175 ml warm water (hand hot)
3tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
70-100g of pitted olives (kalamata for preference)

Add the warm water to the yeast and allow to ferment. Mix the flour with the salt and sugar in a large bowl. Once the yeast is frothing add to the flour and quickly mix with a spoon. Once it has come together but is still loose add the olive oil. Knead for 4-5 minutes until you have a silky texture. Cover and leave in a warm place for an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Add the olives to the dough and knead again for a further 3-4 minutes or so until the olives are distributed through the bread. Rub a loaf tin with olive oil. Shape the dough and add to the tin. Cover and allow to rise for a further 25-30 minutes. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 35 minutes. Remove and tap the bottom to check for a hollow sound. Allow to cool out of the tin on a wire rack to give the crust a chance to crisp.

One Good Thing The Boom Brought Us...

firstly the usual apologies about my absence from this blog. usual excuses apply. I simply cannot listen to the radio these days as we endlessly discuss the mess we are in and how long it will take to extricate ourselves.

I passed the Gasometer hotel/apartment block yesterday in Ringsend and it still looks great but as it remains empty and will probably be empty for the next 20 years or so, it is hard not to see it as a folly - a beautiful but useless monument to our over-reaching ambition.

a few years ago in 2007 Ireland was the richest country in the world according to one of the standard measures. Someone in Paris heard this and decided that Dublin deserved a Ladurée shop of its very own along with Tokyo, London and Paris. They would never have been crazy enough to open the shop could they have seen into the future, so this is the one thing the boom did for us - it brought us macaroons.

This may seem trivial but only to those that have not placed a whole rose petal macaroon in their mouth, closed their eyes and let it melt gently down their throat. The Mimosa one can taste of pure energy - champagne bubbles mixed with orange tangy deliciousness and an overall warm feeling moves gently through your bones. i could go on about the deep hued and fragrant violet and blackcurrant or the pure distilled essence of pistaccio (also pictured above) but you get the idea.

They cost just €1.60 each - about all we will have left out of our pay packets after the budget but I can think of no more pleasurable way to spend your money. Buy them regularly for your own pleasure and so they stay in this fair town for a while at least...

so fuck the bankers but give a silent prayer for the gift of Ladurée.