old fashioned virtues abounded with pleasant efficient staff who managed to arrive just as you were running out of (tap) water to re-fill your glass. prices are fantastic for lunch - €19.95 for 3 large courses - 2 courses for €18.
First thing we were offered was bread - a choice of walnut, brown with seeds, apricot and curry, white, parmesan and raisen and hazelnut. All breads were warm and crusty with good aeration for the whites and proper nutty earthy brown with seeds. They offered bread when we sat and then returned to offer it with the starter so we sampled all six breads and the parmesan twice.
For our wine by the glass I ordered Languedoc Picpoul de Pinet for 6.50 which was light, crisp and fragrant - possibly a little light for the foie but perfect with the fish. C had a glass of Barbera d'Asti for 7.50 which was perfect with her ham and good enough with her fish.
For starter C ordered the ham hock terrine with mustard and tarragon mayonnaise which was very meaty and solid and wrapped in savoy cabbage. a good thick 12-15mm slice of very tasty terrine - not subtle but ham hock should never be subtle in my view - an added bonus was some lovely delicate girolles tasting of anise and of themselves. these are usually a chewy mushroom but he managed to get them delicate and almost melt in the mouth.
I ordered the Foie Gras parfait, pear and vanilla puree, brioche toast. 2 slices of perfect brioche, again a 12-15mm thick slice of parfait - half this size would have been more than generous. The parfait was perfectly smooth and light while also rich with lots of foie gras flavour. The pear puree and tiny cubes of pear were perfect - not too sweet but enough to counter the fat of the foie.
For main we both ordered fish - C had the hake, butter roasted spices, peking duck, puy lentils. the duck was little pieces of crispy duck dotted around the fish. Fish was still nice and flaky but with a perfectly crisp skin (which I ate most of) - wish I had a grill that good. the hake was light and the duck and sauce added asian touches but not in an intrusive way.
I ordered the Sea Bream, Black Bacon, Vermouth, Peas and Broad Beans. The bacon was very meaty and worked with the slight oiliness of the sea bream. The broad beans, peas and pea shoots worked well but perhaps the vermouth and fish stock sauce was a little heavy for the fish. still a very good dish however.
For dessert C had white chocolate mousse with blackberry doughnut - the white cohocolate mousse was light and tasted of good quality white chocolate and came with a perfect blackberry filled doughnut the size of a golf ball plus a blackberry sorbet with a blackcurrant sauce. C. never orders dessert and is fairly devoid of a sweet tooth but this was too tempting and she practically licked her plate.
I had a double espresso - lots of crema, properly made, with 6 truffles - all perfect. little white chocolate with pistaccio and dried fruit, coffee flavoured truffle, praline square, chocolate fondant truffle and a little shot glass of chocolate mousse.
We ordered one extra espresso for C, tipped 10 euro and got out for 67 euro. Best value lunch I have had since l'ecrivain used to have a 13.50 menu in around 1991!
Staff were smily, cleaned crumbs, folded napkins (when I went to the loo twice to write notes!), watched our water glasses, didnt try to sell us extra drinks, water or food, a very pleasant experience. Dining room was virtually full (just one empty table. Turlough O'Sullivan of IBEC was there with a colleague, Noel Whelan the political pundit and Ursula Halligan TV3's pol corr were having a casual lunch also - this was all I could recognise but some others there looked important too but no one was there for the pretension, simply for a top notch quality inexpensive lunch in a setting where you are well looked after.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Mandarin House, Parnell St, Dublin 1
Mandarin House, 179 Parnell Street, Dublin 1. 01-878 3146.
Three visits, all very good. Situated opposite the end of Moore Street right beside China House (still good but I prefer Mandarin).
white table cloths, patrons almost all chinese, relatively friendly but busy staff - busy but patient enough to explain as best they can what everything is.
Here is a list of dishes we ate when I went with a fellow food writer and another food adventurer friend:
cold:
husband and wife lung slices €8.50
Pickled four seasons €6 - with bean stick (what the waiter called it), cucumber, carrots and peanuts
hot:
Hot Spicy Pocket Wonder Two Ways
Razor Clamp (spicy garlic, fried chilli, black beans sauce) €13
Four Seasons Peas in Quick Wonder €10 (this is what I wrote down. I hope it is correct!)
Bean Curds in Home Made Style €7.50
Lamb Supreme Zian from North East China (zian is cumin) €10 -
Husband and Wife Lung Slices - according to the interweb this is usually a mixed offal plate nicely arranged in uniform slices - not sure what bit this was (not sure it was lung as there were no nodule bits) tasted a little like tender heart or tongue. finely balanced and a nice contrast in flavour to the salad and hot and spicy dishes.
Pickled Four Seasons was a salad with beansprouts, beans, carrot, cucumber all in thin slices and a sweet, savoury, vinegry sauce. very tasty and good for cooling contrast with the spicy elements.
Hot Spicy Pocket Wonder Two Style" - pork stomach and intestine slices in a szechuan sauce. sounds and looks a bit strange but tasted succulent, juicy and very fine - lots of szechuan and chilli pepper, fine light sweet and sour elements, light meaty sauce.
Razor clams (clamp was a mis-print) were piled very high and were also as tender as they should be with salty, hot sauce. Four seasons peas in Quick Wonder consisted of long green beans, chilli and shredded pork - aromatic and warming. Bean curds were chewy squares in a soy, rice vinegar, Chinesey sauce (you know the kind of thing). Lamb reeked of cumin in a very good way, filling the room and mouth with pungent aromatic meaty goodness.
On the other occasions I ate there I had tasty filling dan dan noodle soup - not complex but v. filling and loved by Grellan's friend jake who now pesters his parents to take him to chinese restaurants for noodle soup! Szechuan Prawns was a generous portion of crevettes in their shells cooked to just tender and full of juice with nice mouth numbing szechuan peppers and a light chilli sauce. Shredded pork dish was as you would expect - simple chinese sauce but properly done. even the chips (for the two boys) .were crispy and well cooked (from frozen).
Wine list is very basic so order tsing tao beer and lots of tea (tea blend changes weekly they told us)
Three visits, all very good. Situated opposite the end of Moore Street right beside China House (still good but I prefer Mandarin).
white table cloths, patrons almost all chinese, relatively friendly but busy staff - busy but patient enough to explain as best they can what everything is.
Here is a list of dishes we ate when I went with a fellow food writer and another food adventurer friend:
cold:
husband and wife lung slices €8.50
Pickled four seasons €6 - with bean stick (what the waiter called it), cucumber, carrots and peanuts
hot:
Hot Spicy Pocket Wonder Two Ways
Razor Clamp (spicy garlic, fried chilli, black beans sauce) €13
Four Seasons Peas in Quick Wonder €10 (this is what I wrote down. I hope it is correct!)
Bean Curds in Home Made Style €7.50
Lamb Supreme Zian from North East China (zian is cumin) €10 -
Husband and Wife Lung Slices - according to the interweb this is usually a mixed offal plate nicely arranged in uniform slices - not sure what bit this was (not sure it was lung as there were no nodule bits) tasted a little like tender heart or tongue. finely balanced and a nice contrast in flavour to the salad and hot and spicy dishes.
Pickled Four Seasons was a salad with beansprouts, beans, carrot, cucumber all in thin slices and a sweet, savoury, vinegry sauce. very tasty and good for cooling contrast with the spicy elements.
Hot Spicy Pocket Wonder Two Style" - pork stomach and intestine slices in a szechuan sauce. sounds and looks a bit strange but tasted succulent, juicy and very fine - lots of szechuan and chilli pepper, fine light sweet and sour elements, light meaty sauce.
Razor clams (clamp was a mis-print) were piled very high and were also as tender as they should be with salty, hot sauce. Four seasons peas in Quick Wonder consisted of long green beans, chilli and shredded pork - aromatic and warming. Bean curds were chewy squares in a soy, rice vinegar, Chinesey sauce (you know the kind of thing). Lamb reeked of cumin in a very good way, filling the room and mouth with pungent aromatic meaty goodness.
On the other occasions I ate there I had tasty filling dan dan noodle soup - not complex but v. filling and loved by Grellan's friend jake who now pesters his parents to take him to chinese restaurants for noodle soup! Szechuan Prawns was a generous portion of crevettes in their shells cooked to just tender and full of juice with nice mouth numbing szechuan peppers and a light chilli sauce. Shredded pork dish was as you would expect - simple chinese sauce but properly done. even the chips (for the two boys) .were crispy and well cooked (from frozen).
Wine list is very basic so order tsing tao beer and lots of tea (tea blend changes weekly they told us)
Harvey Nichols First Floor
Saturday Lunch in Harvey Nichols First Floor a couple of months back -
good buzzy atmosphere, families with adopted chinese babies for the mums, lacoste pullovers and thomas pink shirts for the dads, juicy couture for the girls and tommy hilfiger for the boys. but also a happy bunch of siblings clearly enjoying each others company - wish my family could go to lunch in such harmony.
Riletete of crab, gazpacho shot, tartar of avacado - good dish with all elements in harmony - tangy gazpacho, lemony avocado and soft crab for spreading. small dish but tasty.
cappuccino of butternut squash, pan fried scallop, curry alioi (sic). also good and tasty if a little meagre. possibly too much salty stock in the soup rather than the creamy sweetness I was hoping for.
HN Fish and Chips, pea puree and tartare sauce - chips (all 9 of them) were arranged in a criss cross fashion and (just barely) managed to be crisp. fairly certain these were cooked just once. Fish was fine - could have been better, crispier, bigger but could have been worse. strike that I enjoyed it, I have spent a lot of time on this dish at home so I always hope for perfection and not everyone is as obsessive as me.
Sirloin of Irish Angus beef, bourguignon garnish, fondant potato, red wine jus.- taste was good but I have had better beef. fondant potatoes were excellent. I got rather cross (in a seething way) when the waiter scoffed at my question - is this a sirloin steak or a roast of sirloin? (its not my fault they dont know how to write a menu). "A steak of course" was the response. I pointedly explained that the menu implied no such thing. Cue v. grumpy service for the first course, exacerbated by a very long delay in the arrival of our wine - we were half way through our first course. waiter did not like being reminded that we still had not received our wine (clearly he considered it no longer his problem as he had passed the order to the wine waiter). Me getting cross now. Then the maitre d' spots me (forget his name - bald head, very charming and good at his job). He recognises me from the launch of the restaurant and comes over to chat. he gets our wine in seconds and apologises profusely. me happier now. Grumpy waiter passes by and notices that I am known to his boss - cue overly friendly service for the remainder of the meal including little jokes - "can we order dessert?" - "NO! only joking of course you can!! - laughed?, I nearly did (apologies for cliched joke). I preferred him grumpy.
Dessert of raspberry cheesecake was fine. a bit lacking in flavour but I ate it all. cheese was in good condition but small portions. lots of those wheaty biscuits that overpower the flavour of the cheese.
So in conclusion this is a very good restaurant but I would like to tweak a few things including the size of the portions.
good buzzy atmosphere, families with adopted chinese babies for the mums, lacoste pullovers and thomas pink shirts for the dads, juicy couture for the girls and tommy hilfiger for the boys. but also a happy bunch of siblings clearly enjoying each others company - wish my family could go to lunch in such harmony.
Riletete of crab, gazpacho shot, tartar of avacado - good dish with all elements in harmony - tangy gazpacho, lemony avocado and soft crab for spreading. small dish but tasty.
cappuccino of butternut squash, pan fried scallop, curry alioi (sic). also good and tasty if a little meagre. possibly too much salty stock in the soup rather than the creamy sweetness I was hoping for.
HN Fish and Chips, pea puree and tartare sauce - chips (all 9 of them) were arranged in a criss cross fashion and (just barely) managed to be crisp. fairly certain these were cooked just once. Fish was fine - could have been better, crispier, bigger but could have been worse. strike that I enjoyed it, I have spent a lot of time on this dish at home so I always hope for perfection and not everyone is as obsessive as me.
Sirloin of Irish Angus beef, bourguignon garnish, fondant potato, red wine jus.- taste was good but I have had better beef. fondant potatoes were excellent. I got rather cross (in a seething way) when the waiter scoffed at my question - is this a sirloin steak or a roast of sirloin? (its not my fault they dont know how to write a menu). "A steak of course" was the response. I pointedly explained that the menu implied no such thing. Cue v. grumpy service for the first course, exacerbated by a very long delay in the arrival of our wine - we were half way through our first course. waiter did not like being reminded that we still had not received our wine (clearly he considered it no longer his problem as he had passed the order to the wine waiter). Me getting cross now. Then the maitre d' spots me (forget his name - bald head, very charming and good at his job). He recognises me from the launch of the restaurant and comes over to chat. he gets our wine in seconds and apologises profusely. me happier now. Grumpy waiter passes by and notices that I am known to his boss - cue overly friendly service for the remainder of the meal including little jokes - "can we order dessert?" - "NO! only joking of course you can!! - laughed?, I nearly did (apologies for cliched joke). I preferred him grumpy.
Dessert of raspberry cheesecake was fine. a bit lacking in flavour but I ate it all. cheese was in good condition but small portions. lots of those wheaty biscuits that overpower the flavour of the cheese.
So in conclusion this is a very good restaurant but I would like to tweak a few things including the size of the portions.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Classic Italian Wine Tasting
Notes from a recent wine tasting - one of the best I have ever been at...
We started with Ferrari Perle 2001 Methode Champenoise Italian sparkler from Trentino - traditionally considered Italy's best sparkling wine and it was a lovely creamy mouthful with yeasty characteristics - not quite krug but v. tasty nonetheless. Next up were two Fruili reds donated to us by Enrico Fantasia of Sheridans (interesting wine selection in Sheridans btw - check out the lovely wine bar and pub if you are in Galway). These wines are from a small family run winery -
Vignai da Duline Schioppettino - light, pinot like obscure Italian grape from the region. good flavours but a little shorter than we hoped.
Vignai da Duline Viburnum - earthier, largely merlot based wine. Soft and rich with subtle cherry tones.
Then the real deal began - Fontodi Reserva del Sorbo 2003 - from Eric's cellar but imported by Liberty so should be around. Ripe cherry, fine complex chianti - muscular lingering wine - sangiovese with balls.
To compare we had a well reputed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the original Brunelo di Montalcino from Biondi Santi 2001 (both from my cellar - gifts from our Italian Student last year). Biondi Santi more or less made the reputation of the region but their wines have been a little eclipsed by the stars promoted by Parker and Wine Spectator. nevertheless the estate is back on form by most accounts and this had a lovely chocolate and fruitcake nose with deep colour, ripe tannins and a solid dense fruit structure and above all elegance. a keeper.
Romeo Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Reserva 2001 - the basic one is 40 euro in Berry Bros so this presumably costs much more. this was the favourite of most of us with an open attractive nose of ripe fruit - cherries, strawberries and plums - lingering intense but open fruit flavours on the palate - very drinkable.
At this stage the Pizzas had been collected from Bellagio in Terenure - simple italian thin pizzas with lots of organic rocket and italian sausages on top. - beats cheese and crackers anyday!!
Last flight was Gaja Barbaresco 2003, and Moscarello Monprivado Barolo 1998 and Luciano Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba (sadly corked but good fruit still evident). The Moscarello was lighter in texture than the earlier wines (as we would expect) - in musical terms a vibrato - light but very intense and lingering. Velvet and steel. The Gaja was a revelation with a beautiful candy floss and violets nose, sweet ripe fruit on the attack but elegant delicate fruit and soft tannins on the middle palate and lingering lingering floral and fruit notes on the finish. We have had Gajas at the club before and they have been nice but I dont remember them being this nice. maybe it was the pizza and the fact that we were just 6 people with all this wine in front of us but it seemed at this point we were drinking some of the finest wines known to humanity!! Finally we finished with a bottle of Vin Santo from Agricola San Giovanni - from Eric's cellar - a gift from some close friend's family estate. this was about ten levels better than any vin santo I have tasted before with lovely delicate honey and apricot notes and lingering floral tones. delicious stuff.
anyway you should have been there....
We started with Ferrari Perle 2001 Methode Champenoise Italian sparkler from Trentino - traditionally considered Italy's best sparkling wine and it was a lovely creamy mouthful with yeasty characteristics - not quite krug but v. tasty nonetheless. Next up were two Fruili reds donated to us by Enrico Fantasia of Sheridans (interesting wine selection in Sheridans btw - check out the lovely wine bar and pub if you are in Galway). These wines are from a small family run winery -
Vignai da Duline Schioppettino - light, pinot like obscure Italian grape from the region. good flavours but a little shorter than we hoped.
Vignai da Duline Viburnum - earthier, largely merlot based wine. Soft and rich with subtle cherry tones.
Then the real deal began - Fontodi Reserva del Sorbo 2003 - from Eric's cellar but imported by Liberty so should be around. Ripe cherry, fine complex chianti - muscular lingering wine - sangiovese with balls.
To compare we had a well reputed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the original Brunelo di Montalcino from Biondi Santi 2001 (both from my cellar - gifts from our Italian Student last year). Biondi Santi more or less made the reputation of the region but their wines have been a little eclipsed by the stars promoted by Parker and Wine Spectator. nevertheless the estate is back on form by most accounts and this had a lovely chocolate and fruitcake nose with deep colour, ripe tannins and a solid dense fruit structure and above all elegance. a keeper.
Romeo Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Reserva 2001 - the basic one is 40 euro in Berry Bros so this presumably costs much more. this was the favourite of most of us with an open attractive nose of ripe fruit - cherries, strawberries and plums - lingering intense but open fruit flavours on the palate - very drinkable.
At this stage the Pizzas had been collected from Bellagio in Terenure - simple italian thin pizzas with lots of organic rocket and italian sausages on top. - beats cheese and crackers anyday!!
Last flight was Gaja Barbaresco 2003, and Moscarello Monprivado Barolo 1998 and Luciano Sandrone Nebbiolo d'Alba (sadly corked but good fruit still evident). The Moscarello was lighter in texture than the earlier wines (as we would expect) - in musical terms a vibrato - light but very intense and lingering. Velvet and steel. The Gaja was a revelation with a beautiful candy floss and violets nose, sweet ripe fruit on the attack but elegant delicate fruit and soft tannins on the middle palate and lingering lingering floral and fruit notes on the finish. We have had Gajas at the club before and they have been nice but I dont remember them being this nice. maybe it was the pizza and the fact that we were just 6 people with all this wine in front of us but it seemed at this point we were drinking some of the finest wines known to humanity!! Finally we finished with a bottle of Vin Santo from Agricola San Giovanni - from Eric's cellar - a gift from some close friend's family estate. this was about ten levels better than any vin santo I have tasted before with lovely delicate honey and apricot notes and lingering floral tones. delicious stuff.
anyway you should have been there....
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Elder Flower Cordial
keep meaning to put this recipe up given that the elder flowers are in bloom. I adapted it from my "aunt" (second cousin really) Beryl Jennings in County Cork. If you leave out the elder flowers you have her simple but excellent lemonade recipe.
3 pints of water
3 lemons (juice and rind)
3 pounds of sugar
2oz citric acid (order from your local chemist)
lots of elder flowers (the more the better)
heat the water in a big pot, add the sugar, next the lemon juice and rind, next the citric acid. while you wait for the sugar to melt and the water to come to a simmer remove as many stalks from the elder flowers as you can. the more stalks the more "stalky" the cordial will taste but it will still be pretty damn good. Once the water is close to a boil add all the elder flowers and turn off the heat. stir a few times and leave to cool - preferably overnight and even better for 48 hours. strain into bottles and store in a cool place. once you open a bottle it is best to keep it in the fridge.
Dilute as you would miwadi - particularly good with sparkling water. also add to crappy white wine for an interesting cocktail or add to rhubarb crumble and other seasonal desserts.
3 pints of water
3 lemons (juice and rind)
3 pounds of sugar
2oz citric acid (order from your local chemist)
lots of elder flowers (the more the better)
heat the water in a big pot, add the sugar, next the lemon juice and rind, next the citric acid. while you wait for the sugar to melt and the water to come to a simmer remove as many stalks from the elder flowers as you can. the more stalks the more "stalky" the cordial will taste but it will still be pretty damn good. Once the water is close to a boil add all the elder flowers and turn off the heat. stir a few times and leave to cool - preferably overnight and even better for 48 hours. strain into bottles and store in a cool place. once you open a bottle it is best to keep it in the fridge.
Dilute as you would miwadi - particularly good with sparkling water. also add to crappy white wine for an interesting cocktail or add to rhubarb crumble and other seasonal desserts.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Taste of Dublin Day 2
Day 2... first a word on the wine stalls. nothing that could be called exciting but you could while away an hour (and get pissed if you wanted) in the O'Briens Tent where you pay 10 euro to do a tour of about 20 of their suppliers. many of their winemakers are over so there are good conversations to be had - had a good chat with Mr. Ascheri about his fab hotel in Bra (where I stayed at the last slow food Salone). I like their nebbiola d'alba a lot and they are making a decent effort with their barolos at a fair price. their modern and v. cool hotel is above the winery and beside their agri tourismo restaurant so in theory you never have to leave. I digress. I confess that I havent done much of a survey of the wine stands as there are mostly commercial wines on show. there are a couple of no-name burgundy producer/negocients with stands and there are the usual promotional stands from wines of Bordeaux and wines of chile (and ourselves). berry bros have a couple of ok wines and Mitchells have some good producers but there are far too many crappy importers with big stands and no-name wines. Good beer is available from Premier beers (beside the wine australia stand) with a few trappists (chimay and la trappe) and others. Best to focus on the food.
so today i had a couple of Jaipur dishes (a fried chicken and a prawn dish) which were not earth shattering but suited the bottle of red chimay I blagged from premier beers on a swap for a couple of glasses of Lindemans sauvignon blanc.
Liked the lamb brochette from Venu a lot (v. similar to the dish served in the restaurant) - lamb was crispy on the outside and pink in the middle.
king scallop with black pudding and a pea foam (I think) from Bon Appetit was excellent. Black pudding and apple tart tatin on Lockes stand was far too sweet but I did eat it all up so I shouldnt complain too much.
Feta and spinach parcel from Silk Road Cafe was fine but no match for their falafal (see above).
Had some excellent murphys ice cream (from Dingle) and a good chat with the valrhona girls at the same stall - bad news is they are re-designing the Trinidad single estate Gran Couvo (my favourite chocolate) to bring it from the perfect 75g to 100g (presumably so they can charge more).
Scored some air dried connemara lamb from James McGeogh of Oughterard and some mossfield organic cheese from Ralph Haslam from Birr. both these products are amazing and should be sought out if you have never tried them. The air dried lamb is a world class product imo. Also the craft butchers today had excellent sausages and even better fresh blood pudding from Maguires of Ashbourne.
Should also say that the extra space really improves the event for the punters but there will be complaints from the stall holders as the extra space means less foot fall. Wouldn't like to be relying on selling enough to make a profit.
so today i had a couple of Jaipur dishes (a fried chicken and a prawn dish) which were not earth shattering but suited the bottle of red chimay I blagged from premier beers on a swap for a couple of glasses of Lindemans sauvignon blanc.
Liked the lamb brochette from Venu a lot (v. similar to the dish served in the restaurant) - lamb was crispy on the outside and pink in the middle.
king scallop with black pudding and a pea foam (I think) from Bon Appetit was excellent. Black pudding and apple tart tatin on Lockes stand was far too sweet but I did eat it all up so I shouldnt complain too much.
Feta and spinach parcel from Silk Road Cafe was fine but no match for their falafal (see above).
Had some excellent murphys ice cream (from Dingle) and a good chat with the valrhona girls at the same stall - bad news is they are re-designing the Trinidad single estate Gran Couvo (my favourite chocolate) to bring it from the perfect 75g to 100g (presumably so they can charge more).
Scored some air dried connemara lamb from James McGeogh of Oughterard and some mossfield organic cheese from Ralph Haslam from Birr. both these products are amazing and should be sought out if you have never tried them. The air dried lamb is a world class product imo. Also the craft butchers today had excellent sausages and even better fresh blood pudding from Maguires of Ashbourne.
Should also say that the extra space really improves the event for the punters but there will be complaints from the stall holders as the extra space means less foot fall. Wouldn't like to be relying on selling enough to make a profit.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Taste of Dublin 2008 first report
Taste of Dublin (see here) started today and it is bigger and mostly better than before. I was working at it today (Wine Australia stand) so here are some first impressions. No Thorntons this year but Chapter One will be there Sat. and Sun. and Bon Appetit are there all four days. Gordon Ramsey at Powerscourt makes his first appearance as do Lockes, Balzac, First Floor Harvey Nicks, Still at Dylan (hotel) and Alex (Conrad hotel).
This year the festival takes over the whole of the Iveagh Gardens giving lots of space and dispersing the crowds (unlike last year when everyone crowded into the small restaurant area leaving the other half empty). There seemed to be lots more wine and beer companies this year and the usual suspects at these events (boozeberries, hot irishman etc.).
So what can I recommend... Silk Road Cafe's Felafel in a wrap for six florins (1 florin = 1 euro), spicy tasty crispy felafal in a large wrap best taste of the day. Scampi at Venu is excellent, as is the slow cooked shoulder of lamb with beans at Bon Appetit. A little less successful was the Turkish Chicken at Silk Road Cafe - very lemony with rather dry rice and some lumps of tomato - not bad, just not as good as I thought it should be.
Disaster of the day has to be the 2 dishes I had at Gordon Ramsey at Powerscourt - foie gras yoghurt (just strange tasting) and awful scallop arancini (deep fried risotto balls) - dammned if I could find any trace of scallop other than perhaps a vague aroma. at least these last 2 were only 5 tokens each. Cellar Bar at the Merrion are back with their fish and chips and mushy peas (now an outrageous 8 florins but still a large queue given that they are quite tasty).
Weather was a little chilly today but there was a good atmosphere. Music is much improved from last year with wandering Classical quartets and Trios and good bands belting playing blues soul and Led Zeppelin covers.
Freebies to watch out for include bottles of tropicana, magnum ice creams, strawberries (from Superquinn I think), and one of my favourite tastes of the day - a large lump of roast duck with a generous amount of crispy skin from Silver Hill ducks. Also should mention the girls at barrys tea stand who gave me lots of peppermint tea. Avoid the starbucks coffee as usual (nasty nasty bitter and muddy - why cant they make decent cafetiere coffee - I learned to do this aged about 14??)
Caught some of Clodagh McKennas demo and she was charming and quite witty. She baked a whole gubbeen with rosemary and garlic (v. tasty) and rolled some aubergines around some St. Tola cheese. Gino D'Acampo (regular on ready steady cook apparantly) was also doing a demo and trying to charm the women with his italian accent (it sort of worked). food he cooked was so so.
Other points - Avoid the VIP tickets as apparantly all you get is a glass or two of champagne and a place to sit down away from all the restaurants and food outlets (why pay all that money to avoid the main reason for going there?).
This year the festival takes over the whole of the Iveagh Gardens giving lots of space and dispersing the crowds (unlike last year when everyone crowded into the small restaurant area leaving the other half empty). There seemed to be lots more wine and beer companies this year and the usual suspects at these events (boozeberries, hot irishman etc.).
So what can I recommend... Silk Road Cafe's Felafel in a wrap for six florins (1 florin = 1 euro), spicy tasty crispy felafal in a large wrap best taste of the day. Scampi at Venu is excellent, as is the slow cooked shoulder of lamb with beans at Bon Appetit. A little less successful was the Turkish Chicken at Silk Road Cafe - very lemony with rather dry rice and some lumps of tomato - not bad, just not as good as I thought it should be.
Disaster of the day has to be the 2 dishes I had at Gordon Ramsey at Powerscourt - foie gras yoghurt (just strange tasting) and awful scallop arancini (deep fried risotto balls) - dammned if I could find any trace of scallop other than perhaps a vague aroma. at least these last 2 were only 5 tokens each. Cellar Bar at the Merrion are back with their fish and chips and mushy peas (now an outrageous 8 florins but still a large queue given that they are quite tasty).
Weather was a little chilly today but there was a good atmosphere. Music is much improved from last year with wandering Classical quartets and Trios and good bands belting playing blues soul and Led Zeppelin covers.
Freebies to watch out for include bottles of tropicana, magnum ice creams, strawberries (from Superquinn I think), and one of my favourite tastes of the day - a large lump of roast duck with a generous amount of crispy skin from Silver Hill ducks. Also should mention the girls at barrys tea stand who gave me lots of peppermint tea. Avoid the starbucks coffee as usual (nasty nasty bitter and muddy - why cant they make decent cafetiere coffee - I learned to do this aged about 14??)
Caught some of Clodagh McKennas demo and she was charming and quite witty. She baked a whole gubbeen with rosemary and garlic (v. tasty) and rolled some aubergines around some St. Tola cheese. Gino D'Acampo (regular on ready steady cook apparantly) was also doing a demo and trying to charm the women with his italian accent (it sort of worked). food he cooked was so so.
Other points - Avoid the VIP tickets as apparantly all you get is a glass or two of champagne and a place to sit down away from all the restaurants and food outlets (why pay all that money to avoid the main reason for going there?).
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