FOODFILE:The Bretzel Bakery in Dublin's Portobello may no longer be Kosher (certification ceased in the mid-1990s), but it's still affectionately known as "the Jewish bakery", and is now owned by William Despard, who took over the business 11 years ago.
Despard, whose eight-year-old son Oscar is pictured above with some of his dad’s handiwork, has come up with a great idea to make catering for parties a bit less stressful. He is baking large, ready-to-go tray bakes – slabs of carrot cake, lemon zest and curd cake, toffee apple cake, or chocolate brownies (€20), that serve 16 generous portions.
They have to be ordered one day in advance, by telephoning 01-4752725. “At the moment we are also developing a new pizza slice using our sourdough recipe for the base and combining it with Janet’s Country Fayre tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella. We hope to aim this at the kids’ birthday party and play-date market,” he says. From today, the smell of hot-cross buns being baked will waft out of the Lennox Street shop every morning until Easter, even on Sundays. See bretzel.ie.
Books of the week
If you've never read the work of MFK Fisher, often referred to as the American Elizabeth David, explored life in an 18th-century kitchen with Hannah Glasse, whose most famous recipe begins: "First catch your hare" , or felt the heat of the sun cross your page as Claudia Roden waxes lyrical about Middle Eastern food, you're in for a treat. Penguin has raided its archives and inspired its design team to produce a collection of 20 food books from voices as diverse as Brillat-Savarin ( Pleasures of the Table), to Isabella Beeton ( The Campaign for Domestic Happiness). Elizabeth David, Alexis Soyer, Eliza Acton, Alice Waters, Alice B Toklas . . . they're all there, too, in this unmissable collection that is as stylish as it is readable. The Great Foodseries of paperbacks cost £6.99/€8 each and went on sale this week in bookshops and online from amazon.co.uk.
Kid on the menu
Lamb is the traditional meat for Easter, but you can try something a bit more unusual at the three Ely restaurants in Dublin this weekend when Burren kid goat goes on the menus. Hugh Robson, father of proprietor Erik Robson, supplies the restaurants with beef and pork raised on his organic farm in the Burren, and he has found a small goats’ cheese producer nearby to supply kid meat for the restaurant. At Ely bar and brasserie and Ely winebar, chef Ryan Stringer (pictured) will be serving seasonal cassoulet with sausages made with goat offal and leg, lardons of goat belly, braised shoulder, and saddle with peppers and pearl onions (€22.95). At Ely gastropub the meat will be served boned, rolled and roasted as a lunch special (€14.95). These dishes will only be available at weekends up to and including Easter. See elywinebar.com. mcdigby@irishtimes.com
WATERFORD FESTIVAL OF FOOD
If you’re in the scenic town of Dungarvan next weekend, you might bump into London restaurateurs Mark Hix and Richard Corrigan, who will be in town for the festival. There’s an action-packed schedule of events over the three days (April 15th-17th).
See waterfordfestivaloffood.com
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