Food File: From Pollan’s TV miniseries to Cooke’s menu for Brown Thomas

Time for a 'Cooked' binge

It’s the weekend, the perfect time for a miniseries binge, and Cooked, the new food documentary series from Michael Pollan, launched on Netflix yesterday.

The four-parter has fire, water, air and earth as its themes and sees Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defence of Food, working with the film-maker Alex Gibney, whose credits include Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. Fermentation, bread-making, the bad stuff in processed foods, and cooking over fire are among the topics explored in locations from Aboriginal tribe lands in Australia to Peru and Morocco.

Each episode also features Pollan cooking in his kitchen in Berkeley, California, from where he continues to spread the message that “cooking our own meals is the single best thing we can do to take charge of our health and wellbeing”.

Have your tea and eat it

In tomorrow's magazine, you’ll find some excellent tips for creating a stylish afternoon tea at home, with the help of recipes from pastry chef Will Torrent. But if you’d still prefer to have it served to you, here are two interesting options.

Hayfield Manor in Cork has introduced a White-Glove Afternoon Tea Experience, where you can have your savouries, scones, cakes and pastries served up in style by an immaculately outfitted attendant while a pianist plays in the background (€32, available seven days a week; hayfieldmanor.ie).

There’s a children’s tea too (€14.50), with a menu designed to appeal to VICs (Very Important Children).

Afternoon tea at Wineport Lodge in Athlone, Co Westmeath, is served in the unusual surroundings of the Lakeshore Lounge, a rustic hideaway at the end of a walkway, surrounded by Lough Ree (from €25, seven days a week; wineport.ie).

New Cooke at Brown Thomas

Chef Johnny Cooke has taken over from restaurateur Patrick Guilbaud at the helm of the The Restaurant and Brown’s Bar and Cafe, the catering outlets in Brown Thomas, Dublin. At The Restaurant, Cooke will draw on his 30 years’ experience and will offer what he describes as “simple food that is bursting with flavour”.

Moroccan spiced quail, black stone bass en papillotte, and three varieties of sharing platters will feature on the menu. Meanwhile, Brown’s, on the lower ground floor, will serve coffee from Dublin roastery Two Spots and offer breakfast and lunch options.