EPICURIAN ADVENTURES:Do you remember where Tom Doorley's restaurant reviews took him over the past 12 months, and what he ate?
After almost 50 restaurant reviews over the past 12 months, it's time to lick my wounds (only two bouts of tummy trouble and no physical violence) and look back on 2006.
In so doing, I've selected some highlights and the odd lowlight and assembled them in the form of a quiz. Regular readers of the Eating Out column, provided they have good memories, should have no difficulty in answering most of the questions. But there's at least one question which would tax even me. And I was there.
1Irish charcuterie and dry fino sherry, especially in half-bottles, go very well together. But Irish restaurants don't seem to have twigged it. What exception to the rule was reviewed here?
2What restaurant served a meal that cost a great deal less than a Hermès Birkin bag but caused uproar on the Irish Times letters page?
3When grilled on the question of my favourite restaurants I tend to mention a temple of gastronomy in town that has garnered much praise. Who is the chef and what is it called?
4Superb fish pie and eccentric architectural salvage make a curious combination. Where would you find these two bedfellows?
5 What bit of Co Wicklow has established a tasty satellite for the yummy mummies of Co Kildare?
6 The gentrification of Drumcondra has been completed with the arrival of a creperie. What establishment confirms that the suburb has gone ABC1?
7I didn't really want to go down the road of messing with classics, but had to try "iced bread and butter pudding parfait with raison (sic) syrup and sweet melba toast". In which numbered restaurant did I wish I hadn't?
8The chef at Dublin's most unpronounceably named restaurant will shortly take over at Locks. Who is he?
9Where did I have a chocolate fondue with, among other things, popcorn, in the odour of sanctity?
10No buts. A certain restaurant chain is not going to open in the Shelbourne hotel. Which one?
• We have dinner for two, to the value of ¤200, at Town Bar & Grill, 21 Kildare Street, Dublin 2, to give the sender of the first correct solution, drawn from a hat. Send your answers to The Irish Times Christmas Food Quiz, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, to arrive by Thursday, January 4th. The answers and the winners' names will appear in the January 27th issue