Dining faoi thalamh

SMALL PRINT:YOU CAN keep your al fresco dining or pop-up restaurants. Right now a new eating experience is bringing dining further underground. Faoi Thalamh is an initiative from chef Gary Bell, operating once monthly and bringing a fine dining experience to roving locations.

Faoi Thalamh ( faoithalamh.com) takes the concept of a pop-up restaurant and makes it mobile, changing locations every time it operates and building a social network for underground dining enthusiasts to connect to. It has been operating under the radar since late 2011 and the ethos is steeped in exclusivity, but it's exclusivity of a new, online kind.

Having a stand-alone micro social network where people can find out about events is a brave step in an age of connectivity where Facebook or Twitter alone act as the forum for most event advertising. Information relating to the events outside of the social network is purposefully obtuse, with the website declaring, “our events will be hosted on the grapevine so hope you hear about it before you heard about it.”

The last food event took place in Cassidy’s bar on Westmoreland Street in Dublin, and the latest one is currently being planned with a spring-themed menu. “Past events have been in art galleries, empty lofts and vacant nightclubs,” the latest post on the news section of the Faoi Thalamh social network says, asking those with access to an open space in Dublin suitable for an event to get in touch.

Bell, who worked at Thorntons restaurant for five years creates feasts “ranging from Georgian era opulence to log land peasant food.”