Food File

All in good Taste

Superquinn is celebrating its 50th birthday by sponsoring the fifth Taste of Dublin food festival in Dublin's Iveagh Gardens next Thursday to Sunday, and around 30,000 people are expected to attend the party. Ross Lewis of Chapter One will be staging regular cookery demos in the Superquinn pavilion.

French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, who now runs a cookery school in his Hertfordshire farmhouse, has been signed up for Thursday’s launch, and will also do a demo in the Philadelphia Chef’s Theatre at 7pm that evening. Other chefs who will be strutting their stuff on the stage at various times over the four days include Gino D’Acampo, Kevin Thornton, Kevin Dundon, Darina and Rachel Allen, Neven Maguire, Clodagh McKenna, Paul Flynn and Conrad Gallagher. For specific times see tastefestivals.ie.

Participating restaurants, which will be selling a selection of dishes representative of their menu, include Balzac, Bon Appétit, Chapter One, Eatery 120, First Floor at Harvey Nichols, Jaipur, Pichet, Roly’s, The Cellar at the Merrion, the Saddle Room at the Shelbourne, Salon Des Saveurs, Town Bar Grill, Venu and Wilde at the Westbury.

Nick Munier and Stephen Gibson from Dublin bistro Pichet burst on the scene at Taste last year, even before their restaurant opened, and this year they’re back. If you haven’t had the chance to taste their signature crispy hen’s egg, you can do so at Taste, where they will be serving it with black pudding, green pea vinaigrette and mustard aioli. The Cellar at the Merrion hotel has been serving up exemplary fish and chips with minty mushy peas in cute paper cornets at all of the Taste festivals, and it has a rival this year in the shape of Brambles, which will serve the same dish. Bon Appétit’s scallop, Clonakilty black pudding and green pea foam is another regular on the Taste menu, as is the steak frites with Béarnaise from the Saddle Room at the Shelbourne. There will be interest in Conrad Gallagher’s offerings from Salon Des Saveurs, which will include goats’ cheese kataifi cake with Basque stew of peppers, shaved fennel and saffron aioli. Eatery 120’s glazed rarebreed pork belly with hand-dived king scallop, roast sweetcorn puree and Madeira jus sounds like it will also draw a queue with high expectations.

Tickets for Taste of Dublin are €15-€60, excluding booking fee. Tel: 0818-300030 or see tasteticketing.com. mcdigby@irishtimes.com

Barbecue kings

Delicious smells from the Ely wine bar burger stand drifted around a sunny Taste of Dublin last year and attracted snaking queues of hungry hordes. Michelin-starred chef Derry Clarke will be in competition for the most appetising aroma this year at the Iveagh Gardens event when he stages barbecue master classes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Clarke will be joining forces with craft butcher Michael Bermingham of MK Meats to share their expert knowledge on what cuts of meat best suit cooking over coals, how to prepare them, and how to cook them. There will be one masterclass at each afternoon and evening session.

Bring the family 

Catherine Fulvio enlisted the help of her children Charlotte and Rowan to prepare for her demonstrations at Taste of Dublin next week. Catherine's Italian Kitchen, in association with Miele, will explore some of the family favourites from her RTÉ TV show, including butternut squash ravioli and stromboli, an Italian bread stuffed with mozzarella and Parma ham. To be in with a chance of winning one of five pairs of tickets to Taste, email your name, address and telephone number to eva.weber@miele.ie. The first five emails received will win tickets for the Friday afternoon session, 1pm to 4pm.

Hamleys’ Family

Day takes place on Sunday afternoon. The toy retailer will be transforming an area into a children’s wonderland, with face painting, magicians and teddybears’ picnic