Galway comes to Dublin: The pop-up phenomenon continues, with the arrival a one-night-only restaurant in Dublin's Hibernian Club on St Stephen's Green.
It will be run by chef Martin O’Donnell of the Twelve Hotel in Barna, Co Galway, who won last November’s Bord Bia Just Ask commendation. For the night of Tuesday, April 12th, a 20-seat pop-up will showcase the local ingredients that O’Donnell uses in his cooking, such as McGeough’s air-dried lamb, Galway Bay scallops – diver-caught by the hotel’s general manager, Fergus O’Halloran – served with Barna sea vegetables and wild rabbit. The dinner is priced at ¤95 including wine pairings, and places can be booked by calling 091-597000.
Say cheese!
Bord Bia has launched a “Guide to Irish Farmhouse Cheeses”, with an accompanying wall-chart. There are details of 127 cheeses made by 47 producers in the publication, with tasting notes and suggested drinks pairings. There are also comprehensive background stories on the people who make the cheese and photographs of every variety produced. It’s a terrific production, and you can get a free copy by e-mailing Bord Bia’s Small Business team at vantage@bordbia.ie. Pictured right is Carlow, a raw cows’ milk cheese, made by Elizabeth Bradley.
Chocolate class for kids
Kate McLoughlin, pastry chef at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, will have her hands full on Saturday, April 16th when she hosts a chocolate workshop for children (between five and 12 years of age) at the Oyster Bar in the hotel’s Saddle Room restaurant. The junior chocolatiers will learn how to write their name in chocolate, decorate an Easter egg, and make chocolate-dipped strawberries. The masterclass will run from 2pm to 4.30pm.
To win one of six free child places, send an e-mail with the words Golden Ticket in the subject field and containing your name, your child’s name, and your address and telephone number to rhi.dubbr.sales@renaissancehotels.com, by noon next Friday, April 8th.
€2,000 recipe prize
Do you use the nutritional supplement Udo’s Oil? If you can devise a way of incorporating the oil into a healthy and tasty recipe, you could win a €2,000 cash prize, have your recipe featured on the menu of Dublin’s Merrion Hotel, and be included in a book to be published next year. Udo Erasmus, creator of the oil, will be assisted by Ed Cooney, executive chef at the Merrion, and food writer and nutritionist Susan Jane Murray (pictured left), in choosing the winning recipe, which must be submitted before May 31st. You can enter online at udoschoice.ie or on an entry form which can be picked up at health food shops and chemists.
Book of the week
If the recent blast of sunshine has made you think longingly of summer holidays and eating warm-weather food in the open air, this exploration of the food cooked in the best home kitchens in Greece will send you straight to the ticket office. But while you may have to wait a while before heading for the airport, you can delve straight into the lemon- and oregano-scented world of Tessa Kiros in this beautifully produced book that takes her back to her Greek-Cypriot roots.
If you thought Greek food was a bit, well, limited, this will change your mind. There are chapters on traditional food, fasting food, Easter food, shared food, bakers’ food, soups and salads, sweet food, ready-cooked food (not what you’d think – these are things that take a while to prepare or need long, careful cooking and for those reasons are usually prepared in advance), and the intriguingly named there-and-then food – mostly quick-fried fish dishes.
Food from Many Greek Kitchens, by Tessa Kiros (Murdoch, £25/€29)
