UNTIL recently Irish foodies returning home after a visit to London would observe a vital ritual nipping off the Underground at Covent Garden, plunging down Neal Street for blue bagfuls of goodies, then rejoining the Piccadilly Line for the trek to Heathrow. That behavioural pattern has come to a halt now that Carluccio's good things are available here, and everybody is cheering.
"We knew the food movement had begun to take off in Ireland but we didn't realise how many customers there would be far quality Italian food," says Priscilla Carluccto, Antonio's wife and business partner. In the coming months, both the number of Irish outlets and the range of items stocked are likely to increase. Look out for the many superb varieties of artisan pasta - "from the tangle of wide, brown, ribbons which are Bavette aid Funghi Porcini to the sweet, little, dented rounds from Puglia known as Orecchiette. There are all kinds of sauces to be used either with pasta or on bruschetta: Arrabbiata, Wild Fennel, Spicy Bacon and Tomato and more, as well as the Bagnn Cauda, the delicious Piedmontese vegetable dip. The third mainstay is Carluccio's olive oil, from enough regions to constitute a sort of gourmet trail through Italy.
"All the Carluccio products are lovely," says Kim Condon, who stocks them in Rathgar. "The quality is superb and the packaging so attractive that a lot of people buy them to give as presents, as well as to use themselves." Prices are middling to high, as is to be expected, but you don't necessarily have to spend a Milanese banker's fortune. Kim points to beautiful bunches of Wild Dried Oregano at £2.95.