All posts filed under: The best place for…….

Italian restaurants in Dublin

Published by

I love Italian food precisely because it is that, Italian. It is beautiful, delicious, simple, coveted and nurtured, and spoken of with the same passionate pride as parents of a newborn baby. It is love. From the water that quenched thirsty hot tomatoes that grew to turn into passata to the cows that grazed in the fields of Lombardy to make milk for Taleggio cheese or the pigs that were reared to make us prosciutto to the olives grown for silky oils to make salads glisten. The food is grown, prepared and eaten with love and, importantly, with respect. I revel in seeing Italians and their unabashed excitement for their food. They seem to have an inherent, magical understanding for the absolute joy that can be had from the table, the things that are laid upon it, and those they love around it. Here are some of my favourite spots for Italian food in Dublin. Mamma Mia President Michael D. Higgins adores Mamma Mia, and rightly so. I discovered the joys of this restaurant while …

Remembering elBulli

Published by

Sunday October 18th  of 2009, table for 2 people at 7.30 p.m. under the name: CIARAN HAYDEN It is almost six years since I had the best dining experience of my life in elBulli restaurant. My friend Ciarán had won the gastronomic lottery and managed to get one of the 8,000 table bookings they offered a year. elBulli was a three Michelin star restaurant with head chef Ferran Adria at the helm until it closed a few years ago. The Godfather of molecular gastronomy’s cuisine was so sought after that the restaurant, on the Catalonian Costa Brava, received over two million requests a year for just 8,000 tables. Naturally, Ciarán and I thought we hadn’t a hope. He rang me a week before Christmas in 2008 to tell me about the table and I’m probably still not over it. Although it was over five years ago, I can still taste every dish. It was one of the most spectacular nights of my life.  Adrià closed the restaurant in 2011 because it was losing so much money. I was …

Cocktails and bar bites in Dublin city centre

Published by

Dublin and cocktails are in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. It’s all ‘no you hang up, no you hang up’ and cocktail lovers are making the most of every last Whiskey soured matcha mojito grenadine gimlet golden-flaked minute of it. It’s not that long ago when the sexiest cocktail you could get (read: afford) was a mix of long life cranberry juice, a thimble of turpentine flavour vodka and a splatter of nasty orange juice, stirred and sold as the most exotic thing we’d ever tasted. But those were our Singapore sling salad days. Now it’s all fresh fruit, ice bombs, posh herbs and spices, homemade syrups and Ferran Adria style mixology taking over the best cocktail bars. And Amen to that. I’m yet to be convinced about the trend of matching food with cocktails, but I’m all for delicious, good value bites to go along with them. Here are some spots in the city centre that are doing just that. The Meeting House The Zombie cocktail at The Meeting House is one of my favourite cocktails in Dublin …

Cake in Dublin city

Published by

Dublin can be heaven, with coffee at 11 and a stroll in Stephen’s Green. So sang politician David Norris to myself and two college pals back on a cold December evening in 2005. We interviewed him for a class project which was a TV news package about the proposed closure of Bewley’s Oriental Café on Grafton Street. While I doubt our final cut would have won any awards, I still have warm memories of the joy Norris had in speaking of the delights of going for coffee, tea and cake in this fine city, and I’ve always remembered ‘The Dublin Saunter’  ever since. Bewley’s thankfully stayed open, and there are now heavenly cake and coffee experiences sweetly sprinkled all over Dublin. The delicious squidge when the cream squirts out of a cream slice, the harmony of coffee with coffee cake, the lip smacking sweet and sour of lemon drizzle, the regal Victoria sponge with sweet Summer strawberries, rich and gooey chocolate fudge, sticky orange cake, wholesome and nostalgic ginger cake, moist carrot cake with creamy frosting…..I …

Brunch in Dublin

Published by

I adore brunch. It’s the lovely comma after breakfast and before lunch that usually means it’s the weekend. I certainly didn’t grow up with it, and only heard fabled tales from my Mom (she grew up in New Jersey before moving to Ireland) of such things as diners and eggs and breakfast dishes that weren’t a heart clasping fry, and that were served after 12pm. We’ve now cottoned on to the sheer joy of eggs benedict of a Saturday afternoon and brunch is now an important part of the tapestry of restaurant menus in this fine city. Dublin has got some wonderful options for brunch, here are some of my favourites: Whitefriar Grill They had me at ‘anti fear potion’ on their drinks menu. The Whitefriar Grill  is a perfect Sunday brunch spot with a menu that has all the egg dishes you can dream of plus a few little gems like Jack McCarthy’s black pudding waffle with whipped foie gras and plum chutney if you feel like indulging. They have great cocktails, the staff are friendly and …