All posts tagged: dublin

My favourite Spring Recipe – Ross Lewis, Chapter One restaurant

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Fancy attempting a Michelin chef’s recipe? Try this Spring dish from the wonderfully talented, and one of my favourite chefs, Ross Lewis. There are elements you can take on, or leave out, depending on how much time you have as there is a lot involved. It takes some love and attention, but it’s worth it. Steamed Sea bass with salt baked organic celeriac,rope mussels in a Craigie’s cider dressing and tarragon essence with roasted Jerusalem artichoke. N.B. read the recipe before beginning and begin with your tarragon gel the day before, if using For the mussels 1 kilo mussels, scrubbed and beards removed Heat 200ml of water in a pan large enough to hold the mussels. When the water comes to the boil, put in the cleaned mussels and close the lid. Cook over a medium high heat, shaking occasionally, for 3-4 minutes, until the shells have opened. Remove from the heat and drain in a colander, reserving the juices. When cool, remove from the shells. For the Apple Vinaigrette 500ml Craigie’s cider reduced to …

Restaurant Review: The Chef’s Table at The Pig’s Ear, Dublin 2.

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Stephen Mc Allister is a talented boy. I’ve known him since the days when I was making his tea as a runner on ‘The Restaurant’ series for RTE, back in 2007. He was, like the other kitchen team chefs Gary O’Hanlon and Louise Lennox, essential to magic of the show and making the guest chef feel relaxed. So I made good tea. Fast forward, and while I was lucky enough to get to produce and direct the show, he went on to open the wonderful ‘The Pig’s Ear’ restaurant on Nassau Street. It is my brother’s favourite restaurant and a place where I have had many a treasured evening. Stephen is very good at keeping his supreme talents hidden. He is modest and any compliment is met with a ‘Ah go ‘way,’ but his food won’t let him away with that humble nonsense. He’s recently opened the very special ‘Chef’s Table’ at the top of the restaurant. It seats eight people in a gorgeous room overlooking Trinity College. I have had the good fortune to …

Farewell to Alexis.

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When I remember meals, precious meals worth remembering, I see the delicious glow of the candle on the person across from me. Or the way my father can tell a joke and laugh so hard he uses the posh linen tablecloth to dab his eyes and we are all mortified and delighted at the same time. Or how the waiter would look after the mini people at the table especially well. It’s when you feel loved,and at home. That’s when a restaurant succeeds. I’m saddened to hear that the wonderful Dublin restaurant Alexis, in Dun Laoghaire, closed its doors. This was a place you felt loved. I first went there last summer when my housemate decided to let me know he was moving out. He was French. He had taste. Alexis was the kind of place you sat down with delicious expectation on what could possibly be presented. Eyes widened and hearts swooned on reading of the menu. It was always a conundrum. The wines always soothing and beautiful, and the food then sublime. On …

Restaurant: Coppinger Row

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We are not equipped for sunshine dining in Dublin. It rains, we are quite aware, thanks. Neither are we all that equipped for in-between time dining. We’re all clamouring for a table at 1pm or 8.30pm. Does the food taste better at these times? Try getting a proper menu after lunch and before dinner and options are limited. Coppinger Row gets a big fat kiss for doing both of these. In fact, if I wanted a table at 3pm in the sunshine with a pretty decent menu, I’d go here. By coincidence, I had recently been here for both those reasons. A sunny Friday evening called for an outdoor table, and then a late lunch meeting meant all rows led to Coppinger. In the evening, you will inevitably wait to get a table. They are always humming. I’ve never been in company that’s booked ahead, so always end up waiting for a table. It’s actually probably an excuse to try one of their outrageous ‘Flo & Basy’ cocktails with Agave and Elderflower. These should be …

Restaurant Crush: Brother Hubbard, Capel Street, Dublin.

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The best time to have lunch is never lunchtime. I adore the wonderful, bumbled, disarray of having meals the wrong way round, or at the punctuation points of day when the world, and everyone else, are busy. Everything tastes sweeter when you are having something at the cheekiest times of day. Like the first sip of a beer or bubbles on holidays, far too early, far too irresistible. Or leftover cake at breakfast, far too sweet, far too delicious. Lunch in Brother Hubbard’s on Dublin’s Capel Street was in the heavenly part of late afternoon. And it was supposed to be just a coffee. The long room has cleverly got what I call its lipstick on properly with waist level displays of cakes, salads, scones and delicious treats upon entering. Even though it was a very late lunch, the long and narrow room was full, but we managed to get a table outside in their sweet and sunny little back terrace. A talented friend, Kevin Powell, had told me about this little café, so it …