All posts tagged: italian

Falling For Food : Paolo Tullio

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If you know food writers in Ireland, you will know one of its finest, Paolo Tullio. He is best known for his restaurant review column in ‘The Irish Independent,’ but I have come to know him through RTE’s ‘The Restaurant,’ television series, where he is a resident critic. He has, kindly, been a mentor to me over the years, and someone I am now lucky to call a friend. Don’t try talking to him about Italian food though, it’ll make you want to move there in the morning. Here, he shares some of his food memories……………… Falling for Food The first food memory I have is……… In my mother’s kitchen, helping her sort through rice, picking out the black bits. Funny to think that that’s not necessary anymore. The first thing I eat in the morning is…….. A bowl of muesli. I’ve been doing this for nearly a week. Prior to this new habit, breakfast was a cup of coffee. The first food I remember hating………….. Was carrots. I remember my father saying ‘eat them, …

Restaurant Crush : Terra Madre, Dublin 1

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It was the taste of that first tomato that did it. We hadn’t seen the sun set and I was already smitten with Italy. On my first holiday there, on the glorious Amalfi coast last year, my friend and I were being baked in an uncomfortably hot Sorrento. In a tiny, dusty restaurant, we cooled off and ordered Insalata Caprese. That was the first time I actually tasted sun in a tomato, and what the word ripe meant. The mozzarella was young and pillowy and fantastic. A soft white on the lip smacking red of tomato and cracks of black pepper, glugs of olive oil and sweetly picked basil. The owner allowed us to stay and we sat happily for the afternoon and ordered another Caprese, and then pasta and local wine. We solved the problems of the world that day. I kept wondering why the owner wasn’t rushing us and soon realised why. He’s Italian. When I first went to Terra Madre, on Bachelor’s Walk, I was reminded of all of those things I …