All posts tagged: the mcbride guide

Remembering elBulli

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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 …

Recipe – Rack of lamb with sweet potatoes by Sunil Ghai

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This delicious lamb recipe by Ananda’s Sunil Ghai is a lovely Friday supper or an extra special Sunday lunch. The warm sweetness of the spices brings a delicious dimension to the dish. Happy weekend cooking! Rack of lamb with sweet potatoes and chickpeas by Sunil Ghai Serves 4 Preparation time: 20 Cooking time: 30 minutes    Ingredients 4 lamb racks 2 tbsp mustard oil 1 tsp red chilli powder 1 tsp coriander powder ½ tsp garam masala Salt to taste 150g chickpeas, soaked in water overnight 1 bay leaf 1 black cardamom 1 clove 1 tsp salt 100ml vegetable or mustard oil 6 cloves 2 bay leaves 3 black cardamoms 200g onions, sliced 15g ginger-garlic paste 1tsp coriander powder 1tsp red chilli powder 1 tsp cumin powder 1 sp salt 200g tomatoes, chopped 2tbsp coriander leaves, chopped ½ tsp garam masala (Bengali) 500g sweet potatoes 50g tbsp honey Salt   Method Soak chickpeas in water and salt overnight. Drain the water and start with fresh water and spices and boil the chickpeas until cooked. Set …

Cocktails and bar bites in Dublin city centre

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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 …

Recipe – Chocolate cardamom mousse by Shane Smith

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Chocolate mousse is one of my favourite desserts. I love this is clever and elegant take on it by Fallon and Byrne’s Head Pastry Chef, Shane Smith. The addition of cardamom, a spice indigenous to southern India and Sri Lanka, gives this delicious dessert a gentle, sweetly spiced dimension. Shane is from Lavey in Co. Cavan and has run many pastry sections around the country including the The G Hotel in Galway and Knockranny House Hotel in Westport. You’ll find more of his recipes on thetaste.ie, The Anglo Celt newspaper and on his Facebook page. I have been a huge fan of Shane since he brightened up my birthday with a gorgeous little cake when we worked together a few years ago. He has the kind of innate talent where I can imagine him doing Croquembouche with his eyes closed. He is a bright star in his profession, and I look forward to seeing him shine. Milk chocolate cardamom mousse with fresh raspberries Makes 6 Ingredients 200ml single cream 4 cardamom pods (crushed) 200g good quality …

Review – The Cavern, Baggot Street

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One of the surest ways to my heart is a good cheese board. I don’t tend to order them in restaurants as they are often a menu’s lonely, back of the fridge afterthought, dragged out and given a quick shave in the hope the diner doesn’t notice. We do. It’s like the guy who douses himself with Lynx instead of showering. We just know.  So I was very excited about seeing what the Cavern, the new baby offshoot of Baggot Street Wines, offered on their cheese board. I’m a big fan of the wine shop, their staff are lovely, unpretentious and helpful and when they introduced a very good selection of Sheridan’s cheeses ‘to go’ by their cash register, I hoped it would evolve into a wine cellar. Enter The Cavern. I went on a Thursday evening with a very good friend who kindly ordered champagne to toast a recent happy event. It was delicious with star-like tiny bubbles. The staff members were attentive and warm, answering any questions we had and topping up drinks at just …