Corinna Dunne

I prefer to use butter as well as buttermilk. It's not just about the texture, it's about the flavour. Don't think about the fat, butter is calories well spent. Some salt and sugar also.

I found Valette in the mountain village of Gordon very good.

Great post, thanks Simon. I plan to get there very soon, so I'm very interested in your views. Did you notice if there was a wine pairing option or many wines by the glass? As you mention, it does seem like the chef is a bit exuberent with his profusion of ideas. And a lot of work for such a tiny kitchen. Apart from the foams and avant garde approach, would you compare it to elBulli, Alinea, The Fat Duck or even SnackMar? Delighted to hear that you will be taking your camera next time. Cool!

Thanks so much... I'm heading that way soon.

I look forward to more details when you've got a chance Rob. Doc, thanks for the link. On a BBC programme some time back, Adria went to, or mentioned a restaurant in Barcelona that sounds like the one in this article. I scribbled the name down at the time, but of course, lost it. Does anyone know the name of it?

It's out in November. It's the same format as last year, so magazine style and available in newsagents, as opposed to the guide book style of the Dubliner, Bridgestone and Georgina Campbell which sell through book stores. Rather than a top 100, it is pretty all encompassing and covers a range of places. They are not just my opinions, but those of the team at Food & Wine.

For dinner, if you’re talking about quality, the best three are: - Thornton’s, see this thread - Guilbaud’s - And either L’Ecrivain (thread here) or Chapter One (thread here) You can pay a lot of money for an excellent steak at Shanahan’s if that is your thing, or you could pay quite a bit less at The Town Bar & Grill, which does a lot more than steak and does it extremely well. But the best price to quality ratio, in my opinion, is to be found at Chapter One (the charcuterie trolley is a must). Great service too. L’Gueuleton is good for solid French bistro style cooking. It is a heck of a lot more casual than any of the Michelin places, so bear this in mind. It doesn’t take bookings, so you have to put your name down at 6pm when it opens. For lunch, again the first two choices are easy from a price/quality ratio point of view because of their lunch menus (although L’Ecrivain and Chapter One are obvious options too): - Thornton’s - Guilbaud’s My third choice would be Caviston’s, a small unfussy fish restaurant in Glasthule, in South County Dublin by the sea. Very fresh fish at affordable prices, and a nice afternoon out (although they do 3 sittings, so go for the 3pm one if you want to be leisurely, the first one if you want a choice of what’s on). If you want to stay in the city, I would suggest L’Gueuleton, as it’s easier to get a table for lunch than it is for dinner (Carlingford oysters are in season and on the menu now). .Venu (despite the room… and the music) is good value for money. My experience there was good (great bread), but opinions are divided on both the food and the service. As Caitriona mentioned, everyone hates the lighting, and I wouldn’t fancy Jimmy Choo’s on the steps. The Mermaid also does a good mid-Atlantic lunch menu. For something even simpler, La Maison des Gourmets is a little French treat; the café is upstairs over the deli/patisserie. Gruel is just about as casual as it gets, but the food is great and it’s really cheap. And of course there are some interesting little Chinese places in the Moore St/Parnell St area. Really, it depends on your taste and budget. There’s plenty more advice on the Eating in Ireland thread. I’d better get back to work… I’m in the middle of editing the Food & Wine Eat Out guide for 2007!

Caitriona, that sounds like fun. Let us know where you end up. I agree that the lunch menus in Guilbaud’s and Thornton’s are brilliant value. A La Carte is big money though, so needs to be top-notch. I prefer Thornton’s for the food and Guilbaud’s for the room, (although Venu, the brasserie child of Guilbaud offers stiff competition for most soulless room in town). And yep, they are in no way comparable to Bang, which is a fashionable spot with some good cooking, but nothing outstanding.

El Raco de Can Fabes has a cheaper option, Espai Coch. The dishes are cooked in the same kitchen, but a bit simpler and using less expensive ingredients. There are some very positive posts on it on the Forum. It sounds like a bargain. I didn't get there this year, but second Doc's recommendation. On our elBulli trip we included Snack Mar (great fun and I love the large screen), Can Roca, Rafas and Masana, a restaurant in Girona recommended by vserna (thanks) which we really enjoyed. It's Catalan food with a bit of a twist. The pigs trotters were sublime. His "up-and-coming" recommendation sounds good too.

Thanks so much... Unfortunately I can't link to the piece as the Irish Times requires a subscription for most stories. I particularly enjoyed Eddie Lin's live octupus tentacle eating in Deep End Dining and mentioned Gastroville's elBulli v Can Roca post as a terrifying example of culinary constructive criticism. Naturally Pim got a mention. edited to add: A bit off topic, but I should mention that Suman’s very flattering enthusiasm may be partly influenced by our recent meeting for a piece I did on Indian food. I had been impressed by her knowledge on eGullet, but she is unbelievable in person. I had an incredible lesson in Indian cooking! Now we sound like a pair of sycophants!

We were there earlier in the summer, so here are a few more places for your list: - Shaws at New Harbour (a ferry for Monhegan goes out from this harbour too). - Muscongus Bay Lobster Pound at Round Pond (my favourite place) - Lobster Pound at Pemaquid Point. - There's good sushi in Portland (see Portland thread and johnnyd's recommendations) - Another vote for Primo. We shared the pizza for starters and it was fantastic, the best part of the meal. The bread was wonderful too. The mains weren't quite as good as I expected. I had scallops, my husband had veal. Not enough scallops, and just a bit too plain... I like food where the wonderful ingredients are allowed to sing through, but I expect a little attidional spark, which I didn't get. Veal the same. I'm only saying this to be even handed in my criticism, because I do really rate Primo and will be going back on our next visit. Dessert (which was a trio of something) was cute. Our table was for 7.30, so we did have to wait a short while. We didn't mind. The owner is so gracious and our service was spot on. There were too very loud "food warriors" from LA sitting at the table beside us, dropping actors' and directors' names at a loud sickening rate. The waiting staff were so nice about their arrogance and even brought them in to see the wood burning oven. Of course, they may have chucked them in it when no one was looking!

Thanks for the link ravelda. This is good news. It looks like Ireland is in the frame. Does anyone know any more about this?

... I just love the blue plaster! GR is great TV.

They had no bleeps on the first series as far as I can remember, and GR was every bit as passionate and energetic. The last thing I want is for things to be dumbed down to accommodate one little 6 year old. That's not my point. I know there are cooking programmes targeted at children, but the F Word was the one that grabbed her, I think because she recognised GR and HFW from the cookbooks in the kitchen.

Of course chefs swear. I've no problem with real life. And I love the inside a restaurant angle. My view about wishing that it was kid friendly is a personal one. It just seemed that the show lost nothing by running before the watershood in the first series (which is basically kid zone, after 9pm swearing is allowed).

Hmmm… his swearing is just old hat now. Perhaps he’s angling for a cameo role as a coq au vin sucker in Deadwood. I just think that the series worked much better when it went out before the watershed. And I take back what I said about him not being the right person to get people back in the kitchen. He’s well able to do it, if he would just leave the angry, swearing caricature behind. Yelling at ordinary people trying to cook in his professional kitchen is missing the point completely. The first series had all the ingredients for family viewing; a magazine style with something for everyone, and my 6 year old loved it. If they are going to exclude younger viewers by going out after the watershed, they are missing an opportunity and I question whether this chimes with GR's "back in the kitchen" mission statement. When I was a kid, I loved to sit up and watch the few cooking programmes that were on with my mother. It was a special moment shared and it made me feel grown-up. My 6 year old loved Gordon, his kids, Hugh and the animals. But this time round, I couldn’t let her watch them. A minority audience yes… but a very important one I would have thought. And that really annoyed me. It may not sound like it, but I’m a big GR fan. There are few people who can be equally great as a chef, restaurateur and TV personality, and he’s got passion, which makes him compelling viewing. Just not for a 6 year old this time round.

That is impressive! Thanks for the great post Salty.

Somehow this series lacked the energy of the first one. And I'm sick of GR swearing. The kitchen brigade thing was very contrived. You could tell immediately what group and individuals were going to incur his wrath and who the winners would be. Invariably, the teams that did well, got to serve crowd pleasing dishes, so of course they were going to score higher. That said, I thought the doctors were great. And listening to the diners describe their dishes was excrutiating. I'm sure that much of what they said was absolutely true, but I personally have heard enough about flavours blending, bending, being underwhelmed, overwhelmed, massacred or otherwise. It all sounded so self conscious. No wonder people are terrified of going into their kitchens. They'd need a degree in food criticism before they even picked up a knife. It just feels like it's all got too serious and competitive. If the objective was to get people back in their kitchens, I think he failed. GR is entertainment and from a cooking perspective, he appeals to a mid skills market. If you want to get people into the kitchen (because for many it's a case of the first time, and not "back in"), you need someone with more empathy. Someone like Hugh FW. And anyway, TV is not going to achieve this on its own. Cooking should be a compulsary subject in every school. I thought the last episode went out with a bit of a whimper.

Hmmm.... I thought he over did the grief bit. After all, he didn't kill it himself like poor Jamie did in Italy. I liked Janet Street Porter's piece on veal.

Thanks Adam. An interesting piece. I think that this is more the direction we should be looking at. The impact of too much farming really worries me.

Thanks so much for the report Rogelio. Was the caviar with the goose barnacles real caviar or an El Bulli interpretation?

I recorded most of the shows, so I’m just catching up. Last week, when they featured crayfish, they also did a segment on farmed cod. Janice Street Porter strongly advocated that we all spend more to support sustainable fish ie farmed. But isn't there an issue with farmed fish? I understood that they actually consume considerably more fish than their own species in the wild, and the fish used to feed them are being stripped from the top layer of the ocean… so yet another ecological problem in the making? Am I wrong in this? Adam, you can possibly clarify. Giles Coren did his “pimp my snack” bit with a large Jaffa Cake, which was quite funny. But apparently it tasted awful!

I was surprised to hear that the dinner menu in Mint had gone up to €65, and even more surprised to learn that they now offer a tasting menu for €95. But more than that has changed. Oliver Dunne has left (now in Bon Appetit in Malahide), and Dylan McGrath (previously with Tom Aikens in London for 3 years) has taken over as Head Chef. A three course lunch (including coffee) for €31.50 sounds like a good deal, but the “earlybird” menu has been dropped, and there will be just one sitting for dinner. The word is that El Bulli style cuisine will figure significantly, so it will be interesting to see if this agrees with the deep legal pockets of the locals, who will be decamping to Italy or France for the month of August. The site is "under construction", so obviously being updated.

Did you click on each of the items? I just did and it worked ... ← It must be something to do with my computer. I just tried clicking on the articles again, and no joy. Just a strange "cluck" sound!

I don't know if there's an actual name for it but such photos illustrate what is called "depth of field [of focus]" where one part of the picture is in focus and another part is out of focus. Ansel Adams was extremely good at the complete opposite style where everything is in focus, from the moon in the sky to the grass in the foreground. It's not easily achieved and he was a master at it. ← Yes, this approach is generally referred to as a "shallow depth of field". Chiaroscuro refers more to contrast between light and dark; Caravaggio's paintings are a good example. I agree, I absolutely hate when text is reversed out of a dark background in white or any light colour. It is often used to break up the page, or highlight a particular section, but it is so much more difficult to read. David Ogilvy, a legend in the advertising world was totally against it for this reason.