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Stephen_K

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Everything posted by Stephen_K

  1. Hmmmm please bare in mind that these are only a " garlic sauce of wonders" when you've consumed between 15 and 20 pints of Guinness beforehand.... Supermacs in Ireland is strictly to be eaten when completely bladdered!!!!!
  2. Couldn't agree more Mr S.... Only thing worth watching..... However as much as I like Ms Winkleman, even her charms cannot persuade me to continue watching this awfull trash.... Pandering to the great unwashed this time around I'm afraid..
  3. Had a fantastic meal in Arbutus last Friday. There was three of us for dinner, so got to taste a good selection of dishes. I had hare shoulders to start, which was a hugely successful dish, intense rich gamey flavors, absolutely delicious, followed by lamb "hot pot" with sweet breads. Wonderful depth of flavour with the hot pot, and the sweet breads lent an interesting textural quality to the dish, really good. My partner Mary went for the duck hearts to start which were very nicely cooked, however I felt the black pudding that accompanied overpowered the delicate hearts. Rabbit to follow with was a pan seared saddle, served with a shoulder "cottage pie" was stunning. Our dining guest (Marys sister Teresa) had the soup (sorry wasn't taking notes can't remember exactly what it was, some sort of potato I think) was fine, served with a perfectly poached egg, and roast cod, with boneless chicken wings, beautiful dish... Desert was the cheese selection which was fine, and an enormous tarte tatin shared between two, (however which could have fed six)... while it was superb, the scale of it was ridiculous and I felt we should have been forewarned by our waiter. Exceptional cooking and exciting use of unusal ingredients led to a hugely enjoyable evening, the only quibble being the service... It's not bad, just not as attentive as you come to expect from Michelin starred restaurant.
  4. Hello there, I was wondering if anyone has any information or recomendations for eating out in Barcelona on Christmas Day..... Looking for very good to Michelin Star restaurants within easy walking distance of La Rambla. Excuse my ignorance but do restaurants open on Christmas Day in Spain?? Any advice/recommendations greatly appreciated.... Cheers, Stephen
  5. I think you're referring to the rather erroneously titled "Vegetable Roll", which is a mixture of beef sausage meat (brisket), vegetables (onions, carrots and leeks) and about 15 kilos of salt and white pepper. ← Very strange. I've never seen or heard of such a thing. No loss, by the sound of things. It did cross my mind that if you're doing an Irish breakfast and a fan of James Joyce, kidneys have got to feature... ETA: Something just struck me -- you may not be aware that in Celtic Tiger Ireland, where nobody has time for a sit-down breakfast any more, the Jumbo Breakfast Roll is now ubiquitous in filling stations throughout the land. I'm almost loathe to post this as it makes me vaguely embarrassed to be Irish, but this might give a good indication of what a "real" breakfast is like over here: ← Good god the embarrassment, I am no stranger to the guilty pleasure that is a breakfast roll.... This thread also reminded me of the odd (but very tasty) habit that my grandmother had of serving fried banana with a FB... Actually kinda works... has a sweet and sour thing going on. (I'm prepared for the flaming I'm going to get)
  6. My version of a proper Irish breakfast is: Sausage Bacon (rashers) Lambs liver Black and white pudding (all from Kellys butchers, Newport, Co Mayo) Fried Tomato Mushrooms Eggs fried runny Piece of Achill boxty (potato cake made with raw potato) Endless cups of tea, copy of The Irish Times and nothing to do for the rest of the day!!!
  7. Hello there, Tried a search here but came up blank, does anybody have a suggestion/recommendation for a reasonable/good restaurant in Cork City.... Any help gratefully accepted!
  8. I wonder if it's for the Wii, what with all the weird games they are producing (have you seen the ads for the surgery game, fun for all the family as you remove someone's spleen). A game where you are a 3 star chef and you have to run the plate could be pretty cool....... I can see it now a pan on the screen with some foie gently sauteing, and the Wii controller is the handle......It could work!!!
  9. What, you mean there is a hotel restaurant in Dublin that is overpriced and poor quality.....Surely not Why am I absolutely not suprised to read that the food on offer in the new Shelbourne is not good. Call me a pessimist but this is what I expect from this city...... BTW I thought it was a brilliant review Corinna in any tense
  10. Hi Corrina, I don't normally read that rag of a Sunday paper but I happened to come in to posession of said article, and it was probably the poorest written review I have read in a long time. O'Sullivan had made her mind up long before she went to Mint that she doesn't like Mr McGrath, and let her predjudiced view of him influence her review of his cooking. My visit to Mint was definitely the best, and most exciting food I have eaten in this city, the service was outstanding throughout and Mr McGraths quick word with myself and my partner was greatly apprieciated. It really is a shame that some critics don't seem to "get" Mint, however I certainly wouldn't let O'Sullivans review influence me, and I for one can not wait for a return visit.
  11. A starter of black pudding and a fried egg on a hash brown?! Surely this is breakfast?? Ramsey has to be taking the proverbial, serving this up in a restaurant and trying to pass it off as good cooking, I'd get better in my local caff..........Escalope of veal is not exactly pushing culinary boundries either.......
  12. I believe Pimms to be quite simply one of the finest drinks known to man. I don't go in for the all the palaver with with all the fruit and herbs. Simply sliced lemon, lemonade or ginger ale, some ice and sit back on a balmy summers day and enjoy. Wonderfully refreshing drink. Some of my fondest memories involve summer days spent quaffing copious amouts of Pimms No. 1 Cup with close friends.
  13. Whats up Baller ROTFLMAO Brilliant thread Mr. S sorry I've got to it pretty late. I am a very jealous man...
  14. My favorite use of frozen peas, sweat off some shallotts in a pan, when translucent add some chopped pancetta or good bacon, and fry off. Add a couple of glasses of white wine and cook out, add carton of single cream and reduce. When reduced stir in 2 teaspoons (more or less to taste) of horseradish sauce (I use a store bought jar). Throw in a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and simmer for a few minutes until the peas a cooked. A knob of butter to give a nice sheen to the sauce and serve on some white fish (I normally have it with some nice pan fried fillets of cod). Very tasty.
  15. So last Friday found my partner Mary and I in the wonderful company of Simon and Hazel and assorted others in Alexis, eagerly awaiting the promise of some very good food as indicated by the reviews above and verbal endorsements by "the gastronomes" . Let me say all that is said about this restaurant is thoroughly deserved. Alexis is producing wonderful dishes with top class ingredients, and is getting very busy without letting the resulting increase in foot flow affect its quality, it seems. Not an easy task for a new business. The dishes I sampled on the night were the pigeon tartlet, which contained probably the tastiest pigeon I have eaten in a long time, it was cooked rare and had a wonderful gamey taste that is all too frequently missing from all types of wildfowl these days. The pastry was good and light. Mary had the scallops as mentioned above, and they are as good as indicated. Perfectly cooked scallops served on a wonderful pea risotto (personally I like a risotto to be very well cooked and this is what you get here). For mains we both ended up having the duck. Perfectly cooked, medium rare, with a very moorish pepper sauce that really complimented the gamey duck. Deserts were an almond and pear tart, and a rhubarb crumble, both excellent. There are a few restaurants serving better food than Alexis at the moment but none at the price that Alexis is charging. On the night in question we certainly did not stint on the wine, including a bottle of the excellent 2001 Chateau Courts Les Muts saussignac, the bill came to 58.00 euro a head. I honestly can't think of anywhere you can eat this well for this money. Long may it last.
  16. Hello all, I’ve been lurking here for a while now and have been berated by my good friend (and “Irelands leading gastronome” LOL), Simon to contribute, so as my first post I thought I’d start easy with a quick review of The Port House, South William St., Dublin 2. This is an excellent little tapas bar hidden away behind Grafton Street and both times I’ve ventured in I’ve been able to get a table without booking. As both times I’ve been there have been for lunch, I have not sampled their wine list, however it did look quite reasonable to me. I did however sample a bottle of Spanish Red Ale (sorry I don’t remember the name) that was superb, very robust and worked beautifully with the food on offer. The menu is quite concise and offers a selection of Pinchos, Frio and Caliente. On both occasions I shunned the Pinchos and Frio and stuck to the selection of hot tapas. The Patatas Bravas, I thought were tasty but maybe the bravas sauce was not quite as intense of flavour as I was expecting. The Croquetas con Jambon were delicious, lovely flavors of ham and cheese and just the right consistency. The Chanqettes or deep fried whitebait was as real success, I just loved their crisp texture and saltiness. The Gambas al Pil Pil was very good however it consisted of two very large prawns in the shell, not what I was expecting, but very good indeed. The Tortilla Espanola, was a lovely dish, something that can easily be a disaster, but the flavor and texture of the potato in the omelette was spot on. Probably my favorite dish was the Calamares Rabas, delicious strips of squid, light as a feather batter and cooked to tender perfection. How often in Ireland do you get chewy, shoe leather squid? Not here! All told the bill for seven tapas, two bottles of mineral water and two excellent espresso’s came to around 40 euro. Excellent value in my opinion and I highly recommend it. I have reservations for Mint of Ranelagh on Saturday 10th of March, after hearing about Simon and Hazel’s experience with Corinna, I’m really looking forward to it and will report all.
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