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"Taste of Dublin" Festival


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  • 2 months later...

Pre-promotion for this event has been hotting up in the print media. Saturday’s Irish Independent ran a series of signature dish booklets (featuring Chapter One etc), and this month, The Dubliner magazine's “food Issue” tackles some of the less palatable aspects of our culinary revolution ie ehem… let’s not be fooled, there are pockets of greatness, but there are frightening drifts of culinary wilderness; fueled by restaurants tied up so tightly in intricate legislation that they take the easy way out and serve primarily pre-prepared food; and of course, our changing lifestyles and demographics which have meant that there's a lot less home cooking and family meals going on. Some good frank pieces by Tom Doorley and Hugo Arnold; and Ireland’s top 20 food heroes from Ernie Whalley. There’s also a Richard Corrigan interview, and the low down on the “Taste of Dublin” event.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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The Taste of Dublin food fair was on this weekend. I went on Friday, a gloriously sunny day; and the venue, Dublin Castle, worked really well.

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Anthony Worrall Thompson did a cooking demo, which was more entertaining than it was informative.

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He was very relaxed, and actually quite funny, as he talked about his “PR man” Gordon Ramsay, and how he prefers to be called squashed Benny (from Abba) rather than GR’s “squashed Bee Gee” moniker. He cooked 3 seafood dishes, all with a Nam Pla Asian twist, and seemed at a complete loss when looking for his mise en place, which was generally in front of him. “What would I know?” he joked,” I’m just a chef.” He had a good banter with the Home Ec assistant, and it was all very light hearted. He asked us to please not mention the burnt oxtail on the Queen’s menu, and proceeded to burn the rice grains which he was toasting on a pan, poured them into the grinder (saying that the HO wouldn’t allow sampling, so it was of little consequence), at which point the grinder gave up its ghost with a protesting puff of smoke. He had a quick Q & A session, was asked to sing happy birthday to a very attractive woman, he obliged and wrapped up. So… it was definitely “Chef’s Theatre”.

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Kevin Dundon from Dunbrody House in Wexford was also doing demos, but they were the previous day and later in the evening.

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I asked him how it went, whether he had trouble finding his ingredients like AWT… he laughed, said the Home Ecs were great and he always checked through his stuff himself. Wise man. And a good chef too by all accounts. My brother has been to his place many times, and it certainly puts Dublin to shame when it comes to good quality value for money.

Food shots coming up....

Edited by Corinna Dunne (log)
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Most of the mid – top end restaurants in Dublin had set up shop, Guilbaud’s, Thornton’s and Shanahan’s being the notable exceptions (although Patrick Guilbaud and Kevin Thornton gave demos. Also, notably Richard Corrigan and Darina Allen were in the demo line-up).

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Some lovely food at L'Ecrivain; the linguine with natural smoked haddock in a curry sauce was the best dish I had on the day. The breaded quail’s egg was lovely and soft, and the yolk poured out when I cut into it. Quite adventurous for catering on a large scale.

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The seared, peppered tuna loin was also good.

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Chapter One's shoulder of lamb with beans and chorizo was delicious. The chorizo was subtle, and tasted more like chipotle, which worked very well.

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And Chapter One's gateau dessert with organic strawberries was lovely too, although I thought the syrup with the strawberries was a bit sweet. I know… stop whinging.

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The crab spring roll from Bang was spot on. Crunchy and tasty.

And the latest brave soul to attempt to conquer the Irish palate, Gary Rhodes, showed an impressive ability to cope with a gaggle of very enthusiastic women. For this alone, he has gone up in my estimation. I had found his TV persona a bit sickly sweet… but he seems to be a genuinely nice guy.

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I seems that chefs really are the new rock stars! The Rhodes D7 stand was one of the busiest; there was a mutton with cabbage dish, which I skipped, as I had just had lamb, and it was too late by the time I got back for the (apparently) very good bread and butter pudding.

Just down from his stand was the Unicorn, probably more famous for its atmosphere and its gregarious manager Georgio, than its food.

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He was holding court in all his freshly tanned splendour, just back from a trip to Marbella. He was exhausted, he told me, after what amounted to a 20 hour day on Thursday. By all accounts, it had been quite cold on Thursday night, so the sun was a big bonus on Friday.

La Stampa was there too, minus Jean Cristophe Novelli.

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… and the sea bass with fennel was surprisingly good, if a teeny bit overcooked (forgivable under the circumstances).

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King prawns in a mild curry sauce from Jaipur were tasty too

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And we were a bit late to the Roly’s stand for dessert, so the chocolate pudding was nice, but a little past its best.

A “Wine Academy” ran at intervals in the Coach House.

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We caught a session on New World wines, so nothing particularly new to taste, but it was interesting and well run. The tasting glasses were from Waterford Crystal, so there was plenty of swirling, smelling and tasting.

So, overall, it was a great "Taste of Dublin", everyone seemed to be smiling, and it was well worth the ticket price.

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I agree with Corinna's sentiments above about the show which was well organised and a lot of fun with generally high standards of food. I was there as a journo on Thursday and working the other days at the Australian wine stand (handing out samples and extolling the virtues of less familiar Aussie wines (to avg. punter) such as Riesling and Verdelho and Shiraz Viognier blends etc. Surprising for Ireland there was much less boozing than there usually is at these events and I did not see anyone slumped in a chair from over-indulgence - unlike at many a wine fair; including trade-only fairs! People were genuinely enjoying the food it seemed to me and I spoke to hundreds of people. Only sour note was some wan handing out "ban foie gras" leaflets - she ambushed me at the wine stand and refused to accept that battery farmed chickens were less of a problem. deeply regret not reporting her to security and having her thrown out.

L'Ecrivain had excellent food but I am very cross that I didnt get a qualis egg - though it still tasted great with wonderful smoked haddock from Sally Barnes (one of our best salmon smokers). I tried Rhodes mutton with cabbage and it was very bland and not suited to the event imo. the dishes that I felt worked best had a strong emphasis on flavour so I thought Jaipur,s (our best indian restaurant) was great and the belly of pork mentioned above. You only have a small dish to serve so it should zing with flavour. Hence I also really liked the Merrion Hotel Cellar Rest. for serving perfect fish and chips with decent batter and good mushy peas (not marrowfat ones but mushed frozen peas - I know I should prefer the marrowfats but I just dont) and for having a huge basket of Piemonte summer truffles which they grated liberally on their risotto (ok the risotto could have been better but the truffle made it worthwhile). Best of all was the fact that all three dishes were just 5 tokens each - most other stands started at 7 tokens.

Saw Corrigan's demo and he was his usual ebullient self, praising wild herbs, wild crayfish, bone marrow etc etc.. he cooked an Irish chicken (which he has lambasted in the recent past) and this was clearly an attempt to make peace with the chicken producers here. It seemed clear to me he did not enjoy using the irish chicken but he sucked it up for the sake of mending bridges - probably wise given that he is due to open here shortly but a little disappointing also. Women rushed to the stage as soon as his presentation was over which was quite sweet I thought. On the radio on Friday morning he said he thought the food was better at the dublin event than at London (singling out L'Ecrivain) - Worrell whatsit was on with him and he said it was easier here because the numbers were smaller... At the demo Corrigan was asked about Worrell Thompson's comment in the paper that Irish food was "improving" and he said something like "but sure this is his first time here - what does he know!" and in relation to the queen's birthday he said of awt something like "sure he burnt the feckin thing, of course he didnt win!". all very entertaining.

it will be back next year for sure as they pretty much sold out and I suspect those that did not participate this year will be fighting to get in...

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  • 11 months later...

I went to the Taste of Dublin yesterday afternoon… it was more like a taste of Irish weather! And by all accounts, Thursday night had been even worse with “Bang” nearly being washed out completely. So no photographs this year.

But it was incredible fun. After days of searing sunshine, the unfairness of this ignorant outburst of weather had everyone buying into the siege mentality, and the atmosphere was brilliant. Kevin Thornton was in top form, chatting good naturedly to a woman about the “chips” incident (really, they should just have had a recorded message at the counter on this: For Kevin’s views on chips and noisy diners, please press here) and he had some interesting dishes on offer. His scallops, seared and served with a truffle sauce (a sauce so deep and savoury that he really should have omitted the 2,4 dithiapentane) was the one that had everyone talking (at least three strangers recommended it to me in passing at other stands). Given the cost of scallops, it certainly gets the award for most generous dish at €7 or €8. His savoury 99 ice cream cone looked cute (featured on the Taste coverage on Wed night’s news), was obviously easy enough to serve but was a bit whistles and bells and not that exciting IMO. A light creamy goat’s cheese mixture was piped into a standard cone on top of sun-dried tomatoes (which I think had some interesting crunchy bits), the parmesan stick (nice too) was the 99 bit. The cone let it down as it was nearly as soft as the day. Mini versions with homemade savoury wafers would be very good, but for €6 or €7 I shouldn’t complain.

Chapter One had the same lamb main course as last year, which is a lovely dish, but I expected something different, so that was a bit disappointing and Bang had their wonderful coriander spiked crab cakes. Gary Rhodes was all smiles at the Rhodes D7 stand, Poulots had some interesting work intensive dishes and still from the dylan hotel (oh yes, it’s all lowercase) had a presence too (actually, they’ve recently launched a 7-8pm pre-theatre menu for €39.99 which sounds interesting) and the heady aromas from Jaipur wafted through the damp air. The Port House had a selection of reasonably priced tapas (€2 and €3, mostly pinxos on bread) and their aubergine and goat’s cheese fritter was a winner, particularly on a cold wet day.

Derry Clarke was cooking only in the corporate tent, so there was no L’Ecrivain stand which was a pity as he had some great dishes last year. Also obvious by their absence were Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud and Mint. Neven Maguire of MacNean Restaurant was busy giving a demo in the chef’s theatre charming everyone around him in his disarmingly warm way (yes, I’m a big fan, he’s such a pet) and Novelli (obviously not a bit bothered about the La Stampa gastro gaff last year) had been there the night before and featured on the news slot. AWT, Corrigan and plenty more were scheduled on different days.

All of the wine stands were pouring samples like it was going out of fashion, so no one was dipping into their currency to pay for a glass. Niall Tubriddy of Tubriddy Wines was not happy until we had sampled every bottle he had and it was great to meet a smiling ljr (see post upthread) and put a face to three initials as he poured us some Australian Reisling.

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Thanks for the mention C! I enjoyed the event this year but preferred last year which seemed more informal. this year there were fewer places to sit (deliberate I reckon, as the more you sit the less you might spend). I was there each day and the rain was as torrential as we get in Ireland on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. This affected numbers but this was no harm as the restaurant area was jammed most of the time on the friday evening and sat and sun. THe splitting of the venue into two sections with food and a few bars in one and bars and a vip tent (with no food) in the other didnt work as everyone wanted to be where the restaurants were.

I agree with C's comments above but I liked the cone at throntons a bit more than she did. THe scallop with truffle mousse was my star of the show also mostly because it was so perfectly cooked. I also liked the veal brochette with ceps at Peploes as well as their gambas a la plancha, the nice simple fish and chips with puree peas at the cellar bar (which they gave our stand for free!) and the palestinian chicken at the silk road cafe (this included pommegranite seeds in the rice which really worked). Good desserts were harder to come by but I did like the walnut frangipane at bon appetit. The shelbourne had very odd choices with lobster in a grapefruit ceviche (not terrible but not great either) and a bland, under seasoned risotto which was not in any way saved by the addition of some (actual) truffle shavings. bang cafe had their iced berries in white chocolate (a staple on their menu since they opened) and a good slow cooked belly of pork (nothing new but it was tasty). Jaipur lost some of the subtlety they can often get in their food but the additition of an excellent naan bread fresh from the tandoor helped a lot.

On the demos - I only saw a few over the few days. Oliver dunne's stand was beside the demo tent and he said that many of the chefs just died on their feet. the best he saw was nevan who had them eating out of his hand as reported by C above. Nevan is v. good at demos and it always makes me wonder why I dont like his tv programmes - mainly because they seem so dumbed down.: angela hartnett charmed the pants off us all with anecdotes and useful instruction aimed at dinner party cooking rather than restaurant fans - probably a good thing given the audience. I fought my way to the front at the end to taste her grappa granita with melon - delicious, and sweet potato stuffed tortelli (a bit bland) and her peaches stuffed with amoretti biscuits was also good. Oliver Dunne was good also working with sous chef (I think - I missed the intro). I tried watching the druid chef but found his druid codology unbearable - having said that I liked the idea of his golden fish broth with smoked salmon and the addition of some gold leaf. no idea what it tasted like but it looked great.

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I enjoyed the event this year but preferred last year which seemed more informal.  this year there were fewer places to sit (deliberate I reckon, as the more you sit the less you might spend).  I was there each day and the rain was as torrential as we get in Ireland on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon.  This affected numbers but this was no harm as the restaurant area was jammed most of the time on the friday evening and sat and sun.  THe splitting of the venue into two sections with food and a few bars in one and bars and a vip tent (with no food) in the other didnt work as everyone wanted to be where the restaurants were.

I agree on the venue and the set-up, it didn't work nearly as well as last year. I found it odd, because I understood that the reason for moving to Iveagh Gardens was because it is a larger location, and somehow, it felt more cramped, more "tenty" and less cultural.

As for the VIP tent, if you were there, you might as well be at the races, it was so far removed from the bustle of the festival. We decided it was more fun to get drenched and just popped in to get our glass of shampoo at the end. But as you say, it wasn't too crowded on Thursday or Friday afternoon, so not too much of a problem. I know some people who were there in the evening and they found it way too crowded. Regardless, I don't think the VIP ticket is worth it, the 45 euro ticket is the best option.

Thanks for all the additional detail on the demos etc. I'd love to have seen Angela Hartnett in action. She's been getting some pretty good press in advance of the new Ramsay restaurant in Enniskerry. Did she mention when it's opening?

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I'd love to have seen Angela Hartnett in action. She's been getting some pretty good press in advance of the new Ramsay restaurant in Enniskerry. Did she mention when it's opening?

I saw the beginning of one demo she did and the end of another (I couldnt be away from my post for too long) and she didnt mention it at all. I think she was presenting herself as Angela Hartnett of the Connaught rather than with any reference to Ramsey Holdings. She just dropped in a comment along the lines of "And before you ask, yes Gordon is just as bad in real life as he is on TV but I wouldn't have worked for him for so long if I didnt think he was great". He was on Pat kenny a couple of weeks ago and I think he said September. No doubt there will be fanfare before it opens. I know a planner in an bord pleanala and she told me the building is just god awful - she kept making them sink it lower as she felt such a monstrosity should not be viewable from any of the hills around wicklow!

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