Went to London last week (16th July). Fell asleep on the plane so missed the great Irish breakfast (did I miss much?). Still, noblesse oblige and Club Class Row 3 meant I could get off the aircraft at the speed of light and whizz down to the Underground station and emerge at Leicester Sq less ...
TravelBastille Day, or more correctly, Bastille Eve. We were at The Radisson, one of Dublin’s best venues for outdoor socialising, playing for the FOOD & WIN (no typo) team in the charity petanque tournament brilliantly conceived and organised by Maureen O’Hara of Findlaters and sponsored by Veuve Clicquot. For anyone not familiar with Petanque it’s ...
FoodI felt curiously nostalgic as I sat down to eat in Shanahan’s. This same building once housed another ‘on The Green’ restaurant called White’s. On these same premises, back in the late eighties, a very fine chef called Michael Clifford fired what were probably the first shots aimed at freeing Irish fine dining from the ...
Restaurant ReviewsThis fish-and-chip shop has been family owned for three generations, The cod is glistening fresh, the batter couldn’t be bettered by a Japanese tempura chef, featherlight, crispy and cooked through. The chips taste great – freshly cooked so they’re hot and free from grease. If you don’t fancy fish, then how about a pie, maybe ...
Restaurant ReviewsFrench cuisine has had an immense bearing on the food we eat in restaurants here today. I think it’s entirely fair to say that the significant influences on what’s come to be called ‘modern Irish cooking’ have been the classical training undergone by the chefs (no need to name them) who pioneered our transition from ...
Restaurant ReviewsPeople are always asking me for new ideas for barbecue marinades and I try to oblige. Nevertheless, I still keep coming back to the old one – white wine, garlic (2 chopped cloves), sea salt (generous twist) and a big handful of rosemary. It works wonderfully with beef, lamb or chicken, particularly if you marinate ...
RecipesI remember the word from my schooldays – oxymoron. It means the bringing together of two words of contrasting meaning. I think ‘pleasing poison’ was the example given, from a poem by Andrew Marvell, or was it John Donne? The other day I thought of a new oxymoron – ‘posh curry’. Indian (and by extension ...
Restaurant ReviewsMcDonalds, that litigation factory-in-a-bun are at it again. Flushed with success at squashing two big lasses from the Bronx who sued because they figured Big M should have told them that eating treble Big Macs and a JCB load of fries would lead to obesity, the burger kings (lower case) have now loosed their legal ...
Restaurant Reviews