The poet Milton wrote “They also serve who only stand and wait”. Well, John boy, can you hear me up there on your Commonwealth cloud? I’ve got news for you and the news is “they don’t”, at least not in wildest Wicklow Street. At El Bahia last Saturday night there was plenty of standing, mostly ...
Restaurant ReviewsSQ French Wine Sale shows they’re back on track When I saw the press release (it was some time ago) proclaiming that Richard Moriarty was installed as the new wine buyer for Superquinn I was wholly euphoric. “Yes!” I said, “strange appointment, but the man does have his own winery, I suppose that’s the connection.” ...
Tasting Notes, Wine & DrinkMaybe the (richly deserved) success of Chapter One and Pearl Brasserie at this year’s Food & Wine Restaurant of the Year Awards will finally give the kick-arse to the absurd notion, common among Dubliners of a certain age and standing, that it’s uncool to eat in basements. I do hope so. There are some chefs, ...
Restaurant ReviewsIn response to an inquiry on the forum, I’ve dragged up an article I wrote some years ago and a recipe, in fact, MY recipe, for this classic dish. Enjoy! The Culinary History Burgundy, thanks to its inhabitants having an all-consuming devotion to colouring matters (plus a skilled publicity campaign conducted by the mediaeval dukes ...
BLOG, RecipesI’d be failing in my duty if I failed to say that the recent ‘Good Value Wines from Chile’ tasting at the Radisson Golden Lane was a smidge short of whelming. I tasted the guts of a hundred wines, culled from all the major regions and found fewer than a dozen to excite me. I ...
Tasting NotesOne of the first tasks I undertook when I joined Food & Wine Magazine back in the nineties was to interview Keith Floyd. It was far more pleasure than duty because I’d long been a fan of the seminal Hole in The Wall in Bath where Keith assisted or more probably hindered George Perry in ...
BLOGThe juxtaposition of Hell’s Kitchen’s battered-but-still philosophical maitre d’ Nick Munier and ex-L’Ecrivain head chef Stephen Gibson was bound to produce something interesting and Pichet is exactly that. I’m not décor obsessed but I did like the cool grey walls and stylish, comfy royal blue seats – just sitting there felt like being aboard a ...
Restaurant ReviewsThree years ago Sibella and I were in Italy, dining in a restaurant that purported to have more class than the ones we normally frequent on holiday. We had been lured there by the enticing and affordable table d’hote menu displayed in the window. Once inside, we were handed the a la carte menu. Our ...
Restaurant ReviewsBrendan O’Connor’s hymn to his Nespresso coffee maker in the Sunday Independent ‘Life’ Magazine a few weeks ago intrigued me sufficiently to want to draw parallels with wine. Let me first state my position; I am a coffee fanatic, a fundamentalist worshipper of the small brown bean. I have, at home, a semi-commercial espresso machine, ...
Books & EquipmentSouthsiders regard it as a little bit of home that’s been somehow geographically severed from the main. Northsiders claim it to show just how pleasant living on their side of the Liffey can be. The locals, possibly the most inward-looking people this side of Albania, refer to it as ‘The Peninsula’. Yes, this week, I’m ...
Restaurant Reviews