DAY 3 Up early – can’t seem to sleep beyond 5.15 at the minute, in whatever time zone. Walkabout for massive glass of squeezed fruit juice – orange, pineapple, mango, passion fruit, that will do nicely. Then weakened and nipped into Arcade for 2 x double shot flat whites and a bacon butty. Nice Chinese ...
BLOG, Food, Travel, Wine & DrinkDAY ONE Arrived 6 am amidst a magnificent red, blue and gold sunrise. Worn out from travelling ‘steerage’ across the globe but otherwise I was holding up, only slightly fractured. David Evans, in an Audi courtesy car, collected me and drove me to the Hyatt, now renamed the Intercontinental after a takeover. Hence my confusion ...
BLOG, Food, Travel, Wine & DrinkOriginally published in an edition of Food & Wine Magazine that came out on April 1st. Unfortunately a few people failed to spot the spoof! How To Cook Your Pet In this, the first of a two-part article, omnivore chef Jimmy Har Pang tells you how to broaden the spectrum of your gastro-joy. Jimmy Har ...
BLOG, FoodQuite excited about my recent close encounter with O’Neills black and white pudding. I’ve been eating their fabulous dry-cured bacon – low salt/no water – in both joint and rasher form for a good few years. I normally pick it up in the excellent Kate’s Farm Shop off the Duncannon Roundabout outside Wexford town on ...
FoodWell, ‘Gianluca’ is up and running. Well, not quite pizza ready. He needs to be fired up a few more times to ‘cure’ the oven walls and I’ve got to put another couple of coats of Aquaseal (a breathable water-resistant sealant) to protect him from the vagaries of the Irish weather. But nearly ready to ...
BLOG, FoodI am indebted to fellow wine writer Paul Kiernan who, via his Twitter monicker @grapesofsloth, gave me the heads up on a letter to Decanter magazine in which a reader asked “What planet are your tasters on when they describe wines as ‘high wired’ and ‘coiled with purpose’?” What indeed. “Uranus, as in ‘talking through…” ...
Tasting Notes, Wine & DrinkAt first she was smiling, eyes half closed. Then a discreet smirk of pleasure lit her face like she was indulging in a happy dream. Appreciative noises modulated to a crescendo, “mm mm, mm..” somehow segued into “Yes, yes, yes!”. Screams of ecstasy followed, quintessential passion, all inhibition fled. Oh my God, I thought, she’s ...
Restaurant ReviewsIt was Leslie Williams, my cookery cohort at The Evening Herald who convinced me that having a wood-fired pizza oven of my very own would be the midlife crisis project for 2010. Leslie had already been down the track, with a French guy who built him an adobe one, mud and clay, in the back ...
BLOG, FoodSibella’s on the golf course. Foodmad’s in Kerry. Bangles is God knows where, The Litry Chick is writing 1,000 words against the clock and I don’t think The Silk Road Cafe, this week’s target, is quite the Knocklyon Princess’s bag. Ten to eleven and still no lunch date. What the hell to do? After due ...
Restaurant ReviewsLast week El Bulli, “the best restaurant in the world”, closed its doors. Owner Ferran Adria, high priest of avant garde cuisine announced that activities would be suspended for the 2012 and 2013 seasons Up till last week El Bulli was only open for six months out of every 12 and, even then, only for ...
Restaurant Reviews