CAN YOU MAKE IT TO HEAD CHEF?

International superchef Conrad Gallagher offers 8 kitchen hopefuls the chance of

Les Gourmandises

Les Gourmandises 

Delighted with my most recent visit to Les Gourmandises . Fine French Dining is printed on their card and it is no empty motto. They live up to it. Making your way through the courses here is an exercise in delicacy.

If you find yourself in

SAMBA ON A COLD MONDAY MORNING

COFFEE: BRAZILIAN BRUZZI 

Now it’s official: I am a

FLESH ON SUNDAYS

Ian from An Crúibín has been in touch:

'The Sunday Munch returns

ARDSALLAGH GOATS CHEESE CRANBERRY ROULADE

GOATS CHEESE ROULADE 

Had been on the lookout for Ardsallagh’s Goats Cheese Cranberry Roulade and spotted it in On the Pigs Back on a run through the English Market on Friday. 


Picked up some

SWEET, CHEAP AND CHEERFUL

SWEET, CHEAP AND CHEERFUL 

Glad I got into sweet wines. Have enjoyed a few over the Christmas and still the sweets go on, the latest a Moscatel from Valencia, the “primary source of sweet budget wines”, according to Mr Hugh Johnson.

From grapes grown on

THE WEEKEND CATCH

Florentine Steak

A bumper Weekend Catch, fresh from the Net. 

THE WEEKEND CATCH

Restaurant Wine & Food Scene

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RT @CometoCork The French equivalent of the Lonely Planet guide has showered praise on Cork restaurants http://ht.ly/3D6bG via @corkindo

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A WINNER FROM KARWIG

ONE TO BUY. AGAIN    

The late Renato Ratti has been credited, at least in Vino Italiano, with being “The Father of Modern Barolo”. He took that wine by the scruff of the neck in 60s and his more accessible style became a hit.

The production of classic affordable Piedmont wines goes on, now under the direction of Pierro Ratti. “..the wines keep getting better” according to Vino Italiano.

Must say I didn’t know much about this producer and their wines until I got a bottle in the Carrigaline premises of Joe Karwig. I’m glad that I did. This was a Barbera d'Alba. The Barbera is the grape variety and the Torriglione on the bottle refers to the vineyards where it is grown.

The colour is an intense Cardinal Red. Remember that

MR ISCHLER’S DELICATESSEN

MR ISCHLER’S DELICATESSEN

Took a short cut through Kyle Street today and spotted a bakery with some tempting looking loaves in the window. Inside, there was quite a selection and also pastries and also fudges and chocolate truffles.

I stuck to

HARVEY'S: BETTER ON THE WEB!

HARVEY’S

Heard some good reports (mainly lunch/brunch) about Harvey’s of Academy Street. Checked out their website  and was quite impressed. Booked a table for dinner and was expecting great things.

But the website flattered the place. Both it and the entry in Whazon says it is fully licensed but they sell only wine, no beer. The expansive list of dishes on the web is a fiction as the actual a la carte menu was much more restricted, disappointingly so. Another letdown came when we asked for dessert. Just five on the list and two of those were “off”. Coffee on the web is set at €2.00 but its actual cost is €2.50.

Started with

THREE LEGS - THREE REDS

THREE FROM SICILY 

Three legs in the Sicilian flag and three reds in this post.

Italians, they say, love their rules. But it is in the way that George Bernard Shaw loved work: “I love work. I could watch it all day.”  Sicilians produce plenty of wine but only about a fifth of it under DOC regulations, much more of it under the looser Indicazione Geografica Tipica regime, the step above table wine.

If you go

BRAMLEY LODGE

BRAMLEY LODGE

Regularly make a call to Bramley Lodge if I’ve been

THE WEEKEND CATCH

A bumper Weekend Catch, fresh from the Net.

THE WEEKEND CATCH

Restaurant Wine & Food Scene

via Twitter & Facebook

Control and click to follow the links and find out more.

IrishFoodies Irish Food Bloggers 

RT @CometoCork The French equivalent of the Lonely Planet guide has showered praise on Cork restaurants http://ht.ly/3D6bG via @corkindo

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