Compiled by MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBY
Webwatch
streetfeast.ie
The Millennium bridge in Dublin city centre became an outdoor dining room last week when 40 people sat down to a free lunch provided by nearby restaurants. The event was a highly effective publicity stunt to publicise the second annual Street Feast, which takes place on August 28th. The idea of the nationwide initiative is that neighbours get together to organise a street party with food in their locality. “It’s about celebrating your street, area or community,” co-founder Sam Bishop says. The website has advice on planning a street party, and ready-to-print posters and flyers you can download, as well as locations of street parties already confirmed.
Feast of colour
Nick Munier, maitre d’ at Pichet restaurant in Dublin, celebrated his 44th birthday last week at the opening of an exhibition of his new paintings. As well as the day (and night) job and his painting commitments, he also had a busy summer filming the first Irish series of Masterchef, which will be screened on RTÉ next month. Munier and chef Dylan McGrath are the show’s judges.
The energetic mixed-media work photographed below is called Olive and has a price tag of €700. The exhibition runs at The Doorway Gallery, 24 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2, until August 25th.
French Laundry comes to London
Thomas Keller, the US chef with seven Michelin stars to his name, three of them attached to his French Laundry in Napa Valley, is opening a pop-up version of the Californian restaurant in Harrods in London.
The restaurant will open for 10 days on October 1st and will serve 70 covers at lunch and dinner. Keller says he will be flying fixtures, fittings and 14 staff members to London to ensure that the experience is as close to the original French Laundry as possible. Booking opens September 1st for what will be Keller’s first venture outside the US. Details of how to book will be posted on the harrods.com website later this month.
The nine-course tasting menu will cost £250/€285, rather more than the $270 cost of a meal at the French Laundry in Napa Valley, where no single ingredient is ever duplicated in the two nine-course menus offered every day. But at least you’ll be spared a trip to the airport.
Trip to Tip
The Tipperary food producers’ long table dinner is an annual event that brings together local businesses to stage a dinner made with food grown or made in the county. It’s open to the public and the venue this year is Rockwell College near Cashel. Tickets for the dinner on August 24th cost €75 and are available from members of the network, a list of which can be seen on the website tipperaryfoodproducers.com.
