IN MENDOZA, ARGENTINA, writes Damian Corr.
"I wish I were iMendoza, Argentina, in a little outdoor restaurant, sitting at a table with the wafting smell of beef and chorizo being cooked slowly over a wood-fired grill, enjoying tasty empanadas before una parrilla arrives at the table and the locally produced Malbec, from either Luigi Bosca, Rutini or perhaps Catena, is really beginning to open up its hidden secrets.
My wife, Ines, is from Buenos Aires and has family in Mendoza, so no trip is complete without a visit to the culinary and wine capital of Argentina. Children are almost part of eating out here and cherished as part of the future. Enjoying a meal with them in a relaxed environment is sheer heaven.
But I'm not, so . . .
I'm off to Howth for a brisk walk and to feed the sea lions with fish bits from Doran's. I'll return home and cook up some calamari in lemon breadcrumbs as a starter followed by pan-fried fresh hake fillets (all from Doran's), mashed potato with Urbani white truffle oil, steamed broccoli and sauce vierge. We buy all our vegetables and fruit from Kinsealy Garden Centre, which is just around the corner and has fantastic produce. Ines makes the best crème brulee and then, after dinner, some stinky Brie for me and creamy goat's cheese for her from the excellent selection in Superquinn, while savouring the last of our favourite Meursault. I love to be in the kitchen and cooking is the way I enjoy relaxing.
In conversation with Marie-Claire Digby
• Damian Corr is sommelier and restaurant and bar manager at the Merrion hotel