FOOD FILE:Italian design company Alessi has opened a concession in the homewares department of Brown Thomas, Dublin, which is where you'll find this stylish "Marli" basket, designed by Steven Blaess. It costs €105.
When your produce is on the menu in one of the country’s best restaurants, and international Master of Gastronomy students come calling, you know you’ve got something special.
Margaret and Gerard Kirwan run Goatsbridge Trout Farm in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, which supplies fish to Garrett Byrne and Brid Hannon’s Campagne restaurant in Kilkenny, where it appears on the menu as “cured Goatsbridge trout, cucumber gazpacho, horseradish potato salad”. The couple had some VIP visitors recently, when they welcomed a group from the University of Gastronomy in Bra, Italy, who were on a whirlwind tour of Ireland’s leading food producers.
The trout is sold whole, portioned, or in fillets, as well as hot-smoked. Visitors are welcome, by prior arrangement (tel: 086-8188340), and you can also buy Goatsbridge trout at fish counters in branches of Superquinn, SuperValu and Dunnes Stores. You can try the fillets at a promotional price of €1 each in Superquinn branches next Saturday. For recipe suggestions, check out www.goatsbridgetrout.ie. If you’d like to visit the farm, it is hosting an open day on August 25th, from 11am.
Howth safari
Howth’s restaurateurs are banding together to stage a “Mystery Dine Around” next Friday night in the Co Dublin village. It sounds like it will be lots of fun, but wear walking shoes as you’ll be eating each of three courses in a different venue. Categories you can choose from include Fine Dining; From The Sea; The Village; The Harbour, and Ethnic Howth, with the Fine Dining option weighing in at €65, and the other tickets costing €50. The three courses will each be accompanied by a glass of wine, and for those who want to party on, there will be a Festival Club. Tickets can be purchased from Howth Tourist Office (01-8396955) and Fingal Tourist Office in Swords (01-8400077).