Sublime seafood
Sean Smith, head chef at the Cliff Townhouse on St Stephen’s Green, has a new and more spacious kitchen to work with. It’s enabling him exercise his creative flair even more expansively. The result is some gorgeous new summer dishes, including starters such as poached lobster with orange beurre blanc and a summer salad, and scallops with fennel, orange and fellow citrus fruit yuzu. For mains, it’s dishes such as crab lasagne with summer vegetables and shellfish bisque, or a royal fish pie, a classic made extra-luxurious with lobster. The restaurant was recently awarded 2AA rosettes and Smith is running a series of Summer Seafood Masterclasses, limited to just 10 people each. For €30, you get a glass of wine, nibbles, his master-cheffing flair and a voucher to come back for a pre-theatre dinner.
Set up camp in the Westbury
Dublin’s not all about work. See another side to the city and bring the kids in for a great day out, with a sleepover at the Westbury to cap it off. This summer, it’s running a special family promotion, called “the little bears’ experience”. It’s all about making memories and management has gone all out to help, with teddy bears and tepees in the room, cookies and milk on tap and a complimentary family movie to wind them down before bed. Rates from €395.
Gin gin
Spirits lovers will raise a glass to Irish drinks brand Origin Spirits, which is launching Ornabrak, a distinctive and rare single-malt gin made from 100 per cent Irish malted barley and which, fact fiends, is four times copper-pot distilled, before being distilled a fifth time with five carefully selected botanicals. The result is a complex and floral single-malt gin. The clue’s in the name, if you did honours Irish. It’s derived from eorna braiche, which means malted barley.
Brought to you by the makers of Kalak Vodka, its new shelf mate was crafted following 36 distillation trials over 12 months, starting with an initial palate of almost 30 botanicals, before they were carefully narrowed down to just five – juniper berry, Douglas fir needles, garden angelica root, lemon verbena leaf and lemon peel, selected to best complement the complex and unusual Irish single-malt base. The upshot is that Ornabrak Single Malt Gin joins a small but select club of gins internationally that distils its own base spirit. And, of course, the provenance is all there to see, with barley sourced from contracted growers in the south east, malted in Cork and subsequently milled, mashed, fermented and copper-pot distilled in Skibbereen, west Cork.
Namastay at the Gibson
Sunday night fear is a thing of the past with the Gibson Hotel's latest Sunday night special. Start the week in Zen fashion after a relaxing overnight stay, breakfast in bed on Monday morning and a late-afternoon check out, from €159. Sure, you'll be late into work but at least you'll have spent Sunday evening doing something chilled, like checking out the Hemi bar's newly updated menu, or dining in Coda Eatery, its casual dining spot. No fear of the Glenroes for you.
Tasty food trails in Kerry
Looking ahead to the autumn, the Dingle Food Festival takes place from October 5th to 7th and is now an established fixture on Ireland’s culinary calendar. Each year, the beautiful fishing town of Dingle – or Daingean Uí Chúis if you prefer – on one of the most scenic parts of the Wild Atlantic Way is transformed into a go-to gustatory municipality.
Organised by a group of local people on a non-profit basis, it has become known by townspeople as “the best weekend of the year”. Last year’s event attracted 10,000 visitors from home and abroad.
The festival includes cookery demonstrations and workshops, more than 50 market stalls, wine, gin, and whiskey tastings, a cider and beer trail and a farmers’ forum, as well as street entertainment and children’s events.
The highlight of the festival, however, is the Taste Trail – which is the only ticketed event – on which a multitude of outlets from around the Dingle Peninsula will be offering samples of their food and drink menus. Great value at €22.50.
