FoodFight.ie - Food and Drink in Ireland - The tastiest content from around the Irish blogosphere

Pretty well every quotation about failure makes a virtue of it. None of us set out to hash things up. So, why celebrate it? When I set about preparing beef cheeks sous vide, making a bags of it was far from my objective. But, with the beef in a bag, a bags was made and I’m not overjoyed.
I did learn from the experience. Hopefully, I can pass on the wisdom gained by my relative failing, so as you can achieve perfection.. I think that I erred in two ways.  Continue reading »

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Jacques. 
Style and High Standards Since 1980.

Kidneys

The warmest of welcomes. An evening meal of outstanding quality. An exemplary service. An evening to savour. Where?  Continue reading »

12 Acres arrived on the Irish beer scene a couple of years ago with very much a unique selling point: the beer was brewed using base malt solely from the brewer’s own farm in Laois, malted separately and given back to them for brewing. Originally they had a pale ale contract brewed, and that’s what I reviewed, impressed, here. Since then they have established their own brewery and expanded their range.  Continue reading »

This is going to be another quick mini-review. I simply don’t have a lot of time available at the moment to write lengthy detailed reviews. And given the fact that lunch at Caffe Amore was also a quick daytime affair, it feels appropriate. 

Caffe Amore is on South Great George’s Street across from the junction with Fade Street, and I had passed it many times without fully clocking it. But one Saturday morning when walking past, the daily specials board caught my eye.  Continue reading »

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Chef Greg Expands Brook Inn Repertoire After Kerridge Stage

The Brook Inn in Sallybrook (Glanmire) has recently been included in a couple of national guides but Head Chef Greg Murphy is not resting on his laurels.  Continue reading »

All he had to do was drive to a fish warehouse in Oakland, hand a slip of paper to a Chinese kid who worked for Fariq’s organization, and throw the squid into his van. From there, he’d take it to Fremont, put it on the ground, and come back the next day, when it had thawed. Then he’d open it up and pull out the vacuum-sealed loaves of drugs. I used to love squid, he told them later. I can’t eat it anymore.  Continue reading »

Bog Hopper Brewery of Muff, Co. Donegal has been on the go for a couple of years now but the beers have landed only recently in Dublin and I picked up a set at DrinkStore.
To start, their pilsner Dirty Chick. I got a clean and clear glassful as I began to pour it but this was spoiled just at the end when the bottle-conditioning dregs fell in. It still looked good: a wholesomely hazy orange-gold with a handsome fluffy white head.  Continue reading »

Back to the Garden for Maryborough Chef
A Delicious New Summer-time Menu at Bellini’s
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Sea Bream

Hotel dining rooms are improving all over the city and Bellini’s at the Maryborough is at the forefront thanks to Head Chef Gemma Murphy and her team.  Continue reading »

Let’s ban the urgency of headlines when talking about food when talking about food
OMG if you read one thing about food today, read this, quick. Before everybody else reads it.

Does this sound familiar to you?
It certainly does to me, and I’m tired of it.  Continue reading »

Vigne Marina Coppi “Sant’Andrea” Colli Tortonesi Barbera (DOC) 2015, 13.5%, €25.99 Liberty Wines 

The winery was founded in 2003 and named for Marina Coppi, the child of renowned cycling champion Fausto Coppi who twice completed the Giro and Tour de France double, 1st in 1949 and then in 1952.

The estate, which concentrates on native varieties, is in the region of Piemonte where the Colli Tortonesi is a lesser known appellation.  Continue reading »

Taste of the Week
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Coolea Cheese

Coolea in brine

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I’ve often heard of the camaraderie and support that exists between artisan producers.  Continue reading »

Who You Callin’ Wussie: a name which suggests it’s a pilsner for men with self-esteem issues. This has been imported from Stone headquarters in San Diego rather than the local operation in Berlin, and isn’t quite street-legal in Europe as there’s no metric unit measurements on the can, nor an EU address. Fortunately, nobody bothers enforcing consumer laws in this country so the importer won’t get in trouble.  Continue reading »

I have a theory about so many of the highly flavoured and sugar laden ‘rubs’ that are used to enhance pork on the grill. I think that the reason they exist is to try to bring a bit of life to otherwise insipid and uninteresting meat. Some of you may spring to argue with this assertion.  Continue reading »

Pizza and Wine on a West Cork Beach
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The Puffin Cafe at Castlefreke.

There is still plenty of room in the car park but many choose to park on the road. It is a typically Irish scene as you arrive at a beach-side car park on a sunny day. But what is not typical is the beach café, the only building on the Long Strand, Castlefreke.  Continue reading »

Following on from the review of Northern Monk’s Hop City a few weeks ago, more cans of pale ale in the modern fashion, from Yorkshire.
I started with this one from Magic Rock, called Fantasma. It’s 6.5% ABV, and brewed with just Magnum and Citra hops so I was expecting rather more than the previous softy. It gets off to a fruity start, however, wafting out aromas of mango, peach and slightly greener spinach.  Continue reading »

The White Horse Grub Club
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Chance to try street food from the wide world.

Jerk chicken

There is something about the White Horse. The buzz. People. Everywhere.

We walked in about 7.00pm on a Thursday. The restaurant was packed. The bar was full as we walked through to get to the Grub Club in a different dining room.  Continue reading »

Potatoes are a staple part of our family diet, and so when Potato.ie aka “Potatoes More Than A Bit On The Side” got in touch to see would I be interested in designing a new recipe for all the family to enjoy it wasn’t a hard decision to take.
The past two weekends, while I’ve been doing cookery demonstrations with Lidl Ireland on the road, I continuously say that if you have a bag of spuds (potatoes) and a tray of eggs you’ll never go hungry.  Continue reading »

I looked at the turkey, which had dropped off the end of the table and slid… to rest ..beside the door. I had ordered a big turkey, even though there were only three of us.

Daddy had always said a small turkey looked mean, and we could make sandwiches and stew from the leftovers, and all those thoughts about the turkey and how many ways I could prepare it went through my head as my husband died, there and then in front of me.  Continue reading »

Since time immemorial, or at least some point in the late 1980s, which is the same thing in craft beer terms, Sierra Nevada has been a by-word for hop-forward beers. For beer fanatics of my vintage, if you wanted reliably hoppy in a west coast way, Sierra Nevada was the old reliable. It was very much a brewery to be followed, not a follower, and you wouldn’t expect them to go chasing bandwagons.  Continue reading »

Budds Ballydehob for Lunch.

Sandwiched between a couple of climbs!

Ant activity near Three Castles Head

When I knew I was heading for Schull, I put getting up to Mount Gabriel on top of my list. But, on Saturday morning, we headed south instead from the village with the Three Castles Head the immediate objective. Gabriel would have to wait until the afternoon!

Three Castles Head is in the Mizen area.  Continue reading »