A great post has just gone up on the wine blog sourgrapes.ie. My favourite wino Lar Veale matches some recipes from Irish blog awards nominees – including CheapEats – to just the right wine. Cheers.
CheapEats.ie is rising towards the top of the Irish food blog scene. With their Grilled Trout, Sweet Potato Mash, Rocket and…  Continue reading »

Okay, so I’ve done this before, but it’s definitely time to have another look at matching wines with some selected posts from the foodie blogs nominated for the Blog Awards coming up next month.
This, Part 1, looks at the first 13 blogs nominated.
1. Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments
Ruth has posted about a recipe for Flourless chocolate brownies – with strawberry.  Continue reading »

Odd as it may sound, puy lentils are my ultimate (savoury) comfort food.
They’re rich and satisfying, meaty and nutritious, full of good proteins, and, unlike red or green lentils, they don’t turn to puree. They’re really cheap, (just over €3 a bag in The Health Store), a bag lasts for ages, and they’re highly versatile.
They…  Continue reading »

Now, please don’t go racing online to buy over €100 worth of groceries in Tesco. That would be a very false economy. But if you happen to be shopping online there anyway, these three sets of vouchers for €10 off every purchase for each week until the end of February 15 may come in handy.  Continue reading »

Earlier today, one of our readers criticised Tesco – now claiming to be “Ireland’s biggest discounter” for their sneaky price rises.
However, they have a few specials this week that are worthy of note.
I don’t wish to sound like the voice of the Skibeereen Eagle, but readers, if you notice that any of these prices…  Continue reading »

We’re doing it again! The city of Chicago has decided to sponsor another Restaurant Week this year which is exciting to hear  in the face of the poor economy. That said, you can enjoy a three-course prix fixe meal at a normally very expensive restaurant for $22 at lunchtime and $32 during dinnertime.
Find our more details after the jump!

Over 130 restaurants are participating in this year’s event.  Continue reading »

Located on South Richmond street near Portobello bridge in Dublin 2, Shabnam Foods is a small but amply packed Indian store offering a wide and inexpensive range of foods and spices.  It’s a one-stop shop for anyone wanting to build up a decent Indian larder, and it’s great for fruit and vegetables.
Meat and frozen fish…  Continue reading »

I love my kitchen and all things food but will admit to being slightly distracted from time to time and getting things completely wrong. Last night I had two cases like this and figured that I really couldnt be the only one. Here are some of the idiotic things I have learned the hard way – please tell me Im not the only one:

When a recipe calls for greasing a tin then do it, in fact always do it even if your housemate is talking to you and distracts you.  Continue reading »

I went for a walk in Dun Laoghaire a couple of days after Christmas in a vain effort to make up for about two weeks of gluttony and incipient alcoholism and followed it up with a doubt-ridden trip to the Bodega, doubt-ridden because I’d read it wasn’t that great. And not great it proved…  Continue reading »

CheapEats is now on Twitter, to notify people when we’ve posted and also to tell them what we had for lunch and whatnot.  Follow us, and let us know if we should be following you.  Continue reading »

In the second part of our two part series on Dignité, we take a look at the signature white of winemaker Eric Monnin. As discussed in our first post ( Dignité: Langeudoc’s Latent Potential Unleashed ), Eric’s fascinating story revolves around making ‘Garage’ wine – top quality wine in minute quantities.

Fast forward from that 2005 Syrah vintage to 2007, when Eric happened to be tasting Viognier grapes in peak condition at Domaine du Vedilhan.  Continue reading »

Our reader Liam contacted us to sound a warning about the pricing at Tesco:
I do most of my shopping in Tesco, and despite their recent attempts to portray themselves as a Lidl-style discouter, they’ve actually been steathily raising the prices of a fair few products. Some examples:
Tesco Italian Meats selection – was 2.89, now…  Continue reading »

You know me. I like a good moan and groan. See below for the maple syrup rant. But I always like to tip my hat (if I wore one) to locals who do good. I was delighted to read in Monday’s Andersonstown News that Poleglass man Stephen Hope has won the annual Gordon Ramsey scholarship.  Continue reading »

I passed by Cafe Mao on Chatham St, Dublin 2 the other night and saw a notice in their window advertising a reduced price menu for 2009.  The reductions include:
New lunch menu from €8.95
Soup/wrap combo €8.95
10 main courses under €9.95
Any 2 course lunch €12.95
Any starter and main course for €18.95
I’ve always found the food in…  Continue reading »

I’ve always loved old cast-iron kitchen ranges. My Grandad would always put the porridge on overnight in the warming oven of the old, age-darkened Aga at Oldcastletown. By morning it would be cooked creamy, although with such a thick skin that I couldn’t stomach it. As a child I was a very picky eater. The Aga – it ran on solid fuel – also made the best toast.  Continue reading »

As part of my pledge to make at least 3 of the recipes I bookmark in magazines each month I have now made my third recipe, again from Easy Food Magazine.
This month’s magazine featured the winners of Easy Food’s Country Market Awards with a great recipe for Birthday Cake by Dunfanaghy Market. I couldn’t help but try out this birthday cake and last week was Stewie, my wee pup’s, birthday so I had a birthday to celebrate anyways!  Continue reading »

This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting San Antonio, Texas. A very last minute trip (like most of my travels), I didn’t have much time to plan out every detail in advance. But, since it would be my first ever trip to Texas, I knew I would have to make time for some Texas-style barbecue (especially after just having Kansas City-style barbecue last month!)

In the few days notice I did have, I tried to figure out where we could get the best barbecue in San Antonio.  Continue reading »

Some alluring special offers in Dunnes Stores this week:
Florette crispy salad 200g: reduced from €2.99 to €1.49
Wilson potatoes 2kg: reduced from €3.49 to €1.74
St. Bernard Apples 1kg: reduced from €1.49 to €0.74
St. Bernard oranges 1kg: reduced from €1.99 to €0.99
Kellogg’s Cornflakes 750g: reduced from 3.29 to €1.64
Dunnes Fresh Irish Rib Eye Steak : 33% saving…  Continue reading »

In the space of ten years Chile more than doubled its production of wine from five million to more than eleven million bottles for the year of 2006. A recent article from Decanter consultant editor Steven Spurrier, entitled “Pillars of Strength”, also uncovered that the production of table wines decreased from 47% to 15% in this time, indicating that the world’s longest and thinnest country had redirected its focus to making wines of real quality.  Continue reading »

One of our readers, Emer Breen, commented that she’d love to see more competitions and giveaways.
Well, coming soon on CheapEats.ie, we will have an absolutely fantastic prize to give away courtesy of one of Ireland’s top luxury destinations. Our next competition will begin this Friday January 30, so be sure to check out the site…  Continue reading »