May 18, 2012

A Taste Of… Lavistown House

May 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Lavistown Sausages

Lavistown Sausages - Get a taste at the Kilkenny Design Centre Food Hall this weekend.

If you’re in Kilkenny this weekend for the Rhythm & Roots Festival (bring on the music!) you might be interested to know that Lavistown House are the latest to step into the Kilkenny Design Centre Food Hall for their tasting series.

Lavistown House have been producing sausages in Kilkenny for over twenty years. With Knockdrinna taking over the Lavistown Cheese side of things, Olive Goodwillie and the Lavistown team have a range of gourmet sausages including Lavistown Garlic, Lavistown Chilli, Lavistown Breakfast and Lavistown Italian Style Cocktail.

The sausages are gluten free / coeliac friendly and without doubt, are absolutely divine. The hotdogs they were doing the past few years during the Savour Kilkenny Food Festival are among the nicest I’ve ever had.

Since reopening in February, the Food Hall has been doing great turns for local producers in lining up the free tasting events. Pop your head in from midday for this weekend’s one or if you can’t make it, you’ll also find Second Nature Oils in there next weekend (Saturday 12th) and Janet’s Country Fayre in there on Saturday 26th May.

Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more.

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Meet The Buyer Forum in Kilkenny Tomorrow

April 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Knockdrinna Cheese Awards

Awards and praise for Knockdrinna Cheese - just one of the local food companies represented at the Meet The Buyers forum in Kilkenny this Wednesday.

Food producers in the South East will seek out new business opportunities at a “Meet the Buyer” forum in Kilkenny tomorrow (Wednesday, April 25th) aimed at helping them generate thousands of euros in new sales orders and to explore export markets. The event takes place at the Lyrath Estate Hotel on the Carlow Road.

More than 20 producers from counties Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary will meet national and international buyers at the first-ever South East Regional Buyer/Producer Networking event in the Lyrath Hotel – a new initiative which will provide a boost to the regions developing agri-food sector. The producers will showcase their food to the buyers, who will meet them individually to review their product ranges and offer advice on making deals, packaging and presentation.

Among the big buyers with international links attending the event are Sodexo Ireland, Compass Group PLC & Breaks Ireland who between them have a combined annual spend of €100m.

Food producers attending locally here in Kilkenny will include Highbank Orchards, Kells Wholemeal, Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese, and Oldtown Hill Bakehouse.

The “Meet the Buyer” event is a Southeast Regional Inter-agency Food Initiative, aimed at developing the agri-food sector in the region in line with the Irish Government’s Food Harvest 20/20strategy. It involves Invest Kilkenny, LEADER Rural Development Programmes, and Enterprise Boards from counties Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford City, Waterford County and Wexford.

Kilkenny County Council and Barrow Nore Suir Rural Development have also contributed towards the costs of organising and hosting the event. [Read more...]

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Dinner Theatre at Cloughjordan House

April 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Cloughjordan House, North Tipperary

Cloughjordan House, North Tipperary

Food and theatre under one roof is my kind of event.

Cloughjordan House, Co. Tipperary are hosting their first dinner theatre event in the ballroom of the house as they present an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Grey by Wonderland Productions on the Saturday 12th May starting at 7.30pm

The story is set in the decadent world of Victorian London, where socialite Lord Henry Wotton seduces the beautiful boyish Dorian Grey into a hedonistic life of indulgences, vice and dissipation. Infatuated by Basil Hallward’s portrait, Dorian makes a Faustian pact that he will remain forever young while the picture charts his decline into sin and ultimate self destruction. The Picture of Dorian Grey moves from drawing room comedy and is a compelling and hugely entertaining theatrical event.

What to expect?

An evening of great fun, fabulous food where the players will perform in and around the dining tables of the Ballroom with its cozy, large open fireplace as a backdrop. The venue and setting is unique: you will be dining on local spring lamb cooked whole over a wood fire, desserts using local rhubarb, Boulbane ice-cream and Lough Derg chocolates with Fair Trade teas and coffees. All produce will be prepared and cooked by chefs from Cloughjordan House Cookery School.

The Picture of Dorian Grey will be performed by a cast of four led by Michael James Ford and Simon Coury. The play has been performed to great acclaim in a number of big houses such as Rathsallagh House and Annesbrook House as well as a number of runs in Bewleys Café. This hugely entertaining adaptation has been very well received by the critics.

Tickets available at €40 per person or a group rate of €35 per person for group bookings of 6 or more. For more information visit CloughjordanHouse.com or call Peter on 087-2515694

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Spring Market for Killruddery House on Easter Sunday

April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Killruddery House & Farm

Killruddery House & Farm will host a spring market on Easter Sunday, their inaugural farmers market.

Killruddery House and Farm, Bray, Co. Wicklow, will play host to a Spring Market on Easter Sunday, April 8th. A great selection of food, growers, producers and craft stalls is promised including well known artisans such as Corleggy Cheese, Malone’s Fruit Farm, Ed Hicks, The Real Olive Company, Little Delights Cakes, Organic Delights, Carraignamuc Cottage Chemical Free Fruit and Vegetable Stall and Kingfisher Tea. A selection of craft stalls will also be present including Celtos Croi prints, Simply Toys, Janice Burns Woodturning Crafts and Veronica Roden Jewellery.

Some of the produce on offer at the 30 stalls will include cakes and Easter treats from Little Delights, Smoked Ham Fillets and Baby Bacon Jam from Ed Hicks Butchers and exotic tea blends from Kingfisher Tea.
The Crepe Box will also be serving delicious sweet and savoury pancakes made from free range eggs sourced locally from Bushy Farm in Delgany. The event commences at 10.30am, concluding at 4pm. The Easter Sunday Market is free, however the admission fee to the garden is €6.50 for adults and free for children under the age of 12.

There is some availability in the two locations where the event will be held – indoors in the former Grain Store and outdoor in the Old Horse Yard. Suki Jobson is the person to contact on 087 1935386. Plans are currently being developed to make this market a monthly event on the first Saturday of each month.

Elsewhere at Killruddery (and also on Easter Sunday), there’s an Easter Egg Hunt planned for kids – and their “kids at heart” parents. The Hunt tends to be one of the most popular events in the local calendar with many families expected to attend. A family ticket for two adults and three children will cost €25 or €10 per child and normal garden entrance at €6.50 per adult. The market will run from 10.30am to 4pm.

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Children Eat Free at Saba This Weekend

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Looking for somewhere to bring the kids in Dublin this Easter weekend? Call in to Saba for lunch over the bank holiday weekend and children dine for free. Saba’s extensive menu will be on offer including their most popular signature dishes, summer salads and an Easter special of roast lamb leg.

Saba To Go will be open throughout Easter including Good Friday for a delicious take away. There will be a 15% discount on all food and wine over the three days so be sure to get your order in early. Call Saba To Go on 01 406 0200 or email eat@sabatogo.com. Saba, 26-28 Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, is closed on Good Friday (tomorrow) but open over Easter weekend from 12 noon. See www.sabadublin.com for the menu. Call 01 679 2000 or visit the restaurant to make a booking.

Terms and conditions: Children dine free offer available between 12pm – 3pm from Saturday 7th until Monday 9th April. One child per adult meal ordered eats free.

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Grill Dome, Craft Beers & Barbeque Classes

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Grill Dome BBQ

Grill Dome join The Kitchen In The Castle for BBQ and Craft Beers cookery courses this summer.

One of my absolute favourite ways to cook is to barbeque. Even if there’s the slightest most remote chance that the weather will hold up for an outdoor grill, I’m all over it. We managed a few outdoor dinners last year at Chez McGuire and the oh-so-brief summer we had in the past week or two even yielded a BBQ or two.

If you’re new to the process, however, you might be interested in some classes running at the Kitchen In The Castle cookery school at Howth castle this summer, partnered by Grill Dome. Starting on 18th May, there will be three barbeque and beer tasting (Irish craft beers) courses, one each for May, June and July, with an ‘essentials’ course sandwiched in the middle. Check the links for details.

The May 18, June 28 and July 20 courses are short courses, all hands on and cost €70. The full day essentials course on Saturday 9 June costs €150, taking you through marinades, salads and providing lunch with a glass of wine on the day.

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Top Restaurants In Munster Announced

April 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Munster Regional Final for the Restaurant Awards 2012 sponsored by Santa Rita / Sunday Independent Life Magazine took place in The Imperial Hotel, last night. If you’re looking for the full list of winners in restaurants across Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, skip to the jump.

Speaking at the awards last night, Adrian Cummins of the Restaurants Association of Ireland said

Since their inception, the Irish Restaurant Awards have cast a spotlight on Ireland’s hottest restaurants and chefs. They have become a byword for quality, class and achievement… The awards everyone wants to win. As a testament to their success, the entries have doubled since last year, with 5,000 nominations made for Ireland’s favourite Restaurants, Chefs, Gastro Pubs, Hotel Restaurants and Local Food Heroes throughout the Country.

We celebrate the award winning cuisines and the great restaurateurs and chefs who have brought international recognition and accolades to the Irish restaurant scene. We are the economic engine rooms in every town in Ireland, creating and maintaining much needed local employment. Our industry has annual sales in excess of €2 billion and we employ 64,000 people. In fact, we are the largest employer within the Irish Tourism Sector. And tonight, everyone is a winner’.

It was great to see over 240 restaurateurs attend the awards in the Ulster region this year., we look forward to seeing all of the Ulster County Winners in Dublin on the 14thMay 2012 where Regional and All Ireland winners will be announced’.

All County winners will now compete for the Regional and All Ireland Title which will be announced at the Irish Restaurant Awards in the Burlington Hotel Dublin on Wednesday 14th May 2012.

There are 3 components to phase two of the process. Each element is independently assessed by KPMG.

  • Mystery Guest Visit (35%) This component of the awards is conducted by Prism Consulting headed by Hugo Arnold, independent food writer and consultant. (http://www.hugoarnold.com). All County Winners receive a mystery guest visit throughout the month of April.
  • National Awards Academy (55%) The National Awards Academy is made up representatives from each of the regional judging panels and will meet in May to Judge the County Winners.

Read on for the full list of Munster restaurant award winners. [Read more...]

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Lineup Announced for Restaurants Association Conference

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Restaurants Association of Ireland has announced the line-up for the their 2012 Annual General Meeting and Conference, taking place in the Westin Hotel, Dublin on April 16th. The theme of this year’s event is Succeeding in Adversity.

Guest speakers for the conference include

  • Hugo Arnold, Conference Chairman: Managing Director, Prism Publishing
  • Niall Gibbons, Chief Executive, Tourism Ireland
  • Eddie Hobbs, Independent Financial Advisor
  • Vikki O’Neill, Independent Marketing & Social Media Consultant
  • Damien McLoughlin, Professor of Marketing at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School
  • Jack Murray, Managing Director, Media Contact
  • Imelda Rey, Manager Arts, Culture & Heritage, Failte Ireland

Adrian Cummins, CEO for the Restaurants Association has urged Irish restaurants to continue to be positive and attempt new methods of marketing their businesses to their community, as well as across Ireland – the key is to learn from others.

The RAI also recently announced details of an 8-week Sommelier training program me in association with the Irish Guild of Sommeliers. The course commences on Monday 24 September and continues on Mondays for 8 October, 22 October, 5 November, 19 November, 3 December and 7 January with exams taking place on 21 January 2013.

For more details on the conference, and the sommelier training course, contact the Restaurants Association of Ireland by email on info@rai.ie or visit RAI.ie for more details.

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Foodie Roundup #43

March 25, 2012 By 1 Comment

Foodie Roundup #43

Foodie Roundup #43: March 18th to 24th 2012

Summertime is in, the clocks have changed, the sun is out (thank God), the grass is cut for the first time this year, so all in all that means it’s time for this week’s Foodie Roundup, a look back at ten posts from ten Irish food bloggers this past week – grand for your outdoor reading on a day like today.

Have a post to suggest for a future roundup? Drop me a line at any stage by mailing ken@anygivenfood.com.

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Food Bytes #4

March 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Food Bytes #4

Food Bytes #4: March 17th - 23rd 2012

Another Saturday comes around again which brings us to the 4th Food Bytes roundup with a selection of ten blog posts from ten international food bloggers (i.e. those outside of Ireland). This week features more opinion and recipe pieces that may inspire something new in your kitchen in the week ahead (as I found out bumping into a local reader during the St. Patrick’s Day parade last weekend, the Superbowl party peppers from the second roundup are to die for).

If you’ve missed any of the Food Bytes series of roundup posts, here’s the first, second, third and today gives you the fourth with ten more posts below. Enjoy!

Are you writing about food outside of Ireland and want to get in touch? Drop me a line at any stage by emailing ken@anygivenfood.com, I’d love to hear from you.

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