Letters from the Road
Up-to-date information about new discoveries, new tips, hot new chefs and hot new spots discovered by the Editors of the Bridgestone Guides.
Monday, January 6, 2003
Hi Sally & John
Just to let you know I’m back @ my desk after a good break. Hope you had a great festive season. Anyway, just to let you know I went to Diep’s Noodle Bar in Ranelagh which is just great. Fab contemporary layout with dark wood, great music, mezzanine area that is just buzzing. The wine list is good and the food is delicious – I had the best tempura calamari for starters and then a seafood noodle dish that had a great selection of prawns, clams, cod, etc. Really wonderful atmosphere and the group I was with all agreed we’d return. Prices vary from approx €5-€16 for starters and main courses. But, they don’t really divide between the 2 so, I think you could just have a couple of starters if that’s all you wanted. Only issue for the group was that the starters and mains arrived together and we ran out of room for the food on the table. PP it worked out @ €45 including a tip with lots of wine.
Also Ta She Maghony Gaspipes has closed its doors much to the dismay of their many regulars on the 21st of December. So, Roy & Darina are planning to chill out.
Talk soon
Frieda Forde
Gener8
The Old Church Coffee House
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
The Old Church Coffee House, up a small hill, as you enter Glengarriff, on the border between far west Cork and county Kerry still looks very much like a church, albeit that most churches don’t have a set of wooden tables outside their front door and an Illy coffee sign out front.
This is a coffee house, with a short lunch menu, and as well as overlooking the village of Glengarrif it looks out on the famous Garnish Island, and the newer garden park, Glengariff’s coastal Bamboo Park. I stopped there after visiting the Bamboo Park, and was disappointed to be too late for an outside table, and instead found myself in a sacristry, sitting between a stained glass window and a turf fire – which I might have enjoyed more had it not been a rare day of blazing sunshine and one of the best views in Ireland.
A strange schizophrenic experienced followed, with a carefully decorated room and well chosen Medieval music offset by nonchalant and inexplicably slow service, and a lunch of delicate patties of Organic Bluebell Falls Goat’s cheese, sautéed carefully within a coating of breadcrumbs, a likeable partnership to a rhubarb compote, served with a downright nasty salad of tasteless iceberg lettuce, chunks of raw pepper and onions and briney black olives. The brown bread was good. Go for the coffee and the view. – Sally McKenna
The Old church Coffee House
Glengarrif, Tel: (027) 63663
Killarney Park Hotel
Thursday, August 8, 2002
Hi Guys,
Well, we tried. We tried hard. But, to be perfectly honest, we couldn't find any faults with The Killarney Park Hotel.
Staff? 110% Food? 110% Service? 110% The swimming pool? 110% (120% say the kids). Housekeeping? 110%
So, we reckon manager Donagh Davern and his team will have to re-christen the Killarney Park Hotel, and title it: The Killarney Park 110% Hotel. For that is what you get here: 110% commitment from the entire team, right down the line. And, best of all, to get this sort of stellar service and cooking in a town where standards are often not what they should be, makes the Killarney Park 110% Hotel even more valuable.
Let's talk about the food; we fed the kids in the bar, and they enjoyed some smashing breaded fish fillets with beautiful tartare sauce; some fantastic mash with sausages and peas, and pasta with a rich, fresh tomato sauce.
Then, the grown ups got to enjoy some excellent pea and crab risotto with shellfish bisque, tomato soup seasoned smartly with cumin; lovely steamed asparagus with sauce gribiche; excellent herb-crusted canon of lamb with dinky potato dumplings; and a fine stuffed saddle of lamb. And, let's not forget a rather nice bottle of Cornas from Jean-Luc Colombo which was just the ticket.
Leaving the next morning, the 3-year-old asked; “Can we come back to the Killarney Park Hotel tomorrow?”
Donnybrook Fair
Wednesday, May 1, 2002
Hi Guys,
Well the smart new Donnybrook Fair which Joe Doyle has opened right in the centre of the strip of shops on Morehampton Road, comes at you like a design lover’s dream. Smart curving stainless steel shelving has been borrowed from the super-hip shop on the 5th Floor at Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge, but unlike Harvey’s this is an egalitarian place: you can buy washing up liquid as well as Marc Michel organic produce and Cooke’s breads, and DF has none of that Knightsbridge self-consciousness about it.
The meat counter looks promising, but it is with their cooked-food-to-go- (“prepared by our Ballymaloe chefs”) that DF is likely to make a killing, as the dishes looked both comforting and well-executed. DF is going to be a major attraction and destination for Donnybrook, a great complement to Butler’s Pantry, Terroirs, and Roy Fox.
O'Kane's butchers, Claudy
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Hi Guys,
whatever you do, should you be driving anywhere near Derry, is to get yourself to the little village of Claudy, a few miles east of the city. Here, pull over at O'Kane's butcher's shop, walk inside, and be amazed. Wow! what a fantastic selection of food. This may be a butcher's shop, but in truth its more like a traiteur: chicken en croute; cowboy pie (sausages, beans and spuds in a pie for kids) a range of stews and grills all prepared; chicken teddies (we kid you not); chicken curry; cottage pie; scotch eggs; vol au vents. And, when you finally get around to it, there is the most amazing beef and lamb and pork you can buy. Fantastic, and just don't miss it whatver you do. And say hello to Michael and Kieran while you are there: Hi Guys!. Talk soon.
J.
Morelli's Chipper in Cashel
Friday, December 7, 2001
Hi Guys,
Heading through Cashel and need to boost your kids with carbohydrates? The place to pull over to is Morelli's chipper, just as you turn the first bend into town going south. They make excellent chips in here, just the thing to keep your sprogs going, and the pleasant young Italian girls (the Morellis, one presumes) will even fill the baby's bottle. Thank you very much. Talk soon.
J.
Pub Grub
Monday, December 3, 2001
Hi Guys,
remember when eating in a pub offered a ham sandwich, a cheese sandwich, a cheese and ham sandwich and toasted versions thereof? It all seems like a zillion years ago when you walk into a place like Lennon's Café Bar in Carlow. For a start, the place is more like an exotic art gallery crossed with a New York club; it's cool. Ever better is the food; this is serious cooking from Sinead Byrne and her team: check out that snappy fish cookery, and the excellent salads.
And Lennon's isn't alone. In O'Donovan's in Midleton, the cooking is only ace, and that prices are pure giveaway. We had benchmark roast breast of chicken stuffed with thyme mash, and you would walk a country mile for the floury spuds alone. Amazing stuff. Talk soon,
J.
Lennon's Café Bar, Tullow St, Carlow
O'Donovan's, Main Street, Midleton, Co Cork
A Harvest Kitchen
Wednesday, November 21, 2001
Cuisine de Vendage in Naas has had a name change – or rather a name translation.
Now called Harvest Kitchen, Valerie and Susan continue to offer a neat range of wines, Butler's Pantry take-away suppers and super sandwiches and coffee to eat in or take home.
Harvest Kitchen, 1 Sallins Road, Naas Tel: (045) 881 793
Limerick - Windy City
Monday, August 6, 2001
Hi Guys
How does Limerick, Windy City, strike you. Well, just adjacent to the Corn Market, there is now a little slice of Windy City cuisine in the shape of Bob and Ruth Di Girolamo's bakeshop and cafe, The Wild Onion. This is the buzzy room in town right now, and for good reason.
Open for breakfast and lunch, the hot sandwiches, such as the Chicago burger and the Grilled Chicken Breast are real food. French toast and Maple Syrup with a pork patty and hash potatoes is smashing brunch grub for adults and kids alike. Sweet baking is genuine stuff too, chocolate brownies, cookies, muffins and carrot cake. Check them out on www.wildonioncafe.com.
The Wild Onion
Chicago's Bakeshop and Cafe
High Street, Cornmarket Tel: (061) 440055
www.wildonioncafe.com
Open 8am-4pm Tue-Fri, 9am-3pm Sat
A Salty Tale
Tuesday, July 17, 2001
Know how it's a dream of all of us to live near the sea? Well, before you start to build on that prominent promontory, consider what they have to do at The King Sitric, hard by the harbour in Howth, north County Dublin.
After every big swell, Aidan and Joan MacManus have to get out there next day and wash all those windows! Blimey! That's a whole heap of work, a whole heap of sea salt.
But, if you do stay as close to the sea as you can when you stay in the King Sitric rooms, it sure is a thrill. You can literally pitch a stone from your bedroom window straight into the sea. These are lovely rooms, very comfortable and well appointed, and indeed the entire redesign of The Sitric last year has been a great success. The dining room is classic in design, the cooking imaginative and youthful. Along with Nicky McLoughlin's brilliant seafood shop on Howth Pier, Nicky's Plaice (sic! very sic!) this is a destination address in Howth. Don't miss the super wine cellar and the great wine list also.
Alden's, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Monday, April 30, 2001
Hi Guys,
We reckon just about the best reason to go to Belfast is to have Cath Gradwell’s knock-out dessert of chargrilled pineapple with chilli syrup and coconut sorbet in the understatedly stylish Alden’s restaurant. If there is a better dessert knocking around in the kitchens of the country’s restaurants, well, we have yet to find it. This is a pure humdinger of a dish: the sugar of the pineapple heightened to eye-watering sweetness, the shock of the hot chilli, the cool sooth of the sorbet. Bliss to be alive! Oh, and everything else is just about as good; don’t miss the rabbit stuffed with cotechino sausage and the red pepper and feta cheese mousse which is just darling. Alden’s is at the traffic lights on the Upper Newtownards Road in Belfast and is as hot as modern Irish restaurants get right now.
John
Alden's
229 upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3JF
Tel: (028) 90650079
Open noon-2.30pm Mon-Fri, 6pm-10pm Mon-Sat (till 1pm Fri & Sat)
temple Bar Italia
Wednesday, April 4, 2001
Hi there. Just popped in to Stefano Crescenti's (relatively) new place, Bar Italia, on the quays in Temple Bar. The place is fabulous -- I had a plate of fusilli with roasted yellow and red peppers, bathed in Italian olive oil that was as warm as the sun. Just simple seasonings of salt and pepper. Cost only #3.95. And a fabulous cup of Palombini coffee. He says that's his favourite brand, and one of his staff, David from Torino, actually won a medal for coffee-making in a contest held by Barista in Italy.
Cheers,
Elizabeth Field
temple BAR ITALIA
Unit 4, The Bookend, Essex Quay, Dublin 9
Tel: 01 6795128
Open 8am-6pm, lunch served 12.30pm-3.30pm Mon-Sat (will change opening hours in the summer)
We Shall Have A Fishy
Tuesday, April 3, 2001
We're sitting in a café in Kinsale, West Cork, and outside it's raining and freezing! No matter. The café is the brilliant Fishy Fishy Café where Martin and Marie Shanahan cook the smartest food in this amiable, handsome little port. "This is agonising" said Sally, who took an eternity before deciding to have the grilled prawns with sweet lemon and chilli butter. Good choice! Loads of handsome prawns in their shells, one of Martin's trademark butters, pure yumola.
I had the steamed clams with chilli, coriander, sesame and spring onion. Good choice! Fresh, saline clams cupped a knockout buttery sauce - reader, I sucked the shells.
Martin Shanahan cooks some of the best fish you can eat, and when you are leaving, you can buy not only cracking wet fish, but also their own lovely cooked seafood dishes: we bought one as a present for a friend. Cooking rarely gets this smart, and this is the Don't Miss It! destination in Kinsale. If only it was open for dinner!
Talk to you soon,
John
Kinsale Gourmet Store & Fishy Fishy Café
Guardwell, Kinsale, Co Cork
Tel: 021-774453
Open 11.30am-4.30pm (shop open 9am-6pm) Mon-Sat. Open seven days throughout high summer. Lunch #13-#15
An Carn
Monday, March 12, 2001
Hi Guys
I'm scribbling this whilst watching a golden-orange sun rise, seemingly from up out of the sea, from my room in An Carn, Deaglán and Siobhan O'Reagán's smashing restaurant with rooms in Ring, in the Gaeltacht area of West Waterford. The views from the hilltop site are amazing, and the food and hospitality match it all the way: this is the latest great outpost of that food lovers' heaven which is West Waterford. Lock me up here for the weekend, please.
Three things not to miss if you're truckin' through Dungarvan on your way up the hill to Ring: firstly, the excellent sarnies at lunchtime in The (very busy) Parrish Bar, just up from the square in the centre of town. And don't miss the brilliant bacon and the superb pork sausages in John David Power's shop, and just around the corner from John David, on Friary Street, check
out Aonghus Walsh's smart wine shop, Wine World Ltd.: great gargles, good advice.
Talk to you soon,
John
An Carn, ancarn@eircom.net, tel: (058) 46611
John David Power, tel: (058) 42339
The Parrish Bar, Dungarvan
Wine World Ltd (058) 45600
