The Megabytes Talents for 2007

Moon Shine Dairy

Gerry and Mary Kelly's dairy products are going to take the country by storm in 2007. Superbly flavoured yogurts and smoothies, fantastic soft cheeses, all beautifully presented and all of organic standard, this is a Glen Ilen dairy for the Midlands, and another prototype of just how you manage Irish dairy production for maximum pleasure and profit.
www.kellysorganic.com

Oliver Dunne at Bon Appetit

Oliver Dunne made a huge splash with his cooking when he worked at Mint in Ranelagh. Now, with two sparkly new restaurants at his command in Malahide - Bon Appetit on the first floor, Café Bon in the basement - Mr Dunne is going to bring the Northside of Dublin the cooking its well-heeled citizens need and want. Only open a week, and already packed, the northside culinary revolt starts here.
www.bonappetit.ie

Andy Rea & Danny Millar

The first wave of culinary lieutenants to come out of Belfast's Roscoff changed the way we eat - think of Robbie Millar, Eugene Callaghan, Noel McMeel, to name just three of the most high profile chefs who worked with Paul Rankin in Belfast in the early days
Now, the latest Rankin diaspora are beginning to make their mark. In Belfast's Mourne Seafood Bar, a slightly curious collision of a fish shop, a bar and a stonkingly fine restaurant in the centre of Belfast just beside Kelly's Cellars, Andy Rea is firing out fish cookery for the Gods: is there a better seafood risotto on offer in Ireland? We don't think so.

In County Down, at Balloo House, Danny Millar is showing the form that has made him such a hot ticket in Cayenne in recent years, with the great savoury cooking that is this dynamic chef's signature firing on all cylinders. Both restaurants also offer superb value for money - just the thing for '07.
www.balloohouse.com
www.mourneseafood.com

Kingfisher Tea

In the U.K. these days, the average cup of tea is made, using a tea bag, in 12 seconds. 12 seconds! Pour. Squidge, add milk, yeuch. What a travesty for one of the truly great drinks - and great treats - that the world can offer us.

So, if you need to get your tea perspective back in focus, then Colm Hassett's wondrous range of teas will lead you back to the path of true tea enlightenment. Just try the Japanese green tea with toasted rice, for example, and get blown away…
www.kingfishertea.com

Ariosa Coffee

Michael Kelly's boutique coffee roasting company is a truly exciting ticket. We bought a bag of freshly ground Achill Blend from the Temple Bar market - joining what had to be the biggest queue in the market that morning - and it was a stunner - powerfully aromatic, smilingly complex, a brilliant brew from six varieties of Arabica bean, two of which hail from the Caribbean and all of which are ethically sourced. "I have no doubts that it is one of the best blends in the country", says Mr Kelly. We agree.
www.ariosacoffee.com

Winenot, Dalkey

Winenote is a little wine bar in the centre of Dalkey where Mara - and occasionally the celebrated Enrico Fantasia - cook some of the most delicious - and true -Italian food you can find in Ireland. Pasta with wild boar sauce; risotto with clams and cos lettuce; roast duck with spinach… take our advice and don't even order: just ask them to cook and to select ace Italian wines to match the food, and you are in for a rare treat indeed.

Dun Laoghaire Farmer's Market

On any given Sunday, 10,000 food lovers will stroll into the People's Park in Dun Laoghaire, all set for a high old time shopping and enjoying themselves in what has to be one of the best food experiences in Ireland.
10,000 Food Lovers Can't Be Wrong!

The People's Park is the People's Market, awash with great food and great producers, great craic and great ease. Jackie Spillane has fashioned something truly special here on behalf of the local County Council, an archetype of the mix and the melée that a great market needs. You want cloudberries? Wicklow fresh eggs? Caribbean food? A hot Italian sausage. Westmeath beef? Here it is…

Karoo, Co Wexford

You will find Karoo just behind the busy Texaco station on the main Wexford-Rosslare road, and when you do take the turn off at Killinick, make sure to leave lots of time to discover this hip, smart new farm shop, a fusion of a choice deli and greengrocer with a neat little café.
Karoo is just what a good country shop should be, filled with good things from the locality, and with lots of ace brands such as Stable Diet, Ditty's, Java Republic, Wicklow Fine Foods and many more.
Email: info@karoo.ie

County Offaly Food Producers

We discovered the lovely Whigsborough House, near to Birr, during the year, and enjoyed a charming old country house with superb cooking from Anna Heagney. But that's not the only new star in Offaly. As the gorgeous Offaly Delicious booklet orchestrated by Michelle O'Brien showed, there are talented and emerging artisans in Offaly who really know their stuff - Prue & Simon's; Mossfield Organic Farm; Clanwood Farm; Meadowsweet Apiaries; Sweet Creations; The Scullery; O'Donoghue's Bakery; Farm Factory Direct; Annaharvey Farm; Andrew Rudd food group.

Add in The Organic Store in Birr, Glenisk Dairy and other quality food producers, and what you have in Offaly is a quiet little culinary revolution.
www.offalyleader.ie

The Park Inn Mulranny, Co. Mayo

The PIM impressed us prodigiously when we stayed here with our family back in July. Great cooking from Seamus Commons in the restaurant, excellent staff, superb rooms and apartments, with everything somehow clicking in place and offering a superb Irish signature style, and doing so at excellent value for money.

In a country awash with shiny, disappointing, new hotels, how wonderful to see a restored old hotel brought brightly into 21st century Ireland, serving up the food, service and hospitality that is the trademark of Ireland at its best. A bright new star in the West, a Kelly's Resort Hotel for County Mayo, and one of the beacons for 2007.
www.mulranny.parkinn.ie