When I threw the competition together earlier in the week I couldn’t really have guessed what sort of brilliant stories I’d be getting back or just how emotional I’d feel reading some of them. I was expecting a few people saying that their boss was a douchebag or that they’d pranged their car but people […]

10 years ago

The Germans might have the best economy in the world, make the best cars, win every fucking football tournament under the sun and some of the best beers around but thankfully they’ve never been that good at food. Apart from Black Forest gateaus their list of famous dishes reads about as well as a list […]

10 years ago

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 packet of Superquinn sausages 1 packet of apricots 1 packet of sage 1 packet of puff pastry Fiery tomato ketchup Ballymaloe relish 1 egg Ask someone from outside Ireland what we’re famous for in terms of food and they’d probably list off the typical stuff like smoked salmon, potatoes, or Guinness. But in […]

10 years ago

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but every man and his dog seems to be a coeliac these days. As Alex said to me on Twitter it nearly seems to be a pre-requisite to becoming a hipster these days along with having a Fixie bike and a beard. Ask any of our parents and they […]

10 years ago

Every city has good coffee and although I’ve already selected my best in Dublin I thought limiting you all to one place just wouldn’t be fair. With that in mind I wanted to pot the question out to the foodies following the blog on Twitter and see what they thought. I don’t know about you […]

10 years ago

Something special has been happening down in the docks now for a number of years. The influx of tech giants like Facebook and Google, tons of young Irish start ups and some new cultural landmarks like the Bord Gais theatre make this an up and coming area of Dublin. I remember living down here in […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 Bagel Cream cheese 1 lemon Smoked salmon Half a red onion Black pepper 1 avocado I don’t know if you’re like me, but I always have bagels when I’m out and about, rather than making my own toppings at home. But I wanted to change that habit with this recipe and come up […]

10 years ago

I’ve only ever been to Capel Street about 5 times in my life and 3 of those trips involved looking for morning pints in the early house Slatterys (yes they have a website but it is woeful and from 1997) after serious sessions with a bunch of new found friends that I’d encountered around the […]

10 years ago

The whole hipster movement and trends at the moment point away from people loving big brands. Its a move towards bicycles instead of fancy cars. Farmers markets instead of supermarkets. Quirky coffee versus Starbucks. If there is one essential item that every hipster in the world feels they need to make a fuss about it […]

10 years ago

Just like in any capital city  in Dublin you’ll be able to get a sandwich on pretty much every corner. Some are whopper and some are rotten but two slices of bread with a bit of meat or cheese and some salad is what the vast majority of us choose to lash into our big […]

10 years ago

Ingredients Granola Fresh Mint Yoghurt 1 Packet Raspberries 1 Orange 1 Lemon I don’t know about you but I find it really fucking hard to eat in the mornings never mind make something nice what with trying to get dressed and out the door in time. More often than not I end up eating those […]

10 years ago

Ingredients Chicken Breasts Packet Of Cooked Beetroot New Potatoes Handful Of Spinach Feta Cheese Cooking during the week is a massive pain in the hole right? You get home from work and through a mixture of tiredness and looking in the fridge to see the same boring ingredients you find yourself scratching your head. The […]

10 years ago

I started this blog to solve a problem for myself…I wasn’t trying enough new places to eat out in and sticking to the same old spots. I solved that problem but then I started noticing a new one and it is something that has been bothering me for years…It is really hard to search for […]

10 years ago

I’ve been asked loads of times to put a list together for the 12 pubs of Dublin and I wanted to put a slightly different slant on it so here are 12 of the most hip pubs in the city. You are clearly going to be hammered along this little journey wearing your snazzy jumpers […]

10 years ago

I love discovering a load of new places in Dublin and rather than relying on newspapers (weeks behind), websites or guides I follow the people who know their shit on Twitter. It’s a discovery engine more than anything and with the new visual way of looking at photos in the stream it is often the […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 4 Carrots 4 Sticks Of Celery 3 White Onions Fresh Thyme Fresh Basil Chicken Stock Cubes 2 Tins Of Plum Tomatoes Some Sort Of Small Pasta. Whatever Takes Your Fancy It has come to that time of year where you are absolutely frozen to the bone and I’m sitting here wearing three hoodies to […]

10 years ago

I refuse to give into Christmas in November but by fucking god will I embrace it when it comes to December. It makes us all so happy and if I had my way I’d do it every month. Sure don’t the retailers, pubs and restaurants need it badly! So this year I wanted to put […]

10 years ago

Whats going on along Camden Street? Dublin’s dingiest street best known for groups of GAA fans queueing up outside Flannerys and 16 year olds baring all in their short skirts as they totter into the Palace with naggins hidden in their knickers. I lived there for couple of years and one particular highlight I’ll always […]

10 years ago

I’ve been in Thailand for the last week and being an un-organized bastard who didn’t get enough reviews ready in advance before leaving Dublin so come up with something a little different for today. Taking inspiration from some of the mental things I’ve seen out here I decided to have a look around for the […]

10 years ago

Social media is a vital tool for marketing a restaurant these days. I’d even go as far as saying it is the most important. Can it ever go wrong though and what happens when it does? Well just over the water in the UK is an example of it going really fucking wrong. You’ll pick […]

10 years ago

Remember when the days of going to a pub in Dublin were about getting pissed and having the craic? That was before the word craic got replaced with having the LOLs and prinking became the norm. You’d take a 50 out of the drink link, get 8 pints, a pack of smokes, couple of bags […]

10 years ago

Ingredients Salmon Green Beans New Potatoes Capers 2 Lemons Small Splash Of Mayo 1 Red Onion Parsley Fish is the one thing people always tell me that they struggle to cook. Most people don’t a blind fucking notion where to start and when they do decide to cook one of our little underwater friends it […]

10 years ago

When it comes to food I think we can all agree that cake is about the best thing out there right? Thats why we eat birthday cake once a year. We can also probably agree that cheese is the second best food out there. So when you combine the two and open a shop on […]

10 years ago

Most of us probably eat in a restaurant about once a week on average. Despite doing so we don’t really have a fucking clue how the industry works and what happens in a kitchen. You probably imagine a kitchen as something of a mix between Jamie Oliver lightly tossing salad leaves, Gordon Ramsay rollicking an […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 2 Bags Of Brussels Sprouts Tub Of Fresh Cream Emmenthal Cheese 1 Packet Of Bacon 1 Red Onion 1 Packet Of Breadcrumbs The debate about Brussels Sprouts rages year after year. Are they delicious or just simply work of the devil? With the world evidently split on them we decided to create a recipe […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 Packet Of Breadcrumbs 1 Packet Of Sage 2 White Onions Loads Of Butter 1 Packet Of Hazel Nuts 1 Packet Of Brazil Nuts 1 Packet Of Sausage Meat There are many individual parts that make up an epic Christmas dinner but for me the one that brings them altogether is the stuffing. Balls […]

10 years ago

As titles to blog posts go I’m pretty proud of this one. Anyway moving on to the serious business of making sure your bird is as moist as possible this Xmas. Buy her a Chloé handbag from Brown Thomas. I’m joking, I’m joking calm down it’s Christmas. Right cooking a Turkey is a pretty huge […]

10 years ago

For most of us, Christmas is all about the food. It’s called the season to eat, drink and be merry but it’s the eating and drinking part that make it so very merry. From stuffing ourselves full of mince pies, drinking mulled wine to taking on a whopper Christmas dinner, the festive season revolves around […]

10 years ago

For many this is the last day of work before the holidays and along with some of Dublins best restaurants and venues we wanted to throw out a series of wonderful prizes throughout the workday to make things pass a little quicker for you. Everything is running under the #lovindublin on Twitter and here on […]

10 years ago

While I love reviewing restaurants and cafes here on the blog it can often feel like the blinkered view coming from one person. With that in mind I wanted to start an open thread here in the comments where people can share what they think is the best restaurant in Dublin. Not only will the […]

10 years ago

This is one of my favorite Irish food stories. It’s the story of a husband and wife team who are making the best roasted meats in the country and serving some of the tastiest sandwiches I’ve ever tasted. I first came across them on a shitty windswept day in a Sandyford foodie market and I’ve […]

10 years ago

Good Irish ice cream. Thats an oxymoron if ever I’ve heard one. It’s the equivalent of asking a Tibetan munk for a good pint of Guinness. With the temperatures hitting the roof and pasty white Irish bodies being quickly to lobster red and even the odd tanned (non bottle variety) person around we are all […]

10 years ago

In my day as a chef you used to live or die by the dreaded “restaurant critic”. They’d come in (usually days after a new establishment had opened) and pretty much always be recognizable to the staff due to their larger than life presence. In the kitchen all fucking hell would break lose with the […]

10 years ago

The first thing you need for a date is a member of the opposite sex which is where most of us stumble. The second essential ingredient is a friend to call you during the date in case you need a swift exit. We’ve all been there. The third element in the search of true love […]

10 years ago

When I think about the Celtic Tiger I think about three things…The tent at the Galway races, Bertie grinning like a mad delusional bastard and Johnny Ronan the bearded property tycoon with a penchant for leggy models. At one stage it seemed young Johnny owned 30% of the commercial property in the world and things […]

10 years ago

Who doesn’t love a good burger? We all do. The big problem in this country is that somewhere along the line people decided to make them as big as possible. I’m thinking about Jo Burger, The Counter, Eddie Rockets and Bobos. It was as if they were trying to see who had the biggest dick […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 Packet of pre made gnocchi 1 Bunch of parsley 3 Lemons A Jar of capers 1 Red onion 3 Cloves of garlic 2 Chicken breasts If you are not a chef or a serious foodie then you’ve probably never contemplated cooking Gnocchi. You used to have to make them by hand but thanks […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 Mango Orange Juice Handful of strawberries 2 Passion fruit 1 Actimel (or some plain yoghurt) I don’t know about you but I find it a massive pain in the hole trying to eat fruit. So time consuming and so good for you but I can never really be arsed. I also find that […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 Large White Onion 6 Small carrots 2 Heads Celery 1 Bag of Cabbage and leeks 3 Chicken Stock Cubes Cup of pearly barley 8 New potatoes Had a rough weekend? Been out sleeping in a field at a festival for most of the weekend? Still got the shakes going to work this Monday […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 3 Large potatoes 1 Packet of bacon lardons Some cheddar cheese 1 Tub of sour cream 1 Bunch of spring onions 1 White onion 1 Bag of spinach (Or rocket) This recipe places the humble potato as the central part of the dish with a gorgeous stuffing and an absolutely savage taste. I’m somewhat […]

10 years ago

Ingredients Handful of spinach 1 Banana 1 Berocca Tablet (Or similar vitamin C) Packet of Blueberries Small tub of plain Yoghurt Orange Juice You know that feeling when your nose starts sniffling or you feel your glands coming up and you are like “for fuck’s sake I can’t believe I am about to get sick […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 2 Very ripe avocados (don’t even think about making this with hard ones) 1 Red chili 1 Red onion 1 Clove of garlic 3 limes 1 Bunch coriander Sea Salt Nothing annoys me more than the shit guacamole that comes pre prepared in the little tubs in supermarkets. It tastes like complete and utter… […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 packet of fresh pasta 1 Packet of smoked salmon 2 lemons 1 Corgette (Zucchini) 1 Packet of basil 2 Cloves of garlic Parmesan cheese We all need a few “go to” pasta dishes that we can lash together in a few minutes when we get home from work. Most of us are lazy […]

10 years ago

We’ve all eaten a lot of bad meals in our lives. Nothing pisses me off more. If you’d paid 50 or 100 quid for a pair of shoes or some clothes and they fell to bits 5 minutes after your purchase you’d return them outraged and demand a refund. Restaurants on the other hand are […]

10 years ago

It’s pretty hard to re-invent the humble burger. They come in every shape and size these days with every topping under the sun. I reviewed my own favorite last week but just when you thought things had reached their zenith along comes something completely new. Somebody famous once said you can’t invent new recipes until […]

10 years ago

South William Street in Dublin is without doubt the hippest street in the city. It’s a short enough stretch but has everything from tattoo parlours, hip bars, nightclubs, strip clubs, fancy restaurants, cool urban cafes, boutiques and even a couple of sex shops thrown in. On a summer’s day you could be in any cool […]

10 years ago

Ingredients Pork Fillet 2 Peppers (any colours) Carrots Soy Sauce Spring onions Large Knob of ginger 1 Packet of green beans I’m on a major healthy drive at the moment and as you’ll all know carbs are the enemy when you trying to get in shape. The big problem with carbs is that they taste […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 Green Peppers Large handful of green beans 1 Cucumber 3 Apples Large handful of salad (rocket or anything else you have) If eating fruit is tough then getting your 5 a day in terms of vegetables is even tougher. Luckily this juice is not only incredibly tasty but more less the healthiest thing […]

10 years ago

Ingredients 1 packet of rocket 1 large handful of walnuts 3-4 cooked beetroots 1 large round of goats cheese 2 tbsp of olive oil Black pepper & salt Everyone needs some easy, delicious and healthy recipes in their arsenal that can be whipped together in mere minutes when the munchies come. I love this salad […]

10 years ago