Campo Viejo Tapas Trail comes to the streets of Cork

Campo Viejo Tapas Trail comes to the streets of Cork

Urban Art also in the mix!

This May and June, Spanish wine brand Campo Viejo, the flagship of Rioja wines, will bring the sell-out Campo Viejo Tapas Trail to the streets of Cork City.  Food and wine enthusiasts are invited to join in the month long celebration of Spanish style tapas dining and discover the true passion, vitality and vibrancy of Spain’s culinary culture from the 8^th May to 5^th June.  For further information and to purchase tickets, priced at €20 per person, log onto www.facebook.com/campoviejoireland orwww.campoviejotapastrail.ie.

Now an annual celebration of the best of Spanish cuisine and wine, the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail allows participants to enjoy the unique colourful social experience of going from eatery to eatery and sharing a selection of authentic Spanish tapas cuisine, while experiencing  the vibrancy of Spain right on their own doorstep.   

Tickets for the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail are priced at €20 with the trail taking place each Wednesday between 6.30pm and 9.00pm and each Sunday between 2.00pm and 4.30pm in participating restaurants (excluding Sunday 2nd June). 

Cork Trail

During the event, participants will visit four top tapas restaurants in Cork City where they will be presented with the venue’s three best tapas specially created to complement the elegance and full flavours associated with Campo Viejo Reserva. Restaurants on the Tapas Trail are; Arthur Mayne's, Pembroke St., Electric, South Mall, The Cornstore, Cornmarket St. and Oysters, Lapps Quay.  Participants will also enjoy a glass of Campo Viejo Reserva in each restaurant. 

Inspired by the Spanish way of life and Campo Viejo’s mantra of ‘stimulating a more expressive world’, the Tapas Trail will this year bring Spain’s expressiveness and vibrancy to the streets of Cork through urban art.   In an exciting new collaboration with renowned Irish urban artists, Psychonautes and Fatti Burke, Campo Viejo will capture Spain’s colourful culture and passion for living through bespoke installations which can be seen and enjoyed during the Tapas Trail.  Urban art features heavily in contemporary Spanish culture, with Madrid often considered the spiritual home of urban art, making it the perfect complement to the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail 2013.  Inspired by red wine, the artists will also work together with Campo Viejo winemakers to create a vibrant red paint colour, which they will use in the artwork.

Speaking about the Tapas Trail, Rachel Keogh, Brand Manager of Campo Viejo, said; “We’re very excited about the return of the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail, particularly with the expansion of the Trail to Cork and the introduction of urban art this year.  The creative process of winemaking and art is more similar than most people think.  Both start with a blank canvas and a vision of what we want to achieve.  The process then takes us on a journey of experimentation – be it with flavours or colours – until we are satisfied with the final outcome.  Through the introduction of urban art into the Tapas Trail we hope to encourage people to embrace the Spanish way of living, full of colour and passion, which is central to Campo Viejo’s mantra to live a ‘Life Uncorked’.”

80 people can participate on the trail during each session. They will be split up into four groups of 20; each group will be assigned a different route, starting from different restaurants and work their way around the trail. Hosts will guide participants on the trail educating them on the importance of the Rioja region and describing Campo Viejo’s unique characteristics. For further information and to purchase tickets log onto www.facebook.com/campoviejoireland or www.campoviejotapastrail.ie 

Iberia Flying High

Iberia Flying High

The winemakers of Portugal and Spain certainly seem to be coming up with the goods nowadays. From Portugal, I’ve tasted some really good wines from the DAO recently along with a popular port while Spain has more than pleased with a Tempranillo from La Rioja Alta region and, not for the first time, with the Arana Rioja Reserva from the winery in Haro that bears the same name as the region.

Lagrimas de Maria, La Rioja Alta Crianza 2010, 14.5%, €13.99, stockists

This is one hundred per cent Tempranillo and made in the heart of La Rioja Alta. It spent 12 months in oak and the winemaker is Maria Martinez Maria whose hand writing appears on the labels.

Colour is a dark cherry red with aromas of forest fruits. This is Tempranillo at quite a high level, fruit for sure and hints of the oak but really well balanced and an excellent dry finish. No need for the tears, Maria. Highly Recommended.

Flor de Viseu Selection (red), DAO 2009, 13%, €12.99, stockists.

Colour is ruby red and the aromas, of moderate intensity, are those of red fruit. Red fruit also on the palate and slight spice, freshness and sufficient acidity present, and it finishes dry.

Grapes used are Tourigo National and Alfrocheiro. Should go well with red meat and cheese.

The flower on the label symbolises the thistle flower found locally. But nothing spiky about this rather smooth red wine. Highly recommended.

Viña Arana Rioja Reserva, 2004 La Rioja Alta

This wine, by the winery that bears the same name as the region, is a favourite of mine. But I am not alone. The Los Angeles Times Food section recently made it their Wine of the Week and you may read their take on it here. 

Ferreira Late Bottled Vintage Port 2007

Bought this bottle in the Basque Country last summer and it took me until now to get around to it. Don’t think I’ve seen it on sale in Ireland but Ferreira is a huge port exporter. Indeed, according to Hugh Johnson’s 2012 pocket wine book, they are the leading Portuguese owned Port shipper and “the best selling brand in Portugal”.

This is quite a gem, with beautiful flavours, great balance and a tremendous finish. Picked it up out of curiosity and it didn’t kill me. Read more about Ferreira, which is over 250 years old, here. 

Buying local. Market Meal #5

Buying local. Market Meal #5

Simple salad with Marinated Butter Beans from the Real Olive Company

Haven’t posted a Buying Local post in a while. Just took a break from preaching about buying Irish (only stopped talking about it, mind you, I was still buying) and supporting local producers. This latest post was inspired by some delightful Lamb Merguez Sausages, new from Eoin O’Mahony in the English Market, and by last week’s visit to the makers of Cashel Blue.

Domini Kemp's Cashel Blue Cheese, recipe link below.

 Saturday

Let us start with those chunky sausages. Despite the Merguez name and also a few dollops of harissa, they won’t blow the head off you. We wanted to try the sausage flavour as pure as possible and tried them with a little mashed potato. Really tasty, moderately spiced and full of flavour and a great texture. I’m sure you’ll find lots of use for them, maybe with lentils, maybe with white beans, perhaps sliced lengthways and packed into a roll with salad, maybe in a Spanish Rice recipe such as this one. 

Moved up a few stalls in the market after that and called to the Real Olive Company for some sun dried tomatoes and also a scoop of their marinated butter beans. Got more of the slightly spicy beans than we bargained for so, for a quick lunch, used them with a straightforward salad and a few slices of the Country Baguette by Tom’s Bakery which is sold at ABC in the Market. Easy peasy! And tasty!

Lamb Merguez sausages from O'Mahony's in the English Market

 The sun dried tomatoes had been bought to be part of a terrific Cashel Blue cheese recipe from Domini Kemp and available on the Cashel Blue website http://www.cashelblue.com/official-recipe/puy-lentils-with-sundried-tomatoes-and-cashel-blue/ The other main ingredients are Puy lentils (from Len’s Cereals in Mahon Point Farmers Market) and red onions. And keep a few slices of that Country Baguette handy.

Tom's Country Baguette from the ABC Stall in the Market.

Sunday

On the following day, we had a collection of left-overs and added the butter beans to the Cashel Blue recipe and that gave us quite a plateful at lunch today. Looks like being a good day foodwise as the aromas of garlic and rosemary are now wafting around the house as a shoulder of lamb from Eoin O’Mahony is slow cooking for the Sunday dinner.

Buy local and everyone’s a winner, producers, suppliers and customers. 

UCC share world’s largest study on food allergies. Can you help?

ANAPHYLAXIS IRELAND SEEKS PARTICIPANTS FOR GLOBAL FOOD ALLERGY STUDY

Research into Severe Allergic Reactions will result in an App to limit Anaphylaxis

The national organisation for people with severe allergies, Anaphylaxis Ireland, is currently recruiting individuals to participate in the world’s largest study on food allergies.

Anaphylaxis Ireland is part of a global team, which also includes University College Cork, selected to participate in this study. Their work will ultimately result in the creation of an online app AlleRiC, which will be used to record accidental allergic reactions.

“We are looking for individuals and families who have experienced allergic reactions to food and who have been diagnosed with a food allergy, to participate in a number of focus groups in Cork (Saturday, 18 May) and Dublin (Saturday, 8 June)”, said Regina Cahill, Anaphylaxis Ireland.  “We will be working on the development of an online app, AlleRiC – Allergic Reactions in the Community. This integrated system will enable researchers to determine how, why, where and when, accidental allergic reactions occur in the community”.

Electric: Fish you were here!

Electric: Fish you were here!

Bream

From the large windows on Electric’s New Fish Bar, you see three of Cork’s quays: French’s Quay (named after a wine merchant), Sullivan’s Quay (where our government built ugly) and George’s Quay (from where this story comes).

Back in the last century, before the swinging sixties, a young girl from Evergreen Street skipped down Nicholas Hill and Dunbar Street to the riverside steps to collect sardines for her grandmother from the fishermen in their rowing boats. She took them back up, wrapped in a few pages of the Echo, where granny fried them and then ate them, bones and all.

 That story came up after Friday’s visit to that splendid new upstairs fish bar, bright and informal with those riverside views. Might have had ordered the sardines on the menu had we thought of it earlier but, as it was, we were delighted with what we had and the lovely welcome and service.

CL, the little girl in the opening story, started off with a gorgeous Gravadlax, a superb vodka and dill cured salmon with marinated beetroot and cucumber pickle. This was from the regular menu as was my opener: Dressed Crab and Shrimp (that comes in a pot), served with lemon, chilli and a basil and olive oil infused sourdough.

 We were sitting at the bar by the window and there is also one around the kitchen. Don’t like sitting up at bars? Don’t worry as there are quite a lot of tables here as well. As we ate, eyes were kind of hopping from one’s own dish to the other’s. Eventually, halfway through, a swap was arranged. Two different yet lovely dishes.

 And the same sharing arrangement continued when the main courses arrived. Again also the same simplicity on the plate, mainly the fish. If you want a little more, you have the option of ordering from a little list of sides.

Back to the fish. CL had (should say started) with the popular special: Whole Pink Bream with roasted Lemon and Fennell, a delicious reminder of seaside eating in Portugal (which Electric quote as an inspiration for the Fish Bar). My pick was also delicious and also fresh. This was the  Pan Fried Cod  served with chilli jam and Asian Slaw.

And, yes, they do have a dessert menu. No fish on this list but there was a trace of seaweed in the one we shared: Lemon and Carrageen Moss Posset with Raspberries. And that was polished off  before two happy customers walked out into the South Mall sunshine. Oh, forgot to mention (almost) that our bill was accompanied by two colourful postcards, one printed with the Fish you were here (above).

Fish Bar opening hours: Thursday - Friday – Saturday 12pm Midday to 10pm; also open Bank Holiday Sundays.

Amuse Bouche

-       “MacArthur Park.” That was me favourite.

-       A classic until Richard fuckin’ Harris took it and wrecked it.

-       It’s all it takes, isn’t i? Some cunt from ******** takes a certified disco classic and turns it into some sort of bogger lament.

-       Someone left the cake out in the rain.

-       They wouldn’t know what cake was in ********. They’d be puttin’ it in their hair.

-       An’anyway, they’d’ve robbed the fuckin’ cake long before it started rainin’.

From Two Pints by Roddy Doyle

Coeliac Friendly Estrella

Coeliac Friendly Estrella

It was at Gilbey’s Wine Portfolio tasting in the Clarion earlier in the week that I came across the Estrella Daura, their gluten free lager. Quite a nice one too. Brand manager Ealron Kennedy had quite a few other beers there as well including the Estrella Inedit, the beer developed in association with Ferran Adria and the famous El-Bulli restaurant.

But I had a particular interest in the Daura as a friend of mine is a coeliac so I took a few details for his information. It is a refreshing good quality beer, brewed by Estrella Damm, a sponsor of Barcelona FC, a fact that should appeal to my buddy as should its endorsement by the Coeliac Society of Ireland. Ealron told me it is on sale widely and certainly in Dunnes Stores.

Expanded my research a little further and found that, of course, it was also on sale in Bradley’s Off Licence in North Main Street. And, when I checked with Michael Creedon in Bradley’s, he told had more gluten free beers and, in a few seconds, he had gathered a few (see photo).

Gleeson incorporating Gilbey’s are building their craft beer selection and I heard later in the afternoon that one of the leading Irish craft brewers will soon have their products included in the portfolio.

The World Beer Award winner for 2010, the Weihenstephan Vitus, is already in the Gilbey’s line-up and was available for tasting at the Clarion. I like my wheat beers. This is a strong one, 7.7% abv, with a taste to match; well balanced though.

The Dunkel, a dark wheat beer, comes from the same stable as does the Hefe, a cloudy wheat beer. The brewery, dating back to 1040, is regarded as the oldest in the world.

Ealron also had some Belgium beers (Vedett and Duvel), the Czech Budejovicke Pivo and a couple of Dutch (Bavaria Lager and Bavaria Regular Malt). Always thought Bavaria was a German beer but now I know better!

ORSO. Different. Deliciously so.

ORSO. Different. Deliciously so.

It’s bright and chatty, maybe even witty. That’s the service style at ORSO, now into its eighth month on Pembroke Street. No reservations here but turnover at lunchtime is relatively speedy, not that they’ll put you under any pressure (on the contrary) and, if full, don’t run off, they’ll help you get a seat soon enough.

As you pass the counter on the way in, you may study the various salads, usually four of them. Pick one or a bowl with all four. The salads are also used to accompany the main dishes on quite a large menu that is influenced by the Southern Mediterranean and beyond.

Called in for lunch in midweek and the first thing we ordered was one of their famous juices (changes daily). This, a mix of orange and carrot, was fantastic, giving the waiter a chance to crack a joke about glowing in the dark. It is an informal space, so sit back and relax between bites or swallows.

After studying the menu, CL choose the Stuffed roast aubergine (with spiced roast vegetables, yoghurt and hazel nuts) and her salad was the Roast squash and beetroot with smoked bacon, butter beans, lentils and orange zest.

For me it was the Slow cooked lamb and spice potato pie in flaky pastry and my salad was the Cous Cous with coriander, apricots, almonds, roast saffron vegetables and hummus. Each of the mains, including the salad, cost €8.90 and both were excellent.

Something sweet to finish with. Some of the pastries had vanished, they are open from 8.30am, but the Mixed Berry Crumble was still available and we each had one, along with a cup of their special 5 bean blend coffee, roasted for ORSO by Greenbean. A very impressive crumble – loved the oatmeal topping – and a smashing coffee.

Mon - Tue: 8:30 am - 6:00 pm

Wed - Sat: 8:30am – late.

Phone:            (021) 243 8000

Email: info@orso.ie  

Website: http://www.ORSO.ie

Food and Drink Spotting

Food and Drink Spotting

“A thrilling weekend of food &
food cultural activities.”

Slow Food Ireland and Sandbrook House present Grandmothers Day 2013. The festival returns to Sandbrook House this year and it is bigger and better than before.

Join us for a weekend of celebration, as we investigate our Irish food heritage and encourage families to come together and remember lost skills, pass on inherited wisdom and celebrate good, clean fair food.
 

Saturday 20^th April

Join us for “Slow Roots, a Food Symposium”. This will be a public symposium involving IT’s from across the island as we investigate “How can our Irish food heritage create jobs for this generation?”  Click here to find out more…
 

Sunday 21^st April

Grandmothers Day gives families the opportunity to spend time together, remembering and recording lost skills and the precious inherited wisdom passed down by previous generations. Join us for a fun filled day of activities, workshops, entertainment and delicious cookery demonstrations!   Click here to find out more...

Irish Examiner Food Festival

The cork food festival will be held on the beamish and crawford site in the city centre between the 25th and 28th of July. If your business or brand would like to be involved or would like more information please contact us on corkfoodfestival@gmail.com . As this is a smaller site we will have limited capacity for exhibitors. (Fitzgeralds Park is under renovations and we will be back there next summer)

Kenmare Food Carnival

Our fundraiser 'A Taste of Kenmare' is only a fewdays days away. Through the funds raised we will be having the second Kenmare Food Carnival. Our video shows the highlights of year one which would not have been possible without the success of last years fundraiser. If you are looking for a great night out then please consider joining us on April 27th for fun & food by the sea at 'A Taste of Kenmare' and know you will be helping our dream for another fantastic food carnival become reality 

http://youtu.be/G8CQJ8FV71E

Wine

As part of the Bringing the Wine Geese Home Gathering series of events, we are delighted to announce that Emma Cullen of Cullen Wines in Margaret River, Australia will showcase their wines at a special dinner in Cafe Paradiso on Tuesday 28th May.

Cullen Wines are renowned not only for their sophisticated quality but also for the philosophy behind their production, being produced on a certified biodynamic, carbon neutral and naturally powered estate. Rest assured, the Paradiso kitchen will be cooking up a storm to match these wines through a multi-course meal.

This will be a single sitting dinner event with limited availability, and booking is essential. Tickets, at €65 for dinner and accompanying wines, can be booked by calling the restaurant on 021 4277939.

Shorts

HP Guinness Sauce

Beef sushi anyone 

Bia Sasta Events

Amazing Sausage Roll 

Marc Stroobandt ‏@beerinfo9s

BBC News - Beer-glass shape alters people's drinking speed - study http://bbc.in/S5dxFf 

The Black Pig Wine Bar

The Black Pig Wine Bar

If you find yourself sitting on a sheepskin covered bench on a painted concrete floor with a fire blazing in the stove alongside and you are trying to decide which of 80 wines you’ll sample, then you are in the Black Pig, Kinsale’s newest wine bar.

It opened on Lower O’Connell Street just a few weeks back and is operated by Gavin and Siobhan who have considerable experience from their years with the Ely Wine Bar in Dublin. It may be new but make sure to book before you go. We did last Sunday night - and found our name chalked on the wall behind our table – and were glad we did as the place filled up very quickly indeed.

Some were there for the wine, of course, but quite a few took the opportunity to enjoy the food. They have lined up some terrific local producers including The Real Olive Company, Frank Hederman, On the Pig’s Back, Milleens, Gubbeen, Golden Bean Coffees, Gurman’s Teas, Koko Chocolates, Colm O’Regan Organic Farm, Diva Boutique Bakery and Billy Connery Butchers

Many of the wines are available by the glass. In the whites, you’ll see old world favourites like Chablis and Riesling and new world wines like the Mount Difficulty Pinot Gris and the Shaw and Smith M3 Chardonnay from Australia. Chile (Carmenere) and Argentina (Malbec/Bonarda) are available by the glass in the reds; by the bottle you may choose the excellent Domaine de Aphillantes Cotes de Rhone Villages 2007 or, if you really love the other half, dip into the sunken treasures and come up smiling with the Close des Papes, Chateauneuf de Papes 1998 at 149 euro.

I sampled a couple of whites, at the lower end, I hasten to add. One was the organic Weingut Wagner-Stempel, Riesling Trochen, Rheinhessen 2011 and the other was the Domain Raimbault-Pineau Sancerre 2011, each at €7.20 a glass. There was a little discussion, almost an argument at the table, but we both, marginally, preferred the Riesling.

Must say we enjoyed our starters: the marinated Artichoke Hearts and the Toonbridge Buffalo Mozzarella with semi sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil, both served with a generous basket of baguettes slices.

The mains were also excellent. No real surprises on the Antipasto Board (12.95) but thoroughly enjoyed the mix of Gubbeen salami and chorizo, Serrano Reserva, mature Manchego along with a bowl of olives, a tasty pesto and more artichokes heart. 

CL was also on a winner with the Frank Hederman Beech smoked organic salmon with horseradish sauce and brown bread. Needless to say there was a fair bit of swapping going on as the enjoyable evening in a busy buzzy spot unfolded, the rain and the wind outside forgotten as the fire glowed. With a cobbled terrace to the rear and a small streetside patio, it should be even better in the good weather ahead.

Impressive Gilbey’s Portfolio Tasting

Gilbey’s Portfolio Tasting

Jon Smith talking to visitors
at Gilbey's Wine Portfolio in the Clarion.

Enjoyed my tour of the Gilbey’s Portfolio Tasting in the Clarion Hotel (Cork) yesterday, the first time that the event has been held in the city.

Quite a few restaurants and bars represented at a very impressive display by Gilbey’s with eight tables, each with a  different wine theme, and a ninth stand that displayed the company’s growing beer selection.

Renewed acquaintance with Des King at Table 3 and he introduced me to a very fine wine indeed: Paul Jaboulet Aine Parallele 45 Côtes de Rhone Blanc. But I couldn’t resist the Trimbach Pinot Blanc 2010 and felt that that just shaded the Rhone. Might need a replay though.

The Old World was the general title for Table 5 and here I knew that Austria awaited and, in particular, two Grüner Veltliners by Laurenz V, the Forever and the Friendly. Must say that I could stay friendly with both forever. The major difference, perhaps for the those looking to reduce their alcohol intake, is that the Forever will come in at 11% abv while the Friendly has the bigger kick at 12.5.

A couple of excellent reds here also. I have, for a long time, enjoyed the Nero d’Avola from Sicily and here they had an excellent Cusumano 2007 but the star for me, one of the best in the show, was the 2009 Churchill’s Douro from Portugal, a rich unfortified wine from old vines.

The ever enthusiastic Jon Smith was manning Table 6 where the wines were Black Tower and Bend by the River. Enjoyed my sip of the Bend by the River Riesling 2011 but found the Black Tower equivalent a bit on the sweet side. But many people don’t and millions of bottles of Black Tower are sold each year in England and Jon reckons that, given two years, a similar proportion will be sold in Ireland.

New Zealand was represented by just two wines at the New World table and both, the Hunter’s Sauvignon Blanc and the Hunter’s Pinot Noir, were excellent. If I had to choose one, it would be the SB, “a pristine example of its type”.

Carmenere, once thought to be extinct but it was hiding all along under the guise of Merlot, was rediscovered in Chile as a separate variety in 1994 and has since been associated with the South American country. Sampled the Carmen Gran Reserva Carmenere and can recommend it. It is produced in the Apalta, “a new area ..and the best place for Carmenere”.

After that, and with time running out, there was just time to call to Table 9 and the beers and an informative chat with brand manager Ealron Kennedy and that will be the subject of a later post.

Happy. On the Pig’s Back

On the Pig’s Back

Jack McCarthy, Arbutus Bread, Ardsallagh Goat Cheese, Ardrahan, Durrus, Milleens, Gubbeen, Lorge, O’Conaill, Caherbeg Pork, G’s Jams. Familiar food names, local producers. You’ll see lots of their excellent stuff, not forgetting Willie O’Callaghan’s organic vegetables, when you visit On the Pig’s Back in Douglas Woollen Mills.

Of course, you see most of them too in the On the Pig’s Back stall in the English Market, but there is more space here to show them and more space for the customer to browse. And a very pleasant place it is too as I found out the other day.

Did a bit of shopping and gathered up some Jack McCarthy’s pudding, sausage and rasher, among other things. Was on the lookout for his Pancetta. But they were out of it. They do import chosen top notch French produce, imported directly, and so I settled for some Pancetta from the Haute Savoie and was advised to try it in the frying pan with some eggs. Did that for breakfast this morning and very tasty was the verdict. You don’t get that kind of product or that kind of advise in a supermarket!

The main purpose of the visit was to have lunch in the cafe. The place was packed and no wonder as the food and service are excellent. Good choices too with the regular menu supplemented by a list of daily specials. You can have Soupe de Jour or their famous Chicken pate for a starter and then move on to salads, quiches, and various platters of meats and cheeses, before finishing with something sweet.

We settled for a big platter, their Speciality Platter of Cheese and Charcuterie that includes pate, relish, salamis, saucisson, Spanish, French or Italian cured ham, served with a selection of farmhouse cheeses, gherkins, breadsticks, relish, crackers and an assortment of Arbutus breads. Quite a feed and it cost €18.95 for two.

* The Cork French Food and Wine Festival will be held at On the Pig’s Back (Douglas) from the 9^th to the 11^th of May. They are looking for volunteers.

*       Le Cork French Food and Wine Festival organise par On The Pigs Back a Douglas du 9 au 11 Mai... recherche des volontaires!!! Banquet, Foire au vins et produits regionaux, Marche nocturnes, concert et bals, petanques, animations ... il va y avoir de quoi faire!!! Voir notre Facebook page Cork French Food and Wine Festival and like us et contactez nous du volontariat anime et gourmet!! A bientot!!

Paradiso: Paradise Found

Paradiso: Paradise Found

Spring is here and so are the new greens from Gort na Nain farm including the "new kid on the block, cime di rapa, aka broccoli raab amongst other aliases". That green, see picture below, was new to me at least and not the only "surprise" during a superb weekend dinner at Cafe Paradiso. 

In this elegant, intimate and comfortable space, the food is top notch, as is the service. Asked one of our servers about part of the amuse bouche and got all the details, from the ingredients to the recipe to the various possible finishes. More than just training, I think, at play here. This lady likes her job!

And it looks as if that goes all the way from the front of house (great to meet Geraldine on her home turf) to the kitchen where Denis Cotter has brought this cafe, founded in 1993, to a multi-award winning top class restaurant. One of my friends, who travels widely in the hospitality industry, tells me that it's "not alone the best vegetarian restaurant in Ireland, it is probably the best restaurant in Ireland".

Tartlet of caramelized beetroot & Bluebell Falls fresh goat’s cheese, salsa verde and olive-crushed potato.

Marinated Toonsbridge buffalo mozzarella with Gort na Nain leaves, roasted grapes, crushed fennel , crispbread and pomegranate syrup and pistachio dukkah

These were our starters. The tartlet was in a class of its own. These can be fairly skimpy in some places but not here! Never had mozzarella served like this before! Fantastic combination. By the way, Gort na Nain farm supplies the bulk of vegetables used by Paradiso. 

Spring cabbage dolma of spiced carrot & chickpeas with smoked pepper-almond sauce, orange mint yoghurt, crushed saffron potato cake and broad beans

 Looks like a work of art, too good to eat! A majestic main course and, if you want the recipe, check it out here

Leek & roast squash gratin with hazelnut & Hegarty’s cheddar crust, citrus rosemary cime di rape, braised borlotti beans.

This is where I met the cime di rape for the first time! Tasted well, like broccoli to be honest, as it played a supporting role here to the magnificent roast gratin. Like many of the dishes served here, this is (well, was) beyond my imagination but certainly not beyond that of Denis Cotter. Superbly executed. 

Crozier Blue cheese, apple, Gortnanain honey, glazed pecans

Cardamom set custard with poached rhubarb and pistachio shortbread

With a visit to Cashel Blue coming up this week, I was delighted to get the opportunity to taste their Crozier, served in such a simple yet brilliant way. And more of the same with our other dessert. Hasn’t the humble rhubarb come a long way from the neglected corner of the back garden!

If the food is the main story here, the wine list has recently claimed a mention. Better let Denis explain it himself: "As promised, we've torn up the wine list and put it back together in a new way. There are two major changes that we're very excited about. Firstly, every wine is now available in four measures. And we've radically changed the way we price wine to drag the top end of the list down into the middle. Get the scoop here, then come in and play with it...http://www.cafeparadiso.ie/blog/a-new-approach-to-pouring-and-pricing-wine"

The result for the customer is brilliant: a new list, new measures, and new prices. There are about forty wines available, all by the glass (150ml), the quartino (250), the mezzo (250) and by the bottle. You also have a choice of aperitifs and digestifs.

We started with a quartino of Dos Victorias ‘Jose Pariente’ Verdejo 2011. With the mains, we each enjoyed a glass of the Cullen Margaret River White 2011. Picked the Cullen in anticipation of a WineGeese event in Paradiso. On Tuesday May 28th the restaurant will, in association with Liberty Wines, host a Presentation & Tasting with winemaker Emma Cullen of Cullen Wines from Australia's Margaret River. Book direct with Paradiso.

Oh, nearly forgot the gorgeous desert wines. One was a brilliant port, the Quinta do Infantado Senior Tawny Port, and the other was Californian Essencia Orange Muscat 2010. Sweet ending to a lovely evening,