Highlights Food and Drink

Soundbite: A Glass Apart – Fionnán O’Connor

In the midst of a revival of interest in Irish whiskey A Glass Apart celebrates the culinary nature of the pure drop. We talked ancient grains with author Fionnán O’Connor.   How did you become interested in whiskey? The early history of Irish whiskey is in part the story of grain that was grown to be bread but mischievously turned into hooch on the side. I became immersed in the subject when I was studying in San Francisco. I got a job with Diageo as a brand ambassador for the...read more

Restaurant Review: Locks 1 Windsor Terrace

I’m late for lunch at Locks with my friend, who’s already been seated at our table. ‘Don’t worry,’ she texts. ‘It’s nice to be here, looking out rather than looking in.’ For those of you who spent your 20s hanging around in the flat-lands of Rathmines and Portobello surviving on chickpea stews and (very) cheap red wine, Locks might have a similar emotional pull for you as it does for me. It was a place I longed to have the money to go to; to sit it in its beautiful front room ...read more

Barfly: The Square Ball

Sports bars are a tricky beast to master. More often than not their dedication to the idea that they are first and foremost a building to house television screens lends them the air of some sort of nightmarish, dystopian videodrome, with a cacophony of commentaries discordantly clanging off one another to make a relentless, alienating din. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way, as exemplified in Bodytonic’s Phibsborough location, The Back Page. Having made their point re: the right way ...read more

Gearóid Carvill & Kieran Harnett Dublin Honey Project

Inspired by nature, craft and tradition the Dublin Honey Project aims to produce raw honey from each of the postcodes of the city. Founders, architect Gearóid Carvill and photographer Kieran Harnett, are united by shared beliefs in the importance of food provenance and supporting biodiversity in local food production. They talked to us about ‘tail-to-snout’ beekeeping, the health benefits of locally produced honey and the diversity of flavours emerging from the foraging efforts of Dublin’s bees.

Barfly: Smyth’s of Ranelagh

For the first time in my life, I absentmindedly strolled into Humphreys – next door – and ordered a pint before realising that all my surroundings were, while traditionally wooden and old-man in style, completely different. I’m hoping this is an indication of someone with a busy mind, but I’m keenly aware that it’s an indication that I’m a bit of a dope too. In my defence there is a bus stop in the way of the front door, but then again, that’s not much of a defence. Ranelagh’s m...read more
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Food and Drink

Restaurant Review: The Yarn

A lasagne pizza is something you might expect to see on a Buzzfeed round-up of the world’s most outrageous artery cloggers, but The Yarn’s version is actually beautifully restrained and thoroughly comforting.

Barfly – The Hill

One hopes with the benefit of time or a few tweaks the Hill will eventually make its mark. For the moment at least, it boasts promise of much else ahead.

Barfly: Arthur’s

The slightly tepid vibe downstairs aside, I can’t help but fall for this place and feel that it’s their excellence as a venue that Arthur’s should be trumpeting when it’s their turn to step up to the mic.

Restaurant Review: Charlotte Quay

Charlotte Quay has everything it needs to succeed: a great view, a talented chef, experienced leaders leading the charge and an already loyal fanbase. All they need is for Dubliners to get over the psychological barrier of eating off the beaten track.

Barfly: Idlewild

Idlewild is a very pretty bar, and it even boasts an extremely bright staircase on the way up from the toilets, which makes you feel slightly like you’re ascending to the afterlife, potentially to hang out with another dead Quaker businessman.

 

Restaurant Review: Manifesto

I was expecting a laid-back, fun pizzeria and instead I got a stilted, grandiose white table-clothed restaurant. Perhaps it was an off night? Or perhaps Manifesto needs a boost of fresh energy.

Soundbite – Oisín Davis

With his work as a consultant in the drinks industry taking him all over the globe, Oisín Davis has what many would regard as a dream job. He talked to us about Great Irish Beverages, his new venture Poachers Tonic and his passionate focus on Irish ingredients and produce.

Restaurant Review – Buckle Up

“I wanted to combine a light approach to flavourful food, with hints of worldly ingredients from Middle East and Asia, inspired by the fusion of Australia.” We check out the results at Buckle Up, Katie Gilroy’s new venture.

Barfly – Zozimus

If you want to feel as though you’re inhabiting a feverish, half-remembered scene from the middle act of Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai, there are worse places.

Barfly – Mission Bar

Judging by the obvious rapport between the staff and the handful of other patrons propping up the bar, the “mate’s gaff” ambiance was the first thing successfully installed, comfortably established before the smell of fresh paint had dissipated.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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