Tasting menus
For those who spend dinners out eyeing up other people’s plates, it’s time to reserve your table at Sika restaurant, at the Powerscourt Hotel and Spa in Enniskerry. Its Taste the Season menu is an eight-course culinary journey – meal is too small a word for it – expertly crafted by executive chef Cormac McCreary and his team. A sample menu might include canapés; scallops with leek, yuzu and miso; halibut with spring cabbage, apple and vanilla; Wicklow lamb with artichoke and wild garlic, dessert, cheeses and a little nip of something from the whiskey distillery next door. It costs €120 per person, with a wine pairing option at €80 per person more, at which stage you might as well stay the night.
Tasty days out
Sharon Noonan, host of Best Possible Taste – Ireland’s longest running food and drink podcast – returns to Taste of Dublin this June to lead the festival’s much-loved Food for Thought stage. Across four days in Merrion Square, June 11-14th, Sharon will guide audiences through a vibrant programme of meet the maker conversations, tasting sessions, and deep dive discussions that shine a light on Ireland’s most exciting artisan producers. It is an opportunity for visitors to hear the stories behind the flavours, discover new favourites, and connect with the people shaping Ireland’s food culture. Tickets start from €19.50 including booking fee.
Cream teas
Sunny afternoons and cream teas go together like, well, scones and jam. If you want to throw in some gorgeous gardens too, in a lofty Edwardian style conservatory setting, get thee to The Fern House Restaurant in Avoca, Kilmacanogue. It has introduced a gorgeous afternoon tea offering, featuring a selection of dainty sandwiches and handcrafted sweet treats, including freshly baked scones. There’s the always sweet option of champagne too. Surrounded by the gardens and woodlands of what was once the Jameson whiskey family’s estate, it’s a terrific spot for posh patisserie, at €45 per person.
Escape for a night
If you live in the capital and are in the market for a night away, but don’t fancy spending most of it driving, head just down the road to Barberstown Castle in Straffan, Co Kildare. The 13th-century castle has had a spate of enhancements just in time for summer and its Garden Bar in particular makes a lovely spot for a sunny day, opening out on to the gardens in warmer months. Lovely for light lunches and fresh bakes, artisan coffee and expertly crafted cocktails, at the time of writing it has overnight dinner, bed and breakfast offerings including complimentary cocktail (or mocktail) plus a 10 per cent discount voucher for Newbridge Silver nearby, from €290 per room, per night.
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I do in Dublin
If there’s a wedding in your future, or that of someone you love, save them some time by checking out the Save My Day Irish Wedding Venue Awards winners. Following a nationwide public vote from more than 700 newly-wed and engaged couples, the popular wedding venue platform savemyday.ie saw city centre gourmands’ paradise Fallon & Byrne voted best alternative wedding venue, while Clontarf Castle won best castle wedding venue. Dublin also scored for best city wedding venue, which went to the Stephen’s Green Club, while best historic venue was MoLI, the Museum of Literature, just across the Green in Newman House. In a line-up that latticed the country like bridal lace, the gong for best outdoor wedding venue went to the capital too, picked up by the Marco Pierre White Courtyard Bar and Grill in Donnybrook.
