Dublin

An Irish solution to dark and dank winter days

An Irish solution to dark and dank winter days

Posted on by Pat and David
Not long ago, when travel was a tad more carefree, we spent Boxing Week in Dublin. That's the week between Christmas and New Years. December 26 has been ‶boxing day″ forever, but the merchants of Ireland and the United Kingdom have made what evolved into a one-day sale into a week-long event of inventory-trimming bargains. The mercantile nature of Boxing Week, it turns out, transforms a potentially grim and depressing holiday letdown period into a social occasion that turns out crowds in the streets. It also fills the cafes and pubs with shoppers whose cheeks are ruddy with the cold. Truth be told, it's a lot warmer in Dublin than in Boston. For us, visiting at the turn of the year was actually a respite...Read More
No yeast? Treat yourself to Irish brown soda bread

No yeast? Treat yourself to Irish brown soda bread

Posted on by Pat and David
We confess to scoring a half-cup of instant yeast last week when we were walking past our ‶sales-by-pickup-only″ neighborhood butcher shop, Savenor's. (Yes, the one where Julia Child bought her chicken, ducks, and breast of veal.) That should keep us going until we're out of flour. But a lot of folks aren't so lucky, so we'd thought we'd post one of the all-time great bread recipes that doesn't require yeast. It's for an Irish brown soda bread, as served on the breakfast buffet at the Marker Hotel in the hip Docklands district of Dublin, Ireland. Seeds in brown bread are nothing new, though the classic recipes only call for oat groats to add texture. This version adds the perfect balance of sesame, sunflower, and flax...Read More

Irish whiskey tells the country’s tale

Posted on by Pat and David
Judging by the job posting at Teeling's Whiskey, the first new Dublin distillery in 125 years is finally getting ready to open its visitors center. The job? They're looking for fluent English speakers with at least one other language to give tours. The center, located on Newmarket Square in the Liberties section of Dublin (that's Dublin 8 for those who understand the city's postal codes), will be open daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Exactly when it first opens for business is still unannounced. Meantime, Dublin hardly lacks for whiskey attractions, some of which we outlined today in a story in the Boston Globe travel section, "Even its whiskey tells an Irish tale". The story includes the new Irish Whiskey Museum (inaugurated in January) at...Read More

What to buy in a Dublin grocery store

Posted on by Pat and David
Whenever we visit Dublin, we make sure to enjoy lots of incredible butter and cream since we can't bring any home. (U.S. Customs frowns on such dairy products.) Fortunately there are lots of other good Irish foodstuffs that we can pack in the suitcase. For cheeses, we make our purchases at Sheridans Cheesemongers (see earlier post), but here are some of the things that caught our eye in a neighborhood Dunnes grocery store: Irish soda farls Pat's mother still remembers her own mother, who hailed from Northern Ireland, making soda bread farls in a round pan on the top of the stove. First she would shape the dough into a circle and then cut it crosswise into four pieces, the so-called farls. This style of...Read More

Making fudge with an Irish accent

Posted on by Pat and David
With his engaging banter, Tomás Póil could surely peddle ice to Eskimos, but he doesn't have to work nearly as hard to persuade the folks of Dublin to indulge in blocks cut from his big slabs of fudge. We ran into Póil at his Man of Aran Fudge booth at the street food market on Bernardo Square on New Year's Day. (To find out where he'll be on any given weekend, see www.manofaranfudge.ie). A surprising number of people seemed to be finding Póil's sweets to be the perfect antidote to a night of overindulgent revelry. Originally from the Aran Isles, Póil began making fudge in 1999 and hasn't yet grown tired of coming up with new flavor combinations. In one, he tops a slab of...Read More

Dublin gastropub’s inspired sweet potato soup

Posted on by Pat and David
Pubs have always had some kind of grub to sop up the suds, but pubs all over Ireland began to take the quality of their kitchens seriously about 10 years ago. The turn toward better food was a matter of survival. Pubs lost a slew of customers after March 29, 2004, when Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace — including restaurants, bars, and pubs. Once a few pubs introduced quality food with strong Irish roots, it became clear that the gastropub concept was the way to win new customers. Two years ago, the Restaurant Association of Ireland began giving out awards for best gastropubs, and in the two competitions since then, one of the top contenders in...Read More
Making The Marker’s Irish brown soda bread

Making The Marker’s Irish brown soda bread

Posted on by Pat and David
If you're following our series of posts on dining in Dublin, you might recall that our last post called for Irish brown soda bread. We realize that unless you're blessed with an authentic Irish bakery (like we are, with Greenhills Bakery in Dorchester), you'll probably have to make your own. For folks who often flub yeast breads, a delicious Irish soda bread is almost a godsend, since it's hard to screw up if you follow the directions. At the chic and rather new Marker Hotel in Dublin's hip Docklands district, we tasted a spectacular version of Irish brown bread on the extravagant breakfast buffet. Seeds in brown bread are nothing new, though the classic recipes only call for oat groats to add texture. This version...Read More

Chasing Dublin’s most famous cheese sandwich

Posted on by Pat and David
Having spent a glorious hour or so sampling and buying farmhouse cheese at Sheridans (see last post), we thought it would be a great idea to lunch on the most famous cheese sandwich in Dublin, even if it doesn't involve an Irish cheese. Although much refurbished and modernized, Davy Byrnes Pub (21 Duke Street, +353 1 677 5217, davybyrnes.com) has been a downtown fixture just off Grafton Street since 1889. It was a popular watering hole among the literati long before James Joyce immortalized the bar in Ulysses, published in 1922. In chapter 8, “Lestrygonians,” Leopold Bloom stops in on June 16, 1904, and orders a Gorgonzola sandwich. The dish is still on the menu, though the pub now fancies itself “Dublin's original gastro pub”...Read More

Exploring the world of Irish farmhouse cheese

Posted on by Pat and David
It's not really surprising that Irish cheeses all come with a story. Probably the best place in Dublin to hear these tales is the local branch of Sheridans Cheesemongers (11 South Anne Street, +353 1 679 3143), conveniently located a short distance from Grafton Street, just around the corner from the Celtic Whiskey Shop (more on that another time), and close by St. Stephen's Green. For a cheese-loving visitor, Sheridans amounts to a crash course on Irish farmhouse cheeses — and the perfect source to get pieces shrinkwrapped to take home in your luggage. Get a preview at sheridanscheesemongers.com. Several commercial Irish cheddars reach North America, but farmhouse cheeses are another matter. In fact, farmhouse cheesemaking had nearly died out in Ireland, as dairy farmers...Read More

Top food with a view at Sophie’s, Dublin’s newest

Posted on by Pat and David
When it comes to good eating in Dublin, the best choices at the moment seem to be either the self-styled gastropubs or terrific restaurants in some of the hotels. The latest arrival is Sophie's (33 Harcourt Street, +353 1 607 8100, sophies.ie) at the Dean (deanhoteldublin.ie), a chic new designer boutique hotel. Both restaurant and hotel opened at the beginning of December, so by the time we arrived on New Year's Eve, chef Darren Mathews (below) had Sophie's running on all cylinders. The top-floor restaurant and bar is surrounded on three sides by windows with views of the Dublin rooftops. It's a spectacular space, with banquettes and some booths lining the perimeter of the room and — in true Irish fashion — a big bar...Read More