A zero-waste supper, seaweed croissants and a month devoted to Prosecco

Food File: Chefs uncovering the mystery of sustainable cooking at Ink Cafe


Zero-waste supper

Chefs Conor Spacey and Erica Drum are hosting a supper club at Ink Cafe at DLR Lexicon in Dún Laoghaire on Friday, September 10th, as part of Zero Waste Week (September 6th-10th). The six-course dinner will be prepared with a surprise batch of ingredients, that would otherwise have become food waste. The food will be delivered to the chefs the day before the dinner by the non-profit social enterprise FoodCloud.

The meal will have a Middle Eastern theme and vegetarian and vegan guests can be catered for. A zero-waste cocktail will be served on arrival and the first course will be cooked outside on Ink’s olive wood barbecue and served on the terrace. The venue’s auditorium will then be used for Spacey and Drum to serve the next courses and host a conversation about how they created the six courses from mystery ingredients.

Government guidelines will be followed, meaning guests must fulfil the criteria for indoor dining, and only tables for two, four and six are available. Tickets are €70 each and are on sale at Eventbrite.

Wild pastries

Croissants and pain au chocolat made with milled Connemara dillisk seaweed feature in a collaboration between Eoin Cluskey, of Bread41 in Dublin, and Galway chef JP McMahon. The seaweed adds a savoury note to the bakes, which are on sale for a limited time at both Bread41 in Dublin and Tartare Cafe and Wine Bar in Galway city. The next wild ingredients the pair plan on incorporating into their bakes are meadowsweet, rose and woodruff.

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Prosecco month

September is Prosecco month at the Merchant Hotel in Belfast, with a programme of events featuring the Italian sparkling wine running throughout the month, as well as special offers on wine flights and cocktails and a Prosecco afternoon tea. Bookable events include a Battle of the Bubbles: Champagne versus Prosecco evening on the hotel's rooftop garden, a prosecco masterclass in the champagne lounge and a one-off Prosecco supper club in Berts Jazz Bar. The full line up of events is online at themerchanthotel.com.