You can fish for your supper at Inchydoney Island Lodge and Spa this month. Guests staying at the hotel can join a boat fishing for line-caught mackerel, pollock or cod, and have their catch cooked by chef Adam Medcalf. The two night BB package in a deluxe room with a sea-view balcony, half day fishing trip and dinner costs from €239 per person sharing. See inchydoneyisland.com
Lunch with the authors
Josceline Dimbleby must tire of being referred to as the former wife of broadcaster, David and mother of Leon restaurant chain co-founder, Henry, when she is a distinguished food writer and author of 16 books. Her latest, Orchards in the Oasis, is an engaging account of the exotic places life has taken her, first as the child of a diplomat and later as the wife of a foreign correspondent. Dimbleby is coming to Dublin for an authors' lunch next Thursday, August 8th at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire, as part of the Mountains to Sea DLR book festival. Joining Dimbleby will be Catherine Fulvio, Domini Kemp and Trevor White. Tickets (€30) include lunch and can be booked at the Pavilion Theatre box office in Dún Laoghaire.
WEB WATCH
midletonfoodfestival.ie
Remember Helena Crowley Hayes, the hunting horn-blowing contestant in the Cork episodes of Come Dine With Me?Her victory wasn't down to her cooking skills, but she'd probably be the first to admit that. So she is good- naturedly volunteering for a "bakeover", under instruction from Arun Kapil of Green Saffron spices, at the Midleton Food and Drink Festival next Saturday, September 10th. Full details of the events taking place on the town's main street are on the website.
Bargain lobster
The Maser murals are gone, and in their place a tasteful selection of seascapes looks down on diners upstairs in the former Jo'burger premises in Blackrock, now home to Ouzos Bar Grill, sister restaurant to Ouzos on Castle Street in Dalkey. For the rest of this month, lobster caught by the restaurants' own boat, the Golden Bencher, which is moored in Dún Laoghaire, is on offer at half the usual price in both restaurants. An average-sized lobster (600g) that would normally be €42 will make a much more reasonable supper proposition at €21. There is also a Lobster and Crab Fest two-course menu for two people for €59.95, including a bottle of wine. However there's a surcharge for the lobster main course, which will bring the cost up to around €78 for two. You can put your name on one of the sleepy crustaceans lurking in the tank on the restaurant floor by tel: 01-2101000 (Blackrock) or 01-2851890 (Dalkey).
Book of the week
‘Bill’s Everyday Asian’, by Bill Granger (Quadrille, £20/€23)
Much like a method actor inhabits the life of the character they’re portraying, food writer Bill Granger drew on his extensive travels in Asia, and the experience of running his three restaurants in Japan (as well three in Sydney), for his latest book. It helps, too, that the family of his childhood best friend ran a Chinese restaurant. Just like the man himself, Granger’s books are handsome affairs, but this one is the prettiest yet. Granger, who says he “loves the Japanese tradition of serving a salad with breakfast”, and if he had his way would “have a bit of crunch with every meal”, gets to indulge his passion in an excellent chapter on Asian salads, from traditional Thai beef to Vietnamese chicken with carrot and mint. In November he opens his first London restaurant, and Asian food will be a big part of the menu, he says.
