guess who's coming to dinner Dining out while travelling can get a bit boring, especially on your own.
But with Meeting the French, a website that matches visitors with Parisians willing to host lunches or dinners in their homes, you can make dinner dates - and even the choose the menu - before you travel. You pay for the meal, which is delivered to your host's home by a restaurant. All you've got to do is turn up and make sure your hosts sing for their supper. Forty well-vetted hosts are registered with the site, all of them well versed in the many attractions of Paris and prepared to share their insider knowledge. Singles, couples and families are profiled on the website, and their homes are inspected to make sure they're places you'd like to visit. Prices start at €45 a person. Meeting the French also runs gourmet walking tours of Paris, from €30pp. See www.meetingthefrench.com. Marie-Claire Digby
a little of what you fancy Our growing appetite for tapas-style eating - small bites with lots of variety - has been interpreted in an interesting way by Fred Cordonnier, executive chef at the Tea Room, at The Clarence in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. The new starter and dessert sampling plates on his lunchtime Market Menu each feature four or five miniature dishes. The starter plate (below) has a variety of appetisers, including snails with onion-smoked marmalade; wild-mushroom soup with truffle cappuccino; spring roll of crab and chilli with coriander, mango and ginger sauce; and an oyster served with a cucumber jelly. Two courses cost €26, with a third course an extra €5.
CORK WINE FAIR takes place on Tuesday, at Rochestown Park Hotel, from 4pm to 9pm. There will be wines from 50 suppliers, plus premium beers, cheeses and gourmet foods. Tickets cost €20 from O'Donovans off-licences and the Rochestown Inn. Proceeds go to Support After Crime Services, a new victim- support group.