Domini and Peaches Kemp opened the doors of Itsa4, their restaurant on Sandymount Green in Dublin 4, for a press gang of Irish Times readers last Monday evening for the first of what we hope will be a series of specialist quizzes teased out over dinner. This one was devoted to matters culinary: What did Leopold Bloom have to eat in Davy Byrne's? What insects are mandatory fare on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here? Do you know your bresaola from your brandade? Your panko from your lavash?
Phones were banned, but occasionally the PA system registered a trickle of static in the air . . .
Readers came from as far away as Waterford for the event and tucked into a three-course menu of typically yummy Kempian food. The Verdicchio white wine, supplied to Itsa4 by Charles Searson, was a definite winner.
The quiz was won by a gathering of Hegartys: Ann Hegarty and her daughter Ruth, who was on her first outing after the birth of twins, and her son Chris Hegarty, with his partner Ingrid Heaslip. Ann Hegarty was said to be the supreme source of all knowledge. The four were presented with a cheque for €1,000 for their chosen charity – the Temple Street Children’s Hospital Fund – arising out of the proceeds for the evening. It was a great way to start off the week.
Watch this space for further follies at itsa4.
