Food and wine news
DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT THEM Online booking has made travel plans infinitely easier to manage, but you can't beat a good guide book, and the latest batch of glove-pocket volumes is now hitting the bookshops.
The 2005 edition of Georgina Campbell's Ireland - The Guide (€19.95) has just been released, and this straight-talking book is a surefire winner. Campbell highlights the work of hospitality providers who strive for "personal commitment to high standards" and her choice for top honours are establishments that are owner-managed, or that have "long-term hands-on managers: people who take great personal pride in customer care," she explains.
The Hidden Ireland 2005 booklet (€3, from Easons and regional tourist offices) features 38 private houses, spread throughout the country, which open their doors to paying guests. Hidden Ireland properties are often of significant historical or architectural merit and staying in one can open doors otherwise not accessible. Members say they are not hotels, but they're very much more than B&Bs and guesthouses - and that's due in the most part to their often interesting and enterprising owners.
The 2005 Les Routiers in Ireland Guide is also available now (€14.95 from bookshops) and features a huge variety of places to stay, eat and visit. Editor Hugo Arnold's aim was to identify places that are the best of their type, in all price brackets, so whether you're splashing out on a special weekend away, or just looking for somewhere to break a journey, you'll find it here.
Marie-Claire Digby
MAKE FOR MALAHIDE More specifically, for the Grand Hotel where Cheers-Gibneys holds its popular annual wine fair on Wednesday, November 24th, 6-10 p.m. Tickets, €15 with proceeds benefiting four local schools.
MAGNIFICENT MARGAUX Château Margaux is the star of a black-tie dinner at Ashford Castle on Sunday, November 28th, with Paul Pontaillier, director of this legendary Bordeaux first-growth, as guest of honour. Among the wines to be sampled with a six-course menu are the 1989, 1982 and 1959 - a rare treat. €650 per person sharing, including accommodation (094-9546003), or e-mail reservations@ashford.ie.
WEEKEND FAIR McCabes is holding a wine festival in their Blackrock and Foxrock shops next weekend (November 26th-28th), culminating with a dinner in The Gables in Foxrock on Sunday evening. Details from 01-2882037/2892689; or e-mail value@mccabeswines.ie
KIWI TREAT FOR THE STOCKING The annual New Zealand wine tasting takes place early in the new year. More than 100 wines from some 30 producers, many of them present for the occasion, will be on offer at the Stillorgan Park Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin on Wednesday, January 12th, 6-8.30 p.m. Tickets, €15, must be purchased in advance. Contact Jean Smullen, 01-2745955, 086 -8168468, jean@jeansmullen.com.
Mary Dowey
SWEDISH FORMULA Chef and author Denis Cotter of Café Paradiso in Cork is to return to the Grythttans Gästgivaregard culinary arts centre in Sweden next May for another guest chef appearance, following the runaway success of his recent week-long residency in the institute he describes as being "like Ballymaloe, only in Sweden". Cotter's visit included masterclasses attended by more than 50 of Sweden's top chefs, and a gala banquet for which a team of 12 chefs cooked a nine-course Café Paradiso menu for more than 100 guests, while being filmed for a live webcast.
Other culinary news from Cork ... the Allen family empire continues to expand, with the recent opening by Isaac Allen of Cibo, a pizzeria, on Paul Street. Cibo (021-4271082) is open every day except Sunday, and the best seller to date is a luscious- sounding Gubeen bacon and cabbage pizza.
Marie-Claire Digby