Dressler, Brooklyn, New York

I spent two whirlwind days in New York in November. I was scheduled to travel to North Carolina for work purposes, and we decided to wedge in two vacation days and make a pitstop in the city that never sleeps. I only got the green light for the business trip one week beforehand, so all our personal arrangements were made in a flurried hurry.

As a result of all this rush, we didn't work out an eating plan in advance. But we did promise ourselves that we would try to hit one really good restaurant, ideally for that New York institution, brunch. For a change of scenery we stayed in Brooklyn, as opposed to Manhattan. This turned out to be a real brainwave and we got to see some new and upcoming areas in Brooklyn.

Dressler is a Michelin-starred restaurant on Broadway (not THAT Broadway, but the Broadway in Brooklyn). It's very handsome inside, with old tiled floors, iron chandeliers and backlit metal grilles. The dominant colours are dark red and black with soft lighting. It all adds up to a feeling of aged sophistication.

Fig, blue cheese & prosciutto salad

Smoked trout & apple salad

The brunch menu is a nice mix of light fare, egg-based dishes and more substantial sandwiches and burgers. The menu is rounded off with oysters and a nice selection of brunch cocktails to help on those hairy mornings. We both started off with salads, a fig, prosciutto and blue cheese salad ($12.00) for me, while he enjoyed a smoked trout and apple salad ($12.00). Both dishes were light with a good balance of flavours from the different combinations.

Pork BLT

Turkey club sandwich

For main courses, he chose a turkey club sandwich ($15.00) while I chose a pork BLT ($16.00), both of which came served with fries. A little bowl of pickles completed the plates. As it was Sunday, and I was on holidays, I also chose a La Batida cocktail ($12.00) to enjoy with my brunch. I ordered the cocktail just a little before midday, which meant that I had to wait for the clock to tick over before the barman could make and serve it to me. La Batida is a Brazilian coconut-based cocktail which features fruit mixed with cachaça. It was creamy and gently sweet, with the bite of alcohol. Very tasty indeed.

Our meal was Sunday brunch food at its best, satisyfing and tasty. Dressler really seems to exemplify modern American cooking. The relaxing and unique dining room is just lovely, and service, as you'd expect, was attentive. Two good americanos meant that our total bill came to approximately $90. By any standards, that's a lot of money for brunch, but Dressler was worth the trip.

Dressler, 149 Broadway, Brooklyn, NYC
Tel:+1 718 384 6343
URL: www.dresslernyc.com
Twitter: @DresslerBrookly

A Beer & Food Tasting with Heineken

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to attend a beer and food matching evening, courtesy of Heineken. Several different sessions were taking place in Cork and Dublin and I put my name down for the dinner at Siam Thai in Dundrum Town Centre. 

I was curious to see what Heineken would offer at this event, and how they could make their big name brands stand out. It's possible to argue that they are Goliath, striding into the growing Irish craft beer movement, potentially at the expense of the smaller breweries. However, I have to say that I enjoyed the event immensely and found it very educational. The knowledgeable Fiona Smith from the F&B Partnership was our tutor for the evening, and she gradually took us through the different ways of experiencing and tasting beer.

A special menu had been selected for us at the Siam Thai. We were to have a mixed starter plate with each starter being paired to a particular beer. This would be followed by our choice of main course, again with a suggested beer pairing. All tables were set with a selection of large wine glasses, which were used for tasting the various beers.

Starters

• Chicken and pineapple skewers with Paulaner
• Salmon cakes with Zywiec
• Laab gai salad with Tiger

Main Courses

• Sweet and sour chicken with Zywiec
• Lamb with Thai herbs with Paulaner
• Panang pork curry with Moretti
• Massaman chicken curry with Sol
• Red curry prawn noodles with Heineken

Fiona kicked off by informing us that beer had the same basic properties as wine, particularly when it came to pairing with food. In fact, beer actually has a broader spectrum of flavours than wine and comes in different colours including dark, amber and white (naturally cloudy or unfiltered beers). 

The quick guide to tasting beer..

• When pouring beer, the glass and bottle should never come in contact
• Take short sniffs of the beer to get the aromas
• Stir the beer with a spoon to build up a head, which you then taste to get an indication of the hop level. Hops attach to the CO2 contained in beer, so the head on a beer will contain lots of hop flavour
• Taste the beer in slurps (yes slurps!). This will get lots of air into the beer, giving you a chance to taste the flavours

We moved onto our first beer, Paulaner, which was paired with chicken & pineapple skewers. We poured the beer into the wine glasses, swirled and sniffed as instructed, revealing tropical fruit smells. Paulaner is a Hefe-Weissbier from Bavaria, but I really pleasantly surprised to find lots of banana flavour in the beer, something I'd never noticed before.

Zywiec beer and a tasting notes booklet

Next up was the Polish beer Zywiec (pronounced zee-vee-ek), a darker beer made from barley. As a result this had a darker, maltier aroma and flavour. In fact, I thought of Maltesers when I sniffed it. It has more hops than the Paulaner as well as hints of lemon, which meant that it paired very nicely with the salmon fishcakes

The last of our starters, spicy Laab gai salad, was paired with the Malaysian Tiger beer, which has been brewed since 1932. Author Anthony Burgess even named a novel "Time for a Tiger" after the famous advertising slogan "It's time for a Tiger". This was hoppier than the previous beers, but it's light and fresh flavours meant that it balanced the spicy chicken salad quite well.

Suggestions had been given for our main course pairings, but I declined the suggestion for my main course choice of lamb with Thai herbs, and instead chose another bottle of Zywiec. This beer had been my clear favourite of the 3 tasted so far and I wanted to enjoy it some more. Himself chose Moretti to accompany his red curry prawn noodles. As we were eating and slurping beer, Fiona was doing some rounds of the tables, answering any additional questions that we may have.

The big lesson of the night was to serve beer in glasses that are wide enough to give you a chance to really smell the beer. I had been surprised to see big red wine glasses on the table, but they were the perfect vessels for the beers. Some of my previous thoughts about beers were overturned on the evening. Prior to this event, I would never have ordered a Paulaner of Zywiec, but this tasting event really opened my eyes (and nose) to their fruity aromas and flavours.

A big thank you to Fiona and the crew from Heineken and Thinkhouse for organising this great event. For  more information on the Heineken family of beers, events, and suggested food pairings, visit www.thisisbeer.ie.

Locks Brasserie, Portobello, Dublin 8

I've been so busy with work lately that I only realised my birthday was imminent a few days before the event itself. To celebrate my 33rd year, Himself booked dinner at Locks Brasserie, located in a little terrace on the banks of the Grand Canal. I was delighted with the choice as the restaurant always looks so captivatingly lovely at nighttime, with light spilling out over the canal and swans sailing serenely past. Memories of Patrick Kavanagh and "stilly, greeny" canal water come flooding back.

After arriving, we sat at a small table in the bar area to enjoy some aperitifs and read the menu. Perhaps it was due to the canalside location, but I thought there was a slight smell of damp in the air. We were going to order something fizzy, but then we saw the barman making martinis for some other customers. Shortly after, we found ourselves sipping on two excellent gin martinis with a twist. Martinis ooze adult sophistication and these babies definitely oozed gin. In 2002, Roger Agnell wrote a wonderful essay about Martinis for the New Yorker magazine - definitely worth reading if you have any interest in this wonderful cocktail. 

After a few minutes, we sailed on a cloud of oily gin to our table. Our lovely waiter gave us plenty of time to make our selections, which in turn gave us time to look out from the warmth to the cold night outside. The downstairs dining is simply decorated in cream wood panelling, letting the charm of the old building shine through. It is, in short, a very comfortable and welcoming space.

My starter of a single large langoustine and lobster ravioli came served on spinach, with the waiter pouring a lobster bisque at the table. At €15.50 this was a pricy starter and it just didn't work for me. The ravioli was lovely with sweet meaty flavours but I just didn't like the bisque, which seemed to have a slightly burnt, over-carmelised tone. His chosen starter of celery veloute (€7.00) was deemed to be quite nice, with a sweet creamy flavour (I can't abide celery, which means that it's banned at home, so he grabbed the opportunity to enjoy).

The lobster bisque hadn't suited me and things didn't get any better with the arrival of our mains. He had chosen the wild mallard, served with pumpkin gnocchi, savoy cabbage and blackberry vinaigrette (€26.00), while I had opted for the dry-aged rib-eye steak, served with bone marrow, french fries and Bearnaise sauce (€28.50). The major fault with these dishes was the disparity in size - the steak was large enough to feed a caveman, while he received a few meagre slices of what must have been a rather skinny duck. It really amazes me that a chef saw these dishes at the pass and never paused to question the asymmetry. 

When ordering, himself had inquired if he would need to order a side dish. Our server had been quick to assure him that the duck would be plenty large, so the resulting small size was doubly galling, and to add insult to injury, the duck was dry. We ordered an extra portion of fries to provide some bulk, but like the duck, the portion sizes were on the small side.

I should mention that my steak was cooked excellently, and I really did like the small piece of accompanying marrowbone. But there was no escaping from the fact that the size of my dish meant that I was eating long after he had cleared his plate. The imbalance was striking. On the flip side, desserts were excellent. I ordered an iced whiskey and honey parfait with wonderful homemade honeycomb and tiny little pearls of mulled pears (€10.00) and while he had crème brûlée made with free-range eggs (€6.00). 

We did have a very nice time in Locks. Service was wonderful throughout and the dining room has a lovely atmosphere at night. But the disjointed food left us feeling disappointed with the meal and we just didn't feel that we got value for money. At this end of the money scale, a customer should expect all aspects of a meal to deliver. Lock's does offer a value menu, which features a limited range of courses from the a la carte menu, so I suspect that I might be back to try again, but at a better price.

Locks Brasserie, 1 Windsor Terrace, Portobello, Dublin 8.
Tel: +353 (0)1 420 0555
URL: http://www.locksbrasserie.com

A Tribute to my grandmother (and Bramley apples)

About a month ago, an invitation was issued to members of the Irish Food Bloggers assocation to enjoy a tour of the Bramley apple orchards, located at St. Margaret's, Dublin (courtesy of Keelings). The mere suggestion of Bramley cooking apples sucked me into a time vortex (thankfully sans swirly lights and music) back to my childhood and to the time when I received my first introduction to cooking.

My educator was my maternal grandmother, known to me as Ma. She lived about 2 miles from us, on her own in a farmhouse that had never really been modernised. Her sole cooking devices were an open fireplace and an old enamelled gas cooker, which lurked in the back kitchen, clearly playing second fiddle to the fireplace. 

When it came to cooking meat and two veg, Ma definitely came from the old-school style of cooking. This could also be more accurately described as the "lash it all into the one pot and boil until grey" style of cooking. I used to be entranced by the fact that she would boil whole onions, which would be served translucent on the plate alongside the poatoes and meat du jour. My fascination however, never extended to actually eating one.

Ma was a serial visiter of funerals and upon receipt of the daily edition of The Cork Examiner, she'd turn straightaway to the Deaths section and mark out her travel itinerary for the next few days. She would then use her pensioners' allowance from Telecom Eireann to deliver the driving orders to my mother. Once I gained my first provisional licence, she quickly realised that she now had two drivers at her disposal. And thus it was that I spent many days driving up narrow winding country backroads in West Cork and Kerry, delivering my grandmother to removals, rosaries and wakes. One of the major (but mainly useless) benefits of this was an in-depth knowledge of church and funeral home locations.  I also developed an unnatural ability to predict when I would next encounter a single sheep in the middle of the road.

Sheep detection skills aside, the key benefit of accompanying my death-obsessed grandmother was the fine food presented in the parlours and front rooms. Victoria sponges with fresh cream and home-made jam, snowy white with icing sugar. Fresh warm scones, served with more lashings of the same home-made jam. (I should point out that the foodie word "preserves" would have never been uttered, it was always simply "jam"). And there was always an apple tart. A home-made tart, in the shallow country-style, with golden encrusted seams where the juices had escaped during baking. 

I was convinced that my Ma made the finest tart of them all. She would never have held with the modern styles of deep dishes or the addition of cinnamon or other spices. She knew just one way to make an apple tart, but by God, it was a good way. First out would be the mixing bowl with flour, measured by china cup, along with butter, egg & milk. Pastry made, it was used to line the enamel dish, into which she would then layer sliced "cookers", or Bramley apples, a sprinkle of sugar and then the pastry lid. A quick coating of milk and into the oven. Her pastry never rose, and her style was quick and rough, but some magical alchemy happened in that oven. What emerged was heavenly, a transubstantiation, if you will, of the coarse, tart Bramleys into a sweet, fragrant dish.

The shallow old-fashioned apple tart, made with Bramleys will forever remind me of my grandmother. There is nothing else that transports me so quickly back to her kitchen, with its open turf fire and wooden settle. I still sometimes make this style of apple tart when I'm at my parents' house, and best of all, my mother still has the old enamel dish my grandmother used to use. Some things just can't be beaten.

Written in loving memory of Margaret Scriven.

A recent weekend in Cork

Let me take you on a whirlwind tour of Cork and some of the fine eating & drinking I enjoyed there recently. As well as all the treats listed below, we also visited the Fish Wife chipper on MacCurtain Street and Market Lane restaurant on Oliver Plunkett Street. Separate blog posts will follow for those locations.

After checking in at the Gresham Metropole hotel on MacCurtain Street, we headed out for some drinks. We wanted to enjoy some craft beers, so we headed to the Bierhaus on Pope's Quay. As well as serving a great selection of beers, it's also possible to enjoy a pizza at your table, courtesy of neighbouring pizzeria Uncle Pete's. On a previous visit, the smell of warm fresh pizza and basil had permeated the bar, leaving me salivating. On this visit, I was able to resist until the walk home, when I conceded defeat to a slice of margherita pizza for a mere €2.

The tasty Howling Gale Ale (from Eight Degrees Brewing) at the Bierhaus

I must give a shout out to the great Mitchelstown-based Eight Degrees Brewing. I've become quite partial to their beers, particularly the Sunburnt Irish Red. Unfortunately, it wasn't available in the Bierhaus that night, but I quite happily made do with the Howling Gale Ale.

A breakfast bap from Cafe Idaho

The problem with beers is that they tend to have an impact the next day, which often takes the form of a craving for fried food. Thus it was that we found ourselves enjoying a breakfast bap in Idaho Cafe, tucked away behind Brown Thomas on Caroline Street. This small location, which can be a tight squeeze at times, offers coffee, pastries, cakes and light food throughout the day. It's a very nice spot to stop and relax while in town.

Cafe con leche with chocolate chips at O'Conaill's Chocolate Shop

Later in the day, I needed more coffee, so I called into O'Conaill's chocolate shop on French Church Street. Although the interior has changed since I last visited (and not in a way that I like), the coffee is still good and a little paper cups of chocolate chips (milk, dark and white) bought some sweetness to my afternoon. These tasty chocolate chips can be purchased as part of a hot chocolate making kit for your enjoyment at home.

Shandon Century Stout from the Francisan Well Brewery

I made one final stop on my walking tour of Cork by calling to Bradley's of North Main Street. My grandmother used to call regularly to this great value grocery, but given that she was a Pioneer, I don't think she had much interest in their range of wines and beers. The back of this shop is a true shrine to the brewer's art. Many craft beers are on offer in a 4 for €10 deal but they also stock some Cork treasures including the delectable Stonewell cider from Nohoval and the limited edition series of beers from the Francisan Well Brewery on the North Mall. 

I opened the bottle of Stonewell cider as soon as I got back to Dublin. When I was finished, my only regret was that I hadn't bought more bottles. It features a mix of 3 different types of cider apple juice which is blended with fresh juice at the time of bottling. Right now, it's only available in Munster due to limited quanities, but I've been promised that much more will be available in 2012.

Himself and his brother cracked open the numbered special edition bottle of Shandon Century Extra Stout. It's pretty strong for a stout at 7.5%, but was easy drinking with a lovely caramel flavour and dark malts. I've heard from the knowledgeable Michael (of Bradley's fame) that the stout is now all sold out, but he has also reassure ment that there will be more special edition beers from the Well.

Locations visited & Goodies tasted

The Bierhaus, Pope's Quay, Cork.
Tel: +353 (0)21 455 1648
URL: http://thebierhauscork.com/
Twitter: @BierhausCork

Uncle Pete's, 31 Pope's Quay, Cork.
Tel: +353 (0)21 455 5888
URL: http://www.unclepetes.ie/

Idaho Cafe, Caroline Street, Cork
Tel: +353 (0)21 427 6376

O'Conaill's Chocolate Shop, French Church Street, Cork.

Bradley's 81-82 North Main Street, Cork
Tel: +353 (0)21 427 0845
URL: http://www.bradleysofflicence.com/
Twitter: @bradleys_offlic

Franciscan Well Brewery, North Mall, Cork.
Tel: +353 (0)21 421 0130
URL: http://www.franciscanwellbrewery.com/

Stonewell Cider, Nohoval, Belgooley, Kinsale, Co. Cork
Tel: +353 (0)21 234 8878
URL: http://www.stonewellcider.com/
Twitter: @StonewellCider

The Fish Wife, MacCurtain Street, Cork

When in Cork, I pretty much always stay at the Gresham Metropole. It's has free wi-fi throughout, clean white bed linen and is very centrally located. Best of all, prices can be quite keen and I love the old style and corridors. As far as I'm concerned, it's a far better offering than some of the newer, more expensive hotels in the city.

Ever since I've moved to Dublin, I've missed Cork chips. Dublin chips are good, but they're a different style and sometimes only chips from Lennox's or Bartie's will fill the void. The fact that the Fish Wife chip shop is located just across the road from the Metropole is just another plus for this hotel. 

The Fish Wife is a relatively new addition to the Cork chipper scene, but it manages to bring a modern twist to this traditional food style. Alongside the old favourite of cod, you can find daily specials, which range from tiger prawns in filo pastry to fresh battered seabass. Even the packaging is novel. Instead of the traditional newspaper, the fish and chips come in a clever cardboard box, which makes a handy plate when opened out.

The daily specials at the Fish Wife, Cork

Chip portions are more than generous and they even carry a personal favourite of mine, the mushy pea fritter. The Fish Wife also sells a range of burgers, which I've been told are good, although I've yet to try them myself. Every time I've eaten at the Fish Wife I've found the batter to be very light and crispy, and a recent piece of seabass showed how any piece of fish can be battered. In a city where chippers are taken very seriously, the Fish Wife is definitely one of the best.

Fresh battered seabass with mushy pea fritter, chips and sauces from the Fish Wife

The Fish Wife, 45a MacCurtain Street, Cork
Tel: +353 (0)87 264 4266
URL: Facebook page

Market Lane, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork

On a recent weekend trip to my hometown of Cork, we found ourselves looking for somewhere different to dine. There seemed to be one main contender, the Market Lane restaurant which had received several good recent print mentions along with Twitter recommendations. I attempted to make a booking for a Saturday night, but once I navigated the irritating automated answering service, I learned that they do not take bookings for smaller groups.

In order to ensure that we got a table without any hassle, we arrived around 6.00pm, entering through thick red velvet curtains. Even at this early stage, the restaurant was very busy, but we were led upstairs and seated in one of the few remaining free tables. Placemats double up as menus and there were plenty of options from which to choose. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there was too much choice. I'd have preferred to see a smaller list of well-chosen options.

Country pork pate with chutney, toast & crackers

Staff were emerging at machine gun pace from the kitchen bearing plates of food and our starters arrived quite quickly. My generous portion of country pork liver and date pate with crackers, toast and chutney (€7.70) was reasonable, although somewhat grainy. The plate featured an unnecesary pile of sad looking wilted lettuce leaves which I left uneaten. I'd love to know how much money restaurants waste on plate garnishes that are returned to the kitchen.

Sweet potato with Crozier blue cheese, spinach & dates

Himself received sweet potato with Crozier blue cheese, spinach, dates and roasted pine nut oil (€7.20). When ordering this dish, we had to ask what it actually was, as the menu only lists the ingredients. Was it perhaps a tart or maybe a salad? It turned out to be a melt of blue cheese, spinach and dates, topped with crispy sweet potato strings and the unusual combination of salty and sweet ingredients worked really well.

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with wild mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes

When ordering, I had felt a craving for pasta. For your information, I generally don't order pasta in mixed-menu restaurants as it's usually overcooked, stodgy and coated in bad sauce. I should have followed my instinct in Market Lane. My main of spinach and ricotta ravioli with wild mushrooms, semi-sundried tomatoes, cream and parmesan (€13.95) was served compressed into brick-like solidity. The presence of meaty mushrooms and tangy tomatoes meant that the sauce was pretty good, but the stodgy ravioli just didn't do it for me.

Pork Wellington with Jack McCarthy black pudding

We had both been tempted by the Pork Wellington in flaky pastry with Jack McCarthy black pudding, fondant potato and carrot puree (€17.95) and it didn't disappoint. Lovely light flaky pastry with just-cooked pork and a lovely layer of spicy black pudding. This surely is a signature dish for Market Lane and I love the incorporation of McCarthy's excellent local pudding.

A glass of Southern Light Sauvignon Blanc and a bottle of Paulaner beer bought the total bill to a very reasonable €58.80. Market Lane is clearly a popular venue with a high table turnover on the night we visited. The pork Wellington was a particularly good dish, but I feel that Market Lane suffers from its popularity. There are too many choices on the menu, which gives a feeling that the restaurant is trying to be all things to all people. I'd much rather see a pared down menu, keeping the best dishes and losing the noise.  

Market Lane, 5-6 Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork
Tel: +353 (0)21 427 4710
URL: http://www.marketlane.ie/

Twitter: @market_lane