Last week, I heard about a chicken wing festival taking place in Bray at the weekend so I vowed to head along on Sunday. It’s called Wings Food Fest and it took place on July 20th to 22nd 2018. Myself and my wife are big chicken wing fans, though we hadn’t heard of this festival before and apparently it has been running for a few years.

It takes place along the Bray promenade and this year, included a fun fair because the Bray Air Show would be the following (this) weekend.

The first thing I noticed was the big BBQ pit in the middle and I recognised Simon Dyer at the helm because I had just watched a re-run of the one and only series of BBQ champ on TV where he came first. It’s a pity they didn’t continue with the series but I suppose basing a BBQ show on the Great British Bakeoff was a bit of a long-shot.

The second thing I noticed was the massive queues for any of the stands which had actual BBQs going. If there was smoke, there was a queue. I was hungry having only eaten a ham and cheese croissant for breakfast.

My wife joined the smallest queue while I joined one of the largest which was simply branded Wings Fest, so it was the official stand I guess. It was clearly very popular. My queue was cut off by security though leaving about 20 of us cut off from the queue so I moved on to another stand called BBQ Tonight. The queue was long but moved and when I got up I realised they had two different types. Peshawari and something else. I ordered one of each. 5 wings for €5. My wife joined me and we tried our haul. Hers were covered in some rubbish sauce and were very fatty. They tasted like something from a filling station’s deli. Mine both tasted the same but they were meaty and the spices were tasty so we enjoyed them.

We did’t feel like immediately joining another queue and we also wanted a drink so we headed across the road and sat in the Martello beer garden. They bring you wings there and they were very tasty, crispy buffalo wings so we were happy. We popped next door to Porterhouse to meet up with friends and let the wings go down.

After nearly 2 hours, we headed back in to the festival. My friend recommended the festival wings I missed earlier so I joined the queue which was moving quite efficiently now. My wife went off to get the Jaipur masala wings after another recommendation. I got the hottest wings available. They were pretty tame in terms of spice but they were tasty €6 for 6 wings. The Jaipur wings were also €6 but they came with chips, coleslaw and chickpeas as well as dipping sauce. They were by far the best value.

I was bemused by the vegan wings stand sitting beside the festival wings. For one, why would a vegan want to eat a fake chicken wing? Also, they were €7 making them the most expensive I had seen. I never made it to the big BBQ pit because the queues never died down for that one. I think most people were going for the pig on a spit or ribs rather than just chicken wings.

All in all, the event was fun and great for families. The fact that it’s a free event is a bonus. Sure, there’s no drink stands but the pubs along the promenade make up for that. They were all hopping and plenty of people were eating wings there too so it was a win-win for local business and that’s always great to see. It’s no Big Grill Festival but for a free family event it’s brilliant.

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Pauline was previously in marketing for Superquinn/Supervalu after all. Silver Hill has been around for about 50 years ago and is found all over the world.

When it came time to cook them, I read the back of the pack for guidelines. I have only ever roasted whole duck before so I was curious to see what cooking fillets was like. It’s a little different but the instructions were almost spot on as I found out. So you don’t have to rely on the image above, here’s what it says more or less. I used the garlic and black pepper fillets here.

• Remove all packaging – Obviously
  Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180ºC/Gas mark 6. – Easy enough
• Score the fat, this is already done so ignore this part.
• Season with salt and pepper, these were pre-seasoned so I could ignore that part.
• Place fillets fat side down on a cold dry pan and turn to a medium heat. As the pan heats up the fat will start to render from the fillets. – OK interesting
• Cook until fat is golden in color (time will depend on the speed of your hob) Turn fillets over and continue to cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes (be sure to save the fat from your pan for wonderful roast potatoes and vegetables) – I had mushrooms so kept for that.
• Place fillets on a roasting tray and cook for a further 10 – 15 minutes depending on oven and taste.
• Remove from oven and allow fillets to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
• Ensure that the duck is thoroughly cooked, no pink meat remains and the juices run clear – Probably to be safe. A little pink for duck is usually fine. That’s how it’s served in restaurants after all.

So the first thing to do was place them fat side down into a cool pan on medium heat. As the pan heats, the fat melts until it’s about a centimetre thick. Under no circumstances should you pre-oil your pan as there’s simply no need. Once there was a nice brown on the fat side, I turned them over for about 3 minutes before popping in the oven.

I then started frying my mushrooms in the leftover duck fat. I had also spooned some fat over my potatoes before putting them into the oven. This would give them a nice crisp and flavoursome coating.

About 15 minutes later, I took them out of the oven and enjoyed. It was juicy and delicious with just a tad bit of pink in the middle. Since the packs are convenient, the potatoes I used were also convenient packs so they are pre-cooked and their instructions mentioned 15 minutes in an oven at the same temperature as the duck so in terms of timing, they worked perfectly. They were from Finnegan’s Farm. Of course, the potatoes were not as good as freshly cooked potatoes but for the sake of 15 minutes and no preparation, they were brilliant.

I have since cooked the Maple & Mustard pack and the Aromatic pack with equal success. Looking at the website, they have a Smoky Spice pack too which sounds great but they were out of that one at Bloom.

Speaking of Bloom, I only got in to that for the last two rainy hours on Monday. I can’t recommend going late on Monday enough because most of the vendors are giving major discounts to get rid of stock. The duck breasts for instance are €5 per pack but I think the deal on the day was 3 packs for €10 so that was a great deal. It didn’t end there, we got a load of steaks and a full leg of lamb for a mere €45 from The Premium Butcher. That’s possibly half the price or very near it.

Even on the way out, there was a wood sculpture. They were all sitting under a tree after the long day but I headed over with the intention of buying Pauline a little pig in boots made of wood for €25 but without having to ask, he offered it for €10 and then up-sold us the little teak folding table which was marked as €35 for I think €15 or near enough. It was a complete bargain of a day and I look forward to next year.

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I was kindly invited along to the launch of the new Morelands Grill on Westmoreland street. It’s actually beside/part of the Westin hotel but also serves as its own entity rather than simply being another hotel restaurant. It has its own separate entrance which highlights that point.

Inside is tastefully decorated but since I was at the launch where all of the seating was in use when I arrived, I spent my time standing. The first two images are media images from the press release to help highlight the food and interior.

The highlight of the restaurant is the Spanish style josper grill, yeah I had to google it. Apparently it’s some kind of indoor BBQ which is like a combination of an oven and a grill. It chars meat at up to 500c which apparently encloses all of the flavour. The end result is a mouth watering experience, or so all of the spiel says. It looks like the Morisson hotel also has a josper. Above you will see the menu of small bites that were floating around. I had the tiger prawn skewer, salt aged steak and mini burger along with the sundae. All were delicious but the steak blew both myself and Pauline away.

It’s rib eye that has been aged for 30 days on Himalayan salt. The salt removes the excess water and allows the enzymes to do their work and break down the tissue. The result is usually expensive but juicy and delicious.

The steak is sourced from McLoughlins Butchers in Ballyfermot, an award winning butchers since 1965. They in turn source it from Peter Hannan in Northern Ireland. Pat was there himself explaining the ageing process that Peter uses but rather than relay it third hand, here’s a link to their website which seems to explain the process.

There’s an excellent wine menu available and we were treated to a couple. The red was Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir which according to their menu is €43.50 per bottle. It was a bit on the fruity side for my taste. They also served a decent Chardonnay which seems to be €39 per bottle. Both of these wines came under the brand of Louis Latour. They were also doing gin cocktails but I didn’t venture over to get any as I was happy with the wine choice. I didn’t come across any beer options which is a pity. As far as I’m concerned, any restaurant that’s not promoting beer to match their food is missing out but I’ll gloss over that since this is a pretty much beer free blog. If you want to read my thoughts on beer, go to taleofale.com

Now, something to add here. Since we were only getting small bites, essentially samples of items on their full menu, we didn’t feel like we had eaten a good dinner so we left and headed to Marco Pierre White’s for some, you guessed it, salt aged rib eye steak. Marco’s steak was delicious but we both agreed that it actually wasn’t as good as the small pieces we were served at Morelands so we definitely want to go back there and try a full dinner as that steak was just amazing.

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I was invited along to Indus Spice in Stillorgan on Tuesday by Love Belfast. Yeah, that sounded a little odd to me at first too but here’s how it happened. The first Irish curry awards were actually hosted in Belfast last month and Indus Spice won the Best Newcomer at the awards. Love Belfast were involved and decided to help promote Indus Spice in Dublin. It just so happened that Tuesday was their one year birthday so a bunch of media types such as TheTaste.ie were invited along and I was among the invitees.

The restaurant itself was mostly empty when I arrived which was great as I was able to get a shot of it in pristine condition before the hordes descended. It’s modern but tastefully decorated with a bar down the back and a little corner for waiting which can double as a small dance floor.

I later realised there’s a party room out back, or is that the front? I arrived at what I thought was the front door (thanks Google Maps) . That brought me straight up to the main room. When the rest of the media people all shuffled in from the party room, I realised I should have gone in there as I probably missed out on some information about the restaurant. Now that I think about it, I think it worked out better that I didn’t because everything I experienced was as it happened and wasn’t pre-influenced by a briefing.

Between each course, we were entertained by some Bollywood dancing as pictured above. It was very enjoyable and looks like a lot of fun.

I was with my partner and we were both starving. When the starters arrived, I think we were first served. Probably because we were among the longest waiting in the restaurant itself. I did pause just long enough for a picture before digging in. From top left going counter clockwise, there was a succulent tandoori lamb chop, aloo tikki potato pancake, tandoori king prawn and a chicken tikka (chicken tender). There was also various sauces and a leaf salad with beetroot and carrot spirals. Everything was delicious but the chop and potato pancake was particularly good.

Due to a number of people who had unfortunately RSVP’d and not showed up, there were extra plates so the owner Syed brought us two more when we were done and we took our time to enjoy the second helping. I was worried there would be little room for the main course though….

Thankfully, I needn’t have worried because before the main course, we were treated to a cooking demonstration by head chef Tony. He made a prawn dish and invited us to have a small taste before we headed back to our tables for the main course.

The main course was a help yourself buffet of some of their traditional dishes. Starting with the naan bread on the right and moving counter clockwise, we start with chicken biryani, saag paneer (tofu), butter chicken then some raita before moving on to lamb jalfrezi and tandoori prawn. OK, I’ll admit that I might have some of those dishes wrong because I neglected to take note but the meat is correct at least, I promise.

After some more traditional dancing, we had a dessert of cheesecake with half a strawberry and a mixed berry topping. It was pretty delicious and in fact, if the place was turned clockwise, it looks a little like a Christmas tree. Perhaps that’s just the festive spirit starting to see things that aren’t there but it was my girlfriend who pointed it out.

A big thanks to Syed and the team for putting on a fantastic show and more importantly, some amazing food. It’s a shame that both myself and my girlfriend had to drive from different locations because the wine was flowing.

Also, a big thanks to Love Belfast for the invite.

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We knew very little about Saint-Émilion other than reports from friends that it was the place to go for wine and we knew nothing about Valandraud other than it was a relatively new vineyard that was about 20 years old.

We arrived to a stunning place indeed. First, we visited Saint-Émilion itself and walked around. We visited the visitor centre and it turned out that you can’t just arrive at a vineyard. You need to pre-arrange it. Some have open days but you have to get there yourself. It seems that the only way to do that is by taxi, private car or chauffeur. There were a lot of the latter around. We decided that since we were staying at a Château, we might as well just do that tour and then wing the rest of the trip.

The town itself is set on a hillside overlooking the many vineyards of the region. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site with narrow alleys and what seems like more wine shops than people. The population is less than 2000 but there can be multiples of that number there at any one time due to wine tourists.

After an hour or so, we went off in search of Château Valandraud. this proved easier said than done because it showed up in different locations depending on what GPS system we used. It didn’t appear on any of the vineyard maps dotted around the countryside. Being 20 years old, it’s far too new to appear on any signs. We eventually found it by using google maps and having to use data roaming.

Once we settled in, we grabbed a bottle of their Bad Boy wine from the fridge for €18 and sat on the deck just taking it all in. What an absolutely stunning view and experience. Sitting on a deck overlooking rolling vineyards drinking a bottle of rather good red wine. We spent an hour or so enjoying the scenery and then 20 minutes in the outdoors hot tub before we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We had arranged the last table at a local Michelin star restaurant at another Château. It was a 5.3km walk so we gave ourselves an hour and 15 minutes or more to do it in. Plenty of time since we normally walk 6km in an hour.

Les Belles Perdrix is the restaurant located on the Château Troplong Mondot estate. It sits atop a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside. As a result, it has a water tower which slightly spoils the look of the immediate area. That water tower is clearly visible from Saint-Émilion and it’s only about two kilometres from the town centre.

They have a few menu options but we went for the carte blanche for €100 per person. That means whatever the chef wants to serve. I reckon it’s the most popular as the chef uses whatever local seasonal products are available and it’s a chance for him to experiment. I didn’t take any pictures of the food as that’s for Instagram users. We had a glass of house white while searching for a bottle of wine to drink from the menu. I did take a picture of the beautiful 2012 Mondot Saint Emilion Grand Cru we settled on. We made use of some data roaming to look up wine on the menu and the 2012 seemed the best value for money. It was €50 for the bottle in the restaurant but this bottle retails for about €90 and we loved it so much, we bought a few bottles to take home at €38 each. The 2006 vintage in Dublin is €179 in O’Briens a the moment. I have read the 2012 bottle should reach its peak in 2018 so we will try to age at least one of them until then as it’s not too far away.

The food was stunning and I would go so far as to say it was the second best meal I have ever had in my life, the first being Chapter One in Dublin. It was only my 3rd Michelin star restaurant. Pauline on the other hand has been to many more and even she rated it one of the best she had ever been to.

While the walk was lovely earlier, we arrived just as it was getting dark and had no intention of walking back so we had them call us a taxi. One thing to bear in mind is that there appears to be a set price in the area rather than a meter system. The 5km journey cost us €20 so it’s something to bear in mind. In our case, the taxi driver didn’t even have to come out to collect us as he was waiting for another party that wasn’t finished yet so he took us for the 10 minute round trip rather than sitting there. It’s a good thing we had walked there as I believe the price to collect and take us there would have been €25. It might seem a little ironic to be complaining about taxi prices while dining at a Michelin star restaurant but we don’t make a habit of spendy nights out.

The next morning at 11 we had a free scheduled wine tasting as part of our stay. We assumed we would meet in the living room or perhaps on the deck and taste a few wines. How wrong we were. Our young French guide spoke excellent English having learnt in Glasgow of all places. I believe her name was Lorraine or something similar. Possibly Lorien? Anyway, the tour started outside with some history and explanation about the land, terroir, classé and all of that fun stuff. It was incredibly interesting and informative.

One bizarre thing I learned about the Saint-Émilion AOC is that the price of wine is determined by which appellation the grapes are grown. I imagine this holds true for the whole of France. If you look at the image above, it’s taken from the deck of Château Valandraud and overlooks their vineyard. Not all of that is theirs, there are other estates on either side and the plots are mixed. The price of land right here is €1m per hectare. That’s a lot of money. Now, take a look at the road in the top left, you can also see it in the picture of Bad Boy further up as the road appears in the glass. That’s a different appellation. Valandraud is in the Saint-Émilion appellation and across the road is another appellation within the local AOC called Montagne Saint-Émilion. Land over there costs a far more reasonable €200k per hectare.

Does anyone reading this seriously think that the land on the cheaper side of the road is so different to the spendy side as to make any real difference to the grapes that are produced? Valandraud does have some plots over there but can’t produce their Grand Cru from those grapes. Everyone knows there’s a certain level of snobbishness in the wine world but this seems to be the epitome of it. It’s basically vineyard apartheid.

We were then taken inside the production facility in to what looks surprisingly like a brewery. I have been on countless brewery tours and have visited quite a number of wineries in the US and one in Australia but I have never actually seen the production facility itself. In the image above, you will see three different types of fermenting vessel or tank used by Valandraud. As you might expect, there were the oak and stainless steel vessels but there were also two concrete tanks. Concrete? I would have thought that would be toxic but apparently not. It would seem that concrete has all of the advantages of both wood and stainless with none of the drawbacks. Stainless steel is too perfectly sealed and doesn’t allow the wine to breath but imparts no unwanted flavours. Wood does allow the wine to breath but imparts a woodiness that might overpower the fruit. Concrete allows the wine to breath at a microscopic level, imparts no undesirable flavours and also naturally keeps its temperature steady.

It would seem that wine makers all over the world are turning to concrete vessels to age their wine. I would say the only downside would be physically moving them around if you had to change the layout somewhat. Could a normal forklift move it or would you need to hire some sort of crane like machine?

If I remember correctly, when Jean-Luc Thunevin initially set up his vineyard in 1989, he was given either a gift or a loan of a number of barrels by a friendly cooperage by the name of Seguin Moreau. Since then, he almost exclusively uses those barrels so a very healthy relationship matured out of an act of kindness from a friend.  I could have that story completely wrong so feel free to correct me if you know better.

This was the first instance of what was termed Garage Wine in the region. It was literally made in a garage. In the beer world, we would call that craft beer so is this craft wine? Jean-Luc gained the reputation as the bad boy of Saint-Émilion and that name is reflected in his Bad Boy wines.

In 1995, respected and well known wine critic Robert Parker scored Valandraud higher than  Château Pétrus. This had an immediate impact on the price of the wine with prices jumping to over €90 in 1997. The 2005 vintage was €165 and I got to taste a little of that one at the tasting.

The obligatory bottling line. It doesn’t matter if it’s a brewery or it seems a winery that I visit. The bottling line is presented with puffed out chests and a lot of pride. We also learned that they produce kosher wine. The visiting Rabbis concentrate it after fermentation and from that point on, only they can touch it and they visit to keep an eye on it. Looking at the prices of this very limited batch, they are very expensive to buy.

The tour seemed mostly over and just the tasting left but it wasn’t that simple as the tasting turned out to be in Saint-Émilion itself. Rather than follow Lorraine in our car, we asked could she give us a lift and we would make our own way back and she agreed. She was also impressed that we chose to do that and be responsible rather than drink and drive. While France has the same alcohol limits as Ireland, in the wine regions, the police seem to be a lot more reluctant to intervene. Apparently the mayor and some of the higher ups have their own vineyards. It wouldn’t go down very well if they had random breath tests in the region. Anyway, we got a lift in and did the wine tasting. We then bought 3 of each of the wines we liked but could actually afford. If I decide to start writing about wine I’ll try to include them.

After that, we walked around Saint-Émilion, had lunch and eventually walked the 6.2km back to Château Valandraud for some wine and hot tub time. It was the second most relaxing part of our holiday. I even got a little astro-photography time that evening.

The most relaxing time would come next in Cognac. I’ll write about that in a few days. Thanks for reading.

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Walking around the streets of the old town in San Sebastian, you can’t help but wonder about the whole pintxo thing. They are everywhere, almost every bar is packed full of plates of random pieces of food. 

A pintxo is sort of like a bigger version of tapas and is often sitting atop a piece of bread, pierced by a cocktail stick. They are the Basque version of a pincho but don’t call them that when in the Basque region. Pintxo is pronounced peen-cho by the way.

So, how long has your pintxo been sitting on that bar? At least a number of hours and likely since opening time. It’s also possible that it was sitting on the bar the day before. If visiting the Basque region, you really don’t want to be picking anything off a bar, even if it looks appetising. I suppose it depends on the pintxo. If it’s in a pot that gets heated up, it’s probably fine. Also, if you are there when a fresh plate is put out, that’s also fair game. There’s a far better way of doing things though, look for a menu. If there’s one on the wall, that usually means it’s cooked or prepared to order meaning it will be fresh.

Last week, I spent two days in San Sebastian with my girlfriend. She had been there before but it was my first time. We couldn’t get any of the Michelin star restaurants as they were either closed or fully booked so the first day we sort of wandered around and grazed a little. I was pretty underwhelmed by most of what I had in terms of pintxo but the wine was good and stupidly cheap for someone from Ireland. Two large glasses of rioja for about €3.50? A complete bargain!

We needed a better plan for day 2 and thankfully that came in an unlikely form. As you probably know, I’m a beer writer. My normal blog is www.taleofale.com and you can read my beer post here. After we were finished grazing in pintxo bars, we headed to a beer bar called Akerbeltz up the hill near the Santa Maria church, probably the best place for good beer in the city. While there, we were informed about a brewery birthday party in a nearby city so we hopped in a cab and went there. We had a great time but a local Welsh guy we met at the party emailed us a list. That list not only contained the name and address of his favourites, but also suggestions of what to order while there. Armed with that list, we headed out the next evening in search of a foodgasm and we pretty much got it.

Cuchara de San Telmo was my favourite one from the list but it’s a little different than the others as they only do made to order. The bar is too small and busy to really eat inside but there’s a small seating area outside at the back if you are lucky to get a seat. they do table service there too. We were lucky because one table was taken up with one man. When I inquired if the other seats were available, he invited us to sit down. Apparently, this place can be incredibly busy with queues around the corner but it moves quickly enough. A long queue might just be worth it though. Pretty much everything on the menu is likely to be pretty amazing so if you only have one place to visit, make sure it’s here.

Below is the list we were sent. The name of the bar is in bold and the name of the recommended dishes are underlined. I have also added in comments of what we thought of the ones we made it to. We didn’t quite make it half way through the list before we were stuffed. I hope the list helps if you find yourself in San Sebastian and are overwhelmed with choice.

Zeruko (Calle Paesacderia, 10) – La Hoguera (a cod dish)
Sashimi de tolosa (beef prepared in different 3 ways) – Closed when there.

La Cepa (Calle 31 de Agosto, 7) – Jamon de Jabugo – lovely plate of sweet ham. Big plates available but spendy. Worth it though.
Hongos a la plancha (Grilled mushrooms) – A Must get. So rich! They also had some of the best wine we had in San Sebastian.

La Vina (Calle 31 de Agosto, 3) – Tarta de queso (cheesecake) – Skipped as we didn’t want dessert.

Galtxagorri (Calle 31 de Agosto, 22) – Magret de Pato (duck breast)
Cochinillo (Suckling Pig) -1st stop. The duck was amazing. Suckling Pig good but too fatty. Also potato and cheese dish was great, that one we actually picked up from the bar but they heated it.

Cuchara de San Telmo (Calle 31 de Agosto, 28) – Carrilleras (beef cheeks) – Amazingly succulent.
Viera ‘Toro’ (scallop) – not available.
Cochinillo (suckling pig) – Beautiful crispy crackling. 
Also had risotto which was amazing. Frois gras – nice but not my thing personally. Also had some squid which was good but not great so I wouldn’t bother with that one.

Gandarias (Calle 31 de Agosto, 23) – Solomillo (little fillet steak on bread) – Just had wine. The steak looked nice but just steak on bread. Not worth bothering with.

We didn’t make the rest below but if you read this and try them, be sure to comment and let me know how you got on.

A Fuego Negro (Calle 31 de Agosto, 31) – Makobe (little burger)

Goiz Argi (Calle Fermin Calbeton, 4) – Brocheta de Gambas (prawn skewer)
Pimientos de Padron (green peppers)

Casa Urola (Calle Fermin Calbeton, 20) – Hamburguesita (little burger, changes depending on season)
Viera en crema de ajo blanco (scallop in garlic cream)

Borda Berri (Calle Fermin Calbeton, 12) – Ravioli de Txangurro (crab ravioli)
Pulpo (octopus)
‘Kebab’ Costilla (pork rib)

Egosari (Calle Fermin Calbeton, 15) – Brocheta de rape, bacon y langostino (monkfish, bacon and prawn skewer)

Astelena (Plaza de Constitucion, 120) – Solomillo (little steak)
Bacalao (salt cod)
Rabo de Buey (oxtail)

La Mejillonera (Calle del Puerto, 15) – Mejillones (mussels, they’ve got them in different styles)

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