ITALIAN FOODIES

                  

Alessandro has been in Italy for the last month so has only seen the new place through email and excited descriptions from us, so he flew back yesterday!! We decided he should fly into Dublin and we'd pick him up and stay up for the night and do a little bit of "food and wine" research - oh life is good:) There were a couple of new places that I wanted to try like Carluccio's and the Cornerhouse Grill so we made a day and night of it!! We decided to stay in the Trinity Capital Hotel which just had a complete refurbishment last year and I have to say I highly recommend it. It's so cheap compared to other city centre hotels, is in a great location and I love the new decor so it's my new place of sleep when in Dublin.

As usual we tried to pack as much food and drink in as one's body can physically handle, Carluccio's was first on the list but only for a sandwich as we were going for steaks so we only wanted something small for lunch. I'v eaten in Carlcuccio's in London lots of times and I really like it!! Ok, so it's not Italian food like "mama would make" but it is a chain at the end of the day and the quality is very good for a chain. The Dublin outlet is pretty impressive I think, very modern, fresh and absolutely spotless, everything shines. The presentation in the deli is excellent as you can see from the picture above and I wanted to buy everything but we just settled on 3 very good panini. I think it will do very well but if you're looking for more traditional Italian food I suggest Dunne & Crescenzi around the corner, they even use tazza d'oro coffee which anyone who has been to Rome would have heard of, it's the most famous spot for coffee in Rome!!

                                  

I've spoke of Fallon & Byrne in my last post on Dublin so this time we went down to the wine cellar and had a couple of glasses of vino and some oysters as an "aperitivo" which were delicious and the boys loved!!

            

Dinner was booked in the Cornerhouse Grill at 9pm and I was interested to see what it would be like as it has had some pretty bad reviews recently. We started with the spicy chicken wings, lamb skewers and the roast beef salad.




For mains we had 3 rib-eye's, chips and a side of broccoli

 

I wish I could tell you it was a great meal as I love the concept and think we badly need this kind of dining option but it really wasn't up to standard and is pretty expensive. We all agreed the quality of the steak was really good with lots of flavour but that's where it stopped!! The service was good with really friendly waiting staff but other than that it was a big disappointment. We tried to get in there the last time we were in Dublin on a Tuesday night but it was packed but last night it was fairly quiet which is such a shame as it has everything going for it but at the end of the day no matter how nice the place is, it's all about the food!! 

                                          

There's lots of discussion lately about the best steak so my question to you today is what's your favourite???

 - fillet
 - sirloin
 - ribeye
 - striploin
 - t-bone

I'm loving ribeye at the moment, would love to hear your favourite, it's a little bit of market research for the new place!!

Ciao!!

                                                            
                                                                                               

So everything has calmed down and returned to normal, I had to do a phone interview with a local paper this morning regarding the win which was pretty cool and any press we get from the award is great for the shop. The princess is still sick so there hasn't been much cooking going on and the only reason I'm posting now is because of that bloody "champions league", I lose all rights to the remote on Tues and Weds(proper order I hear Bruno shout) so I'm all yours:) I wanted to do another post on London as we ate in a few other good places and had some tasty cocktails along the way as you can see above.

We stayed in the Cumberland Hotel which turned out to be in a great location, it's at the top of Oxford St at Marble Arch so it's right beside the tube station. It's a pretty cool and funky hotel as you can see from the photo and seems to be used mostly by business people, there were lots of conferences going on. The rooms are a bit disappointing especially when both the safe and the heating don't work but in saying that when staying in London you are only using the room for sleep and although they are small and decorated in a strange turquoise Ikea style they are perfect if you are in London for a short break, Gary Rhodes restaurant is located in the hotel and Locatelli's is just around the corner.




I love London and the variety of food on offer always amazes me, there is every type of cuisine possible. As usual we tried to fit as many eating establishments into 1 day which resulted in complete savagery and over-eating which in turn resulted in no room for dessert in Locatelli's and I soooo wanted the Amedei chocolate tasting selection, I will live to regret this until my dying day!!!  The day of overindulgance went something like this

 - arrived on Oxford st and had a very good cappuccino and croissant at Fratteli cafe down one of the side streets near Topshop!!

 - lunch at Tootsies, although this is a huge chain in the UK the quality of food is pretty good. It's simple casual dining focusing on breakfast,  light bites like chicken wings and nachos, burgers, steak sandwiches etc. Gourmet dining it isn't but it's great with a group of friends for a casual bite with a couple of beers. I wish we had more options like that here in Ireland, casual dining is really lacking.

 - an espresso and limoncello at Bar Italia in Soho which were a little bit disappointing but then I think people just go there because it's so famous so it's still worth a visit for Italian foodies.

                                                  


 - a couple of really good mojitos as pictured above at Meza bar in Soho, Floridita is also located here.

 - at this stage you would think we would have stopped and saved ourselves for Locatellis but no there was sushi to be had!!! We've never had sushi, I know we probably lead a sheltered life but it's not readily available this side of the country so we couldn't leave London without doing so! We headed into Yo Sushi which is a very popular chain in the UK, the staff are really friendly and ask if you've been before and would you like some help so you are instantly put at ease. Luckily my sister is a regular so she took the reigns with great pride, makes a big change for us to know nothing about the food we are about to eat so she loved it!! I don't know how good this chain is compared to "authentic" sushi bars but I really enjoyed the whole experience. You basically pick either hot dishes from the menu or choose cold dishes from the conveyor belt, deciding what to have was the most difficult decision as there is so much choice. The plates are all colour coded and you pay by colour, we had a few different plates to try as many as we could and really enjoyed everything.


                    

                     

 - Locatelli's for dinner, a couple of bombay g&t's at the hotel bar and then rolled myself and my 5 bellies into bed.

We had a few hours to kill the next morning before our flight back home so more "food researching" was done!!

 - breakfast at Napket which turned out to be the coolest deli I've ever been to. It's design is "boutique chic" with a fantastic selection of take-away sandwiches, salads, desserts. It is really small but is so well thought out it is definitely worth a visit. Their slogan is "snob food" and even the plastic knives and forks are black and very posh!! I loved it!! Sorry about the pics but they even had a sign up that no cameras allowed!!

 


 - lunch at gbks for the best burgers ever!!

 - flew home and haven't eaten since;)

                                               

Ok, I think we just ate one of the best restaurant meals of our lives last Monday night!!! We have wanted to eat in Locatelli's for so long and were worried that we had built it up too high and that we were going to be seriously disappointed but I'm happy to report it was everything and more!! We had booked about a month in advance but still could only get a table at 9.45pm on a Monday night but we had eaten so much that day trying out every cuisine possible in London it was just as well. We actually ended up being late(what's new) as we never checked where the restaurant actually was and jumped into a taxi outside the hotel presuming he knew where he was going but of course we would jump into a cab with the craziest taxi driver in London who headed off towards Covent Garden which was the completely wrong direction. My sister questioned him and he then realised where it was and it turned out to be a 2 minute walk around the corner from the hotel, he thought it was the funniest thing ever but still charged us £3 for our 10 min detour:) It's basically situated at the top of Oxford St at Marble Arch so it's only a 5 min walk from the tube station.

On arrival we were greeted with a lot of "buona sera" from the "all" Italian staff which really gives it a very welcoming feel and an air of authenticity even though it is a very modern contemporary restaurant - no red and white check table cloths here:) Throughout the meal the staff speak Italian (buon appetito, grazie, prego) which I love as you feel you could be eating anywhere in Italy! The one thing that really struck me was how unpretentious the place was, it has a very relaxed feel to it and there was a great atmosphere, the room was buzzing with chat. I love the decor of  the room, warm creams and beiges, crisp white tablecloths, soft lighting and although there was no music it wasn't an issue. The service is excellent and very professional, I was amazed at how many staff there were and of course my business brain was totting up how much it costs to run a place like this, actually my brain didn't stop a minute, every time I go to a new restaurant or a different city I come back buzzing with ideas - more about that later;)

We were seated straight away due to being "delayed" so unfortunately there was no time for an aperitivo at the bar and we were handed a very simple one page menu divided into the usual antipasti, primi, secondi and dolci!! We were dining with my sister and her partner so I was looking forward to trying every one's dishes - yes I am one of those:) Myself and Bru decided to pass on the antipasti as we both spotted "risotto al Barolo e Castelmagno" which we had seen Giorgio make on the Market Kitchen a while back so we both opted for that to start, they informed us it would take 20-25 mins but that suited us perfect as we were munching on the tastiest parmesan grissini and a basket of bread with home-made focaccia accompanied by some excellent Tuscan olive oil for dipping so they could have taken an hour for all we cared!! When the risotto arrived it was served with a spoon of barolo on top which the waiter then drizzled over the risotto at the table which was a really nice touch even though I got the new boy with the shaky hand of course:). The risotto itself was cooked perfectly with a lovely bite to the rice, lots of flavour from the barolo wine which I love anyway and then a really strong salty flavour from the castelmango cheese which is like a small, young, semi-hard parmesan cheese. My sister opted for the scallops with a saffron vinaigrette served on a celeriac puree which were absolutely devine, they just melted in the mouth. The beef carpaccio served with rocket and parmesan shavings was the best I have ever tasted, the quality of the beef was amazing, it was so tender and full of flavour.

Expectation was high for the mains and we had chosen a variety of dishes so we could get a real taste of the menu, Bruno chose the rabbit wrapped in parma ham and served with polenta which was delicious, I went for the stuffed sardines served with a fennel salad which I loved, it was light and full of flavour after my risotto. I have to say the winning dish had to be the oven roasted rump steak, it was the most amazing piece of meat I have ever tasted. It was cooked perfectly rare and had been infused with rosemary, I have never seen a piece of meat so tender, it really was like cutting through butter, we probably spent the whole meal discussing how good it was. I'll never be happy eating a piece of steak again:) Us ladies passed on dessert as we were just too full but the boys had a marsala zabaliogne and a chocolate fondant which were both delicious, ladies are never too full to taste though much to the annoyance of the boys  - this drives Bru mad like all men I think:) I wasn't too fond of the grappa truffles but I don't like grappa anyway. The biggest dissapointment if I was to try and find fault were the espressos, they were only average which we were quite surprised at, they were lacking the "crema" and definitely didn't pass the sugar test!!

The wine list is very extensive covering the different wine regions of Italy and covering the different price ranges too,   the most expensive bottle we saw was an Amarone priced at a very affordable £495 - maybe next time;) We opted for a more affordable bottle of Barbera d'Alba which was nice but nothing too special, I think the temperature probably affected the taste as it was quite cold which was surprising as they have one of those wine temperature controlled rooms. The customer at the next table complained about the temperature, he was a very "well to do" gentleman dining alone, at first I thought he may have been a food critic. I think the staff thought so too by the way they attended to him as he asked for his wine to be decanter-ed and really knew his food and wine( yes I was listening to everything). I love watching wine being decanter-ed as you never see it here, it really is a science and this guy knew how to swirl and taste it properly. He probably wasn't too impressed by the table of Irish sitting beside him pretending not to watch but not saying a word to each other and all eyes going in the same direction!! It turned out he was some big business man from Austria( he really gave off an air of importance) but I didn't catch anymore as my sister started speaking to me while I was eavesdropping and he had finished after she had been "shushed":) There was no celebrity spotting to report except for one of the chefs I've regularly seen on Ready Steady Cook, don't know his name though, older guy with grey hair and a tash??

We had 3 limoncellos and a mint tea to finish off even though we were quite shocked when we saw the price of the limoncellos £7 each - OMG, now that is way too expensive for a limoncello and it wasn't served at the proper temperature either. It should be served from the freezer but it was served from the fridge, now I know this sounds fussy but at this level and that price the best is expected!! The bill came to £262 sterling for the 4 of us which I know is expensive but besides the limoncellos it was definitely worth the money, it was definitely the best meal we've had. The best way to describe the food is sophisticated Italian cooking but still staying true to the Italian ethos of focusing on the best ingredients. The food is served nicely but not too "fancy" and the servings are big, you definitely won't be hungry when leaving. Afterwards we we headed back to the hotel and had a couple of g & t's and a very contented night's sleep:)

If you want to read 2 more Irish opinions you can do so here and here.



p.s. the pics aren't great as I really need to invest in a new camera, me and my sony cybershot are about to part company!! I looked a bit of a twat taking the photos anyway but I didn't care!!

p.p.s. italianfoodies was 1 yesterday so happy birthday to us!!!!!:)