DublinTown Food and Drink Festival comes to a tasty end!
Written by The DublinTown Food and Drink Festival has come to an end for another year and what a week it was.
We promised you a week of experiences that would showcase this city as the world class foodie destination it is and the businesses involved surely did deliver.
MASTERCLASSES AND TASTINGS
The public got to enjoy masterclasses that included a paint your own gin glass while you taste and find out more about a variety of gins in Zozimus and Asian Cookery Classes with the head chefs at Saba and Opium. For the coffee lovers there was a multi sensory experience in Bewleys with their champion barista. He brought you on a coffee journey that shows how sweeter it can be with rose tinted glasses!
There was also a coffee tasting experience in Vice Coffee Inc while, Kaph on Drury Street showed how to make their signature Spanish and Baileys coffees. Upstairs at Number 4, above The Corkscrew, hosted a Taste of Poland event with wine and food pairings inspired by Polish cuisine. Sushi Making and Sake Tasting was one of a number of events in Asia Market, but their 10 Unusual Things to Eat Before You Die was not one for the faint-hearted. Dumpling Making in The Vintage Teapot gave people a glimpse into how their favourite snack can be made at home. Sip + Paint in The Church returned for those who like art and wine!
Wannabe bakers got to enjoy a scone and jam making class with Camerino bakery and there was pumpkin fun in Fade Street Social during their pumpkin carving event.
COCKTAILS AND TRAILS
Cooks Academy students were put to the test when they opened a pop up fine dining restaurant for one night only. Nolita, The Mint Bar in The Westin and Xico showed us how to shake it up with their tantalising cocktail classes.
Those who like to explore were treated to trails from the Fab Food Trails, Dublin Whiskey Experience, An Asian Galloping Tour and DublinTown’s A Story of the Dublin pubs, each bringing the public to unique city centre businesses to tell their story before sampling their produce.
BESPOKE MENUS
Bespoke menus brought new light to the local produce in this city with bars and restaurants like our favourite hidden gem 101 Talbot putting on a special Irish Wild Game Menu for the week of the festival, and Fire Restaurant and Lounge offered a delicious Meat Feast with award winning Irish meat on the table.
Seafood lovers got to enjoy an Oyster and Chablis Tasting in Sole Seafood and Grill as well as a Seafood Workshop in Cooks Academy, and the classic duo of prawns and a cocktail went down a treat in Coppinger Row. Bottomeless Wine and Dine at Platform 61 and Brassserie 66 was another highlight for those who like to pair their dinner servings with the finest wines.
Cafe en Seine collaborated with Veuve Clicquote for a Champagne Dinner. Steak was available from Rustic Stone and Boeuf Steakhouse for the meat enthusiasts. San Lorenzo’s most popular lunch dessert – Coco Pops French Toast was available on their dinner menu during the festival. Other restaurants and bars like Juanitos, The Port House, The Porterhouse Central, House Dublin, The Green Hen, Taste at Bonsai, Madigans, Napper Tandy’s, La Cucina, Yamamori Tengu, Salamanca and Isabelle’s showed off their diverse menus with delicious food pairings and chef tables.
EAT THE STREET AND THE WHISKEY COMEBACK
There was a whole day dedicated to the independent stores on Drury Street including Three Twenty Ice Cream Lab, Blazing Salads, Juanitos, Asia Market and Loose Canon. Cooking demonstrations, free samples, music and outdoor seating areas made up the perfect lunch spot.
This year’s festival saw businesses give a big nod to the comeback drink that is Whiskey. Balfes of The Westbury put on a show with their Distilleries On Our Doorstep event. For this 4 Dublin Based Distilleries came together for a whiskey tasting dinner. The Irish Whiskey Museum highlighted the four corners of Ireland with four whiskeys from each province matched with cheese from each. 37 Dawson, who boast one of the largest selection of whiskeys in the city tantalised the tastebuds with their food pairings that matched perfectly with each drink. Irish Coffee-Making with a cheesecake at The Oak, an Irish Whiskey Tasting in The Shelbourne and the Rugby World Cup Fireside Chats in The Merrion warmed us all up on the cold festival nights!
SPONSORS
This year’s festival was sponsored by Pallas Foods, Ireland’s leading food and non-food product distributor feeding the country outside the home. The festival was also part of Failte Ireland’s Taste the Island campaign, a celebration of everything that is unique and special about the quality of our food and drink across the island of Ireland.
When it comes to showing off the great food and drink businesses available in this country, you really can’t ask for better than what you get in Dublin’s City Centre and this festival shows you just a snippet of what you get all year round in this city. We are already getting out thinking caps on for next year’s festival and can’t wait for you to experience it again!!! Until next year!
