Ireland Archives | Fake Food Free

Dublin: Food Bloggers and L. Mulligan Grocer

August 10, 2011

A recap from a quick trip and an outstanding meal in Dublin, Ireland.

We were in Dublin for all of about 15 hours. A short stop, I know, but fortunately I’d been there a couple times before.

Enough times to realize just how international the city feels. Enough times to discover some of my favorite green spaces in the world. Enough times to immerse myself in the history of attractions such as Trinity College and the Book of Kells.

And finally, enough times to know that it’s difficult to find really good food in the city center. In saying that, I mean the kind of food that doesn’t have a sign out front beckoning tourists and promising to serve real Irish cuisine.

Now, I’ve had some great food and drink in Dublin from coffee and chocolates at Butler’s to Leo Burdock’s Fish n’ Chips to scones from Queen of Tart. I’m just saying it’s difficult to find a unique dinner in 15 hours.

Unless, of course, you know a food blogger.

And I just happen to know a food blogger.

It was my pleasure to spend one of my 15 hours in Dublin with Aoife of The Daily Spud. The Daily Spud is one of those blogs I’ve been reading since my own blog began. For me, one of the originals, and one of my favorites.

During our conversation, you might expect that one of my questions was – where should we eat dinner?

As we discussed different places, Aoife kept coming back to one of her favorites – L. Mulligan Grocer. With such a glowing recommendation from someone who knows the area (and good food) well, we didn’t feel we could it could pass it up.

The location ended up being about a 20 min walk from Temple Bar. At that point in the day, we welcomed it because everywhere from Grafton Street to Temple Bar was packed with people to the point where you could barely move. It was nice to get out of the crowd.

L. Mulligan Grocer in Dublin | Fake Food Free | Food and Travel

We got there for an early dinner so we were lucky to get a table. We later found out that almost all were reserved. We must have looked desperate for good Irish food.

And good Irish food it was. I encourage you to head over to their site and read a little about the restaurant to get the full story. To simplify, they use as many Irish ingredients as possible from rare-breed pork, to grass-fed beef, to seafood.

A meal at L. Mulligan Grocer in Dublin | Fake Food Free | Food and Travel

When we sat down and I found the menus were old books in type-writer print, I couldn’t wait to read through all the selections and decide which of these local foods I wanted most.

They also had a wonderful selection of craft beers, something we were exposed to for the first time this trip. Often we are so enamored by fresh Guinness (yes, it is completely different on draft in Ireland), that we’ve overlooked craft beers on previous trips.

So let’s start there.

A meal at L. Mulligan Grocer in Dublin. Craft Beer - Galway Hooker | Fake Food Free | Food and Travel

I had the Friar Weiss because, well, I love wheat beers. As you would expect, this was perfect for me, sweet and crisp. My husband tried the Galway Hooker, an Irish Pale Ale that he really enjoyed.

We didn’t consider appetizers to be an option. We would risk leaving overly full in order to try all we could.

My husband had been daring me to eat a Scotch Egg the whole trip, something I had never had before. Mulligan’s version is a free range egg wrapped in delicious sausage and fried.

A meal at L. Mulligan Grocer in Dublin. Scotch Eggs. | Fake Food Free | Food and Travel

I now love Scotch Eggs.

My husband had the Potted Crab. If you are new to this dish like we were, the best way to describe it is delicious, tender crab with a layer of clarified butter on the top to create a bit of a seal or a lid on the crab. It is chilled and served with bread. It was a really unique dish for us.

A meal at L. Mulligan Grocer in Dublin. Potted Crab. | Fake Food Free | Food and Travel

It took me forever to decide on my meal, and I mean forever. There were just too many great options.

Despite the fact that I simply cannot make myself like beets, I went for the Lamb Burger which had a beet slaw. I refused to be the picky eater who asked for it to be removed so I sucked it up expecting to scrape it off once at the table.

First, I loved the slaw. It didn’t have that dirty taste I’m used to with beets and it added a gorgeous color. The burger itself was outstanding – juicy, tender, not to mention, wrapped in bacon and topped with goat cheese. The twice cooked chips were my favorite of the trip.

A meal at L. Mulligan Grocer in Dublin. Lamb burger with beetroot slaw. | Fake Food Free | Food and Travel

My husband went for the Pork Belly. The belly itself was beautifully plated, but what really interested me was the mash which had black pudding in it. It’s taken me a while to get over the idea of blood sausage, but I love black pudding. The dish was matched with a kraut or type of slaw which had a lot of caraway seeds. Unfortunately my husband doesn’t care for caraway seeds and it was even a little overpowering for me, but otherwise the meal was delicious.

A meal at L. Mulligan Grocer in Dublin. Pork Belly. | Fake Food Free | Food and Travel

I’m still so surprised we managed to find ourselves in such a great place considering our short stopover. When in Dublin, L. Mulligan Grocer is a must. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

L. Mulligan Grocer
18 Stoneybatter
Dublin 7

Thanks for reading! All images and content are the property of Fake Food Free unless otherwise stated. Please do not republish full recipes or images without written permission. What is okay? Feel free to Pin images, share links to my posts or share the photo in a round up post with the title of this recipe and a link back to the post. Confused about copyright and food blogs? Here is some helpful information on Recipe Attribution. If you want to use a photo or full recipe, just ask. I’m sure we can work something out.

Kilkenny, Ireland: Brewery Tours and Bakeries

July 28, 2011

Ireland is one of my favorite travel destinations! On our most recent trip, we finally made it to Kilkenny, Ireland. This is a recap of the beautiful sights and delicious food and drink!

First let me start out by telling you what we didn’t know. We didn’t know that Kilkenny was such a huge tourist attraction. Silly us, right?

What we did know was that we wanted to visit a smaller town in the middle of the country. Given this criteria Kilkenny was recommended to us so we were all for it.

When I say tourist attraction I mean that Irish residents flock there on the weekends and on bank holidays. During the week, buses line up outside the castle filled with international tourists.

Oh yeah, did I mention there is a castle?

Now, if you happen to be one that steers clear of touristy areas, do not, I repeat, do not, let this keep you from visiting Kilkenny. It is by far one the cutest, quaint, clean little towns I’ve encountered.

Yes, there are lots of people there, but the streets lined with hanging flower pots, the old churches, the architecture, and yes, the castle, is likely what most of us think of when we think of an Irish village.

Before I get to the food, let’s talk about this castle. Welcome to the location for my one and only run during our trip. My husband got in two, but mid-week jet lag hit hard and I caught an extra hour of sleep the second morning.

Kilkenny, Ireland | Food and travel recap at Fake Food Free

The grounds of the castle are gorgeous. Green space in Ireland is nothing short of perfect. It just makes you want to spend the day at the park with friends and family.

Our B&B, the Carriglea House was a two minute walk to the beautiful castle. I always say I need one Full Irish Breakfast each trip so I decided to have it here. Good choice because it was some of the best sausage and white pudding I’ve had. I managed to miss getting a photo of the pancakes which were more like crepes. This was our favorite breakfast of the trip. Well, if you take scones out of the equation.

Full Irish Breakfast in Kilkenny, Ireland | Food and travel recap at Fake Food Free

Our first impression of dining in Kilkenny was that most of the menus were exactly the same. There were also a lot of Italian and Mexican restaurants. Likely very good, we were just in the mood for Irish cuisine. However, we did end up with some delicious meals, stumbled upon the cutest little bakery and drank our fair share of Kilkenny and Smithwicks, both brewed in the city.

We ended up deciding on Matt the Millers for dinner which is located right on the water. Since the selection seemed limited from restaurant to restaurant I decided to stick with an old favorite and one that I hadn’t had until this point in the trip – Fish n Chips. I have to admit that I like the greasy, take-out version better than the restaurant version, but this hit the spot.

My husband had the roast special which screamed comfort – leg of lamb with vegetables and mash. The lamb was tender and the gravy the ideal match.

We had our first Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale at the recommendation of the waitress. I’d had this before in Dublin, but never made the connection that it was brewed here. For dessert I decided to branch out from the Irish coffee and went for a Bailey’s coffee instead. It had been a cool day in the city and this was exactly what I’d been craving.

Kilkenny beer in Kilkenny, Ireland | Food and travel recap at Fake Food Free

Bailey's Coffee in Kilkenny, Ireland | Food and travel recap at Fake Food Free

The next day on our walk to see some of the attractions we found a bakery and a very interesting bread caught my eye. It’s called a Turnover Bread. I asked the clerk about it, but she didn’t give me quite the history lesson I was hoping for so the picture will have to do.

They also had these gorgeous dinner plate-size meringues. We went back later in the day for a chocolate jam cake roll and a petite four.

I’ll also throw in here that any trip to Europe requires a doner kebab stop for us. We picked them up for an early dinner one evening. Lamb for me, my favorite. My husband always goes for chicken.

Next up is the Smithwick’s Brewery tour. This one was a lot of fun. We didn’t get to see any production, but St. Francis Abbey is on the site so the tour was full of beer history. The kind of history that draws my husband and I to it in the first place, such as stories of monks brewing beer as a means of nourishment and hydration. The most interesting to me was that Smithwick was Catholic so the beer was brewed under the cover of a non-Catholic friend. The Smithwick name couldn’t go on the label for years.

Smithwick's Brewery in Kilkenny, Ireland | Food and travel recap at Fake Food Free

We had a drink in the cellar bar, which is rumored to be haunted. Our tour guide, who was cute as could be, told us she works with guys who will never go in there at night.

She spent an exceptionally long time pouring our samples – the art of getting the head to rise above the glass without spilling over. Smithwick’s is good, but I have to say I prefer the nutty flavor of Kilkenny much better. I also love the picture of the Abbey on Kilkenny logo.

On our final morning, I got a great surprise. It just happened to be Thursday, the day the Farmers Market sets up outside the castle. I had an informative conversation with the owner of an organic farm. He had such a unique spread of produce including these Mirabelle Plums from France, cherries from Italy and my husband’s favorite, the Zespri Gold Kiwi.

He was so excited for me to try these after seeing them at a trade show and reading a case study on the company earlier in the year. I have to say, I like them even better than the green variety. They have such a sweet, mild flavor. We’ve heard they carry them at our Fresh Market here, but we haven’t come across them yet.

We snagged a bag of fruit for our train ride and balanced things out by getting some amazing fudge as well. This little truffle and fudge shop was amazing. We tried the Orange Chili Dark Chocolate Fudge, Cranberry Walnut Vanilla, Vanilla Cinnamon and the Ginger Lemon. I think these may be calling for a recreation in my kitchen.

So after our first impressions, I think we managed to find some great food (and drink) in Kilkenny.

I think we may have eaten a little too much this trip. Still not done sharing our finds – Belfast and Dublin to come!

Food and Travel: Cork and Kinsale

July 26, 2011

A travel recap for Cork and Kinsale, Ireland — where to go, what to see and what to eat and drink!

As I start this mini-series of posts about our recent trip to Ireland, I have to admit I typically don’t travel there with high expectations for food. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like Irish food. I do. There are also specific types of foods and drinks that I always look forward to having – scones with clotted cream, brown bread, Irish coffee, the perfectly poured pints of Guinness.

It’s just that we often find it difficult to get out of the touristy areas and find something truly outstanding. There have been exceptions, but in general I don’t view my own foodie travel to Ireland as a mission to find new, creative foods, but rather to enjoy some expertly made favorites.

I’m happy to say that my expectations were blown out of the water this trip. Among a growing number of restaurants using amazing Irish ingredients, we also stumbled upon food creativity that inspired me. This year we had some of the best food we’ve experienced during any of our trips to Ireland.

I have so much to tell you about that I thought it would be easiest to share our adventures separated by the different areas of the country we traveled to this time. We set out to explore a few new spots including Cork, Kilkenny and Belfast. In each place we found markets, delicious food and even new ales and stouts.

We arrived in Dublin on a Sunday and immediately hopped on the train to Cork. We stayed in a quaint little B&B there with the friendliest of hosts, the Fernroyd House. We don’t have much experience with B&Bs because we tend to enjoy the amenities of hotels, but we decided that it was a good time to try out this type of accommodation.

Irish Scones | Fake Food Free | A trip to Cork and Kinsale, Ireland

We were greeted with freshly baked scones which we also had each of our two mornings there. These are 100% worthy of all the compliments they receive by previous guests. I later learned they use the recipe from Ballymaloe Cookery School, a place I really wanted to visit, but it was just too far out to fit it in this trip. They also source their jams locally. One variety we got to try was Blackberry Apple.

I might also mention that the rest of our breakfasts were equally delicious – Savory French Toast, Poached Free Range Egg over brown bread with Ballymaloe tomato relish, Porridge with Irish Honey and Full Irish Breakfast. Unfortunately a photo of the scones was all I got. One morning we had a minor malfunction with the camera card and the next day I forgot to bring it down.

We had some great dining and sight seeing suggestions from the B&B owner, Tony. One of them being Scotts on Caroline Street which we found to serve wonderful, locally sourced food. We both enjoyed the Seafood Chowder which included local seafood and Cork salmon.

White Chowder | Fake Food Free | A trip to Cork and Kinsale, Ireland

A trip to Cork and Kinsale, Ireland | Fake Food Free

I’m pretty sure my talk about my next course didn’t stop for two days. I ordered the Bruschetta, but this was unlike any other I’ve had before. This version included toasted baguette with red onion marmalade and a large, slightly warm slice of local goat cheese. It was outstanding and I can’t wait to recreate it.

Irish coffees were on special the day we were there so it was impossible to pass one up for dessert. Not only is this one of my favorite drinks, but I always love how neat they look in the glass.

Irish Coffee in Cork, Ireland | Fake Food Free

I knew that the English Market had to be a stop on our list and we made it there the next morning. It was full of so many beautiful foods – cheeses, fresh seafood with a special emphasis on Irish salmon, breads, marinated olives and meat, meat and more meat.

English Market in Cork, Ireland | Fake Food Free

Salmon at the English Market in Cork, Ireland | Fake Food Free

We didn’t get to eat at the well known Farm Gate restaurant at the market, but we did grab a bite at the café next door – a cheese sandwich (surprisingly tasty) and cappuccinos. There is just something about a good cappuccino in Europe. I have yet to have one as delicious, creamy and expertly made in the States at any location. We ordered many throughout our week, while also enjoying tea with milk and sugar from time to time.

Travel to Cork and Kinsale, Ireland | Fake Food Free

We hadn’t researched much on what to do while in Cork and were surprised to learn we had so many options. We chose to head out to the coastal town of Kinsale (about a 30 min bus ride) to see Fort Charles and eat at the well known Fishy Fishy.

Fort Charles in Kinsale, Ireland | Fake Food Free | Travel

The Fort was beautiful and historically intriguing. In addition, it was a long and hilly hike up so we worked up an appetite for our meal at Fishy Fishy.

We ordered the seafood chowder to start. It was delicious and very different from our first version at Scott’s. This used a tomato stock and was flavored with tarragon and coriander.

Kinsale, Ireland | Fake Food Free | Travel and Food

We followed this up by sharing the Steamed Local Mussels with basil and lemon butter and the Warm Salad of Chili Seafood with monkfish, shellfish and salmon. The salad also had fried potatoes and homemade potato chips on top. The mussels were very good, but still didn’t beat the mussels we had in Howth on the east coast on a previous visit. I enjoyed the seafood salad, I just wish the chili dressing had more of a spicy kick to it.

After a great meal of seafood we just had to stop at a place advertising ice cream made with milk from an Irish dairy – Baldwin’s Farmhouse Ice Cream. We both settled on Caramel Fudge. As far as ice cream goes, it doesn’t get much more perfect than this.

Lastly, I can’t forget to tell you about the stout. We had never heard of Beamish until we arrived in Cork. Apparently it is the original Irish Stout for the area and it’s still brewed there. We both agreed that it doesn’t have the same distinct flavor as Guinness, but it was still a very good beer.

Beamish Irish Stout | Fake Food Free | Travel in Cork and Kinsale, Ireland

As our B&B owner pointed out, it was also 80 cents cheaper than Guinness which meant we would always find locals drinking it. We ended up finding a bar or two in Dublin City that carried it on tap, but there and Cork were the only places we saw it. It seemed to be very unique to that area of the country.

As you can see, I most certainly was not lying about new and exciting food experiences this trip. The mix of old favorites and new finds in Cork and Kinsale exceeded my expectations!

Thanks for reading! All images and content are the property of Fake Food Free unless otherwise stated. Please do not republish full recipes and images without written permission. What is okay? Feel free to Pin images, share links to my posts or share the photo in a round up post with the title of this recipe and a link back to the post. If you want to use a photo or full recipe, just ask. I’m sure we can work something out.

Summer Travel: Ireland

July 24, 2011

If you’ve wondered why there has been such an absense of posts, well I have good reason. My husband and I were traveling Ireland last week! I tried so hard to get a post up before we left, but you know what it’s like when you are preparing for a trip. Time got away from me and I just had to wait to post until I returned. And I have returned!

This was my third trip to Ireland and my husband’s fifth and this time around we had some of the best food of any of our trips. Fresh Irish ingredients, food markets, scones, chips, seafood, chocolates, ales, stouts and whiskeys. I’ve definitely got some great material for posting. I’ll even throw in some scenery as not to overwhelm you with food. I also picked up a Rachel Allen cookbook, hot and sweet smoked Spanish paprika and plenty of Butler chocolate.

Until I have a chance to sort through all the photos, I’ll leave you with a few to suggest what is yet to come.

The Scotch Egg with a free range Irish egg and pastured pork sausage – Dublin

Traditional take away Fish n’ Chips with curry sauce – Bushmills

Seafood chowder with local seafood including West Cork Salmon – Cork

Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale – Kilkenny

Blueberry and Raspberry Yogurt scones from St. George’s Market – Belfast

Irish Soda Bread with Pistachio Vanilla Butter

March 14, 2011

This pistachio vanilla butter makes a quick and easy spread for a favorite St. Patrick’s Day staple, Irish Soda Bread!

I’m finally back in the kitchen! After travel with family to Hilton Head Island last week and then a trip to Charleston, SC for work I’m settling back into shopping and meal planning this week. I’ll recap the food portion of my trip later, but right now I’m happy to say I made it back to the kitchen just in time for St. Paddy’s Day.

Last year, I let the holiday slip by without a celebratory food in sight. I must admit I didn’t go over the top this year with a full meal, but I guess I do still have a few days left.

Pistachio Vanilla Butter for Irish Soda Bread | Fake Food Free | An easy spread for a St. Patrick's Day staple.

While Irish Soda Bread may be the St. Patrick’s go-to for many, this is the very first time I have baked it. To add to the Irish flavor, I made sure I got the recipe from one of my favorite Irish chefs, Rachel Allen. We are headed to Ireland this summer and I already have space and weight set aside to stock up on several of her cookbooks.

So I tried my hand at her Irish Soda Bread and it was a hit! Crusty and chewy on the outside and soft on the inside. I guess it would be difficult to mess up so few ingredients, but given my baking history I can never be too sure. I used unbleached all-purpose flour for this one and substituted Demerara sugar. I also added some raisins for color and sweetness.

Once I had the bread, I felt the need to spread on something green. Pistachios were the first thing that came to mind. I chopped them up, added them to some butter and added just a drizzle of pure vanilla. The nutty vanilla flavor goes so well with the slightly sweet raisins in the bread. Not to mention, the finished product is flecked with festive pieces of green.

The White Soda Bread recipe can be found on Rachel Allen’s website. The quick and easy butter is below.

Pistachio Vanilla Butter

Makes: 1/4 cup

Ingredients

½ stick unsalted butter
25 to 30 shelled, salted pistachios, finely chopped
1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract.

Prep

Place all the ingredients in a small food processor and pulse until the butter is softened and everything is combined. If you’d like the butter slightly sweet you can add a teaspoon of honey or confectioner’s sugar to the butter before mixing.

This post has been submitted to the St. Paddy’s Day Food Parade at The Daily Spud.

A Trip to Ireland in Food

March 17, 2010

I’m ashamed to say that this year I have let St. Patrick’s Day arrive with no food celebration in my kitchen. It seemed everything I wanted to make was an Irish-inspired dessert, and well, I thought it best to wait to fill the house with sweets until after Easter.

I haven’t completely forgotten the day, though. I have my Guinness shirt on and made sure my husband was wearing green before he left the house this morning.

Since I have no recipe to offer today I thought I’d turn to my backup – travel.

My first trip to Ireland was in 2007 and then I had the opportunity to go again in 2008. Unfortunately I skipped 2009 to take our month long tour around SE Asia last October. With the new house chances I’ll make it in 2010 are slim, but I have decided that I’ll get there in 2011 even if I have to swim myself! As you can image by this point withdrawal symptoms from the lack of fresh Guinness, Irish coffees, brown bread and fruit scones are almost unbearable.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day I decided to sort through my photos and take you on a food tour of trips to the country. If you have ever been to Dublin then you know that this tour will include much more than traditional Irish food. In fact, the traditional stuff can sometimes be hard to come by in such an international city.

So here you have my Ireland through food.

Fish & Chips from Leo Burdocks