2010-01-21 Now, did you wonder what happened to Mint after it closed amid the melt-down earlier this year? Well, wonder no more: it's reopened as Dillinger's, and Temple Garner -- who was executive chef for Town, South and The Bridge Bar -- is cheffing and John Farrell from Il Primo is doing front of house. More>>

2010-01-03 Looking back over 2009, it's impossible not to recognise that it was a very hard year for the restaurant business. Turnover was down, costs went up and margins were cut to the bone. Yet, despite this, restaurants are still trading, people still have their jobs and there are still customers looking for good food. More>>

2009-12-16  This week I visited a restaurant in Naas and it was only as I sat at the table I realised that I'd been there before, not once, but twice. I'd gone to have dinner in Bistro Sola in Naas with fashion designer Lainey Keogh, More>>

2009-08-09 I have to say that the food placed before us was extremely good. I particularly liked the spicy noodles, the cuttlefish dish, the salt and chilli squid and the abalone, a Pacific shellfish that was meaty and interesting. But there was one dish that simply shone out over and above the others, the lobster. More>>

2009-08-09 A couple of weeks ago, I listed some of the great deals available to diners around the country. The deals seem to be getting better and better. This week, I got a call from my old friend and suggested we meet for a bite to eat in the new Roly's Bistro.; More>>

2009-08-01 If Town can weather its present difficulties, I suspect it will remain one of those restaurants that have the epithet 'institution' attached to it, since it's now so well known. Superb service made this evening pass by very happily. More>>

2009-08-01 I've been banging the drum for regionalism for some years now. It's a concept that's been well understood all over the Continent.

What it means in practice is that every region, and often even small towns, has their own speciality, based on the local produce of that region or town. It's a kind of gastronomic specialisation. More>>

2009-07-24 It had been a dull kind of day, heavy grey clouds filled the skies and, frankly, rain looked probable for the night; not exactly the sort of summer's evening that was ideal for visiting the coastal town of Skerries, where you find Stoop Your Head. But gloomy forecast or not, I set off with Marian Kenny to find out just what had excited my fellow judges about this pub. More>>

2009-07-24 The green shoots of recovery seem as sparse at the moment as the green shoots in my garden. Currently, the majority of places open mid-week in the area I wanted seem confined to hotels and pubs, which aren't usually my first choice. Still, a little research pointed me to the Bridgewater Inn in Sallins, where it seemed the welcome was good and the food above average. More>>

2009-07-24 I mentioned a few weeks ago that my father had opened a pizzeria on Wicklow Street in the late 60s. How things have changed since then. Today, you can get a pizza in every fast-food outlet and at any supermarket chill counter. Hard to believe, but 40 years ago pizzas were virtually unknown in Ireland.

If your only experience of this classic Italian dish is here in Ireland, you could be forgiven for being unsure about what a pizza is supposed to be. Should it be deep pan? Thin and crisp? Covered with cheese? All kind of variants are out there, and they all call themselves pizzas. More>>

2009-05-30 This is an island nation: as the song says, 'We're surrounded by water.' Of all the nations of Europe, we have an extraordinary resource, the Atlantic Ocean, just on our doorstep -- which means we're not only surrounded by water, but we're also surrounded by fish. More>>

2009-04-06 For most of my life, I've lived in areas where television reception has been, at best, marginal. I got used to a grainy picture, ghosting, interference and crackly sound, so I never spent much time watching TV. More>>

2009-04-06 I remember the first Chinese restaurant I ever went to. It was called something like the Oriental Garden, but it could easily have been the Great Wall, Jade Dragon or Imperial Chrysanthemum. More>>

2009-04-06 The printed tide of doom and gloom shows no signs of abating. Pick up any newspaper and you'll be regaled with in-depth analysis of the dire state of our economy. While it's perfectly true that our national finances could have been better handled and vast sums have been wasted, if you've ended up with the impression that everything is slowly coming to a standstill, throw that depressing thought out of your mind. While some enterprises are certainly taking a hard hit, others are doing just fine More>>

2009-02-07 Times are tough for restaurants, but it hasn't stopped some brave souls from opening up new ones. Already this year I've reviewed Ouzos and The Pig's Ear, both of which opened for business at the tail end of last year so, recession or not, there are people who are still prepared to go for it. More>>

2009-02-07 While the economic upheaval continues and the sheer mass of information about it threatens to engulf us in a tsunami of print and TV overkill on the subject, each one of us has to form our own strategy for survival in 2009. More>>

2009-02-07 The great thing about hindsight is the clarity of vision it gives you. When I look back over the past 15 years of dining out, one thing becomes very clear. While the economic boom gave us new restaurants almost every week, the nation's taste in food changed quite dramatically More>>

2008-08-30 The best meal in a lifetime of great meals in three star Michelin restaurants all over Europe is high praise indeed from Paolo for Dylan McGrath and Mint. So forget The Fat Duck or El Bulli, this might just be the best food ever. More>>

2008-04-12 Anyway, last year I wrote about a visit to the Dundrum shopping centre and I complained that for all its monstrous size, it had a shortage of restaurants. Well a new one has arrived there, nestled up against Harvey Nicks in the central plaza and it’s called Siam Thai. You’re getting it both ways in that name, since Thailand was once called Siam, where the king danced and sang with Anna.

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2008-03-08 I found that happy combination this week when I went with John Boorman to Ballykealey Manor Hotel. In the past when I’ve gone out with John we haven’t always been lucky, so when I told him we were going to dine in the south of County Carlow he didn’t exactly jump for joy. ‘How long will it take to get there?’ he asked. ‘Oh, about forty minutes,’ I lied. Actually my sat nav had predicted a journey time of 75 minutes, but it can be very pessimistic I told myself. More>>