DUBLIN FOODIE’S DAY OUT
In
Dublin, you can’tkeep literary history out of any trail – be it food or drinks
In Dublin, a
foodie can be flustered. Foxed, actually. He needs to brush up his mathematics.
Like, counting 119.5 seconds to pour the perfect beer in a tulip glass. A
second more and the beer can froth imperfect. Like, measuring 35.5 ml of
whiskey on a long spoon to dribble into dark, strong Irish coffee. And no, you
do not gunk cream into the coffee. Let it trickle on a spoon, then gently tip
it in. In the City of Literature, food is not merely art. You must have your
semantics right. If you get tipsy and someone calls you ossified, fluthered or
scuttered, do not flinch. They are not heavy expletives. It simply means you are
drunk. While you are getting the mathematics and pentameters precise in the
Irish capital, peek quickly into history. Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest pub,
has been a drinking den for 861 years! It was here that satirist Jonathan Swift
ordered his fave ale. But wait, before you step out on a scrumptious Dublin
food trail, pay heed to a warning. In Drury’s Building restaurant, do not drop
dead if you find a pellet in the heart of the roast Wicklow Wood Pigeon
Saltimbocca that you ordered. There’s a footnote warning on the menu: All wild
game dishes may contain traces of buckshot. Told you, in Dublin, a foodie can
be flustered. Foxed, actually.
If you cannot distinguish between the oh! so Irish colcannon and a clonakilty pudding, a walking food tour could be your best first bite. You can get a dash of Irish history that is so inextricably linked to spuds (potatoes) – the potato famine of 1800s that left the nation hungry. During the 2.5 hours, you’d hop into restaurants and taste traditional Irish boxty, Dublin coddle, soda bread, bracks and pig’s trotters. Your knees sure would go wobbly. With all the food. Not walking, silly.
In Dublin, you could brew a better day. Night, rather. Do a pub crawl. There are so many pubs here that if you took the pub crawl spiel seriously, you could just crawl forever. So, get picky. Look for pubs with James Joyce Pub Awards sticking out of their front doors. They are the authentic Irish ones. There’s Davy Byrnes Pub, which was mentioned in Ulysses. O’- Donoghues is where The Dubliners strummed their guitars and crooned. Of course, the must-do is Brazen Head where, over a storytelling session, you can sip your beer, have Irish fare for dinner and hear stories about food and fairies. But, if you like your stout, do the Guinness Storehouse Tour. All ye with vertigo, don’t get into Gravity Bar, Dublin’s highest bar. It is 46 metres off the ground. But you can count your pints – the giant glass atrium in the middle of the storehouse can hold 14.3 million pints. You sure can’t do that. What you can is learn how to brew your own craft beer. You can take a swig of literature in Literary Pub Crawl – step into historic pubs that were favourites of literary giants like Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw.
A million dining options can leave you perplexed. Aesthetes call Michelin-star Chapter One the best in town. Queen Elizabeth had a glistening double cream dessert here. Winding Stair is chaotic, primal with a hint of old-world. The Church is, well, a restaurant in a church. The Pig’s Ear with a pink door is all about kneading the traditional with contemporary. At Lansdowne restaurant, drool over beef stew cooked in Guinness beer and then stomp your feet and jive at the Irish House Party.
Fatten up. Bloat. Get ossified in Dublin. Do eat the gorgonzola sandwich that Leopold Bloom did in Ulysses. Croon an ode to colcannon like Irish singer Mary Black did. Order ale that Swift quaffed. You can twist what Joyce said: ‘When I die, Dublin will be written on my heart.’ Perhaps you could etch Dublin on your dinner plate. And eat happily ever after.
If you cannot distinguish between the oh! so Irish colcannon and a clonakilty pudding, a walking food tour could be your best first bite. You can get a dash of Irish history that is so inextricably linked to spuds (potatoes) – the potato famine of 1800s that left the nation hungry. During the 2.5 hours, you’d hop into restaurants and taste traditional Irish boxty, Dublin coddle, soda bread, bracks and pig’s trotters. Your knees sure would go wobbly. With all the food. Not walking, silly.
In Dublin, you could brew a better day. Night, rather. Do a pub crawl. There are so many pubs here that if you took the pub crawl spiel seriously, you could just crawl forever. So, get picky. Look for pubs with James Joyce Pub Awards sticking out of their front doors. They are the authentic Irish ones. There’s Davy Byrnes Pub, which was mentioned in Ulysses. O’- Donoghues is where The Dubliners strummed their guitars and crooned. Of course, the must-do is Brazen Head where, over a storytelling session, you can sip your beer, have Irish fare for dinner and hear stories about food and fairies. But, if you like your stout, do the Guinness Storehouse Tour. All ye with vertigo, don’t get into Gravity Bar, Dublin’s highest bar. It is 46 metres off the ground. But you can count your pints – the giant glass atrium in the middle of the storehouse can hold 14.3 million pints. You sure can’t do that. What you can is learn how to brew your own craft beer. You can take a swig of literature in Literary Pub Crawl – step into historic pubs that were favourites of literary giants like Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw.
A million dining options can leave you perplexed. Aesthetes call Michelin-star Chapter One the best in town. Queen Elizabeth had a glistening double cream dessert here. Winding Stair is chaotic, primal with a hint of old-world. The Church is, well, a restaurant in a church. The Pig’s Ear with a pink door is all about kneading the traditional with contemporary. At Lansdowne restaurant, drool over beef stew cooked in Guinness beer and then stomp your feet and jive at the Irish House Party.
Fatten up. Bloat. Get ossified in Dublin. Do eat the gorgonzola sandwich that Leopold Bloom did in Ulysses. Croon an ode to colcannon like Irish singer Mary Black did. Order ale that Swift quaffed. You can twist what Joyce said: ‘When I die, Dublin will be written on my heart.’ Perhaps you could etch Dublin on your dinner plate. And eat happily ever after.
FOOD TOURS
Literary Pub Crawl: Guided by two actors, this crawl takes you to historic pubs where literary giants like Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Beckett ordered their fave drinks.
Pub Crawl: Learn about Dublin while tipping a few pints.
Folklore Story Telling: In Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest pub, learn all about Irish food and fairies while digging into traditional Irish fare.
Dublin Tasting Trail: Visit a range of bakeries, food halls, street markets, cheesemongers, delicatessens and other speciality shops.
BEST IN DUBLIN
Lunch: Doheny & Nesbitt
Perfect fish and chips: Leo Burdock Fish & Chips
Fine Dining: Chapter One
Traditional Irish: Gallagher’s Boxty House Pub: John Mulligan Ice cream by
Waterfront: Teddy’s Bakery: Peggy’s Home bakery
FUN FACTS
10 million glasses of Guinness are drunk around the world
every day. 119.5 seconds – that is the time taken to ‘perfectly’ pour Guinness.
The Irish are the fourth largest consumers of beer per person. On average, an
Irish drinks 1,184 cups of tea every year. It has the world’s highest per
capita tea consumption. If you are ossified, fluthered or scuttered in Ireland
– it means you are drunk.
TRADITIONAL IRISH FOOD
Dublin Coddle: Sausage, bacon, onion and potato hot pot
Irish colcannon: Mashed potatoes, kale or cabbage, butter, salt, and pepper
Boxty: Potato pancake
Soda bread: Yeast-free bread
Crubeens: Made of pigs’ trotters
Barmbrack: Currant cake that contains a golden ring
Preeti
Verma Lal TL140427
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