The Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, who appear to have been doing pretty good trade all summer and most of last winter too, are set to open a sister property in Dublin on St Stephen’s Green called The Cliff Town House Hotel.

After a quick browse through the web site it didn’t take long to figure that the property is Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill who have relaunched under the new name and under the management of Drew Flood. I have no idea what that means for Richard Corrigan who has been linked with leaving the place for some time now so maybe this is his exit? I assume Martijn Kajuiter of the Cliff House Hotel will continue to concentrate on the work he and his team have been building on in Ardmore since 2008. I certainly hope that is the case anyway, I’m looking forward to next season already.

Good luck to all involved, if its anything like their sister hotel in Ardmore it will be a winner.

http://www.theclifftownhouse.com/

Have you ever wondered if the alcohol you drown the Christmas pudding is actually burnt off in the flame or if baking soda really does absorb nasty niffs? Look no further: http://www.pgacon.com/KitchenMyths.htm will tell you all you need to know plus some other interesting facts (or non-facts).

Print it out and carry it around so you can amaze people with your pedantry when they tell you something this is not true.

The folks over at Robert Roberts have been in touch and they are very excited. Too much coffee? No, at least not this time, it turns out that they have been quite successful in the recent Great Taste Awards where Robert Roberts products celebrated a haul of 12 Gold Stars. Apparently stars are awarded via blind tasting with the amount of stars meaning a particular number of judges agree on the product’s merit, 8 judges for one star 20 judges for 2 stars, and so on. The Java coffee and Campbells tea being the two star products, you can check on the GTA website above for full details.

How to Win a hamper packed full of Robert Roberts award winning teas and coffees: 12 Gold Stars reminds me of a Status Quo album, leave a comment with your favourite Status Quo or any other tea/coffee related tune (there’s a hint in the title) or just leave a comment saying how much you want to win.

Comment on the Facebook fan page, the box below or click here to email (competition@messy-chef.com)

Closing date is Monday 9th August.

Interesting how attitudes and businesses change over a relatively short period of time. I remember when I was growing up the milkman was essentially a part of the community, we all knew him and, from time to time, he’d let us ride along in the milk float. Times change and that’s no longer the case but even when I got married and moved into our own place during the nineties we had a milkman … or should I say the neighbours had a milkman and he’d wake us bright and early every Saturday morning reversing his diesel noise box down the street to deliver a pint to the folks at the end of the row.

The above is prompted by a mail I received from a man called Kieran Loftus who tells me he is starting a paper, milk and bread service in the Dublin area over the coming weeks, initially on every Sunday morning, with a view to doing Saturdays depending on feedback, they aim to deliver freshly baked Bretzel Bakery bread, The Sunday Times and 1 litre of Irish milk. Sounds like a good idea. Anyway, I hope he does well. You can check out the site and register your interest over at http://www.dublinmilkman.ie/

With the recent spell of nice weather the BBQs have been dragged out and fired up. I found that home made burgers don’t really mix well with the BBQ grille as they can fall apart, the trick is to cook them in the pan and then transfer for a minute or two at the end of the cooking process.

Below is a nice tip from savourysweetlife on how to get the size and shape right every time. Use the lid from a jar.

Construction: http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/05/shaping-perfect-hamburger-patties/

Recipe FYI: http://messy-chef.com/blog/2008/06/bbq-season/#content

Maybe the continued eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland and its impact on air travel should also make us think a bit about air freight and how far some of our produce, which could be sourced in Ireland, has traveled thousands of miles to get to the shelves. Irish farmers have been marginalised by big supermarkets for a long time and for a variety of different reasons but, I say it again, we should always consider buying local.

If you would like to buy local but lifestyle won’t afford you the time then check out the new www.localmarkets.ie where the aim is to source local produce and deliver to your door within 48 hours. The plan is to start with Cork, where producers like Ardsallagh Goat Farm and The Farmgate Cafe have already signed up, but eventually to provide a national service.

Sounds like a good idea, I hope it takes off.

There are lots of nice specialty beers available these days. Here is a nice article, originally from http://www.thekitchn.com, on how to pair beer with your food.

Some of the food concepts are typically American (pulled pork etc) but you get the idea.

http://lifehacker.com/5523637/learn-to-pair-beer-with-food

‘The Irish are a nation of tea drinkers’ is a phrase you hear from time to time on the radio or in the papers and its not an untrue statement, just as true as saying the English or the Chinese are tea drinkers but saying it makes the Irish feel unique and special about our tea and it bestows on us a right to comment on all things tea. Traditionally tea commentary has not been a very complicated affair as tea was just tea in Ireland. A cup of tea and a ham sandwich. What more would you want? What more is there? OK, Captain Picard had a cup of Earl Grey on the Starship Enterprise but that was space tea. An Earl Grey and a ham sandwich in capsule form for the spaceman and the rest of us will have the regular tea with regular sandwiches.

Well, the 21st Century is here and we have more than “just tea”. All kinds of tea exists out there and Barry’s have recently introduced a range of these speciailty teas. Tea for the soul, mind and body rather than to wash down a ham sandwich. Tea’s you should ideally drink without milk which is still a bit of an alien idea here in Ireland but a good one, in fact some studies say that milk can block the health effects of tea but that is for you to decide on. I’ve been drinking South African Rooibos for a few weeks and it’s very enjoyable. I like my regular tea in the morning but a cup of Green or Rooibos in the afternoon is a nice change.

The folk over at Barry’s have given messy-chef a super gift box containing a selection of the Barry’s Tea Speciality range, including their newest Pu-erh and Rooibos blends. If you would like to win this prize then click here to email (competition@messy-chef.com) or leave a comment on Facebook fan page saying how much you like tea. I’ll announce the winner on April 25th.

Do it. You will like the tea.

Interesting to read that Guinness (Diago) are launching a “black lager” which they describe as having “a unique taste which is an evolution in lager making”. Whether this is a good or a bad thing remains to be seen as it will initially only go on sale in Northern Ireland for the next six to nine months. According to the Irish Times article below it will be aimed at the younger market, who I guess have turned their back on the traditional ‘pint of plain’.

Unofficially I hear it will sell for about £3 a bottle in pubs and £4.99 for a pack of four from the off-license. I guess the rest of Ireland should see it in time for Christmas. I’ve asked the folks at Diago for any more info, if I get any I will post it up.

In the meantime, anybody for a pint of Breo?

Irish Times

We stopped by Panda Mamas in Parnell Place Cork for lunch before the rugby game on Saturday. The layout is bright and airy and done in the traditional Chinese style, very pleasant and clean and the staff were all very good. The laminated lunch menu is a scaled down version of the dinner menu, plenty of mains to choose from but only three starters. I chose the crispy wantons for €3.45 and received three of them on a plate which was truly miserable and not worth the money. Maybe I lucked out as the spring rolls looked decent enough.

The rest of the food was pretty good, tasty, varied and plenty of it. Five starters, five mains and a round of eight Tsingtao beers came to €85 which isn’t bad value. All in all a decent meal only let down by the crispy wanton starter.