Come into my kitchen
Professional kitchens are often fascinating places, although sometimes impenetrable for the casual cook, which makes the cooking classes at Aniar restaurant in Galway all the more attractive. JP McMahon, owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant, is running an interesting selection of classes, from six-week courses (€360) on "Understanding Food", which will cover beef, pork, fish, poultry and vegetables, to one-day workshops (€150) on topics such as The Whole Hog (June 23rd), The Whole Loaf (June 30th) and The Whole Hen (July 21st), at which students will learn how to debone a chicken and cook the meat five different ways. Classes are limited to six students. See aniarrestaurant.ie, tel: 091-535947.
Barbecue bliss
The back terrace at the Dylan hotel in Dublin 4 is perfectly positioned to be a summer suntrap, and while you're topping up your vitamin D levels, you can also order some US-style barbecue. The meats are slow cooked, for 13 hours, on a hickory wood fired grill, and you can have pulled pork, beef brisket or smoked turkey breast on really good brioche buns, for €9. The buttermilk coated onion rings are exemplary, too. The barbecue menu is served Fridays and Saturdays, 5pm to 11pm and on Sundays, 2pm to 11 pm.
Club for gourmets
Guerrilla Gourmet Club, a dining experience that promises to focus on the great things being grown and made by small-scale Irish food producers , makes its debut in the Hibernian Club on St Stephen's Green next Friday, June 21st at 7pm. The club is being launched by Ross Golden-Bannon – who relinquishes the editor's chair at Food&Wine Magazine at the end of the month – in association with entrepreneur Robert Lee Mulcahy. Dinner will be cooked by Gareth Mullins, executive chef at the Marker Hotel. The menu, composed around a main course of the first Connemara hill lamb of the season, reads like a roll call of the best Irish produce. Six courses, with wine and beer, cost €75. Tickets from
guerrillagourmetclub.eventbrite.ie.
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Book of the week
Mange Tout, by Bruno Loubet, published by Ebury, £25
There's a rather eclectic feel to the recipes in Mange Tout, the new book from London-based French chef Bruno Loubet, which makes it a refreshing read. French bistro classics are given a lighter feel and in some cases an Asian twist, like this salad of Chinese cabbage, cashew nuts and confit duck – but the are no shortcuts; you'll be making your own duck confit for this one.
