The Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse has undergone a €20 million revamp that has doubled the size of the space, which can now host 500 people at a time. The project was completed in time for the recent visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who had dinner cooked for them there by Mark Moriarty of The Greenhouse, the Michelin two-star restaurant on Dawson Street.
Ordinary mortals visiting the attraction won’t be able to sample Moriarty’s menu, but, after enjoying an aperitif there, they could walk over to the Open Gate Brewery on James’s Street, where a series of Brewer’s Banquets are being staged this spring.
You can book tickets for the four-course banquets on Wednesday, April 29th and Wednesday, May 27th. The menus are being created by head chef Sean Hunter, and will be matched with two special brews.
The food will include a selection of fancy snacks, such as McCarron’s crisp pork belly bites, Rockshore cider and Bramley apple gel. This will be followed by rotisserie chicken with wild garlic, and a salad of charred baby leeks, kale and tenderstem broccoli. The meat course is chargrilled Hereford beef, with honey-roasted vegetables and parsnip puree, and for dessert ginger and rhubarb crumble will be served family-style, with a selection of accompaniments.
Tickets (€59.50) can be bought online at guinnessopengate.com/events and the events start at 7pm.
Thank Allta it’s Friday
Reservations at Allta, the massively popular new wine bar on the corner of South Frederick Street and Setanta Place in Dublin 2, can be hard to come by. But, from March 20th, a Friday late lunchtime sitting will be added to the reservations book, with tables available from 3pm. And next month, weather permitting, there will be (heated) terrace tables available outside.
allta.ie
Meet your local makers in Slane
The just-launched Slane Food Circle Meet the Makers tours will give participants a chance to engage with four artisan food and drink producers based in and around the Co Meath town.
The group is comprised of organic farmer Carina Conyngham; Jack Rogers of Newgrange Gold oils; Mark Jenkinson of The Cider Mill, and cheesemaker Michael Finegan of Boyne Valley Blue.
Group tours of all four, lasting six hours and costing €69, are available on the first Sunday of each month. The tour leaves from Slane tourist office at 2pm, and bus transfers from Dublin city centre are available.
Food or drink tastings are included, and the tour finishes with a Slane Food Circle platter of cheese and organic leaves on wood-fired flatbread with organic charcuterie, served at Conyngham's Rock Farm. Private tours and shorter tours of individual producers are also available.
slanefoodcircle.ie
