Beef up your business lunch
Steak lovers are stampeding to Hawksmoor since it opened its doors earlier this summer, attracted by the upmarket UK steakhouse chain’s reputation across the pond (both ponds – it’s in the US as well as the UK). Its Irish location, the group’s 12th overall, is in Dublin’s historic and newly car free College Green. It’s situated in the old National Irish Bank building, number 34, and retains the stately bearing of branch banking in days of yore, making for lovely surrounds. Committed to sustainability, Hawksmoor was the first UK restaurant group to gain B Corp certification. What’s on the plate is good too, with a wide variety of cuts including chateaubriand at €16 per 100g, T bone at €12 per 100g, and a 350g rib-eye for €40. Channel your inner Desperate Dan but don’t forget the bib.
Artistry on display at Ballymaloe
If you’re heading around Ireland for the summer, the dishes aren’t the only works of art at Ballymaloe House. The country house hotel and restaurant made famous by the late Myrtle Allen has almost 50 outdoor sculptures on the menu right now as part of a partnership with local art curator Richard Scott.
The works of 27 Irish artists feature, including an intricate violin and bow sculpture in bronze by Darragh Wilkins entitled Sliabh Luachra; Úl Mór, an apple sculpture created from limestone by Martin Lyttle; and Gannet Plunge, a dramatic group of plunging gannets in bronze, by Ester Barrett.
The sculpture exhibition on the grounds of Ballymaloe House opens daily, from 9am to 9pm and runs until August 31st. Admission is free and no pre-booking required.
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Dine out in style in Naas
Those planning a day at the races will note that Lawlor’s of Naas, the four-star hotel in the centre of town, has opened its new bar and restaurant, Vi’s. It’s named after former owner the late Violette Lawlor and, fittingly, given that she was something of a fashion plate, it’s a super-stylish space.
It features a dramatic, cone-shaped, ceiling-height bar as its centrepiece, elegant seating areas and an expansive outside terrace ready just in time for summer.
Chefs Ronny Wolf and Simon O’Callaghan promise high-quality Irish ingredients locally sourced and adapted seasonally. It’s open for evening meals, with starters €9 or a sharing platter of calamari, chorizo, and pulled roast chicken croquette for €24. Mains include pasta, steak, Thai-style crispy duck noodles and pan-fried sea bass, priced from €16 to €36.
Dig in
Think you’ve got the chops to start a food business of your own? Food enterprise incubator SPADE in Dublin has been offering well-priced food production units for years. This summer will see it launch a radically new concept – a community kitchen with 25 workstations, including ovens of all kinds, shapes and sizes, open to the smallest early stage entrepreneurs and community enterprises. Membership costs €50 a month, with space bookable from €12 an hour on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Early ‘burb menu
The rise of the suburban supper continues. Orwell Road, the ‘neighbourhood’ restaurant from brothers Conor and Marc Bereen (of Coppinger Row and Charlotte’s Quay) recently notched up a successful first year, with head chef Dan Hannigan’s cooking having won a loyal following. Alongside its summer dinner a la carte menu, served from Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm, this convivial corner of Rathgar now also offers a ‘Neighbourhood Set Menu’, served from Tuesday to Thursday and Sundays from 5pm to 6pm. It’s a great way to enjoy Hannigan’s signature cuisine from just €30 for two courses, or €38 for three. Starters include such dishes as salted cod and nduja croquettes with charred corn, or north Dublin beetroot with house ricotta and pickled apple. Mains include hay baked celeriac, pickled walnut, herb gnocchi and Coolea cheese; baked hake, mussel and Goatsbridge trout roe; and confit chicken leg with wild garlic risotto.