Sally's blog

Back in 1996, in the fourth edition of The Irish Food Guide, we included Bernadette O'Shea in a list of 10 people who changed the taste of Irish food.
Ms O'Shea, then cooking pizza in her Sligo restaurant, Truffles, rubbed shoulders with such luminaries as Gerry Galvin, Catherine Healy of Dunderry Lodge, Myrtle and Darina Allen, and Paul Rankin.

 Two of Dublin’s craft brewers have just launched some new beers on the market, perfect summery tipples, in time for what can happily be described so far as a pretty decent summer. Caroline Byrne keeps up with the beer revolution.

In the publishing business, many chef's books begin as what editors call “confetti”. That is: the chef gathers up all his bits and bobs and notes and hands them to an editor, and it is the editor who makes the book.

Okay, so we could point your summer travels in certain sure fire directions as you head off on holidays – don't miss KAI in Galway which is excelling itself each and every day; don't miss Vasco in Fanore which is an archetype of the true WAW experience; don't miss Harry's Bar in Bridgend where chef Derek Creagh is offering incredible food at incredible prices; don't miss 1826 in Adare where Wade Murphy is on top form; don't miss Deasy's in Ring, just outside Clonakity where Caitlin Ruth and her team will blow you away; don't miss the chowder and the fried fish in The Long Dock in Carrigahol

Vasco is the Aleph of the Wild Atlantic Way, the one that contains all, the point from which you can see everything.
For a start, it's a smashing, coastside room that is filled with light: just walking through the door energises you. All the things you hope to find on the WAW – space; light; time; discovery; informality; the promising stop whilst on the road – all seem to be here in a space where Karen runs front of house and Ross cooks.

Our search for #BestSandwichInIreland brings us to a West Cork Classic: the Skeaghanore duck, Gubbeen cheese, red onion jam and salad sandwich from The Stuffed Olive in Bantry. Trish Messom and her daughters, Grace and Sarah, run this much loved café, where everything is made from scratch each morning, beginning with the bread for the sandwiches.

The Stuffed Olive is on Facebook

Read other stories in Megabites...

There’s a new hottest spot in Dublin for brunch and, unfairly, it’s in Ranelagh. Don’t they have enough ‘top’ things already? With Dillinger’s for top notch American style dining, Michie Sushi for the only show in town sushi-wise, Kinara Kitchen for the best casual Indian and Pakistani cooking you’ll find, The Butcher Grill for meat feasts, La Bodega for authentic tapas, Redmond’s for wine and beer, and Pinocchio for Italian wine and grazing at its most laid-back – can’t help feeling a little bitter about this Dublin 6 food haven becoming more haven-ey.

Chef's Signature - David Hurley is Head Chef in Gregan's Castle in the Burren in County Clare, on the Wild Atlantic Way. His singular and mature philosophy is beautifully realised in a classic dish of Lemon and Olive Oil Curd Tart with Blackcurrant, Lemon, Celery and Thyme Sorbet.

“I wasn’t expecting this to be the meal of the year”, said the man at the adjoining table to ours, in the dining room of Gregan’s Castle. “But it’s definitely the meal of the year”, he said again, before relegating a Dublin restaurant hotshot to second position in his own private pecking order of 2014.
Many others will agree with him after they have finished eating David Hurley’s cooking at Gregan’s. Mr Hurley has arrived, and he’s done it in an unusual – and unfashionable – way: he’s arrived slowly.

When Gerry McMahon's Il Vicolo restaurant closed in Galway city, just on the eve of the city's food festival a few months back, there was a true sense of loss.
It wasn't just that Il Vicolo served excellent food and wines, and that they were served by a truly cool team. No, what people regretted was the passing of one of those restaurants that had achieved cult status. Il Vicolo was like a secret, a clubby, intimate room where time stood still as soon as you walked in. It wasn't just good: it was cult.