5 things we want to eat in Dublin this week
We adore a culinary change in the seasons, and this week's newly dropped dishes are shouting AUTUMN at the top of their lungs, with fresh black truffles, leek gratin, and the hot drinks line up we wait all year for. There's also one flash of aperitivo-laced summer for all those struggling with the leaves falling around us...
1) Winter drinks @ Perky's
Have you really lived through winter in Dublin if you've never joined the snaking queue at Perky's in Raheny for their legendary S'mores hot chocolate? There's also cookie butter lattés; white chocolate mochas with white choc cold foam; and orange chocolate mochas. Guess we'll need a few trips. Get them from Friday the 13th of November.
2) Fresh truffle pasta, Bar Italia
November means the start of truffle season, and while they might not be at their peak for another few months, we're always happy to taste test them on arrival, and every month until they disappear again - research innit. Bar Italia always work them into their specials, but there's also a €10 truffle add-on on loads of their regular dishes like panzerotti with porcini, carbonara or cacio e pepe. For us we're sticking to the specials though - you don't mess with perfection.
3) Spanish Aperitivo, The Seafood Café
The Seafood Café are swapping their early bird for Spanish Aperitivo, two evenings a week. Their Canary Island chef Rubén has been working on a new small plates menu made for sharing, alongside vermouth, sherry and cold beers, for when you just need one more taste of that holiday feeling before the year is out. We spy loads of things we love, like gildas, Cantabrian anchovies on toast and chargrilled gambas.
4) Leek and potato gratin, Gaffe
Imagine it. A warm fire. A cold pint. A big bowl of leek and potato gratin with extra cheese and chicory. Gaffe chef Dan Chambers has put this beauty of a bowl on as their veggie main as an ode to his partner's French Mum, who he says is "a fantastic cook". It's all sat on a bed of Lyonnaise onions, and Autumn veggies have never looked so good.
5) Pecan Pie, Cora
We don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but we do celebrate the return of homemade pecan pie, and Cora's assertion that this might be their most delicious slice yet has had the desired effect of grabbing our attention. All roads lead to Lucan...
