Chew The Fat GastroGays

*Taps mic*...is this thing on?



It's been exactly a year to the day since the last episode of Chew The Fat was published, and we feel maybe it's time to just drop by and chat for a bit and share some insights into ourselves over the past twelve months, some hints at the future and answer the question of "when is the podcast coming back" once and for all!



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On the first episode of the reinvented Chew The Fat, we introduce a new format and a slightly different direction. First up, some bits of food news which we think will be interesting and useful to know. We also speak with sommelier, wine educator and lockdown Instagram hit, Brigid O'H**a (AKA Bridey's Wine Chats) as well as link in with the latest double act to take to the main stage at Slane Castle: Keith Coleman & Aisling McHugh of Roots Slane. We also ponder the future of the meal kit - with restrictions easing and many meal kits and DIY/At Home experiences being retired, is there much demand for it as we get back into restaurants (or outside of them at least..)?



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This week (4th June 2021 - -) on Chew The Fat we go under the hood of the food industry and chat to some people you may not be entirely aware of just yet –– a future publisher shaking up the cookbook scene and the couple behind one of the most successful pieces of technology to arrive to the Irish food industry whilst a pandemic was ongoing: Kristin Jensen of Blasta Books and Suzanne Rigby and Mark Hooper of Click And Collection.





In our snappy Chew The Fat Noticeboard segment of food industry news, we're covering:



Lotts & Co.'s new Terenure shop, opening summer 2020 –– and now hiring! Weekl.ie's brand new Harold's Cross physical food market, opening Saturday 5th June and an enhancement of their online marketplace and subscription service, which will be open Thursday-Sunday weekly, 10am - 5pmD-8TE kicks off its summer pop-up residencies at Roe & Co Distillery, beginning with Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded Spitalfields, continuing with Sunil Ghai's Pickle and then following will be Nightmarket, Bahay, Matsu and closing the summer will be Nico Reynolds' Lil' Portie. Running Thursday to Sundays weekly in fortnightly stints, the first two traders already have their availability online, so book via roeandcowhiskey.com/outdoor-dining Michelle Lawlor's Nude Wine Co. launches the monthly Nude Wine Club, a new subscription service where three hand-picked bottles from independent producers are delivered to customers' doors each month, all singing to a similar 'theme' with an accompanying interactive tasting session via Zoom. €55 a month, no contract!



Pre-Order a Picnic! Outdoor Dining and Al Fresco kits



We also delve into the ongoing summer of staycations picking out some great picnic options that are popping up almost daily across Ireland... Including:



Project Picnic DublinThe TanneryPudding RowCafe RuaBurren SmokehouseTiller + GrainScholar's TownhouseHeadfort ArmsOverends Kitchen at Airfield Estate



Suzanne Rigby & Mark Hooper of Click and Collection



We’ve all ordered our fair share of take-away throughout the pandemic, and  - as more and more restaurants have emerged into that scene - boxing up the restaurant experience has been pivotal to the hospitality industry surviving. Yet in order to get product into customers hands a lot of technology behind the scenes has to be employed to ensure the smooth, seamless running. That’s where Click and Collection has come in...



Kristin Jensen, Blasta Books



Has the cookbook publishing industry gone a bit stale? Kristin Jensen, think so, and has set places at the table for a whole new generation of authors from Ireland's diverse food industry. An experienced editor by trade, Kristin is shaking up the system as the founder and publisher of upcoming imprint Blasta Books, which is currently far surpassing its initial funding round on Kickstarter. She describes the soon-to-be-published series - which will publish Tacos by Lily Ramirez-Foran of Picado, Hot Fat by GastroGays (that's us!),, United Nations of Cookies by Jess Murphy (Kai) and Eoin Cluskey (Bread 41) and Wok by Kwanghi Chan, all in 2022 - as being what street food is to restaurants: casual, accessible, diverse and exciting...





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On Episode 4 of Chew The Fat, we are speaking to some more fascinating people from the world of food & drink in Ireland.





First up is Brian Treacy of The Bartender Collective. This is a new project where bartenders acoss Ireland have come together to create their very own spirits company. You can support their Kickstarter at thebartendercollective.com



We also speak to Philippa Duff & Sinead Foyle of The Sea Hare in Cleggan, Co Galway. Their pop-up dining experience is very much on the bucket list for many of us visiting the region this summer. They've recently launched their Tamarind Sauce as a product in supermarket and speciality food shops across the country and have great plans still on their horizon.



We also discuss hotel occupancy in the big cities, as well as some news from the food world this week.



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On this week's episode of Chew The Fat we have some news freshly released about allta's exciting summer residency pop-up concept at Slane Castle in Co. Meath as well as a long overdue listen to our visit to Teresa Roche at Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese.







On the Chew The Fat Noticeboard - our weekly round-up of the interesting stuff to happen in the food and drink scene - we talk:



Pride –– With Pride being celebrated this month around the world, many establishments are creating and sharing some colourful and beautiful products, donating to very deserving LGBTQ+ charities in the meantime, too, including Bean and Goose chocolate and The Cupcake Bloke. Support your LGBTQ+ makers, creators, creatives, foodies, farmers, activists, thought leaders. Pride is protest at its heart, still fighting to be seen, heard, understood and treated as equals to all others, and so important –– even still in 2021.



New Nook –– Nádúr is the new sibling to Sligo's Nook! Opened this week in Collooney, the new restaurant and cafe has limited outdoor seating, currently split down the middle with half for reservations and half for walk ins, due to a large amount of queries!



Holy Cannoli –– In Dublin, Dinetown in the Liberties has a brand new sweet addition - Ciao Cannoli. Ciarán and Federico - the guys behind Catch Events - are selling 7 different flavours of this stunning tube shaped, fried and filled Italian pastries from their pink Citroen van. From classic, there's something for everyone. Dinetown is open seven days a week at the Iveagh Market on Francis St, and also features Ethiopian cuisine from Gursha, pizza pies from Serious Dough, and the OG in the location, The Sambo Ambo.



Silks Gin –– A brand new gin launched this week on the market from Boann Distillery. Silks Gin follows after the family-run distillery scooped Best New Make Spirit at the World Whiskey Awards just three months ago so has a serious pedigree behind it –– and that’s carried through in the nod to horse racing and jockeys’ silks in the branding and name, inspired by the nearby famous Bellewstown racecourse in Co. Meath. 



ALLTA SUMMER HOUSE



One other major bit of news that’s breaking in the detail but has been teased for weeks comes from the team behind popular wine bar and destination restaurant Allta on Dublin’s Setana Place. After feeding thousands of homes throughout the pandemic with the alltabox, the team led by Hugh Higgins, Kevin Burke and Niall Davidson have been teasing on social recently about an allta summer house, set outside the capital. In the episode we chat to Niall a bit further about the inspiration, setting and the menu that lies ahead... If you would like to make a booking for the allta summer house visit alltasummerhouse.ie. Tickets cost €95 per person, and more details are on the website regarding accommodation and transport in the area, too.



KYLEMORE FARMHOUSE CHEESE



Now, before we started this current series of Chew The Fat, we mentioned we had a few episodes recorded out in the field ready to be broadcast and you can listen back to the first episode of this current series, series 5 of Chew The Fat, to learn a little more about why we chose to hold them back and ride out the wave of a pandemic before bringing them to you. Now we want to share one we’ve been dying to bring you since the day we recorded it, almost exactly 18 months ago…



A new kid on the cheeseblock by all accounts, Theresa Roche has been quietly producing one of the finest cheeses to be created in Ireland in years under her Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese brand. An alpine style ‘hard cooked’ cheese (think French Comté or Swiss Gruyère) except switch the Alps for East Galway and you’ve got it. Based just outside Loughrea, Theresa is a former nurse from a family farm and returned home from abroad and set about totally switching up her career and devoting all her time to her own herd of Holstein Fresians and creating an

This week (25th June 2021 – -) on Chew The Fat we chat to acclaimed pastry chef Aoife Noonan about her brand new venture in food education paired with restaurant-style pastry creations, personally delivered! We also delve into the more unconventional methods of bringing wine to the table by discussing boxed and canned wine.









IN OUR SNAPPY CHEW THE FAT NOTICEBOARD SEGMENT OF FOOD INDUSTRY NEWS, WE’RE COVERING:



After a year’s hiatus, Food On The Edge is back for its sixth outing in the form of a blended symposium comprising both in-person and virtual events. Swapping Galway for Dublin for the first time since it began in 2015, the venue will be urban farm Airfield Estate in Dundrum on the 18th and 19th October. Founder JP McMahon this week announced the theme as ‘Social Gastronomy’ as well as several first-time speakers in the line-up including Garima Aurora, the first Indian woman to win a Michelin star, acclaimed chef and restaurateur André Chiang, and food writer Alice Zaslavsky as well returning to Food on the Edge: Mark Best, star of Netflix’s ‘Chef’s Table’. Virtual tickets will go on sale in July priced at €95, while in-person tickets will go on sale later in the year from €350 for two days and from €195 for one day. foodontheedge.com



A new barbecue pop up from the team behind The Glass Curtain is called Birdsong In The City and arrives on Cork’s Harley Street in a limited form on the 24-27th June and 1-4th July. Chef Brian Murray is cooking on a bespoke Basque-style grilling rig, using Irish beef, daily-landed seafood, Skeaghanore chicken, and seasonal local veg. Think grilled cod collar, ocotpus and piquant ceviche, meltingly tender short ribs and spicy piri-piri chicken, as well as ice-cream sandwiches. @birdsong_inthecity



Chef Danni Barry is turning her hand to gastronomic getaways joining The Wicklow Escape as Executive Chef. Danni has designed a 3 day foodie immersion at the escape aimed at couples and groups of friends, as well as small gatherings, celebrations and occasions. Danni’s menu will showcase the local larder of the South East of the island as well as bringing global inspiration through Danni’s travels and 20 years in kitchens. Formerly known as The Elbowroom Escape in Donard, Co. Wicklow, this new iteration is a rustic and elegant country retreat comprising seven deluxe bedrooms, bookable individually, with an outdoor kitchen, garden terrace and wood-fired hot tub set in an acre a countryside idyll. thewicklowescape.com



Win 5% at Listoke Distillery! The closest distillery to us here in Co. Louth, Listoke Distillery is hosting a novel raffle offering 5% C shares in their business as well as a second and third prize of £10,000 and £5,000 respectively! So one ticket could potentially win an entrant back 250 or even 500 times its initial value. You could be the newest part-owner of the award-winning family business based in Tinure just outside Drogheda which produces a series of gin expressions under the Listoke brand as well as a new Wise Owl Whiskey and is eyeing up serious international expansion. Entries cost £20 and the competition is open to entries from all over the world until 9th July and, naturally, all entrants must be over 18! raffall.com/listokedistillery



Making up for precious lost time, Taste of Dublin has announced the festival will return after a year away on September 1 - 5th, 2021. Returning to the Iveagh Gardens, Taste of Dublin will run 12 sessions over five days with tickets starting at €20 (excluding booking fee) on sale from today, Friday, June 25th. Additional sessions have been added to reduce capacity far lower than usual for the outdoor event and the organisers are primed to adapt the festival as it happens in accordance with current restrictions. The line up of chefs and traders is still to be announced but details will be announced over time social media as well as their website: t