Every so often a food and drink led experience comes along which you will salivate about for the entire week beforehand. Such was the case when I was lucky enough to join The AA Foodies as a guest for a night in Sika restaurant in Powerscourt Hotel.

Nine of us were invited for an exclusive Black Truffle Dinner prepared by head chef Peter Byrne.  Each of the six courses was also paired with an accompanying wine to compliment it.

We arrived at the hotel for about 7.30 that evening and were greeted with champagne by the fire in the lobby.  Out of the 8 ladies (where are all the male food lovers) who were with me I had previously met four, so it was great to see some familiar faces. Joining me at the table were Stephanie, Niamh O, Melanie, Geraldine, Emma, Darina, Niamh M and Corrina.

The chefs table is situated right in front of the kitchen pass so you have the perfect spot to view everything that is going on in the kitchen. What struck me however the minute we entered the kitchen was the sense of calm.  There were no kitchen nightmares, there was no shouting, no chaos but there was of course a few ‘yes chef’s’. Peter and his team run a tight ship and from what I’ve seen it’s all plain sailing.

Our menu was built around and inspired by truffles. Each course incorporated truffles to create an innovative and delicious dining experience.  The courses lined up as follows:

Truffled jersualem artichoke soup with toasted hazelnuts. Paired with a Torrontes Crios de Susana Baldo, Valle de Cafayete from Argentina.

Knokdrinna’s goat’s cheese with blood orange jelly, beetroot and chared cucumber. Paired with a Gruner Veltiner Wolfsgraben,Sepp Moser from Austria.

Terrine of foie gras served with her salad and toasted brioche.  Paired with a Jurancon Clos Uroulat, Charles Hours from France.

Wild halibut with savoy cabbage and stuffed chicken with truffled cream. Paired with a Masetto Bianco, Endrizzi, Alto Adige from Italy.

Sirlion of Irish rose veal with buttered leek, chantrelle mushroom, artichoke and truffled potato purée. Paired with a Pinot Noir, Nuits-StGeroges, Louis Jadot, Burgundy from France.

White chocolate mousse with orange and truffle ice-cream. Paired with a Moscatel, Floralis, Bodegas Miguel Torres, Penedes from Spain.

Feast your eyes on the photos following to see the incredible dishes which Peter personally created and plated for each of us.  Warning, you may be very jealous.

From start to finish dinner in Sika was simply superb. While each of the courses were perfectly executed, for me the standout dish was the truffled Jerusalem artichoke soup. A simple yet sophisticated soup with intense levels of flavour which tasted incredible.

Dining at the chefs table is by no means an everyday experience and its one which I thoroughly enjoyed.  To see behind the scenes and up close a working kitchen of such a successful restaurant was a privilege.  The AA Foodies Team run a number of food and drink driven experiences throughout the year and welcome those with an interest to get in touch.

Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest to this event after registering my interest. Dinner and the accompanying wines were complimentary for the evening and all details above are an honest account of my time spent at the restaurant.

Note: While I would love to take credit for all of of the pictures in this blog post, alas I cannot. Some of the photos were taken by a professional photographer (Colm) who accompanied us on the night. I have used some of them in place of my own, which in some instances were unfortunately not very good.