Tag Archives: Eat Drink Run Fun

Madina Desi Curry – Surprisingly Good

From the outside, nothing about Madina Desi Curry Co really says ‘come on in and get some good quality food’. It looks cheap and cheerful so expectations were not high. I had picked up a GrabOne voucher for €10 offering a ‘Curry in a Hurry’ meal for two with rice and soft drinks. I figured it would do for a cheap lunch around town after a few pints. It’s usually €9.95 each so it was a bargain.

They actually have quite a collection of positive reviews. Listed in The Dubliner top 100 restaurants in both 2009 and 2010. Also a glowing report from Herald.ie and a lot of good comments on Trip Advisor.

Reviews

I visited on a Saturday afternoon and it was quite busy. It was actually full of mainly Indian people, which according to legend, is always a good sign if natives of the country eat there. The interior is nothing special, split over two levels, its café style tables and chairs and a large open kitchen so you can see everything being prepared. The place does feel as though it could do with a belt of a JCloth and some Mr. Muscle.

But on to the food. I didn’t have great expectations despite all the great reviews. ‘Curry in a Hurry’ did not look great on the plate. It’s not that my photos are just really rubbish, the dish actually looked like that. They could do with some presentation skills advice STAT!! There was far too much rice and not enough sauce. I opted for the mild Chicken Curry and H opted for the Spicy version.

Mild Version

Spicy Version

I was however proved wrong in terms of taste. It was bloody gorgeous. It actually took a while to appear on the table but when it did the chicken, a mix of breast and on the bone, was cooked to perfection and so tasty, as was the sauce. It’s a shame it just didn’t look great. I tasted the spicy version also which was a bit too fire in the mouth for my liking. As you can see the rice serving is more than ample.

We also went for a side order of Tarkha Dall which was equally as tasty and some of the best peshwari naan I have ever had.

Tarkha Dall

Peshwari Naan

We also tried a side dish of the Tikka Masala sauce which was equally good. In terms of taste Madina Desi are producing some great food but they really need to give the place a bit of a scrub. I’d still go back though!!

If you like the review feel free to give me a like on Facebook here.

Madina Desi Curry Co.
60 Mary Street
Dublin 1

Mac in a Sac – Running Jacket – Product Review

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Mac in a Sac

I’ve been a bit lazy with my running lately. The weather is cold so running outdoors is not exactly appealing. The gym is boring and basically I’m making lots of excuses for not getting off my ass. As luck would have it the folks over at Target Dry got in touch with me and asked me if I would give them feedback of one of their Mac in a Sac jackets. Always up for a challenge and in need of a run I accepted their offer to send me one and set about putting it through its paces. The following is an honest account of what I found.

Mac in a Sac

The first thing I should say is that it arrived promptly within a couple of days in the post. They are actually based in Belfast and quote standard delivery in Republic of Ireland as 3-5 working days. It comes in two colours. The one you see in the pictures is nautical blue with a red trim. The other colour is acid lime. I chose the nautical blue.

Mac in a Sac

The Mac in a Sac actually comes in a lite running version and a jersey lined version which is the one I am testing out since its that bit colder out. It also folds away into its own pocket for handiness. It doesn’t actually come with any instructions about how to pack it away but in fairness it’s not rocket science once you figure out which pocket it should go in. The inside of the left pocket has a fabric loop to carry it once packed away. It also has a hood which tucks away into the collar of the jacket.

Hood Folded Out

Folded into the Pocket

So how did it shape up against the elements?

Well before I actually got to run in it, I wore it to work a few times. It was warm enough to keep the cold out. It held up quite well against the chill factor of a wind. It’s water proof which is very handy and its very light. The weather has been so changeable so it had been working well as a general all rounder jacket.

5k Run: To really test it out for use as a running jacket in the colder weather I wore it on a couple of different runs. First up was a 5k around the town where I live. I tend to get uncomfortable with too many layers when running in the cold so opted to go for a t-shirt, light long sleeve top and my jacket. The jacket has elasticated cuffs on the sleeves and adjustable draw strings on the bottom of it to ensure a snug fit.

Elasticated Sleeves

Adjustable Draw String at the Waist

It was light enough that I didn’t get overly warm and I didn’t sweat too much in it either which was great. It’s lined well and kept me warm and the fabric stood up well to both wind and the light rain I ran in. The fabric itself feels quite nice to the touch.

10k Run: The second run I wore it for was a longer one about 10k. Again it was in more winter type conditions. Cold and windy and my chosen path took me along the coast so I was very exposed to the elements. It remained comfortable to wear for the full run. Again I didn’t feel I was overheating in it. The fabric is quite breathable. It also has two large pockets which can easily fit your phone, gloves or hat.

Down by the beach

Breathable Eyelets Under Arms

A couple of things which I felt could be improved upon were as follows:

The sizing chart on the website is a little confusing. I opted for a medium which fit quite well with my couple of layers under it. I had used a tape measure to check my size before having it sent to me and based on the chart that would have matched to an XS when usually a medium in all jackets fits me.

Size Chart

I did query it with them and they were more than happy to give me a recommendation which did fit well.

I found that the main zip can be a little tricky and get stuck slightly unless you are pressing the seam flat against your body. As the material is quite light it easily moves away from your body while you are zipping or unzipping it.

Main Zip

Overall I’d give it an 7/10 as it fits a range of uses, not just running and I can easily see myself packing this as a handy and space saving jacket while travelling also. The jacket retails at approx. €44 (GBP to Euro conversion) Target Dry currently have a sale on their website until the end of January and this jacket has 20% off at the moment leaving it at approx. €35

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Disclaimer: while Target Dry did provide me with the jacket the feedback is an honest account of how I felt it performed as a jacket for running in. They were advised I was under no obligation to write about it or speak favourable of it unless deserved.

Marcos Fish & Chips

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Marcos is part of the Epicurean Food Hall which fronts onto Liffey Street. They were the winner of the Best Fish and Chips 2014 at the 98fm Best of Dublin Awards 2014. Full list of winners here.

Best Chipper – Best of Dublin Awards 2014

Their chips I have to say are excellent. Proper homemade chips like your mother makes, none of that god awful frozen chips carry on. You can eat in or take away. I opted to eat in. The chips were perfectly cooked, not too greasy and a liberal portion too with lashings of salt and vinegar. They were very satisfying.

Chips

Fresh Cod & Chips

The fresh cod was plump I have to say and the batter was less greasy and more light which is always welcome. The fish itself however while tasty enough was a little more dry than it was flaky. A slice of lemon on the side while eating in would be a welcome addition. It was no Fish Shop !

Fresh Cod & Chips

Do they deserve the best chipper in Dublin? I’m not entirely sure. The staff were friendly the chips were great and there was a steady stream of people in and out and footfall says a lot. If I’m in the area again I’ll happily take a bag of chips.

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Rustic Stone – The New Cocktail Bar in Town

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Rustic Stone Cocktail Bar

Dylan McGrath has recently expanded his ‘wining and dining’ empire and opened a cocktail bar above his Rustic Stone restaurant.

Interior – Image from Rustic Stone website

The interior is essentially split by the stair case into two areas. The right has a classy luxurious feel with dark wood tables, black leather seats and exposed brick work. The bar is also on the right towards the back.

The left side, to me, feels a little more cut off from the feel of the cocktail bar and more corridor like. It also has more booth type seating. My preference would be a table on the right.

Cocktails range in price from €8.50 to €11.00 which by city standards seems very reasonable to me. I do have to say however some of the ones I tried did seem a little shallow in the glass, but I suppose that is reflective of the price.

Irish Honey

Rhubarb liqueur, Glendalough Poitin, honey syrup, marmalade and lemon juice served over crushed ice (€10).

Blackberry & Apple Crumble

Martin Millers gin shaken with gingerbread liqueur, blackberry jam, lemon juice, apple syrup, with egg white and served in a glass with a gingerbread rim (€10).

Salted Caramel

Grand Mariner, caramel liqueur, lemon juice and egg white with a pinch of rock salt (€9.50).

All of the cocktails were excellent I have to say. The service did seem a little slow, but I suspect that is down to the staff using good fresh ingredients, which takes longer to produce a quality end result so I can’t complain about that.

The only downside was the smell of the restaurant below was quite strong. Usually that’s not a bad thing but everything smelled of burgers which was less tantalizing and more unpleasant. No doubt it will become a popular place and is of course perfect for a pre or post dinner cocktails.

Pixels & Palates at Cooks Academy

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I recently had the pleasure of attending a fantastic event in Cooks Academy called Pixels and Palates. It was a brilliant fusion of food and technology. They are celebrating 10 years of turning the nation into confidant cooks. I spent a week with them myself so can certainly vouch for their expertise. I’m now a master of filleting a fish. You can read about my experience here.

They have very kindly given me a discount code which you can use to book any of their short courses. A whopping 20% off!!!!!!! The offer is valid for all courses booked up to 31st of March 2015. The course itself can take place after this date provided its booked in advance. The code to use is eatdri365 and you can use it for online bookings or quote it over the phone if making a booking that way.

A full list of the short courses can be found here and there is something for everyone.

The evening itself was really great fun and I had the chance to meet many fellow bloggers from the worlds of food and social media. We were fed and watered to within an inch of our life and they also had a great competition on the night to win a one month cookery course (valued at €2,950). The task was to turn some turkey and ham based dishes into a credible portion of street food. There were some great creations I have to say. Here is mine.

I called it Christmas Summer

Christmas Summer Street Food

Alas I didn’t win the prize but it was great fun taking part. The winner created a festive nativity scene out of food.

Nativity Scene

The owners of Nobo Rachel and Brian who produce dairy and gluten free ice cream gave us a fascinating insight into their business and of course samples to taste. Delicious. You can find them in your local SuperValu.

Salted Caramel

There was also a Molecular Gastronomy Taste Test which I failed miserably at. It was a great night from Cooks Academy and I look forward to many more, and of course trying some more of their courses.

Molecular Gastronomy Taste Test

My horrendous guesses but I got two right (I think)

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Marathon Men Documentary

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Marathon Men

I ran one marathon last October and have been banging on about how great I was to complete it ever since. In fairness it is a great achievement to push your body for 26 miles and still be able to manage a few pints after it. That feat as tremendous as it was (I am of course taking the p!ss out of myself here) pales in comparison to what two Irish men have achieved.

Ken Whitelaw and Gerry Duffy teamed up to take on the challenge of competing 32 marathons in 32 consecutive days. Yes you read that correctly. They were running to both encourage others to get out and run but also to raise awareness and funds for Autism Ireland. A commitment like this to any charity is truly remarkable. Their journey is recorded in a forthcoming documentary called Marathon Men.

You can watch below an interview Gerry and Ken gave TV3 after they completed this incredible challenge.

To undertake the challenge Ken and Gerry spent two years in training. A tremendous commitment in itself. They also set themselves a goal of raising a six figure sum (€500,000) for their chosen charity. These men clearly aim high. You can catch a teaser for the full documentary here. (or below depending on your browser setup)

Ken is currently studying in the college I work in and was kind enough to answer a couple of quick questions for me about the challenge he and Gerry set.

Why did you and Gerry choose running marathons as a way to raise funds? It was the natural thing for us as we both love running; the longer the better! I had been running since I was 11 and Gerry had c. 15 of running in his legs before we decided upon this challenge. And we both love a good challenge!

How many hours and km/m a week did you train? At the start of our training plan, circa 12 months before the start of the event, we were running c. 40 miles per week. Training ramped up from there with a peak mileage week of 120 miles. Those big weeks would see us running 10 miles before work and 15 miles after work some days. And back-to-back marathons at the weekend. Training, organising the event, work, sleeping and eating was all we did for a year!

What was the greatest challenge for you? Initially, it was convincing ourselves that we could do this. That took some months and lots of training but we did get to the stage where no amount of naysayers could convince us otherwise. During the 32 days my greatest challenge was dealing with injuries, keeping focused and positive despite severe and constant pain.

Why did you choose Autism Ireland as your chosen charity? Irish Autism Action is a wonderful charity, doing great work. We were lucky to have been aware of some of their great work as they are based in Mullingar, our home town. This proved to be their biggest fundraiser to date and provided much-needed funds for both early diagnosis and support in their schools.

Would you do it again? No. I will be forever thankful for the experience but it is not something I would try again. I don’t think my ankle would allow me! But hopefully it will stretch to a 100 miler some day. And another ironman. And a new marathon PB

The documentary version shown on TV will be about 50 minutes and is shown on Sunday 21st December at 8 p.m. on RTE 2. There is also a 70 minute version which will be screened in the IFI (Irish Film Institute) on Sunday December 14th at 1 p.m. You can, and you should, book tickets for this remarkable documentary HERE

I would ask all that happen to read this to give it a share on whatever social media platforms you are a member of. It is a very heart warming story from two very inspirational people.

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Irish Whiskey Museum – A History Lesson You Will Love

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Irish Whiskey Museum

I recently took a visit to the Irish Whiskey Museum on College Green. They had literally only opened a few days before I visited. I’m actually not a whiskey drinker at all myself but went with Whiskey Boy who is quite taken with Uisce beatha.

Café Bar Area

Just beside reception there is a nice café bar area where you can enjoy a drink before or after your tour. They do also serve coffee.

Tours depart every 20 – 30 minutes depending on demand. We had a tour with just the two of us. The standard is €15 for an adult and the VIP is €18. With the VIP one you get to taste the 10 year old single malt Bushmills and get a souvenir glass to take away so personally I think it’s worth the extra, especially if you like whiskey. Our guide for the tour was James. Very personable chap and by God did he know his history of whiskey.

The tour winds through a number of different rooms with each one telling a tale about a certain period of Irish whiskeys history. How it began. How the war affected it etc.

Video Stills

There are short videos depicting the various era’s which compliment the story the tour guide tells. There was actually quite a lot of content to take in, all of which was very interesting and James was open to us asking as many questions as we liked.

Video Stills

One of the rooms is laid out like an actual pub but alas I didn’t get any pictures of it as I was far too busy absorbing the history.

The tour takes you right up to the present day with Irish Distillers which was formed in 1966 and includes John Jameson & Sons, established in Dublin in 1780; Powers & Sons, who were founded in Dublin in 1791 and the Cork Distillery whose origins date back to 1825. Irish Distillers is now part of the Pernod Ricard family and Jameson is their flagship brand.

Whiskey Tasting

The final stop on the tour is all about the whiskey tasting. The various whiskeys are beautifully presented on a piece of an old oak barrel. They don’t sell them as a set which is a bit of a shame because it would be a perfect present for a whiskey lover.

Powers, Teeling, Irishman & Bushmills

We had the pleasure (I say that lightly, whiskey is not my friend) of tasting Powers, Teeling, Irishman and Bushmills 10 year old single malt. Funnily enough tasting whiskey is very similar to tasting wine. There is lots of smelling it to work out the notes and swirling it to see the colour. Whiskey can be aged in all manner of barrels so you may have a whiskey which was in a sherry barrel or a rum barrel and those flavours will remain in the wood and seep out into the whiskey over time to give them a new depth of flavour. I was getting hints of vanilla and caramel and apparently there is no wrong answer which is great.

Then comes the tasting. As a non whiskey drinker I got BURNING followed by less burning followed by a glass of water, much to the amusement of Eoin the absolutely brilliant tasting guide. Funnily enough after trying a few of them I did begin to appreciate different tastes (or levels of burning).

Whiskey Tasting Glasses

Souvenir Whiskey Glass

The VIP tour included a really nice souvenir whiskey glass which now proudly sits along side my cocktail shakers at home, waiting patiently for the day when a real whiskey drinker will use it.

Whiskey

All in all I have to say I did enjoy the tour. I learned a whole lot about whiskey which I never knew. I also confirmed that I am most definitely not a whiskey drinker. I would imagine that the tourists, once they know it is there will flock to its very central location and thoroughly enjoy the banter with the Irish tour guides. The tour itself lasted about 45 minutes and then the tasting instruction about 15-20 but you are in no hurry to leave once you have been talked through the various brands at the tasting. €18 for essentially an hour of entertainment, four shots of whiskey and a souvenir glass seems like good value to me.

Irish Whiskey Museum

37 College Green

Ph: 01 525 0970

The Hen House – Chicken Lovers Paradise

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The Hen House

The Hen House is in DunLaoghaire. It’s chicken lover heaven. I’d picked up a GrabOne voucher back in September for it. Two courses from their A La Carte menu for €24. Pretty decent offer I have to say. It’s quite a large space and has quite a good variety of table configurations including banquets and circular booths.

Interior

Dining Area

Host Stand Area

We visited early (5 p.m.) on a Thursday evening. As they only open at 5 it was extremely quiet. We were promptly seated by the window, perfect for some people watching as it’s on a busy walk way facing out to the harbour. The menus of course have their cute little chicken logo.

We both went for the Hen House Wings (usually €6.95). Mine the honey sesame which were exactly how I expected them to be. Tasty and sticky and quite a decent portion size too.

Honey Sesame Wings

The other wings were described as Fiery Hot. Alas they fell far short of the mark and instead of being fiery hot they were only luke warm. Again a good size portion but if heat is your thing in a wing then these will leave you out in the cold.

For drinks we opted for a bottle of Chilean Sav Blanc called El Caminador keenly priced at €22.50. I’d had it before in Mulberry Garden and loved it. It was equally good here and actually €1.50 cheaper too.

El Caminador

Chilean Sav Blanc

For main course he went for the Hen House take on chicken supreme (€18.95). It was wood grilled in citrus and served on herb crushed baby potatoes. It came with two different types of sauce. Butternut squash and carrot puree and mustard and tarragon along with some (very) crispy pancetta and green beans. It was quite a large plate of food, but it also came with a size order of seasonal vegetables too. It would have been ample enough on its own but who is going to turn their nose up at extra food!

Both sauces were very tasty. I particularly liked the mustard and tarragon one and kept dipping my chips into it. The chicken was tender and moist and the citrus flavours had really seeped into it so every bite had a nice tang off it. The herb baby potatoes, which I’m a fan of were just gorgeous.

Chicken Supreme

Chicken Supreme

I went for the Fried Buttermilk Chicken (€15.95) for my main course. It was marinated in thyme and served with chive coleslaw, chips and Jalapeno honey dip. I love buttermilk chicken. I could eat it by the bucket load (and may have before). It was perfect for me. It had a nice crisp to it without being crackling in nature. With buttermilk chicken the longer you marinate it for the better it comes out. I’m going to go out on a limb and say they marinated it for quite a while because it was gorgeous.

Fried Buttermilk Chicken

The chips while perfectly fine and edible did let it down a bit. They were the usual frozen chips you see in so many places these days. I can’t help but think hand cooked ‘real’ chips would accompany the chicken so much better.

Fried Buttermilk Chicken & Thyme

The sides were a triumph for me. I very rarely eat coleslaw. This one however was a feast for the taste-buds. I loved the addition of red onion and chives to it. The Jalapeno honey dip was nice and fiery and probably should have been the sauce for those Fiery Hot wings I mentioned earlier.

Chive Coleslaw

The Hen House has lots of little touches that make it a nice place to dine. It’s inviting and the service was excellent. It has the potential to be a really great hangout kind of place which caters to all types of people. I think I would like to go back maybe a little later in the evening when its busier and see what kind of buzz it has then.

Even the gents is aptly named

Artwork on the walls

Chicken perched over the bar area

The Hen House

The Pavillion

DunLaoghaire

http://www.thehenhouse.ie/