Hot Flavours: Taste Of Dublin, El Milagro, Island’s Edge, Irish Beer Map, A Perfect Blend & more

No appetite will be left unsated as Taste Of Dublin returns to the Iveagh Gardens from September 1-5.

Among those taking part in the twelve Wednesday through Saturday sessions are Rachel Allen, JP McMahon, Kevin Dundon. Holly White, Lily Ramirez Foran, Niall Sabongi and Kwanghi Chan (pictured, above).

From North Indian street food, gourmet cup cakes and béchamel cheese sauce crab to laboratory ice cream, Hong Kong bites and honey and pomegranate dunked buttermilk chicken, you’ll be able to travel all over the culinary world without leaving Dublin 2.

New this year is an arts strand brought to you by Culture Vultures, The Laughter Lounge and Gaiety School of Acting. It all adds up to a very eclectic picnic for pods of four and six.

There’s sad news, though, from down Kilkenny way with Savour reluctantly deciding not to run over the October Bank Holiday but already planning for its big 2022 comeback.

Heading out to Malahide has just become even tastier with the El Milagro food truck dropping anchor Tuesday through Saturday on the marina.

The real Mexican deal rather than the pale Tex-Mex imitation normally dished up here, the Birria Quesatacos and Nopalitos, that’s 100% vegan grilled cactus pads with blue corn tortillas to you, will have you purring with delight. Be warned that hitting up their elmilagro_ireland Insta will result in serious hunger pangs that only getting the DART out to the ‘hide will ease.

 

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Over sixty Irish breweries can be found on the interactive irishbeer.ie map, which hoppily takes you on a journey from the northernmost Otterbank in Muff (“Hop-spiking, lacto-loving cheeky messers”) to the southernmost West Cork Brewing in Baltimore (“Making unpasteurised, unfiltered vegan-friendly craft beers using out own well water”).

A road map to recovery we should all be following…

Much scoffing and lifting of eyes to heaven has accompanied the news of Heineken rolling out its 4% Island’s Edge stout.

Hot Flavours did its fair share of both but was pleasantly surprised when we got to try a pint, which is lighter and has a creamier head than Guinness, uses tea to offset the bitterness of the hops and has a refreshing quality that head brewer PJ Tierney attributes to the ingredients list including basil.

Personally, we’ll stick to the likes of Galway Bay’s Buried At Sea and Porterhouse’s Around The Clock, but Island’s Edge is a decent drop that may persuade the non-traditional stout drinkers it’s aimed at to crossover to the dark side.

Whiskey lovers should check out A Perfect Blend, a four-part podcast from the good folk at Irish Distillers, which is hosted by Julian Clancy and examines every facet of what even with Covid is a boom industry.