We have a table at Dublin’s hottest new restaurant to give away

Welcome to May’s Food and Drink Club newsletter.

The buzz in the food world this week was the big reveal of the new Hawksmoor steakhouse in the former National Bank building on College Green in Dublin 2. We had a sneak preview of what’s to come, and it is very impressive. Tables for the soft opening, which runs for a week from next Tuesday, with 50 per cent discount on food, sold out in just 14 minutes. The official opening is Thursday, May 25th, and the reservations book opened online on Thursday.

On a tour of the building earlier this week, the front of house was immaculate and ready to welcome guests. The kitchen was stocked with shiny new equipment, and the energy was palpable. But it was in the staff area that this company’s reputation for looking after its people was evident. Notice board posters invited staff to join the run club, explained the non-uniform policy, and outlined the company’s parental supports, including enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption pay, flexible working and childcare support. It was heartening to see.

We have a table at the restaurant for four people for a three course-dinner, with cocktails and two bottles of wine to give away in this month’s newsletter. Good luck!

Winner and more winners

One lucky subscriber to the Irish Times Food & Drink club this month will be bringing three friends with them to the Hawksmoor steakhouse in Dublin for dinner and drinks. Don’t forget to enter.

In addition, you could win an overnight stay for two at The Club at Goff’s, in Co Kildare, with dinner and breakfast included. This will be an opportunity to put the kitchen headed up by Derry Clarke, with James Sheridan, through its paces.

Congratulations to Patti Harvey who won an overnight stay for two, with a dinner, at The Station House Hotel, Kilmessan, and to Majella Boyle who won a Sunday lunch and a whiskey tasting at Fairmont Carton House

Read all about it

In this weekend’s Irish Times Magazine, Gráinne O’Keefe brings her chef’s skills to reinventing a few retro classics. Prawn cocktail, devilled eggs, and banana flambé are back, baby. Corinna Hardgrave checks out the menu and the music at Row Wines, on Coppinger Row in Dublin 2, where there’s no minimum spend and walk-ins are welcome. The takeaway of the week is from Deli613 in Rathmines, where there are queues forming daily for the New York-style salt beef sandwiches. Lilly Higgins is cooking a one-pot wonder with pork chops, and John Wilson has the inside track on Soave wines.

Check in with us regularly at irishtimes.com/food for all the latest food and drink news, features and great dishes to cook. If you would like to invite family and friends to join The Irish Times Food & Drink Club, they can do so here. You can also follow us on Facebook here, and on Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Marie-Claire Digby