New York’s finest is coming to Dublin in a meal kit

Back to Dine, the meal kit enterprise that brought about collaborations between chefs in Dublin, Galway and London, is spreading its wings to New York. Temple Garner, chef proprietor at San Lorenzo's and Bresson, and restaurant promoter Anthony Remedy, have signed up Lee Hanson and Riad Nasar, chef/owners of Frenchette in Tribeca, for the fifth and final box in the series.

Frenchette was voted best new restaurant in the 2019 James Beard Foundation awards. The menu for the Back to Dine meal kit is currently being finalised. “We’re doing at least two Frenchette signature dishes. Duck frites with Béarnaise sauce and pommes frites and roast duck breast served with a classic French garnish. We’ll be using Skeaghanore duck. Our dessert is pistachio Paris Brest, and from Frenchette’s bakery we’re doing a frosted cinnamon bun as our ‘pour demain’.

Back to Dine with Frenchette will be available to book online at backtodine.com from noon on Tuesday, May 25th, with collections from San Lorenzo's in Dublin 2 every Friday and Saturday until June 26th. The seven-course menu for two will cost €99.95. Wine pairings, chosen by Wine Rover's Cathryn Bell, will also be available.

Banner’s best ingredients

Fresh & Foraged is a collection of 10 artisan food products produced in Co Clare, available to order from St Tola Irish Goat Cheese in Ennistymon. As well as two types of St Tola, the hamper also contains Cratloe Hills sheep’s cheese, Naked Forager black garlic, Wild Irish seaweed salad mix, Savage Craic hot sauce, Carrygerry House chutney and granola, Thalli Foods elderberry vinegar, and The Cheese Press tomato pesto. It costs €50, plus €10 for delivery, anywhere in Ireland.

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The main course at TU Dublin

If you have a strong interest in food and are searching for a new challenge, applications are now open for the fifth student intake for the MA gastronomy and food studies course at Technical University Dublin. The course is part time, over two years, and will be based at the campus at Grangegorman.

Study modules include history and politics of food, food writing and media, food education, consumer culture and branding, current issues and debates around food, the culture of drinks and historic cookbooks.

“Food in Ireland takes centre stage, as the study of Irish food spans from prehistory to the present day, including poetry and mythology as well as present-day business models and tourism,” says programme chairman Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire. “Applicants to the part-time programme typically come from a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences and occupations, strengthening the multidisciplinary character of the programme and the ethos of open exchange and reciprocal learning.”

[ tudublin.ie/study/postgraduate/courses/gastronomy-and-food-studies/ ]

Winding Stair in legal matrimony

Now that outdoor dining spots are at a premium, Dublin restaurateur Elaine Murphy has decided to bring The Legal Eagle gastropub and The Winding Stair restaurant together, temporarily. A selection of food from both restaurants will be served on the first-floor terrace at The Winding Stair on Lower Ormond Quay, overlooking Liffey Street and the river.

“The menu is a collaborative effort made up of the favourites from both kitchens,” says Murphy. Among the menu items making a comeback are smoked haddock with cheddar and chive mash and grilled white onions; bone marrow, oxtail and Gaelic Escargot snails, and pork scratchings with smoked oyster mayo.

Starting up in the food business

Chef JP McMahon, culinary director of the Eat Galway restaurant group and an Irish Times columnist, is among the speakers at a webinar on May 25th aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups in the food sector. The session is being hosted by NUI Galway and promises to "provide inspiring insight into the creative and innovative ways business in the food sector have pivoted during the pandemic." Sustainable solutions to overcome challenges, and the practical supports that are available, will also be discussed. You can register for the webinar, which is free to attend, at https://bit.ly/WAHFESGAL.

Dine outdoors at Langton in Kilkenny

Bridie’s Garden at Langton’s is one of several outdoor dining and drinking areas at Langton House hotel, restaurant, pub and entertainment venue in Kilkenny city that is preparing to reopen on June 7th. The walled garden, hidden away behind the sweet shop and bakery, and the old world bar that are part of Bridie’s Bar & General Store, has colourful seating and lighting, and an online ordering system.