Chefs from 14 Dublin restaurants gathered to toast their latest cullinary enterprise in an upstairs café this week. They each contributed recipes to a new book from Black & White Publishing, which is edited by celebrity chef Paul Rankin.
Called Dublin Dining, it was "quite hard to whittle it down" to 14, said Rankin. Unlike 10 years ago, he pointed out, when "you'd struggle to pick out 14 top restaurants. We've come so far".
Two of the chefs in the book are brothers Rory O'Connell (who was not able to attend) and Tom O'Connell, of O'Connell's in Ballsbridge, who are Darina Allen's younger brothers. Tom chatted to his restaurant's executive chef, Felix Zund, of Switzerland, at the party to celebrate the publication of Dublin Dining at Avoca Café on Suffolk Street.
Ross Lewis, of Chapter One, which was voted Food and Wine Dublin Restaurant of the Year recently, is another of the book's contributors. His family has no background in the food industry, he said. His father, Gethin Lewis, was the former managing director of Pfizer in Cork, but his mother Margaret, was a great cook, he admitted.
Simon Pratt, who owns the Avoca chain with his sister, Amanda Pratt, said they've just published their own book of recepies. Avoca Cookbook 2, following the success of the first cookbook, which sold 60,000 copies two years ago, is written by food writer Hugo Arnold and Avoca executive chef, Laylie Hayes.
Eileen Dunne and her Italian husband, Stefano Crescenzi, who opened Dunne & Crescenzi on South Frederick Street three years ago, are also in Dublin Dining. They've recently acquired more space and will soon be adding 30 seats to their restaurant, they said.
Dublin Dining is "about the spirit of Dublin and the sense of moving forward",concluded Rankin, who will add a new café to his business in Belfast later this month. The café/restaurant will be located in the university area but as to its name, Rankin is keeping it a secret - for now.