Chez Hans, Cashel, Co. Tipperary

Chez Hans is a simply beautiful looking restaurant, first established a stone's throw from the infamous "Rock", in the year 1968. The building is striking both inside and out as it is a renovated  Victorian Gothic church. The large stained glass windows add to the sense of sophistication throughout. There is also a great collection of eclectic artwork to be seen and admired on the walls. It held a Michelin star for a short time in the early eighties. Its style is European in influence and much of the produce is locally sourced. It is by no means cheap, but for a special occasion, or romantic dinner, this destination restaurant most certainly delivers. We have dined here on three occasions, most recently with two friends of ours. Chez Hans, just in the past few years, now has two sister establishments worth checking out - Café Hans, a delightful daytime café, just a minute up the road from Chez Hans, and Stef Hans, located in Thurles' Source Arts Centre.

The old church setting of Chez Hans

Ashford Castle Afternoon Tea

Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo is a plush, uber luxurious Irish castle, dating back to 1228 and it provides a truly five star experience. Afternoon tea in this idyllic spot is something quite special and memorable indeed.

Foodie Experience in Australia

I am back from over two weeks "Down Unda"! My first time to Australia saw me travelling between Sydney, Melbourne and some of the Victoria countryside. This blog post is a little bit of visual and written reminiscing of what was a great culinary trip.

1. Breakfasts. Boy, do the Aussies know how to make a good breakie and lucky for me, breakie is one of my favourite meals! Some of my top tips are...

• The Fine Food Store in Sydney. Don't be put off by the name, it serves up some amazing breakfasts with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and with a real focus on healthy foods and with varying dietary needs catered for but with great flavour being paramount.
• Bills. I am sure you have heard of the well known Australian TV chef and restauranteur Bill Granger. Well he has a few spots around Sydney and on a bleak beach day in Bondi of all places, we happily sheltered from the rain in Bill's and enjoyed a late breakie. This place packs up fast and I believe we were lucky to get a seat without having to wait or pre-book. Bill's is worth a visit.
• Avocados - they love them and serve them very frequently in breakfast dishes. Go for it. A simple sourdough toast and avo is a thing of beauty.
• Manly/Bondi/Beach locations - Ideally get the ferry to Manly and stroll along the well signposted coastal walks and enjoy a lazy breakfast/brunch at one of the many cafés.
• The Flour and Stone or whatever may be your local bakery. We found this particular place thanks to TripAdvisor and it was literally two minutes from our hotel. It served some of the tastiest breakfasts and most luscious pastries and coffees. It is teeny tiny and evidently beloved by the locals. We noticed repeat business when we visited, which is always a positive!

Breakfast Panini with poached egg, bacon, cheese, spinach and chilli jam at Fine Food Store

Café Hans, Cashel, Co. Tipperary

Café Hans is a little pink treasure of foodie delights. It is nestled on a quaint street in the outskirts of the pretty town of Cashel, just a stones throw from the impressive Rock of Cashel.

We have visited for lunch on three occasions and been very satisfied each time. Our last trip was on Valentine's day.  The café is opened from 12 to 5, takes no bookings and unsurprisingly gets very busy during rush hour lunch time. We arrived about 20 minutes before 1pm and were lucky to get a great spot by the window. Here I had a great view of the "Rock's" round tower.

Café Hans in all its pink perfection!

Perfect Pancake Day Crepes

So I have been gone AWOL for quite some time now. I'm making no excuses this time, just a case of c'est la vie! However, I couldn't possibly let Pancake Tuesday (17th February 2015 FYI) pass without a post to mark one of my favourite foodstuffs. I am a breakfast fiend and though I have tried and made a few savoury pancakes, the sweet always wins over as a tasty morning breakfast treat for me. I have come to be a fan of thicker and smaller buttermilk pancakes in recent times, which I've blogged about before, but I will always stay true to my deep fondness for the crepe. This recipe is quick and easy. It can be prepared in advance. So, if you're all guns blazing to be an uber prepared breakfast queen/king, you can have this prepared and in the fridge on Monday evening! However, even fifteen minutes or so of resting time in the fridge provides really great crepes. This recipe should make about 6/7 crepes.

Crepes - left: served with maple syrup and berries, right: the traditional lemon juice and sugar

#BPBR no. 4 - The Happy Pear

'The Happy Pear' by David & Stephen Flynn, published in 2014

I had heard quite a lot about these guys over the past year or so. They are very on the ball in the social media realm and I had read some great reviews of the excellent, wholesome and healthy food they serve in their renowned Greystones restaurant. I was sent a complimentary copy of this book from their publishers, Penguin Ireland. From my first leaf through this literally "tablet-sized" cookbook, I was eager to get cooking!

1. The photos in this cookbook are fun, attractive and appealing. Uber healthy food (which the book contains in bucket loads) is displayed as appetising and interesting. There isn't even the faintest whiff of boring "diet" style foods and so I found my list of to-try recipes began growing longer and longer as I leafed through the book. Hardly a complaint! It's no secret either that the Flynn twins are very easy on the eye and there are quite a few photos of the two guys throughout the book too. I always find that a cookbook with some people photos featuring among the vast array of food photos, is a good thing. And it's no different in the Happy Pear, where family, friendships and health are put to the forefront. One more lovely thing - you must check out the fabulous sunset photos on page 161 - a lovely interest that formed from the time of the birth of Dave's daughter...and grew legs from social media. Very pretty indeed!
SCORE = 4

Look at those dips and tasty treats!

Busy days!

It's busy times here at F.F. these days. We are in the process of moving into our new home and becoming first time homeowners! The excitement levels are high but it's also a very busy time. Although there are a few tasty, foodie posts almost ready to go, nothing is just as I'd like it so there will be no posting for a little whileen. This is partly due to trying to set up our internet connection in the new abode, plus all that aforementioned "busy-ness" of course.

Apologies.

I do of course mean my physical house! F.F. is staying right here in the interweb world ;-)
~ Image sourced from internet ~

Bell & Pot Café Kitchen, Dublin

This cute and quirky breakfast, brunch and lunch café is a real find! Nestled in a pretty hidden spot right behind the Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, beside the Travelodge hotel, I never even knew of its existence until Rory from the Eat Drink Run Fun blog and Niamh of Gourmet Grazing recommended it as a weekday breakfast spot in the heart of the city centre.

The Bell & Pot is open every day from 7 am to 9 pm and its breakfasts are top notch. I was catching up with my sister, after she arrived into Dublin airport on the red eye flight and before we were due to hop on the one of the yellow ducks and do the touristy thing around Dublin. The café had a lovely chilled vibe and there was a nice amount of people tucking into some tasty food, which gave the place a relaxed and welcoming buzz.

The First Big Grill Festival, August 2014

I had been looking forward to this food festival for some time. It's been a long time since I was at a food festival, Bloom in Phoenix Park last year springs to mind...in any case, I was all set for a day of good food and entertainment. The entry fee into the Big Grill Festival in the lovely setting of Herbert Park in Ballsbridge was €15. There were early bird prices and I did get my ticket for a little less than this price. However, I was disappointed that literally everything had a cost involved once inside the venue. The cost was in the form of "smokin' tokens" and one token equated to one Euro.

Scenes from around the park at the Big Grill Festival

Duomo - Two Michelin Star Dining in Sicily

I have eaten in a couple of restaurants I would class as very high standard; Neven Maguire's MacNean Restaurant in Cavan stands out, as does the beautiful gourmet getaway, The Old Convent in Tipperary. L'Écrivain, with its one Michelin star in Dublin didn't fully wow me as I thought it would. So, I was certainly excited but also had some mixed feelings about what to expect in Duomo, a two Michelin star restaurant in the spectacular UNESCO baroque town of Ragusa Ibla in Sicily.

Gluten-Free Cookery Classes with the Coeliac Society of Ireland

A few weeks ago, I was kindly invited by the Coeliac Society of Ireland, as a guest to one of their cookery classes in the Miele Gallery, in Citywest, Dublin. I am not a coeliac myself, but I do feature quite a few gluten-free recipes on my blog - you can check out my gluten-free label on my homepage - and I am aware that gluten-free diets, due most often to medical reasons or sometimes personal lifestyle choices, are becoming far more common in Ireland.

Gluten-free menu: Top - Profiterole with goat's cheese, left bottom - Tagliatelle carbonara, right bottom - Pancakes

Hugo's Restaurant, Dublin

Hugo's Restaurant on Dublin's Merrion Row, was somewhere that I was blissfully unaware of for quite some time. On the particular evening we ate there, we were in search of a pre-theatre meal, close to the Gaiety Theatre, in a restaurant that could accommodate us at 5 pm at the latest. Hugo's opens at 5 o'clock, so we were in business. I love the outside of Hugo's - the turquoise/aquamariney colour is striking and appealing and an unusual but pretty choice for a restaurant facade I think.

Hugo's front
~ Image sourced from www.rai.ie website ~

Beeftro, Dundrum

This restaurant has been on my list for quite some time. Tough life working through that list...! Many foodie friends have both spoken about it and written about it on their blogs. Instagram pictures have tempted me. Foodie tweets have allured me. Then there's beef in the title and when Irish steak is good, it is a meal that is really hard to beat. Eventually off I went to pay a visit and see for myself. That long awaited visit materialised on a Wednesday evening as a time out on a little summer shopping trip with my sister.

1st Birthday - Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake & Some Reader Interaction

I think it's true to say that it's an exciting time for any enthusiastic blogger when you come to a milestone such as this. Happy first birthday Fascination Food - I like the ring of it! Of course, there were at least three years prior to that, of tweeting and talking, baking and cooking, and sampling new cuisines in different restaurants...but when I finally bit the bullet, I was delighted to call myself a food blogger, and still am, one year on.

Sicily: Its Fabulous Food & Wine

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, you'll be aware that I spent a week in the stunning south Italian island of Sicily around the beginning of July. Excuse the probably excessive bragging. I couldn't help myself. Well, without a doubt, an amazing week was had. In no particular order here are my top ten recommendations for delicious food and wine in Sicily...

An Port Mór Restaurant, Westport, Co. Mayo

Westport has long been one of my favourite places to get away to in Ireland. It has a happy, relaxed and welcoming buzz at any stage of the year. My last visit to Mayo in June was for a good friend's wedding taking place close by. As I knew we would have one free night to venture out into Westport and due to various good reports and bits and pieces I had read through Good Food Ireland and other sources, I was quite intent upon An Port Mór being our dinner spot. There were absolutely no regrets after what was a fabulous meal in a pretty, serene and unpretentious setting.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Fudge

For the day that's in it - Fourth of July, Independence Day, I felt it only right to go with an American theme for today's blog post. I picked up a jar of the delicious, gooey decadence that is 'Marshmallow Fluff' in Aldi lately and was thinking of ways I could incorporate it into an authentic American style dessert. Peanut butter always comes to mind for me in the context of a real honest to goodness American treat. And so, to combine the two...Fudge! Now, as you may know, or have guessed, chocolate is one of my first loves, so I couldn't neglect it either. Here goes, I hope you enjoy. And please be advised, don't even think about calorie counting. This is plain and simply, sweet and indulgent comfort food!
*Watch out for the tip (soft ball test).

The ingredients

Freshly Spiced Indian Lamb & Dublin Cookery School

Two summers ago I attended a week long course called 'Cooking for Friends' at Lynda Booth's Dublin Cookery School. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, worthwhile and fun learning experience. Their tutors and equipment are second to none and it is a fabulous foodie alternative to a typical holiday, or a means to keep out of trouble if you're as lucky as I am to have a long summer of two months off work!

Foodie Meetup in Dublin - House and Opium

I have wanted to go on a foodie meetup for some time now. When myself, Kate (of Kate's Kabin) and Carol (of Gin & Griddle) started discussing it a month or so ago, I was delighted to be getting things in motion. It is a wonderful thing to meet up with like minded people, and let's be honest, for a few foodie snaps to be celebrated rather than receiving the rolling eyes! Unfortunately Carol couldn't make it but hopefully she will for the next one. We had a small but great all female bunch of food bloggers, reviewers and nutrition students and graduates - all proud and happy to go along with the foodie label.

Easter in Prague

Prague is a European city that I have wanted to visit for quite some time. I can now say, with absolute certainty, I am so glad I have finally taken a trip to "The Golden City".

What would you tend to think of when you think of Prague? Beer, quite possibly. The Czechs are the second highest consumers of beer in the world! Pork knuckle, ham hock, Prague ham and various variations. The stunning beauty of the well preserved buildings, the 650 year old Charles Bridge, The Old Town Square with its majestic astronomical tower, the oldest medieval castle in the world?! Prague has so much to offer and as a foodie destination, it is a definite winner.