March's monthly 9 giveaways are live! Everyone signed up to ATF Insiders will be automatically entered into the draw, and there are few things we love more than doling out awesome food and drink prizes. Without your support we couldn't do what we do, so if you're one of our favourite people, thank you.
Everyone subscribed by midnight tomorrow, Thursday 17th March will be entered into the draw, and winners will be picked and notified on Friday 18th March. Here's what we've got for you this month...
1) Dinner with cocktail pairings from Man Street Kitchen at Roe & Co Distillery
The D-8TE restaurant pop ups at Roe & Co put the Dublin 8 distillery on the map last year (and was our first chance to try Filipino pop up Bahay), and they're back for 2022 with a brand new line up. They kicked off with The Salt Project, and next week Man Street Kitchen move in, with a menu inspired by Asia, the Middle East and the USA, including hot-smoked salmon baby gem tacos, and whiskey-glazed pork ribs. The menu is €40 per person, and the mega mixologists at Roe & Co have created cocktail pairings for each course for another €30, or you can free-style. It's also outdoors, so ideal for the covid-conscious. We've got a table for four with drinks pairings to give away for Man Street Kitchen at D-8TE which is running Thursday - Sunday until the 10th of April.
2) A three-course dinner with cocktails at The Pier House, Howth
The Pier House in Howth have just launched their new Spring menu and it is looking good. They opened on West Pier in 2020 (the year that shan't be mentioned), as a new modern Irish dining option for the seaside village, with plenty of fish (of course), but also free-range pork from Andarl Farm, and vegetarian options like barbecued white asparagus with romesco and cashew nuts. From head chef David Walsh's new menu we're loving the sound of the citrus cured & smoked salmon with miso crème fraiche, kohlrabi and lotus crisp; the grilled halibut with smoked potato foam and Dublin Bay Prawn tortellini; and the Andarl Farm pork ravioli with tomato fondue and oregano burnt butter, and two of our Insiders will be going off for a three-course meal for two plus a welcome cocktail to try it out for themselves.
3) A Praline Chocolates hamper
You've probably seen Praline's amazing looking chocolates on your social media feed or in your favourite newspaper - everybody seems to be talking about them, and now we are. Chocolatier Norma Kelly has just launched a new signature range of handcrafted chocolates available to order online for nationwide delivery - perfect timing for Mother’s Day and Easter. There are six specially created fillings, each inspired by local food producers, like the 'Vanilla Salted Caramel' using Irish Atlantic Sea Salt, 'Heather Honey & Orange' using honey from The Galtee honey farm, and 'Toffee Apple' using apple juice from The Apple Farm in Co. Tipperary. We've got a chocolate-packed Praline hamper to give away to one of you this month, with two boxes of their new signature collection, their full range of artisan bars, and a €50 voucher to spend online at www.praline.ie.
4) A €120 voucher for The Village Butcher, with nationwide delivery
It's no exaggeration to say that people drive long distances to get to The Village Butcher in Ranelagh, because their direct, small farm focused meat sourcing is amongst the most impressive in the country. Dermot Allen's Duroc pork; Feighcullen Farm's organic, free-range chickens; goat, venison and boar from Dizzy Goat Farms - eating less meat but better is easy with a butcher like this, and we dream of a day that every village has one. If that's not enough to get your excited, their sausages are handmade with no preservatives or sulphites, rashers are cured in house, and they make their own guanciale and bone marrow butter. And in the best news our petrol tank has heard all month, they've just launched nationwide delivery, and they've given us a €120 voucher to give away to celebrate.
5) A €100 Voucher For Canal Bank Café
Canal Bank Café on Upper Leeson Street, named after its view of the Grand Canal, has been going strong for an amazing 11 years, and they've just launched a new menu inspired by their head chef's recent trip to LA. They've added loads of healthier options, like rose harissa gambas with cucumber tzatziki & fresh herbs, and an heirloom tomato & Macroom buffalo bocconcini salad with black olive & sun-dried tomato vinaigrette, but their famous chicken wings with Cashel Blue cheese dip are staying put, as are Korean-style BBQ ribs with gochujang marinade, and the chargrilled, porcini-rubbed Delmonico Ribeye steak w/ pickled wild mushrooms, caramelised shallots, roast garlic & herb butter, and frites. Canal Bank Café have given us a €100 voucher to give away to one of our insiders this month, and whether you go healthy or otherwise is entirely up to you.
6) A month's worth of garden boxes from Harvest Day
Few things make us happier than presses fill with Irish products, so we felt a warm glow when we saw that Harvest Day, the nationwide vegetable box delivery service, have just extended their offering of Irish products. Now you can add sourdough, organic milk and eggs, and lots of lovely pantry essentials to your fruit and veg order, like The Merry Mill's oats, Heather honey from the Wicklow Mountains Beekeeper, and Nutshed peanut butter - our current morning obsession. Support Irish growers and producers, eat the freshest food, and you don't even have to leave your house - what's not to like about that? Harvest Day have given us a month's subscription of their Seasonal Garden Boxes to giveaway this month - a weekly delivery of freshly picked, organically and naturally grown vegetables and salad from local growers, plus artisan sourdough bread from Sugarloaf Bakery in Co. Wicklow.
7) A bottle of Glendalough's 7-year-old Mizunara cask whiskey
Glendalough Distillery has just launched a 7-year-old, Irish single malt whiskey, aged in rare Japanese Mizunara casks sourced from the island of Hokkaido, Japan, and the spirits world is in a spin over it. They say they searched for the most flavourful, sought after oak in the whiskey world, and found Mizunara in the volcanic north of Japan. Glendalough's is the first Irish whiskey to use this type of oak, which costs ten times more than the average cask, and they say the result is "wonderfully different ... vivid but delicate with seamless depth and an exceptionally long finish." They've given us a bottle of their Mizunara 7-year-old Single Malt (RRP €85) plus a NEAT whiskey glass and coaster set to give away to one of you this month, and for the rest of you, find it in O'Briens, Celtic Whiskey Shop and all good independent off-licences.
8) Foraging walk for two with With Nádúr Collective
We're completely in awe of expert foragers, and three of the best are chefs Dave Gallagher, Niall O'Sullivan and Paul Quinn from Nádúr Collective, who run foraging walks in Wicklow when they get a break from the kitchen. Their wild food walks teach you how to find edible plants, with practical uses in cooking and preserving. They cater for beginners to professionals, but want people to learn in an informative, relaxed and fun way, leaving with lots of inspiration for how to transfer what you've found to the plate. Their next foraging trips are coming up in April and May and they've given us two places (€50pp) to give away to one of our Insiders this month.
9) Dinner for four with drinks at Dosa Dosa in Stoneybatter
Did we dosa before Dosa Dosa? Did we parotta or uttapam? Not to the best of our recollection. Dosa Dosa's South Indian street food, served out of a van off Grand Canal Street, was something properly fresh for Dublin, and despite their out of the way location, queues formed quickly and never really stopped. So it's very good news that they've just opened a second location in Stoneybatter, at the back of Hynes Bar on Prussia Street. You'll find the full menu there from Thursday - Sunday, 16:00 - 21:00, and one of our Insiders is going to win dinner for four with drinks, including a dosa and parotta each.
Everyone signed up to ATF Insiders for March will be automatically entered into the prize draw. If you're not signed up yet join here and support independent content in Dublin and beyond, and get answers to all of your burning questions about eating out, here and abroad, directly from us.
