Chew The Fat

Don't call Allta a restaurant. It's a wine bar with food. The interior is incredibly important, and considered. The experience of the music and lighting is as key as the food and drink. Whatever you want to call it, you can't deny that it's taken Dublin city by storm since opening just before Christmas 2019. Set on Frederick Street South/Setanta Place, a stone's throw from Trinity and a street or two away from the shopping highway of Grafton Street, this is THE dining room in Dublin everyone can't stop talking about, and Niall Davidson is the main man behind it.

A farmer's son, born in Scotland and brought up in Derry, Niall Davidson took the indirect route to Dublin city. Having defected from London to Dublin specifically to open Allta, he's held roles in the likes of Chiltern Firehouse and St. John Bread and Wine before opening up his own venture, Nuala, in London (which, yes, we do touch on as it had an untimely closure). But he's not alone...

Hugh Higgins, formerly of the much-lamented subterranean designer Italian Luna on Drury Street, is leading the kitchen as head chef. Christine Walsh, formerly of Enda McEvoy's Michelin-starred Loam in Galway, comes from a fine dining pedigree having worked in Chapter One, Noma and Benu and rounds out the talent.

Not necessarily commanding particular sections, this is a collaborative kitchen where house-made charcuterie and pasta are championed, but are not the limit nor the extent. So, like everyone else, our interest was piqued after dining there ourselves, so we went to meet all three to talk Allta, Dublin dining, Irish food and more...

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The largest of the iconic Aran Islands, which lie off the coast of Connemara along Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way, Inis Mór is one of the most unique destinations you can find in Ireland.

The capital of its cluster of islands and a Gaeltacht (Irish language-speaking) community, Inis Mór - quite literally, 'Big Island' - certainly has a big personality and punches well above its weight in terms of food and drink. Tourists adore delving into a toastie and pint at Tigh Joe Mac's or singing along with the trad music in the electric atmosphere of Tigh Joe Wattys whilst Teach Nan Phaidí is certainly in contention for best cafe in all of Ireland.

However, aside from notable places to eat, food production has always been central to this island community –– and we've had our eye on it for some time for its food producing credentials. In this episode, we meet two of them: Gabriel Faherty of Aran Island Goat Cheese and David O'Halloran, one half of the couple behind seaweed brand Blath na Mara.

Gabriel takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the island (as he generally doubles up duty as official tour guide of the island) including his own production unit where his 100-strong herd of goats produce milk which he turns into a variety of cheese styles.

Whilst David's wife Jenny was working away on the mainland, he then shows us around their little purpose-built factory, where they dry seaweed that's hand harvested right here by the shore and turned into a variety of seaweed-based products, both edible and cosmetic.

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Chef, Restaurateur, Activist, Author, Columnist, Festival Director and Curator, Semi-historian –– Is there anything JP Mc Mahon can't turn a hand to? We've wanted to get this esteemed, Michelin-starred chef on Chew The Fat since series one and now for our debut episode of series four, back with a bang for 2020, we finally got to sit down and talk all things Irish food with the Galway-based chef, as JP launches his long-awaited The Irish Cookbook in early 2020.

The man behind Michelin-starred Aniar, set on Galway's West End, alongside his more casual offerings in the city, Cava and Tartare - plus the Aniar Cookery School to boot - JP McMahon is known nationwide for his chef-restaurateur credentials, as well as appearing regularly in the media, with a weekly column in The Irish Times, stints on RTÉ Today as well as frequent appearances on radio.

Also, no mean feat, he's also created and spearheaded the global success of Food On The Edge, the annual chef's symposium. Bringing the greatest minds in the chef industry together in Galway, FOTE's mission is to discuss and dissect where the industry is right now and what the future holds for food globally, whilst highlighting more ethical and sustainable approaches across the board. Taking place once again in October, 2020 marks the sixth year of the hugely popular non-profit, non-commercial festival.

There's no doubt JP McMahon is a force within Irish food, so much so he was tasked by publishers Phaidon to create the ultimate book on Hiberno cuisine, The Irish Cookbook, set to be released in February 2020.

A terrific tome, in which the chef went far far back in the annals of time from the earliest settlers on the island to the present day, The Irish Cookbook compiles just shy of 500 recipes and delves into the identity and ingredients of the cuisine of Ireland. Almost three years in the making, this is a cookbook that's gotten anyone and everyone who's passionate about Irish produce all excited to see it in the flesh, and as he prepares to launch it we sit down with the chef to learn a little more about his approach, what makes up the book and hear a bit more about his experience of Irish food and operating three successful restaurants in Galway.

A virgin, a tart, and a complete batch. Susan Jane White has been them all, penning no fewer than three cookbooks whilst juggling family life in Dublin. Author of Extra Virgin Kitchen and The Virtuous Tart, Clever Batch is her third cookbook - released in 2019 - and a deserved finalist for the An Post Book Awards. Why that backstory? Well, we have to admit, we fell in love with her words before we fell in love with her in person, and we've been dying to get her on our podcast Chew The Fat since we began gestating it almost two years ago!

SJW's words are engaging, exciting, cheeky, playful, coquettish and ultimately incredibly endearing. How she moulds language together, like a child playing with building blocks, warms our hearts. How she describes food, or a recipe, or indeed an ingredient, turns how you think about food on its head, and we're all all the better for it. She's thoughtful and incredibly smart, and writing like hers takes restraint and editing to seamlessly craft the perfect combinations of words and sounds –– we know that from writing for the guts of the last decade, but she's also fearless. She's not afraid to take risks, to stand out, to throw every colour of the crayon box at the canvas and see what comes up.

As for her cookery, it's exciting in that much like her wordsmith chops she creates beautiful, harmonious (at times exotic and intriguing) combinations of ingredients, whipping them - into submission, she might add, with a cheeky wink - up with gusto into a dish greater than the sum of its parts, and probably pretty great for you too.

She's passionate without being preachy, health-focused but mainlining treats like there's no tomorrow and both angelically knowledgeable and devilishy deviant in equal measure. For this episode, we found ourselves perched on her couch in front of the fire for a good hour and a half before we even hit record, but once we did we got the BEST stuff... listen at your ultimate leisure, to the incomparable Susan Jane White...

Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat. Though, so are the turkeys at Maperath Farm in Kells, Co. Meath. Our guests on Chew The Fat this week are Eoin Sharkey and Olivia Duff who run - as a family, with their three little girls - this small-scale, fully certified free-range turkey & geese farm – which is beyond organic in practice, but not in certification –– we'll discuss that!

As consumer minds are moving more and more towards local produce once again, sourcing and investing in quality, their farming business is going from strength to strength. As passionate about welfare of their own animals as they are about educating the wider world about best farming practices, Eoin is a regular at food festivals around Ireland, taking his educational-focused mobile unit to help show-and-tell young and old all about where their food comes from.

Olivia is a stalwart in the Irish food community - a food champion, specialising in hospitality and food tourism in particular, she is the powerhouse behind the inaugral Samhain 2019 (where we recorded the most recent live episode of Chew The Fat too) and the woman behind Kells' Headfort Arms. Both Eoin and Olivia could vie for the title of 'busiest person in the world', individually, but somehow they keep everything moving and somehow we managed to eke out an hour or two with them on a bright Saturday morning in December...

If you're reading this close to publication, you'll know that Christmas 2019 is fast approaching and orders will soon be closing for Christmas birds, so if you're listening to this episode and interested in ordering your Christmas goose or turkey, head along and order from their website here.

Plus, if you want to find out about more Boyne Valley Flavours producers just like Maperath Farm please check out the BVF site! It's not only the area we call home, we're also proud to be brand ambassadors for the region too!

There's a food truck that's a firm fixture on Ireland's 'Wild' western Atlantic coast. A fixture that's not permanent, but amasses a following wherever it pitches up. If you haven't heard of Julia's Lobster Truck, we guarantee you're going to know the name and hear a lot more... and this week we're chewing the fat with Julia Hemingway herself.

With her beaming smile and bright blue truck, Julia serves all manner of seafood to her adoring public. Lobster is the mainstay, grilled to-order and dripping in garlic butter, but there's a whole line-up of deep see and shoreline treats that she turns her hand to, running the stall with her husband Chris.

We catch the pair just at the beginning of the Dingle Food Festival, where they've pitched up for three days of deliciousness, and whilst they're prepping their van and gathering their ingredients before they open the hatch, we sneak in for a quick chat...

We delve into how it all began, how Julia has witnessed Irish food change and adapt over the years, her favourite local produce, what a moment street food is having in Ireland and also about the successes and challenges of her industry.

We've written about some of the people like Julia who are doing amazing things where street food and food trucks are concerned, which you can read here.

Chew The Fat is back! And we're delighted to be back with a special live episode of the podcast recorded at Samhain 2019, a wonderful celebration of 5,000 years of Irish food & culture which took place in Kells, Co Meath in November 2019.

Sit back and ponder along with us as we put Irish food on trial. What is Irish food? What can we class as Irish food? What do we learn from the past that can help our future. We don't have answers but we do have questions and you as the jury can decide for yourself what the verdict is. Delighted to feature two amazing guests too in this - Marita Varley from Drummond House Garlic (who you will remember from our very first episode!) plus Janice Casey-Bracken, chef, local food champion, real bread advocate and instructor at the Irish Country Woman's Association HQ, at An Grianan in Co Louth.

This week on Chew The Fat we chat to the man of the moment where pop-ups in Dublin are concerned: Nico Reynolds of Lil’ Portie.

Serving up Jamaican recipes (with inspiration from his mother and grandmother’s own home cooking) with subtle nods to South American cuisine and using great Irish produce where possible, Lil’ Portie burst onto the scene around a year ago and has certainly gotten people talking since. He immediately caught our attention a good few months ago and this week we sit down after hours in his home-for-the-moment, Two Fifty Square in Rathmines.

Nico is an interesting anomaly –– he’s been away from Ireland more in the last decade than he has been on home turf. He spent around six years in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Yet he’s the name on everyone’s lips right now. He’s also got no professional chef training. But what he has got is tonnes of energy, endless ideas, charm by the truckload and he’s really landed on his feet and made a name for himself in the city. Spotting that there was a market for something different, something he grew up on and something to bring bold flavour to the capital’s table, Lil’ Portie has stood out since day one and has legions of loyal fans already, having hosted a series of recurring pop-ups in this very cafe/restaurant as well as prestigious stints at Taste of Dublin and The Big Grill. 2019 has been good for this young food entrepreneur, and without wanting to use a cliché, the future is incredibly bright for him and his business.

We sit down, break bread with Nico and go unusually deep. We delve deep into his cookery style, his training, his background but more than that we get lost in fascinating, lengthy discussions which illustrate just how tuned in to his own mind and the world around him Nico actually is. He’s philosophical, and everything is woven into a story. So sit back, get comfortable, and bed in for a fascinating hour or so hearing everything Nico has to say…

Walking into a former butcher's shop on main street in Tullamore, it's incredible to see the small production unit for the behemoth that is Inch House –– fast becoming one of the premier black pudding producers in the country. This week, we're in Tipperary and we're chewing the fat with Máirín Byrne, a second generation blood pudding producer (but the third generation making this recipe, as granny Mary Ryan was the true originator, as we find out).

We've been "online friends" with Máirín for so long and have long, long loved this fresh blood pudding for its unique flavour, shape and texture. It's somewhat hard to find (becoming available in more and more places) because it's produced in a very small-scale in a little unit in Templemore with Máirín being hands-on in every way, from doing the orders to making the black and white pudding, packaging it and even delivering it too, not to mention the roadshows, tastings, exhibitions, festivals et al that a food producer is expected to show face at too.

So she's a busy lady and we were so delighted to get an hour or so of her time to learn more about this incredible product –– that now counts Nigella Lawson amongst its many fans!

The Twelve is 12! This week on Chew The Fat - our podcast sponsored by Marks & Spencer, celebrating 40 years in Ireland - we're back west and pulling up at one of the great, modern hotels along the Wild Atlantic Way just outside Galway city – The Twelve Hotel and West Restaurant in Barna/Bearna, overseen by MD Fergus O'Halloran with Head Chef Martin O'Donnell at the pass.

We sit down with the pair to hear more about their approach to hospitality and their commitment to local producers in this gorgeous modern bolthole just a 20 minute drive outside the city, leading the path to Connemara. Martin grew up in the town - which traditionally is an entry point to the Irish-speaking (Gaeltacht) region of Connemara and still has a large portion of Irish speakers, given that it's now a satellite town being absorbed into the outer city limits.

This chef is passionate about foraging and, in particular, seaweed and it would be remiss if we didn't head out for a brief little forage along Silverstrand... stay tuned for snippets of that throughout this episode!

Language-aside, local community and producers are at the heart of everything The Twelve is about, and we hear so much more about how The Twelve stands out from the back, how they source their menu, the ways in which they celebrate the local community, the vast array of dining experiences and also their successes and challenges over the years, plus what they next 12 years may have in store!