TASTE OF JAPAN EVENT WITH FIONA UYEMA & DUBLIN POP UP

The graphic design by the very talented Peter Dawson.

I'm really excited to have the opportunity to direct an event at Savour Kilkenny this year called TASTE OF JAPAN. 

If you're looking for a unique dining experience with a Japanese twist you can book tickets on EVENTBRITE! See details below:

Fiona Uyema in collaboration with Dublin Pop Up, are bringing you an extraordinary Japanese feast for all your senses. You will enjoy a hand-picked menu especially designed to showcase the best of Irish produce fused with Japanese flavours matched with O’Hara’s Japanese inspired Sorachi Ace and sake cocktails.

During this exclusive event you will also experience a fantastic line-up of Japanese entertainment taking you on a unique Japanese culinary and cultural adventure; details will be released soon.

Date: Saturday 24th October
Time: 8pm
Venue: Butler House, Patrick Street, Kilkenny
Admission: €60 (plus online booking fee) to include food, drinks and entertainment
To Book: Https://taste-of-japan-savourkilkenny.eventbrite.ie

Note:
Photographs taken by Smiles! Photography in Dublin

Birthday Foodie Tour in Dublin City

Hubby organised babysitters and brought me up to Dublin for a foodie adventure for my birthday. Rather than going on a pub crawl we went on a cafe/restaurant crawl! It was a late Sunday morning and a really enjoyable way to explore Dublin's best foodie spots. 

After parking the car we found a quirky little coffee and pastry bar called SASHI HOUSE PETITE . The have a selection of different coffee beans and will give you guidance to which one you'd like best. I went for the Brazilian coffee bean in a cappuccino. It made sense as hubby is Brazilian/Japanese! What coffee are you?!

Next we popped into a restaurant called SUPER MISS SUE. We'd read good reviews about this place and I noticed that they had the weekend papers for customers to read (this is a big treat for me as with two little ones reading the paper is a real challenge these days!).

We ordered a glass of prosecco and a dish to share from the brunch menu "Marinated Salmon, watercress & wasabi mayo, mini brown shrimp omelette, bonito crumb". I loved the fusion element of this dish. The Japanese bonito flakes mixed with breadcrumbs worked really well as a topping.

The streets off Grafton Street are full of shops with character. We loved this chocolate boutique called COCOA ATELIER. Ketty from FRENCH FOODIE IN DUBLIN wrote a detailed review about this place, definitely worth a read and a visit if you want to treat yourself or someone special.

As we were passing the ASIA MARKET I had to pop in to say hello and pick up a few things.

They stock unusual vegetables that are used in Japanese cooking. I usually replace with local root vegetables but every now and then it's nice to use these for my cooking (Japanese mushrooms, renkon (lotus root), gobo (burdock root).

We stumbled across the INDUSTRY home and lifestyle store which I read about on twitter a few times. I love their household items and now they have a cute little coffee shop inside. 

It was time to eat again and we spotted organic pulled pork in COPPINGER ROW.  

This dish was a nice twist on a traditional Irish breakfast, we loved it and would recommend it. 

By pure coincidence we noticed that they their cocktail of the month was "TURNING JAPANESE"! 

We couldn't leave Dublin without browsing through some bookstores. In Japan they call this YOMITACHI, literally translates as reading and standing. It's used when people spend hours reading books and magazines on display!  

Unfortunately, it was time to go home so we grabbed a take away juice in ALCHEMY JUICE CO.....

and a sushi bento in KOKORO SUSHI BENTO.

What a day and a really enjoyable way to spend my birthday. You should try a foodie crawl around Dublin. Fiona x

O'Hara's Sorachi Ace - a beer with Japanese roots

As a craft beer lover I'm so excited to see that O'Hara's has added a beer with Japanese roots to their collection. Sorachi Ace is named after the Sorachi region of Hokkaido in Japan. The Sorachi Ace hop was developed by a large Japanese brewey in the late 1970s. 

This craft beer is definitely worth talking about, it's a great introduction to the world of Indian Pale Ales as it's not bitter and has a nice crisp and smooth finish. It was definitely refreshing! O'Hara's describe it as having truly distinctive and unique flavours. They say that people have reported aromas and flavours of lemongrass, dill, coconut and bubblegum all at once from this hop. To see more about it go to O'Hara's website. 

I'm looking forward to using Sorachi Ace in my Japanese cooking too!

I'll be returning again this year to Savour Kilkenny to give a sushi and craft beer tasting demo alongside Seamus from O'Hara's after the fantastic feedback we received from last year's interactive demo (Sunday October 25th). 

Remember! 
If you are interested in reading/learning about Irish Craft Beer & Cider Caroline Hennessy and Kristin Jensen co-wrote an amzing book called SLAINTE.