As a (belated) birthday treat we recently enjoyed a night in the five star Hayfield Manor Hotel and dinner in Orchids Restaurant which, in their own words, is “the premier choice for fine dining in Cork City”.
The hotel itself is lovely, nice setting and looks very well. The staff appeared warm and welcoming, the girl [...]
Category > Review
Dinner in Orchids Restaurant, Hayfield Manor
Chateau Lynch Bages 1985
From time to time I write about wine but apart from knowing what is nice and what is not nice I don’t have the wine vocabulary to get my point across very well. I leave that to the experts you can see listed over on the right-hand column down towards the bottom of the page. [...]
Jamie’s Family Christmas – Channel 4
We’re currently enjoying Jamie’s Family Christmas on Channel 4. It has some nice recipes and tips on all things Christmas, and some not so Christmas. All of which I thought would be available on the official web site but it seems that only a selection from the show are posted at the moment, HOWEVER what [...]
Lunch in Paudie’s Bar, The Dingle Bay Hotel
A family trip to Dingle on a misty October Bank Holiday Monday brought us to Paudie’s Bar in the Dingle Bay Hotel for a spot of lunch. We wandered in on spec to find the place buzzing with life. Every table in the rather large bar was busy so the five of us were lucky [...]
CX Oriental Cash & Carry, Cork
I found these guys on Tramore Road Industrial Estate in Cork during the summer and have been meaning to post up some info. If you are every looking for Asian food supplies, and some not so Asian supplies such as wholesale take away pizza boxes, then this is the spot for you.
The pictures can speak [...]
Cliff House Hotel Restaurant Part II
After our original visit to the Cliff House Hotel Restaurant on July 16th we returned on August 2nd to celebrate my birthday. It was disappointing to see the dinner menu increase in price by 4% to €65, with the wines also seeming to have increased in line. I don’t know if the increased prices were [...]
Toastie Pockets
So I bought one, actually a pair, of these toastie pockets yokes in Aldi a few weeks back. You know the thing, they’ve been around for ages, little baggies that you pop your cheese sandwich into which you then place into the toaster and hey-presto a toasted sandwich! As a family who have had possibly [...]
Lidl wine reviews
In the run-up to turning forty last week and the unlikely event that I may have to entertain a few dozen people in Messy Towers I have been studying Frank’s excellent series on Lidl wine. Frank has kindly reviewed the NZ Pinot Noir (€9.99), Rose Champagne (€19.99), Fleurie (€6.99), and Chateauneuf de Pape (€14.99). Take [...]
Dining at The Cliff House Hotel Restaurant
Last summer we only managed to visit the Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore for drinks and, nice and all as they were, we missed the chance to eat in the restaurant. Not so for the summer of 2009, we made our booking early and counted down the days.
A 7:30pm arrival for an 8pm booking allowed [...]
Pour Your Own Pint
The pour your own pint system seems to have been around for some time now but not that widespread and not really publicised by Guinness. I’ve looked on the web for a press release or instructions but all I could find were one or two pubs advertising it, example here. To help solve this terrible [...]
