weekend bites

I don’t know how it happened but I managed to omit one of my best restaurant experiences from my round-up of the year before Christmas. How could I have let Dax on Pembroke Street slip through? It’s truly bizarre because Dax, always excellent, became superlative with the arrival of Graham Neville from Residence on St Stephen’s Green. His considered, highly disciplined cooking means Dax is one of the capital’s top restaurants. And Olivier Meisonave is one of our best maitre d’s. This week I’ll be eating… lightly! After the Christmas season I like to start the year with winter salads and my favourite is a combination of slightly bitter chicory or radicchio with lardons of bacon. I sometimes even blanch dandelion leaves (using a bucket to exclude the light for a few weeks) which reduces their bitterness and adds a bit of sweetness. It has a number of advantages: dandelions are free and they are supposed to be very good for your liver and kidneys (which will be grateful for a boost as we start the New Year). Super Miss Sue, John Farrell’s Seafood restaurant in Dublin, served its last meal yesterday. The reason for closing is as yet unclear but the owner (whose restaurants include The Butcher Grill, 777 and neighbouring Luna ) is known to be planning new projects for 2018. The team behind Etto are planning a new restaurant on Aungier Street, and Monkstown will see Seapoint become Bresson later this month when Temple Garner of San Lorenzo’s and Conor Kavanagh of The Old Spot join forces there. Regular readers will know that I approach carbohydrates with caution and avoid, as much as possible, the refined ones. I was surprised, however, to see a Bord Bia video featuring a dietician advising us to eat ‘natural carbohydrates’ (especially potatoes). I’m just wondering what an unnatural carbohydrate might be. She turns out to be a ‘campaign ambassador’ for… you’ve guessed it … potatoes.