Taste of Dublin - did you go?

unkel

Were you there and what was your experience?

I don't think it was mentioned here before. It was on for the last four days. RTE TV news reported on it on the 6pm and 9pm news today with your man Trevor Sergeant being filmed as the possible new junior minister for food

shrapnel222

didn't enjoy it at all. the rain didn't help, but i just felt it was crowded, people lose all their manners when it rains- the queues were endless and the food was at times good, but usually reheated and certainly not as good as when you go to the restaurant (which stands to reason in any event). Also overpriced. I'm sure going there when it's sunny on a saturday afternoon might be a much better experience than a thursday after work. All in all stayed for an hour and a half and left- unpleasant experience

deisemum

We went on Saturday afternoon. It was too crowded to enjoy it. The aisles were too narrow as people had to stand somewhere to eat the food and others had to squeese past.

There were a lot of people with babies/toddlers in prams/pushchairs and it must have been frightening for them being low down and people pushing past and practically on top of them.

I thought it was expensive for what it was even though I didn't have to pay for the vip passes that we had.

unkel

shrapnel222 wrote:

i just felt it was crowded, people lose all their manners when it rains- the queues were endless

I went on Sunday evening. The weather was good (dry and mild), it was very busy, but there hardly were any queues

shrapnel222 wrote:

the food was at times good, but usually reheated and certainly not as good as when you go to the restaurant (which stands to reason in any event)

Agreed. The one dish that came close to restaurant quality that I sampled was Thornton's scallop. And then not so much the scallop itself, but the truffle mousse it was sitting in

shrapnel222 wrote:

Also overpriced

On the face of it maybe. Then again, getting a sampling size course from a top restaurant for about €7 is only a fraction of what you'd be charged in the restaurant itself, isn't it?

shrapnel222 wrote:

I'm sure going there when it's sunny on a saturday afternoon might be a much better experience than a thursday after work. All in all stayed for an hour and a half and left- unpleasant experience

Stayed for a bit under two hours myself. Would have loved to stay for the full 4.5 hour session and taken a taxi home instead of having to drive

@deisemum - mrs unkel was there on Saturday leaving the kids at home with me. She liked it but the weather wasn't great and she also reported some queuing issues

When I realised it was Fathers day on Sunday, I was allowed out on my own. That's probably one of the main reasons I did enjoy the event

SoundWave

a person i work with was telling me that her sister and 2 friends went to it (one is a vegetarian) the 2 corpse crunchers were both very ill after it, very bad stomach cramps and the rest.. but the veggie was fine... anyone else experience this?

I actually went to the BBC Food festival last weekend in the NEC in Birmingham, and i have to say it was very brilliant, extremely well organized, couldn't praise it enough. we got to see James Martin do a cookery demo in the morning which was surprisingly good.

There was plenty of free samples of free food and drink from the different stalls, and some very nice places you could buy food/drink from at fairly reasonable prices.

We also managed to get into another cookery demonstration by John Torode thanks to a friendly security guard that let us in without tickets, but we were quite let down by it.. he turned out to be a complete arse.. i quite liked him from masterchef and all that... but he was a complete muppet. i felt bad for anyone that actually paid to see him

All in all very enjoyable and I think ill defo try and go again

little miss

I went on Sunday afternoon and had a fantastic time. The food I tasted was amazing, and the atmosphere was great. I'd definitely go again next year!

Mr Magnolia

I was sorry I missed it due to holidays, I'll be there next year though. Nice to read the reports.

RE*AC*TOR

Went on the Satruday afternoon. Arrived on opening, so for the early period wasn't too busy. Some nice food, but all in all not worth it and wouldn't return. The prices were just silly. A pint in the Porterhouse stall was more expensive than in the actual Porterhouse. €7 / €8 for a "tasting" sample of a main course, out of a carboard bowl. Not as much variety as I would have liked. There must have been 4 places doing a slow-roasted lamb/beef/pork as a main. The biggest disspointment was King Sitrics, who offered no hot-meal, instead a selection of seafood salads, which by and large tasted like ****.

They absolutely tried to nickle and dime everybody at the place. After 45 mins to an hour the place was packed, and it was longer a leasurely experience to wander around the stalls.

I don't think the food by and large is indicative of the restaurants. They cooked what they could to cater for large amounts of people and a kitchen in a tent.

I wouldn't go back in a fit.

Too expensive.

Too crowded.