The Week In Food #68: Adios Dublin, Waterford Festival Of Food & more
Food stories, recipes, podcasts and more from Ireland and beyond.
This week’s edition of The Week In Food begins in Dublin, but ends in Kilkenny.
I’ve spent the last month living in Dublin, bank holiday weekend to bank holiday weekend, with a diet consisting of pastries, exotic fruits, takeaways and random crisps, today (once this coffee is downed) gets me back in front of an oven, with a sourdough starter that needs rescuing from my fridge.
It’s funny how quickly you adapt to new surroundings, new routines, and while I leave with a notepad full of places to get back to and even more to hit on return journeys this year, I’m primed for a trip home.
It turns out that it’s Easter Sunday too, and speaking as someone who previously hoarded Easter eggs in both a filing cabinet (yep) and a freezer (you’ll get a few months out of them), may your day be filled with chocolate.
So while I figure out what I’m getting back to cooking this week, and while the dog continues to sleep at my feet this morning in case I disappear again, let’s see what’s been sliding across my desk this week…
1. Shortlist for Dublin’s best restaurants, pubs and cafés published for Irish Restaurant Awards
There’s a lot that happens on the final night of the annual Irish Restaurant Awards.
If you’re unfamiliar with the process, Dublin’s eateries get to exist outside of the Leinster awards, with Dublin winners, provincial winners and the All-Ireland winners all set to be announced 19 May.
The shortlist for Dublin’s best restaurants, pubs and cafés was released this week.
The Best Newcomer should be an interesting category to watch with the likes of Achara, Floritz, Suertudo and The Unicorn Restaurant on a shortlist of ten.
Allta could have a busy night, shortlisted for Best Restaurant, Use of Social Media, Innovator of the Year and Best Contemporary Irish Cuisine, while Best Café sees nominations for Two Boys Brew, Excuse My French, Dolce Sicily and Tiller + Grain among others.
Check the full list below, with winners announced on 19 May.
2. Kilkenny gets a second night for Café Lates next month
From beats and bakes to chocolate making, pottery classes, tapas, live music and more, Kilkenny’s first Café Lates has been and gone, but it will be back.
Much like a similar initiative ran in Cork late last year, as part of Kilkenny’s Night Time Economy initiative, this past Thursday evening saw six city-centre cafés were provided with grant funding in the region of €350-€750 to help stage innovative, cultural evenings and keep their doors open for a few hours longer as a means of offering an alterative to pub culture in the evenings.
Those taking part in the first wave were The Cookie Co-Op (pictured above), Tower & Castle (with a late night tapas and music menu), The Book & Coffee Shope (with a Brazilian classical music composer/performer), Wildflower Café at Butler Gallery (presenting Frankenstein Bolts), The Chocolate Garden Café (with an evening of chocolate making) and Wild Tails (pottery evening).
If there’s one thing Kilkenny’s not short of, it’s pubs, but if there’s one thing we are short on, it’s a late café, with few - if any - opening their doors past 6pm, at least in the city centre.
The return leg is set for 29 May.
Read more: Café Lates: 6 Kilkeny City cafés hosting events under latest Night Time Economy initiative
3. Waterford Festival of Food is almost here
The Waterford Festival of Food is almost here, running 25-27 April in and around Dungarvan.
This year’s programme offers a diverse schedule of events celebrating west Waterford’s vibrant food culture, with events also taking place in Lismore, Ardmore, Clonea and the wider Dungarvan area.
From pizza making at X35 to special dining events at The Tannery, music to yoga and wellness, wine pairings to demos and talks on oysters, cocktails, beekeeping and more, this year’s programme looks jam-packed while the final Festival Market will keep the Quay packed on Sunday.
Here’s hoping last week’s sun makes a return for the end of this week. Events get underway (technically) this Thursday.
Read more: Waterford Festival of Food Events Guide 2025
4. Ireland’s biggest day of street parties and community gatherings returns 24-25 May
Ireland’s favourite community celebration, Street Feast, is back for its 15th year, running Saturday and Sunday 24 & 25 May.
Street Feast invites neighbours and communities across the country to come together for a shared meal, a chat, and a chance to turn strangers into friends.
In a world where we are more connected than ever, many of us still don’t know the people living next door, or if you do, you might struggle to name who lives three houses to your left, or in the apartment over yours.
Whether you live in an apartment, house, or shared space, all you need is a location – a front garden, a street, a green, a car park, a laneway, or a community centre – and a desire to connect with your neighbours.
5. Entries open for 2025 Gold Medal Hotel Awards
The 2025 Gold Medal Hotel Awards is now open for entries, celebrating excellence in the Irish hospitality industry for 36 years.
Billed as the ‘Oscars’ of the Irish hospitality industry (might be a bit of competition from #FoodOscars come May), The Gold Medal Hotel Awards “honour the trailblazers who continually raise the bar in Irish hospitality”, that’s according to their commercial director, Trish Murphy.
Judged by industry experts to reward excellence in hospitality and catering operations, winners will be announced on January 27, 2026, at a gala awards ceremony in Galway.
Amongst many winners from the 2024 awards, Adare Manor in Co. Limerick took home the Gold Award for "Ireland's Five Star Resort", and Castle Leslie Estate was named "Ireland's Favourite Place To Stay", voted ”.
The deadline for entries is set for August of 2025, with an entry cost of €100 + VAT for up to 5 entries.
Read more: Gold Medal Awards website
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Extra reading this weekend…
From jellied eels to marmite, are these the most disgusting British foods ever?
In Ireland, there are complex reasons for the 36% increase in grocery prices in the last four years, and that's unlikely to change any time soon.
I was in Paris for a few days earlier this year, but didn’t eat or drink half as much as I’d love to. This guide from Thrillist might tickle your tastebuds and having you running to book flights…
Sp, eh, a posh Shanghai restaurant is offering meals made from processed elephant dung for "authentic" flavour, and charging around €500 a dish.
Italian food producers have long fretted over competition from American brands that are made to look, and sound, as if they are from Italy. As Trump’s tariffs take hold, they may be right to be concerned.
5 recipes to try this week…
It’s been over a month since I’ve cooked a meal. Let it be known that I don’t consider popping a ready meal from ALDI in the microwave as having ‘cooked a meal’.
I mean getting your knives out, hands dirty and getting stuck into a dish in the kitchen.
If you’re stuck in a rut of “nothing to eat” or you’re absolutely stumped for something to cook this week, let these dishes provide some level of inspiration.
How about a sweet potato & peanut curry? You wanted something different, right?
Grab a pan, grab some wraps, grab some chicken, hop on the quesadilla train.
Sticking with chicken, add some broccoli, olive oil, rice and some seasoning and you could land yourself a tidy sticky chicken rice bowl.
This one’s a vegetable lasagne needing just five ingredients. What’s stopping you?
Miss having a bit of fish on Good Friday? How about this easy Lime-Harissa Spicy Salmon recipe?
Podcast pick (sneaky plug) of the week…
Seen as it’s been a month since the first plug, my latest podcast endeavour - UR Podcast - hit episode 3 of 8 this past Wednesday. In it, I join Urban Gym’s Andy Murphy for a conversation about taking your first steps in all things gym and fitness, regardless of where you are in life.
In an era where we’re all out to look better, feel better, live longer, lift heavier, sometimes the hardest thing you can do is just get started. Then you realise it’s not all that hard to do…
Listen now (will open either Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Acast)
And that’s a wrap…
That’s it for another week.
I’m trading Dublin 1. Dublin 7 and the surrounds for The 056 for a while, but we’ll meet again. Pastries from Parnell Street Bakery will be replaced by The Pink Box and Arán this week; the thoughts of pints in The Flowing Tide or Kavanagh’s revert to Cleere’s or The Home Rule Club.
At least it’ll be dry, and there’s a shot at a home cooked meal. For now though, I’ve got some fresh coffee to brew and a Kilkenny Roots Festival to plan for.
Until Sunday rolls around again,
K