Taste of Dublin
Ireland takes its food seriously: from Bord Bia Bloom, the annual foodie and garden festival, to local food festivals such as Taste of Dublin and many more (the Irish Times counted at least 25), there are many occasions to sample amazing Irish produce and expertly prepared dishes.
Among the most famous food festivals, the ones that keep growing year on year include those in Waterford, Ballymaloe in County Cork, Cork, Dalkey, Galway, Kilkenny and Dingle. In addition to cookery demonstrations and food stalls, these festivals include music, workshops and activities.
In June I went to Taste of Dublin for the first time and I must say it was great fun.
What’s on at Taste of Dublin
With any food festivals, it’s a good idea to arrive prepared: with this type of events I like to check out in advance the schedule of cookery demonstrations and talks, as well as the menus from the stalls.
I had planned to eat a lobster roll because I hadn’t had one in a long time. The one and only time I ate it was several years ago in London, when I prepared it myself because I found a cooked lobster on special offer at the supermarket. At Taste of Dublin there was a restaurant called Big Fan offering lobster in a squid ink bun, which looked very interesting from the menu. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, because in the end I took a different culinary route.
My first stop was the 7Up and Bites by Kwanghi stall, for which I had booked a free ticket. The ticket included a tasting menu of three dishes and a 7Up mocktail (I chose Blossom, flavoured with orange blossom syrup and decorated with a rosemary sprig). The three sample dishes were a spice bag bao bun (my favourite, with crunchy chicken strips topped with miso mayonnaise), pork and chive steamed dumplings in a Sichuan style spicy broth and cold vermicelli salad with cucumber and wakame seaweed. The man himself, chef Kwanghi, graciously served us the food and even took a selfie with a group of us for his social media.
I was interested in trying something new, even though I am tempted by foods I have had before like bao buns. Seafood was definitely on the agenda, as there were stalls selling oysters, crab, prawns and other fish. There was a restaurant called Parrilla which did crab tostadas and fish tacos. I did make a stop there to buy their crab tostada and even filmed a short “travelling tostada” video!
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The tostada ticked all the boxes, with a crunchy tortilla as the base and plenty of beautifully seasoned crab meat dressed in a tangy sauce.
For dessert I bought a mini tub of Haagen Dasz cookies ice cream and I thanked the staff as it was through this sponsor that I had got my ticket to the event.
I might have had a small sip of Fercullen whiskey, too, at the Powerscourt Distillery stand.
2025 marks the 20th edition of Taste of Dublin, which takes place over four days in June, with 15 restaurants being featured.
Cookery demonstrations and masterclasses
Taste of Dublin featured a rich programme of talks and interactive sessions: some of them were free of charge while others required an entry fee.
The programme changed daily so what you could see depended on which date you attended the festival.
I won tickets for the Friday and I was interested in seeing Galway’s chef, restaurateur and author JP McMahon, whose Substack is definitely worth reading. In the programme he was listed in the Food for Thought area talking about fermentation and seafood. On his Substack you can read about the history of Irish food, from bread to cakes and beyond.
During his talk he also cooked some fresh Killarney fjord mussels with soy sauce, mirin, seaweed and foraged vegetables. I asked him about funding for food festivals in Ireland as I knew it’s a topic close to his heart, having previously read his post about this subject.
He spoke about the chronic inadequate funding for food related events in Ireland, which are often an afterthought and added to other events as a subsidiary. Food events are underfunded and are mostly sponsored by local authorities with budgets in thousands of euros, while cultural events like music festivals can easily attract millions of euros in government backing.
Earlier on at the Food for Thought area I also listened to a lively discussion about fish in Ireland with King Sitric Seafood Bar in Howth, Dublin, in which I learned that battered cod in fish and chips is the “gateway fish” to get people of all ages more curious about trying fish! The talk was entitled “Hooked at last – Is Ireland finally falling for fish?” and was hosted by sommelier and award-winning food writer Shamim de Brún, who is a member of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild. She enthused about the winning pairing of oysters and Guinness, as the salinity of the shellfish breaks down the earthy tones of the stout.
Before that, there was another talk and tasting by organic food producer Fat Tomato, where we could try some original and innovative products such as tomato cordial and fig leaf and lemon cordial.
The cherry on top, to stay with the food theme, was the live music in the Bulmer’s stage, which really gave the whole event a brilliant party vibe. I went back home to Athlone happy and I even had a couple of dog biscuits samples from Butternut Box to give to my dog!
Next festival I am going to is the Galway Arts festival in July. Going Disco dancing to Sophie Ellis Bextor in the Big Top. Can't wait.
Looks like a great day out 😄