Category: General

Watch Dublin come alive with the sights, sounds and smells of the Three NYE Dublin Festival! Hailed among the top five destinations for New Year’s Eve celebrations by the Lonely Planet, it attracts an enormous crowd from across the globe. The 4-day extravaganza starts on the 29th December, 2013, and will enthrall one and sundry till January 1st, 2014. Come on, put on your party shoes!

29th December: The Gathering at Leopardstown

Witness some of the spectacular races at one of the finest racecourses at The Gathering in Leopardstown. Get set to sway to the enchanting music of Finbar Furey and Mary Black, noted Irish musicians. What’s more! You can buy two tickets for the Gathering at the price of one if you are flying to Ireland with Ryanair.

To know more about it, visit www.ryanair.com.

30th December: Love Dublin Day

The city steeped with music, literature and theatre, Dublin is waiting for you to explore and bathe in its richness, tradition and glory. Embrace the city on Love Dublin Day. The City music trail, the Little Museum and the city’s oldest Smock Alley Theatre await you at various venues, with a promise to give you a time to remember! There’s more. As the night falls, join the New Year’s Thieves at a mind-blowing party at the Sugar Club. Have a chat with the locals over scrumptious dishes and wash them down with traditional a beer.

31st December: People’s Procession of Light

The riveting People’s Procession of Light will mark the beginning of the Three NYE Dublin Festival that will meander through the city’s streets amidst loud cheers from the buzzing crowd. Performers, musicians and bright light are set to bowl the audience over with brilliant shows.

To know more about it, visit www.3nyedublin.ie

31st December: Countdown Concert

To usher in the New Year in style, be present at the Countdown Concert at Dublin. Welcome 2014 with grooving performances by Madness, Ryan Sheridan, MKS, The Strypes and SEo Linn. Buy your tickets fast to be a part of this breathtaking event.

Trinity College Dublin will be displaying 3D projections to celebrate the beginning of the NYE Dublin 2014, www.tcd.ie

You can purchase the tickets from here: www.nyedublin.ticketsolve.com

1st January: The Big Brunch

Raise a toast to the bygone year and look ahead to the new one at the Big Brunch to be held at the Temple Bar.

Passion for growing at heart of Dee and PJ Butuci’s Italian Restaurant

For most restaurateurs, the day starts in the kitchen, preparing ingredients for the busy day ahead. For Dee and PJ Butuci of Toscana Restaurant Dublin it starts in the garden. There are salads and herbs to be harvested, tomatoes to be picked, eggs to be collected and all of the other garden jobs of weeding, feeding the soil and planting the next crop.  Toscana are recipients of the inaugural Good Food Ireland award for Best Grow it Yourself Restaurants in Dublin and throughout Ireland, in partnership with GIY Ireland to recognise restaurants who go the extra mile in linking land to plate in a very real way.

The shortlist included rural country houses Ballyvolane House in north Cork and Rathmullan House in Donegal, as well as the pioneering Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry.  But intriguingly it also included restaurants in towns and cities including Café Rua in Castlebar, The Yard in Wexford and Restaurant Forty One at Residence on St Stephen’s Green.  Visit GFI Website for more details

According to GIY founder Michael Kelly it requires some creativity from the owners or chefs to acquire homegrown food in these circumstances.  “In some cases, the chefs are growing literally in their own homes, and bringing the produce to their Dublin City Centre restaurants.  That’s what we wanted to celebrate with this award – those restaurants going the extra mile with what might be considered limited food growing assets.  While ‘locally-sourced’ is becoming a buzzword in food circles, Toscana and the other Good Food Ireland candidates for this award, are the real deal.  We would like to congratulate them all.”

Founder of Good Food Ireland, Margaret Jeffares said: “In 2012 97% of Good Food Ireland businesses increased their purchasing of Irish food an increase of 5% over the previous 3 years 2008 – 2011. This now extends to whole high level movement of growing their own vegetables, herbs, leaves and fruit. It has gone way beyond the pot of herbs on the window sill. The innovation surrounding this initiative greatly adds to the consumer experience and it is only fitting that in Good Food Ireland we wanted to honour this. I am delighted that GIY Ireland partnered with us for the Good Food Ireland Grow it Yourself Award”

In their garden in Co. Wicklow, PJ and Dee grow a wide range of fruit, vegetables and herbs. It is no surprise that tomatoes fill their tunnel for the summer, with many grown from seeds PJ brings back from his trips to Italy. Salad leaves are also important and customers were treated to very generous plates after a bumper crop this summer. Beds of mint fill in any gaps in the garden as PJ also makes his own Creme de Menthe.  Juicy tomatoes may be cut into rings and dried in the sun, or find their way into a chutney. Many of the eggs from their free-roaming flock of hens are used in pasta for some of the filled-pasts dishes, and customers notice the difference. Regulars at the restaurant can check in on Facebook to see what is being harvested and monthly emails include advice on what is in season.

The other finalists in the Grow It Yourself category of the Good Food Ireland awards were:

• Ballymaloe Cookery School, where students learn the value of home-grown ingredients in the extensive gardens.
• Ballyvolane House (Cork). Guests are encouraged to visit the walled garden, and even help out if they would like.
• The Yard (Wexford). A productive garden on the edge of town keeps a constant supply of vegetables and herbs to this busy spot.
• Rathmullan House (Donegal). Fresh seasonal fruits on the breakfast table, straight from the long-established walled garden, remind customers of the freshness and taste of home-grown food.
• Restaurant Forty at Residence (Dublin). According to executive chef Graham Neville the vegetables and herbs from their recently-established garden taste better than anything he could source elsewhere.
• Café Rua (Mayo). Known for local produce, Rua have now gone one step further this year and began growing their own.

For further information on any of the above winners and finalists please visit http://www.goodfoodireland.ie
or please contact: Therese Kennedy, GIY (051 302191) – [email protected]
Margaret Jeffares, Good Food Ireland 087 6674654

About GIY
GIY’s vision is for a healthier, more connected and more sustainable world where people grow their own food. Over 50,000 people and over 800 community food groups and projects are involved in the movement around Ireland. GIY is a registered charity – CHY 18920.  http://www.giyinternational.org/articles/detail/dublins_toscana_restaurant_receives_food_growing_award_from_giy_and_good_fo

About Good Food Ireland
Founded in 2006 by Margaret Jeffares, Good Food Ireland® has initiated the link between the agri-food and tourism sectors by bridging the gap between Irish food produce, to an authentic Irish cuisine. Today Good Food Ireland has some 600 Approved Providers; Ireland’s top restaurants and cafes, culinary accommodation, food shops, pubs and bars, cookery schools and food producers committed to a local food philosophy.

That special day of the year when you shower your bestie with love and gifts is back. Their birthday is around the corner, and you are yet to decide what special gift you should get for them. This year, instead of buying a traditional present, gift them with a fabulous time in Dublin that they will cherish forever. Dublin, steeped in cultural and musical richness, is the ideal place for such a memorable celebration.

Take your loved one to one of Dublin’s landmark venues for an evening of fun and excitement. The O2 in Dublin is the famous amphitheatre at North Wall Quay or The National Concert Hall is another iconic theatre house renound for quality evenings. These are great place to visit in Dublin. They have many famous acts playing almost every night. Ticket Master displays a full listing where you can purchase tickets for almost all Dublin theatres online. Be it a jazzy, classical or lively evening there are great performances by eminent musicians. When great friends meet up on such a special occasion, sparks are bound to fly.

Celebrations are not complete without an elaborate spread.  Toscana, overlooking the Dublin castle, offers the perfect setting for an exclusive birthday dinner. Italian cuisine is a good choice, what with its delicate flavours and scrumptious taste. Head straight for the restaurant located on Dame Street.

Since ours is a “farm to table” restaurant, the food served here is fresh, seasonal and healthy for you. If you feel spoilt for choice, our friendly staff would happily assist you in finalising your order. Keep in mind that you can also order our 3-course group special menu. Plan your day in advance and your friend will have the best birthday celebration.

We are proud to serve delicious menus of healthy choices for every meal. Check our lunch menu, dinner menu and other offers, and enjoy the Italian experience at Toscana Italian Restaurant in Dublin.