Starting to see a few more of these crop up

Probably one of my favourite meals to make when I have the chance! Three course meal this Sunday with a spiced roasted veg soup and homemade soda bread followed by the main of lemon and garlic roast leg of lamb with all the trimmings (made potato gratin instead of mash cuz notions) and then the option of homemade black forest or apple pie fresh out of the oven and custard!

Just sayin

Just to keep the perpetual Cadburys Chocolate discussion going 😉. Pretty cool to see though in this day and age. You'd wonder what other stashes of similar exist throughout the world.

If you’re dropping money on eggs this year, do yourself a favour and skip the Cadbury shite. The quality has gone through the floor, it’s basically sugar flavoured vegetable fat at this stage and the shrinkflation is pathetic.

If you want an egg that actually tastes like it has milk and cocoa, stick to the Irish brands. Dunnes (Simply Better), Lily O'Brien’s, and Butlers are all miles ahead with ingredients. They actually use decent cocoa butter and high milk solids, so you aren’t just chewing on a brown candle.

Better quality, better for the local economy, and you won't feel robbed when you open the box. Support Irish and have a proper one. Or do yourself but no harm in saying it

Left me job. Dunno what I wanna do now. Me aul one says I should set up me own sandwich bar 🤣 at the side of the gaff. (“That’s the best sandwich I’ve had in me life. Youd pay about €15 for that in a cafe”) Can I add that to the CV?lol)

I would change a few things. I would put a slice of edam on there. Overall rating is 7.5/10 The bread also wasnt cut evenly or straight and I should have toasted it a bit more on the pan.

(Chilli charger mayo), (Caramelised red onion and chillis with a lil garlic puree, tomato puree, black pepper and chilli powder), (4 slices of hickory smoked bacon rashers), (4 slices of chorizo), (1 corn fed chicken egg)(slightly runny), (4 slices of wafer thin ham) (Rich & smoky bbq sauce) Sandwiched between 2 slices of a country loaf. Lidl has everything except the sauces I think and dunnes have nicer rashers if anyone wants to try make one.

Also, beans are the devil and I was bullied into providing them.

Just found out that this chicken that i often get in dunnes is actually chineese chicken ? without ever really looking i just assumed this was Irish. On the actual packaging they give a Dublin address but have the country of origin in very tiny writing in the bottom corner . I wont ever be getting this again and feel like a lot of people wouldn't if they knew it was chineese origin !

Had 3 full bags of bottles and cans

it's super simple to make, we have sausages and history of eating pork, plenty of our people have emigrated and holidayed in Germany, so it's not like we didn't know about it.we even like putting curry sauce on our chips. so when we had all the constituent parts, why didn't currywurst become popular here?

Thought's on this burning question of national importance.

Dunnes in Dundalk, Co. Louth

I know this may be common knowledge to most but lads, Cadbury’s chocolate is pure stink these days. Did a bit of research and they’ve been using palm oil and palm fats in the ingredients in order to produce chocolate cheaper and faster.

Turns out, the process of harvesting palm oils includes destroying rainforests and ecosystems - ruining natural habitats for many orangutangs in that area. So not only is it an unethical choice buying this shit - it also tastes like shit as well.

I’ve found chocolate like Tony’s a lot more creamer and tastier - without the addition of palm oils. It’s a little pricey though so I found that Tesco’s own brand does a nice bar of chocolate too. Both of these products are in partnership with the rainforest alliance.

So yeah. Sorry for the rant. Just wanted to vent.

I'll start.

Béal Bán - Pale Ale - West Kerry Brewery

Nectar of the gods. Deep golden deliciousness. Tastes like 5pm on the Friday of the June back holiday weekend. Hard to find on tap but by god I'd swim a mile for a drop of it

Honourable mentions to Happy Days - Rascals and Scraggy Bay - Kinnegar.

I was over in Europe last month and popped over to Dublin for a weekend. I promise to give you guys the time of day in the future with a proper visit,, but it was somewhat squeezed in trip.

Anyway, I've long subscribed to this sub because its an interesting insight into the musings of a country that is very culturally similar, and of course I became fascinated with the popular food stuffs this sub likes to meme, such as the chicken fillet roll.

A coaster enthusiast mate of mine has been bugging me to do the cheap Ryanair thing and pop over to visit Taytomerald Park, and yeah they've gone and opened that Tir Na Egg-nOg precinct, and that new Finna Fail suspended coaster has been getting good reviews, so of course thar makes the place a priority.....and no joke its legitimately one of the worlds best roller coasters, and not only that, it's easy to ride it like 10 times because the staff are sending a train like every minute, so you queue like 15-20 mins max. 10/10 would visit again.

But of course I gave myself a day for sightseeing/dining, unfortunately for me there was that American college football thing on that weekend, so the city was crawling with seppos walking on the wrong side of the footpath, and not only that, a lot of popular attractions were well and truly booked out, but I still managed to go in and see the book of Kells (presumably that's toooooo cultural), that portal thing, the spire, college green + The adjacent 80s looking shopping centre that's that this sub has an attachment to, halpenny bridge, yada yada wherever my feet would take me.

But through a bit of planning, I was able to try a few local delicacies.

⚫Chicken Fillet Roll

Went to a Centra. Ok, I couldn't recall what the overall ideal order is meant to be, I got spicy, when she asked if I wanted butter or Mayo I said both and she looked at me funny so I quickly corrected and said just butter. Yeah overall its not bad, I wouldn't so much call it spicy more that it just tastes like a large amount of pepper has been used, the crusty roll is definitely what makes it. 7/10

⚫ Ham Jambon (not pictured) Ooooh, almost forgot about these! But the same Centra had these in the warmer. Mmm these were good. They can be very dangerous, because much like the cheeseburger, it's a quick little hit of grease and umami you can grab on the way. They would be a great way to put on weight. Nice flaky pastry, cheese was creamy, bits of ham give a little bit of flavour. 9/10 start exporting.

⚫ Supermacs Obviously I couldn't gorge myself, so I had a piece of their chicken plus their "regular burger" reasoning their basics simple item must be their staple. Yeah the chicken was fine but not really any better than KFC. The burger was bit leathery and tasted quite processeed, bun was dry, relies a bit on the burger sauce and onion flags too. Cover up those two shortcomings. 4/10

⚫ Chips and Curry at Emerald Park (not pictured) Wait so I always under the impression it was just curry sauce on chips, but legit, is it the done thing? You can actuall have a full on chicken curry with veg, served over chips instead of rice? This is revolutionary. Works pretty well, the curry was spicy enough to put to rest any fears of blandness. 8/10

⚫Leo Burdock fish and chips So when I was walking near Dublin Castle I could see people with what was quite obviously a branded tray of fish and chips, I figured it might have been a tourist trap or something, so I did not investigate further. Anyway, fast forward to late the following afternoon, we had a look at Howth because I wanted to see some iconic Irish cliff coastline, and my mate tells me that the place i was describing had a branch in Howth and was actually pretty good. Obviously not overly commercialise because you still have to wait for them to cook it up fresh which makes it quite nice. Yeah this was excellent, The batter was quite Three-Dimensional really nice and airy, not oily at all. Chips are a bit softer than what I'm accustomed to but still fine, probably only needed half the amount they gave me so you can't really complain about value. 8/10

⚫Spice Bag I did end up walking through Temple Bar later in the evening, and thought I'd just grab a spice bag thing since it would only be small, and you gotta try the "so bad its good" utter bastardisation (here in Oz you can get kebab meat served over chips with garlic sauce and chili sauce called a HSP) Anyway, I should have predicted from the price, but it's not so much a spice bag rather a spice sack, waaayyyy to much to finish so i fucked off half of it by the time I had reached middle abbey st.

Yeah it's decent but holy shit. The salt level is off the charts and it dries your mouth out due to the lack of sauce. Fried chicken was much better than what supermacs had given me, crunchy tender morsels of chicken that would make Conel Sanders weep with joy. The little bits of fried spring onion/shallot really set it off. The stray bits of carrot add crunch. I thought it was supposed to come with fried capsicum traditionally but mine didn't so I don't know if I was actually getting a proper one. (Tell me from the photos ?) In the same way that onion goes with sausages, spring onion and chicken work so well. 7/10

⚫ Cadbury Milk Actual gods nectar, why can't they sell this in Aus?? 10/10

( I bought a couple more bottles and necked them for "breakfast" at the airport in lieu of a coffee.)

Overall, an enjoyable place Id like to spend more time exploring, awful summer "weather" notwithstanding. I know there's a stereotype but shit I wasn't expecting to hear so much random joking and banter everywhere you go, and that was -without- having set foot in a bar.

When you go to America, there's always that sense that someone may pull a gun at any moment. When you go to Ireland, there's a sense that someone may crack a joke at any moment.

Irish Cadbury Dairy Milk used to be legendary. It wasn't just chocolate; it was a coveted, world-class treat celebrated both at home and by the global Irish diaspora. Whether it was a classic Dairy Milk, a gooey Caramello, or the perfect crunch of a Mint Crisp, Golden Crisp, or Turkish Delight, Irish chocolate was uniquely creamy, rich, and elite.
Today, it has been reduced to generic shite.
Ever since corporate recipe changes and manufacturing shifts took over, the soul of Irish Cadbury has been stripped away. The iconic, rich texture has been replaced by a waxy, overly sweet, mass-produced taste that mimics inferior global blends. To make matters worse, the classic, nostalgic packaging that kept the chocolate fresh has been swapped for cheap plastic flow-wraps.
We, the consumers, hate the new recipe. We want our chocolate back.
We are calling on Mondelez International to:
Restore the traditional Irish recipe for Dairy Milk, Caramello, Mint, Turkish Delight, and Golden Crisp bars.
Bring back the classic, premium packaging that defined the brand for generations.
Commit to the high-quality standards that once made Irish chocolate a global gold standard.
Stop cheapening a national treasure. Give Ireland back its real chocolate!

Bring back the classic, premium packaging that defined the brand for

I've no words. It's simply not a feast. Vanilla ice cream replaces the chocolate. They have a bad rep lately with the scaldy amount of chocolate inside but alas no more. No more because there's literally no more chocolate on the inside. It's also been changed. To what, I do not know but it's not chocolate. I was so shook, I simply just inhaled it, in the most disgruntled fashion. Not even enjoyable, just committed to finishing it out of principle.

#RIPfeast

I'm sorry but anyone buying any of these this this Christmas needs their heads checked. Not only are we being fleeced but they taste like absolute shite. Cadbury and Nestlé need boycotting until we get the traditional taste and value back.