Foodie paradise, Fallon and Byrne had their Christmas Extravanganza on Thursday 8th of November on the second floor of their premises.
This Christmas food and wine tasting event was free of charge and was a great opportunity to try their products along with those of numerous food businesses that sell their food at Fallon and Byrne.
Visitors could taste chocolates, wines, sweets, meats, Italian products, cheeses and much more during this 5 hour long event.
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| Dominique Bouchait fromager Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2011 |
We arrived in the busy function room, where it looked a lot like Christmas. Guess what? First person I talked to was a French man and this wasn’t on purpose. Dominique Bouchait from the French Pyrenees was in Dublin especially for the event. I had a little chat with him and learnt he’s the only cheesemonger awarded as one of “Meilleurs ouvriers de France 2011” (Best craftsmen of France). I tasted and bought his delicious cheese named Napoleon, which is a hard sheep cheese. Beside him was one of the staff member from the F&B cheese counter and a gorgeous stack of cheeses. Very tempting!
We then discovered the new board game for foodies: Smorgasboard. The game has been created by husband and wife team Richard Kelly and Maggie Leonard and is manufactured by Hasbro Ireland in Waterford. It looks like a perfect Christmas gift for foodies (Are you reading this Mr FFID?), ideal to play after a dinner party with friends or family.
Next we sampled some gorgeous mulled wine and Christmas pudding from Green Saffron . This small company, based in Midleton co. Cork sells a range of spice blend, fresh spices, rice and Christmas products. Their mulled wine mix is absolutely delicious “Christmas in a glass” as they say.
The Good Snack Company had so many natural snacks, perfect to nibble on in front of the telly during the winter evenings. I love the Wasabi peas and the chili bites: great spicy snacks!
We talked to one of the chefs from Fallon and Byrne who offered us some canapés, made with F&B products. Their chicken liver paté is to die for with the beautiful 5 spice taste. Their aubergine dip, black olive tapenade and hummus dip are ideal on toasts if you are having a party and want to prepare some simple but delicious nibbles.
They had their berry compote served with brandy crème anglaise or beautiful Christmas pudding to taste.
“On the Pigs back” a shop located in the English market in Cork was also present. The nice lady made us taste a few different pates and terrines. I personally loved their pate forestier with wild mushrooms thinking it tasted very Christmassy.
There was also the best black pudding in Europe from Mc Carthy’s of Kanturk at the Christmas extravaganza. This was certainly the crème de la crème of all the black puddings I’ve ever tasted!
I’m not usually a big chocolate eater but I fell in love with the Dolphin Belgian dark chocolate with pink peppercorns. This is just unbelievably good matched with some red wine! A must try!
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| I loved this bottle of wine inspired by French author Charles Perraud's tale Little Red Riding Hood |
Nicole Dunphy of Pandora Bell had the cutest sweet stall ever. The vintage inspired packaging is gorgeous. Her salted butter caramels, nougats and real fruit jellies were exquisite. (I should have taken a pic of her display. Sacrebleu I forgot!).
Little Italy Ltd had a very tempting display of their Italian products. Panettone & Pandoro looked beautiful and the packaging and their Christmas tins looked perfect to offer to any Italian sweet treat lovers!
I’m sure I forgot a few amazing products and companies that helped make Fallon and Byrne Christmas Extravaganza a lovely event to attend. I got loads of ideas for Christmas gifts and went home with enough products for an early Christmas feast! HO HO HO!
Fallon and Byrne
11-17 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2