What We're Reading, Eating & Watching | March 2023

A delicious digest of satisfying suggestions...

Hey friends,

Another edition of our free monthly digest kicking off each month as we shine a light on some of the best things we’ve eaten, cooked, listened to, watched/streamed or read recently that we hope will inspire you. Think of this as a ‘highlights reel’ of what we might ordinarily share on social media, jam packed full of suggestions and recommendations to keep you in the loop, and no two digests the same!

A little “Thanks!”

Thanks for your support of Chip Paper so far, whether you’ve signed up as a premium subscriber or just enjoying the free emails and snippets –– we appreciate you! Even more so to those who have been so thoughtful as to gift subscriptions to friends and colleagues, so heartwarming. We’re not even a year in yet and we’ve grown a nice little archive that paid subscribers have full and complete access too. Free subscribers can delve into our free articles (like all our previous monthly recommendations and some free long-reads, too) but premium subscribers get the real deal –– everything we write for as little as €1 per week!

Also, sometimes if you’re reading Chip Paper via your email app/provider it may cut-off the email at a specific point, deeming it too long –– keep reading because you may need to ‘expand’ to get all the best bits right to the end. The website version, and - of course - the Substack app, will always have it in full.

Eating & Drinking

We’ve just been on assignment in Galway and Connemara and we returned to a forever favourite of ours, Kai, as well as incredible Irish language cafe Pota in Baile na hAbhainn and got a sneak peek at Chef Martin O’Donnell’s Blackrock Cottage which we’re excited to get back to. Whilst going through Spiddal we naturally had to drop into Builín Blasta Cafe to get our paws on the new SPICY smoked mayo (order online here!) We stayed in what can only be described as Fawlty Towers in Clifden: Abbeyglen Castle Hotel. Heli-pad, tennis courts, rooms in turrets, a parrot in the foyer, Prosecco happy hours, food menus handwritten and unchanged since the Seventies. Bonkers but worth embracing the chaos!

Over on our Sunday Times column restaurant review column we’ve been to Juniors for brunch ‘n’ lunch in Beggars Bush, Just Chubby’s taco truck in Clontarf and also a pair of pretty perfect cafes: the newly-opened Noinín in Kilkenny by the Moclair sisters and Mags Roche’s mighty Little Acorn in Baltinglass, West Wicklow (Sunday Times subscription offer here). Plus, don’t miss our ‘If This, Then That’ trio of suggestions to accompany each one, too!

In terms of eating at home, we’ve naturally been lavishing Salad Cream over lots of stuff since we wrote and published this most recent piece in our Condiment Curiosity series. Read (or listen!) below… plus we shared THIS recipe for an indulgent chocolate self-saucing pudding that we think you need to try immediately.

Condiment Curiosity: Salad Cream

Outside of Ireland, we’re excited for a trip to London next week but last weekend was spent leisurely eating and drinking our way around Copenhagen and Malmö. We ate a lavish lunch at Polly and a tasting menu dinner at Asian fusion spot Gaijin in the Danish capital whilst swilling glasses of natural wine with friends at Pompette. We had cute coffee catch-ups at Meyers Bageri and H15 whilst on an afternoon trip over the Oresund to Sweden’s third city we ate at Atsmofär and skulled semlor at St Jakobs Stenugnsbageri. We’d only ever been to CPH for a single day before this trip, and already we’re filled with ideas for a future trip back here.

We really liked the neighbourhoods of Frederiksberg, the Meatpacking District and Nørrebro, though we stayed closer to the water at the brand new Scandic Spectrum. We asked lots of people for recommendations and didn’t even scratch the surface, but we’d suggest you bookmark THIS post on Instagram which has comments filled with insights and tips.

Watching & Listening

Speaking of Copenhagen, we delved into the discourse on the closing/restructuring of Noma on the flight over. A comprehensive episode of Cherry Bombe with Kerry Diamond speaking to investigate food reporter of the New York Times, Julia Moskin gave a fascinating insight into the thrills and spills of what they once called the world’s best restaurant, which will soon cease to exist in its current form.

Another episode from BBC World Service’s The Food Chain, a different food podcast we subscribe to, gave a snappier take on the subject. A quick search of ‘Rene Redzepi’ through whatever podcast platform you use will deliver you lots more on the discourse, too. Interesting to see the different views and viewpoints play out.

Irish Food Substacks: Three We’re Reading

We’re firmly of the belief that there’s always more room available at the table and the more the merrier in terms of high quality food journalism, independent voices in food and drink and all the wonderful related content, especially in Ireland. We’re delighted to see a number of new adoptees of this very platform, so take our suggestion by subscribing/supporting these three other Irish food-based Substacks we’re paid subscribers of and really enjoying reading.

Kristin Jensen: Well Red & Well Fed

What with being a game-changing publishing visionary, it was only a matter of time before Kristin Jensen began documenting how she’s single-handedly reversed the fortunes of scores of lesser-heard authors in the space of a few short years and made the publishing industry jolt awake from slumber. Ourselves included, we call Kristin not only our Editor/Publisher but a dear friend. We’re super excited for what’s to come in her tell-all Substack about the state of publishing today and her plans for the future. If you missed her rousing, inspiring speech at Food on the Edge in late 2022, fear not… you’re in for a treat: it’s the first post of her newly-launched ‘stack.

To niche!

Ómós Digest

Cúán Greene is slowly becoming the man who needs no introduction. A starry skilled chef who returned home and is now documenting food, culture, skills and tradition in a beautiful way. We always love reading Ómós, and Greene pours so much work and effort into his stack, which you can feel in every single piece. Personally, we feel better informed after sinking our teeth into each and every well-crafted piece, akin to the satisfaction we expect one of his fine dining dishes would deliver a guest –– we imagine.

Ómós Digest #41: Ukrainian food culture, Part 1

McKennas Guides: Megabites

So often we find ourselves on a similar page or a converging path with John and Sally McKenna, who are - without question - the deities of Irish food writing. A conversation with them at the Theatre of Food during the most recent outing of Electric Picnic gave us an early indication that a Substack was in their sights, and we’re constantly in awe of how nimble their operation is and how on the pulse they are. Subscribe to stay in the know about everything that’s anything and everyone who is anyone in Irish food. Megabites always has the scoop.

23 Places we are excited about for ‘23

‘Til next time… Happy reading and eating! P&R