Taste of Dublin

deisemum

I've got 2 free tickets to the opening of A Taste of Dublin at 5.30pm tomorrow. Jamie Oliver is opening the event. Tickets to be collected at the gate.

If anyone wants them let me know and I can pass on the details.

Fabio_legend

deisemum wrote: »

I've got 2 free tickets to the opening of A Taste of Dublin at 5.30pm tomorrow. Jamie Oliver is opening the event. Tickets to be collected at the gate.

If anyone wants them let me know and I can pass on the details.

Hi! My girlfriend is keen to go, are those tickets still available?

Thanks
Simon

deisemum

I've only just given them to another poster, sorry.

Fabio_legend

deisemum wrote: »

I've only just given them to another poster, sorry.

No probs, thanks anyway

The Nal

How much is the food once you're in? Is it as much of a rip off as the Big Grill in Herbert Park?

Taboola

The Nal wrote: »

How much is the food once you're in? Is it as much of a rip off as the Big Grill in Herbert Park?

Different prices.
Everything is in 'Florins'. Most dishes are between 6-7 florins.

The Nal

Taboola wrote: »

Different prices.
Everything is in 'Florins'. Most dishes are between 6-7 florins.

F.uck that.

Kev W

The Nal wrote: »

F.uck that.

Seconded.

sebcity

It's actually brilliant. Was there last night - I am absolutely hanging.
Food is delish even if the portions are a bit small.

The Nal

sebcity wrote: »

It's actually brilliant. Was there last night - I am absolutely hanging.
Food is delish even if the portions are a bit small.

How much does it cost all in?

The idea of paying them to basically promote their own food is very odd.

Same for that rip of Big Grill last year. Absolutely scandalous stuff. Charging restaurant prices.

sebcity

15 euro for the ticket in
Drinks range from 4 - 7 per glass/pint or 15 - 20 for a bottle (wine etc).
Food is 5 - 8 euro.
The restaurants are cleaning up.
It's rich knacker drinking.

Kovu

Taboola wrote: »

Different prices.
Everything is in 'Florins'. Most dishes are between 6-7 florins.

That sounds like 'Itchy and Scratchy money.' It works like real money, but it's...fun.

BeerNut

sebcity wrote: »

The restaurants are cleaning up.

I doubt many of them break even. As The Nal says, it's a promotional thing.

The only people who make money out of Taste of Dublin is Taste Festivals.

Taboola

I enjoyed it. Even if the portions were small I left stuffed. You don't need much of good food IMO.

Hermy

If ever proof were needed that the Celtic Tiger [aka Rip Off Ireland] is alive and well and laughing at us then Taste of Dublin is it.

emo72

i have 2 tickets for this afternoon. im not sold on this at all. hassle of going to town and all. can someone persuade its a good day out?

Zaph

Hermy wrote: »

If ever proof were needed that the Celtic Tiger [aka Rip Off Ireland] is alive and well and laughing at us then Taste of Dublin is it.

Absolutely. Just back from it and rarely have I ever felt so ripped off. Fortunately we got a couple of free tickets or I would have felt even more hard done by. €7 for a crappy little piece of fish and some lukewarm and pretty poor quality chips, or €4 for a cone with two of the smallest scoops of ice cream I've ever been served leaves a very sour taste in the mouth. My wife had a couple of dishes that she really enjoyed, but while one was good value the other seemed quite overpriced. It was also packed to the gills, there were far too many people there for the size of the venue. Overall the event comes across as a big money making racket rather than somewhere for restaurants and producers to be able to promote their produce to a wider audience.

duploelabs

sebcity wrote: »

15 euro for the ticket in
Drinks range from 4 - 7 per glass/pint or 15 - 20 for a bottle (wine etc).
Food is 5 - 8 euro.
The restaurants are cleaning up.
It's rich knacker drinking.

I've worked at several taste festivals, this one and others.
The restaurants get about 20% of what you pay them (because the administrators control the currency I.e the florens) never mind having to pay a flat fee for a pitch/stall, and then extra for every time they need an extra plug socket or similar. On top of the extra labour budget needed staff the stalls. In short, a restaurant would be lucky to even break even let alone "clearing up"

emo72

im glad i didnt go. not saying the restaurants are milking it, im sure they're not. its the organisers, charging exorbitant rates for pitches. and then having to change money into florins:rolleyes: so you are forced to spend them because you cant change them back into cash.

JaMarcusHustle

Won tickets on Facebook so I don't feel too ripped off.

But I just don't understand the logic of charging people ~ €25 for entry, only to then charge them €5-7 for miniature meals. I paid €7 for Steak and Chips. I got a saucer sized paper plate with 4 pieces of steak the size of the blue Cadbury's Roses (this is seriously the best comparison I could make) and 9 chips. Yes I counted them.

Although having said all that, I guess the logic is that there were people willing to pay it so why not? I include myself in that, though at least I didn't fork out for tickets.

MissFlitworth

I got some gorgeous food at Taste this year. Steak, killer hollandaise (honestly, get a pint of hollandaise from the Chophouse and drink it. Best stone you'll ever put on) and beef dripping chips from the Chophouse, suckling pig beignet with home made brown sauce from Pichet and a salt beef bagel from the Old Spot. The food was so, so good. The salt beef bagel had the best bagel I've had in Dublin, ever. I'm actually going to email the restaurant and find out if they make them or try track down their source. And great salt (corned?) beef and loads of it. I'll eat in all the restaurants I tried over the next couple of months so, in that way, it was a success.

But oooooh my god

- The *rip* off of it. Seriously eye watering levels of gougery.
- The overcrowding (we went on 'Upper Management Out on a Jolly & Getting Clients Good & Wasted' night I think so it was thronged)
- The naff brand partnerships 'Barry's Tea Chapter One', 'Bulmers presents The Old Spot' etc. etc.
- The ridiculous amount of 'VIP' bits
- The sound levels - brain pretty much melted and bleeding down face anywhere near the stage. And as the Iveagh Gardens aren't huge you're always near the stage.

So white whine-y saying this but it was like an endurance event.

duploelabs wrote: »

The restaurants get about 20% of what you pay them (because the administrators control the currency I.e the florens) never mind having to pay a flat fee for a pitch/stall, and then extra for every time they need an extra plug socket or similar

Ah good jaysus I hope they get a rake of bookings out of it. I never even thought of the fact that having a festival currency affects how the restaurant would get paid afterwards.

Toto Wolfcastle

My husband had that steak from the Chophouse and while the steak was delicious, the chips were sh1te. They were undercooked, not crispy and most of them had big black bits in them. I suppose we could have gone up and complained but that area was totally thronged and it just wasn't worth it. It certainly wouldn't inspire me to go to the Chophouse if they can't even get chips right.

I enjoyed my food (Soder and Ko duck steamed buns and chicken potstickers) but I left feeling massively ripped off and we didn't even pay for our tickets. It was very busy but I think it's quite telling that a massive amount of ticket giveaways popped up in the last week or so on loads of different websites.

I'd go again if I got free tickets and cheaper food and if it was in a bigger area with more seating and more areas without blaring music. (I sound like an old woman! ) I doubt that's going to happen though so I won't be going again!

MissFlitworth

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

My husband had that steak from the Chophouse and while the steak was delicious, the chips were sh1te. They were undercooked, not crispy and most of them had big black bits in them. I

urgh - nasty. My chips were pretty great, would have been so annoyed if had had to deal with bad chips as well as the crowd and the cost.

With you on the blaring noise, could not deal with that at all. Big part of why we left after we'd blown through 2 books of florins.

BaZmO*

I got freebies too so I didn't feel that ripped off. It was expensive enough but what I did try was pretty amazing. I used this list that I happened upon as a guide.

Tried the Söder + Ko’s Steamed Bun, Chop House’s 35 day aged Hereford Beef, and the Pichet’s Snicker’s Parfait. Also had some Indian food that I thought was top notch and a beautiful pint of 13 Guns by Crafty Dan.

It was pretty packed, but we had the baby in the buggy so I think it felt even more packed trying to make our way through the ridiculous amounts of people that were just stopped in the middle of walkways for "a chat". :rolleyes: (I know, I'm a grump!)
Queues for the food only ever took about 2 mins so no complaints there. We at the early Sunday session.

We brought a picnic blanket so we were able to sit on the grass and listen to some music and have some food and drinks which was really nice. (the weather helped!)

Overall I thought it was nice for what it was, if not on the expensive side. I definitely would've felt ripped off if I had paid €20? for a ticket though.

I take it the whole thing is just a corporate schmooze fest that the rest or generally not privvy to?

Taboola

MissFlitworth wrote: »

I got some gorgeous food at Taste this year. Steak, killer hollandaise (honestly, get a pint of hollandaise from the Chophouse and drink it.

It was Bearnaise sauce with tarragon. It was gorgeous.

MissFlitworth

D'oh! Thanks Taboola!

Taboola

MissFlitworth wrote: »

D'oh! Thanks Taboola!

I read your post and was thinking 'WHAT?! The Chophouse had hollandaise and I didn't get it!"

...and then checked the brochure :P

On my list of places to go I have
The Chophouse,
Rock Lobster,
Matt The Threshers,
Brioche
and The Old Spot

Probably wouldn't have opted to go to any of them (bar The Chophouse) if I hadn't tasted the food at Taste Of Dublin.

super_furry

First time in three years that I didn't go. The whole thing was never cheap to begin with but it's just become a massive rip-off, that on Friday and Saturday at least, has become an office worker's piss-up.

I was at the Ballymaloe Lit-fest last month which was a fiver in, had a better selection of food and stalls, some incredible food at great prices and you didn't feel like you were getting mugged. I'll never forget the glory that was the €10 Gubeen BBQ box there. Just couldn't justify going to Taste after that.

The Nal

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

Won tickets on Facebook so I don't feel too ripped off.

But I just don't understand the logic of charging people ~ €25 for entry, only to then charge them €5-7 for miniature meals. I paid €7 for Steak and Chips. I got a saucer sized paper plate with 4 pieces of steak the size of the blue Cadbury's Roses (this is seriously the best comparison I could make) and 9 chips. Yes I counted them.

That made me laugh