Photo courtesy of Bon Appetit
People often ask me how I get inspired to create my recipes. Well some of my inspiration comes from weird and wacky places like kids toys, movies or events, but more often, it comes from eating out. I prefer to dine in restaurants that are noted for their creative food rather than places with the same blah menus. As many food bloggers will agree, why go out when everything on the menu you could easily make yourself.
Recently, I was lucky enough to be invited to sample the fare in Bon Appetit in Malahide. It’s somewhere I have wanted to go for ages, but it always seemed that bit far to get to. Bon Appetit has a Michelin star restaurant, but on the night in question we ate in their brasserie. The basement brasserie is typically moody and dark, so unfortunately my photos aren’t really worthy of the great food we had. We started out with some tapas which included some incredibly moreish curried haddock risotto cakes along with some marinated prawns. From the brasserie menu I ordered citrus cured salmon with fennel, orange and pomegranate salad. It proved to be a great, light and appetising starter. My main dish was a roast sole on the bone with a langoustine butter. The sole was beautifully cooked, simple but delicious.
My dessert was a real revelation: Crème Brulee foam, with caramel ice-cream and frangelico syrup. I love crème brulee, but always find it a bit heavy after a big meal. This reinterpretation was feather light and delicious. We finished off with some excellent coffees and tasty petit fours. Overall Bon Appétit is great value for money and offers imaginative, and well cooked dishes and is well worth the trip to Malahide. This dessert in Bon Appétit got me thinking about crème brulee in a different way and has inspired a new recipe I am currently working on …. More on that soon 🙂
I was a guest of Bon Appetit on this occasion, thanks to both Graham and Oliver for their hospitality.
