SUNDAY (11am to 7pm)
11am - KIDZ COOKING COMPETITION
A real family favourite at last year’s inaugural Grub Circus and a great way to ease into Sunday morning at All Together Now as two teams of young children are mentored by Michelin star chefs, Kevin Thornton and Enda McEvoy (Loam) to compete in a cooking competition with great prizes up for grabs from Kenwood.
12pm - CAMPSITE BREAKFAST WITH RORY O’CONNELL
One of Ireland’s most renowned and beloved chefs, the legendary Rory O’Connell, formerly head chef at Ballymaloe House, co-founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School and award-winning cookbook author, gets down and dirty to make a campsite breakfast over a single ring camping gas stove for food writer Gillian Nelis including freshly laid eggs taken from his own garden that morning while he tells her about his life in food, what concerns him most about the future of food and what he loves best about Irish and world food.
Meanwhile, in the background, our pair of Fumbally Cafe chefs, Jill Somers and Camilla Houstoun knock up a batch of waffles and an extra special Irish Bloody Mary.
12.45pm - OFF HIS TROLLEY
Ballymaloe pastry chef JR Ryall and Sunday Times food writer and photographer Cliodhna Prendergast discuss their new collaborative book while also delivering a combined pastry cooking and food photography demo.
1.30pm - WHISKEY GALORE
Irish Whiskey has experienced a rebirth in recent decades and is now threatening Scotch whisky’s number one place around the world. We meet some of the very finest Irish distillers including two young women, Jennifer Nickerson (Tipperary Distillery) and Eva O’Doherty (Method & Madness) who are part of this new wave of Irish Whiskey producers, who will also be joined by one of the aristocrats of Irish Whiskey, Midleton Rare. And, yes, we do taste a dram or too!
Featuring: Teeling’s Whiskey, Waterford Whiskey, Method & Madness (Midleton Distillery), Tipperary Distillery, Blackwater Distillery and Dingle Distillery.
Host: Seaneen O’Sullivan (L. Mulligan Grocer)
2.45pm - CHOCOLATE BLIND DATE RECALL PART II
A chance to find out how the winners of our Chocolate Blind Date got on.
3pm - THE GRUB CIRCUS FOOD QUIZ
Always one of the most popular events at Grub Circus, our uproarious Food Quiz returns once more with questions set by the Irish Times’ resident food quiz team, The Greedy Couple. Two lucky audience members get to join the two star-studded teams as their respective teams compete on their behalf for super prizes.
In addition, there are wonderful spot prizes for the audience.
This year’s teams are captained by two of Dungarvan, Waterford’s finest: UK-based food writer Niamh ‘Eat Like a Girl’ Shields, and TV celebrity chef Paul Flynn and also features Irish food and drinks experts from our lineup.
Team members also include: Gillian Nelis, Leslie Williams, Sally Barnes and more.
MC/QuizMistress: Karen O’Donoghue, RTÉ’s Grow, Cook, Eat
4pm - THE GODDESSES OF FIRE PART 3
Yet another chance to taste some of the wonderful slow cooked BBQ dishes that were started the previous day with
Aishling Moore and Sally Barnes. Vegan/Vegetarian BBQ
4.45pm - THE BIG SHUCK-OFF
The Big Shuck-Off is another renewal of rivalries between Cork and Waterford as two of Ireland’s top oyster producers, Joe Harty, of Harty’s Oysters, in Ring, Co Waterford, and Rupert Hugh-Jones, of Rossmore Oysters, in East Cork, go head to head in an oyster shucking and tasting competition.
It is presided over by the Grub Circus ‘Judges’, Michelin-starred chefs, Kevin Thornton and Enda McEovy, who will also create a quick oyster dressing from ingredients foraged from the Curraghmore Estate.
Audience oyster tasting will also very much be the order of the day, including the crowning of the Grub Circus Oyster Virgin (male or female).
5.15pm - THE REAL ‘MUNSTER FINAL’
The hurling season for both counties having ended as something of a damp squib, Grub Circus is staging The Real Munster Final and this time the kitchen is the field of play. Two teams studded with star chefs from Counties Waterford and Cork go head to head on stage competing against the clock to create a single dish from a mystery box of ingredients, will simultaneously attempting to compete in The Grub Circus Chef’s Obstacle Course.
Will it be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth? We most certainly hope so because this one should be a gutbuster, ever before we taste the final results.
TEAM WATERFORD: Paul Flynn (The Tannery), Jenny Flynn (Faithlegg Hotel), Daithi Larkin (The Old Bank, Dungarvan), Michael Quinn.
TEAM CORK: Aishling Moore (Goldie), Mark Ahern (Pigalle Bar & Restaurant), Pam Kelly (Farmgate Cafe) and more.
6pm - SPIRITED AWAY SUNDAY: Cocktail Chaos
Combining an always entertaining insight into the world of boutique and independent Irish distillers with a chance to sip on some very splendid cocktails based, this year’s offering includes cocktail masterclasses and the unveiling of Ireland’s very first absinthe, the ‘green fairy’ that inspired a generation of Bohemian artists and roués.
Featuring:
Oisin Davis, Irish Drinks Writer of the Year
Rebel City Distillery, Cork (Maharani Gin and their new Absinthe)
Blackwater Distillery
Teeling’s Whiskey
Tipperary Distillery
Bertha’s Revenge