“If there is a discernible food trend in Italy right now,” says Federico Riezzo, “it’s that we are looking back at the food our grandparents ate when produce was scarce, but highly respected.” Riezzo is passionate about food and drink, and he appreciates both authenticity and flair in both produce and product – which […]

10 years ago

With the season five finale of Game of Thrones fast approaching, we took it upon ourselves to speculate what the world of Westerns would be like if it was all moved to our wonderful capital city. Potential spoilers lie within. 1. The Starks would have a very different motto. Instead of “Winter is Coming,” the […]

10 years ago

When you think of “summer food,” you probably think of backyard grills and beachside bonfires manned by Chef Dad. But while that’s well and good, Dublin’s professional chefs do a pretty great job of whipping up your favorite summer dishes too. Here’s our list of the summery treats you have to try in Dublin this […]

10 years ago

Right, people. This is the moment we spoke about. The one we thought might come some day, but we never fully allowed ourselves to believe in. According to Met Éireann: After a cold start with some ground frost it will turn mild with highest temperatures 15 to 18 degrees generally but northerly breezes will make […]

10 years ago

You know, summer may actually be coming after all. Maybe. We think. A bit. And with the onset of decent temperatures, dry evenings and sunlight until 10pm, people who favour training methods such as HIIT (high-intensity interval training) or circuits will be looking beyond the sweaty, muggy confines of the gym floor to find a […]

10 years ago

It was a busy week for us in Lovin Dublin, as the clouds finally started to feck off and for the first time this year we’ve felt like summer was an attainable goal. This is the time of year when the city starts to seriously kick into life… and we’re poised with our finger on […]

10 years ago

Every June, thousands of students around Ireland bundle into sports halls, classrooms and community centres to sit the Leaving Cert exams; a behemoth of pressure and stress for students and their friends and families alike. Here we follow the journey of one student through the trials and tribulations of the exams that will – to […]

10 years ago

While most of us are getting ready to go back to the grind tomorrow, thousands of students around the country are preparing to face into something even less pleasant. The Leaving Cert is in full swing, and while the students strain their wrists and rack their brains, it’s a chance for the rest of us […]

10 years ago

The chef, writer and broadcaster Paolo Tullio has died, his agent confirmed this evening. Known to Irish audiences as a resident critic on RTÉ’s The Restaurant, and a regular contributor to Moncrieff on Newstalk, he first moved to Ireland in 1968 as a Trinity student. Almost a decade later, in 1977, he bought Armstrong’s Barn […]

10 years ago

Dublin’s street art scene is incredible – we all know that. It’s bustling with colour, creativity, imagination, energy and rebellion – and the city is all the richer for it. Again, we all know that. But sometimes, you need to just go back to basics… and that’s what the person behind this fine piece of […]

10 years ago

Tucked away down a side street in Rathgar, neighborhood joint Beckett and Bull is quietly serving up a whole assortment of top-notch food – including what has to be the best bean burger anywhere in town. I’d stopped in at Beckett and Bull before for a quick lunch a few times before and never been […]

10 years ago

Bray – the little coastal town that literally props up Dublin. That’s right: literally. Experts* agree that if Bray didn’t exist, Dublin would quite simply fall into the ocean – and then everyone would get soaked, and probably quite annoyed, and basically the whole weekend would be ruined. So in honour of the town that […]

10 years ago

From Electric Picnic to Body & Soul and everything in between, the calendar in Ireland this year has no shortage of festivals to keep music-lovers entertained all summer long. In fact, as we described a few weeks ago, you could just about make it to a different Irish festival every weekend this summer if you […]

10 years ago

While the mechanics of Irish dating tend to pivot around drinks and more drinks, the opportunity to experience someone’s company in both sobriety and sunlight has its perks. What to do in alcohol’s absence, however, is the ultimate quandary. This week, we’re at The Science Gallery on Pearse Street. The gallery’s new exhibition, HOME\SICK: POST-DOMESTIC […]

10 years ago

It’s the first half-decent day of our half-decent summer… ish. So it’s no surprise that we all want to go mad and buy all the summer clothes we can lay our hands on before it’s too late. It’s also no surprise that we all want ice cream. Well, the good news is that you can […]

10 years ago

Sometimes, the collective hivemind of Twitter can be put to use on wonderful things – from tracking down missing pets to getting out the vote ahead of a crucial referendum. And sometimes, it can be mainly focused on making food-related puns out of Beatles song titles. Which is also fine. The #BeatlesRecipes hashtag has been […]

10 years ago

You wouldn’t expect too much class from a man who once had to apologise to Julia Gillard for saying Australian people “ought to be kicking her to death”. And Liberal Party adviser Grahame Morris certainly delivered on his piss-poor reputation with this extraordinary racist (and borderline homophobic) rant about the Irish people. Commenting on the […]

10 years ago

There was a flurry of activity on social media this morning, as speculation mounted that Patti Smith’s Dublin show was not going to go ahead. But thankfully, a statement from organisers in the last few minutes has clarified that this won’t be the case. Instead, due to inclement weather and a scary-looking forecast from Met […]

10 years ago

We thought it was going to remain a figment of our imaginations forever… but no. It’s finally real. There is a bar in New York where you can get Nutella on tap. ON TAP! Gourmet Italian food shop Eataly originally tested the concept as a pop-up, but following the success of that venture it’s now […]

10 years ago

What do you get when you combine a venue built on a slope, days of rain and heavy footfall? Hilarious falls into the mud, of course. This video from YouTube user ProtectingIreland, shot pretty much entirely from a single spot, captures a rather excellent compilation of punters falling victim to the twin perils of gravity […]

10 years ago

The so-called ‘old media’ may be redundant when it comes to breaking news, and live reporting of amazing days like last week’s referendum result. After all, by the time the Saturday editions went to print, there was nothing to tell us; and by the time the Sunday editions went to print, all had been told. […]

10 years ago

It may not feel like it as you walk around outside, but the summer festival season has kicked off – and with Forbidden Fruit, Slane, Life and Bloom all taking place this weekend, it seems like more people will be eating outdoors than indoors this weekend regardless of the weather. Festival food in Ireland has […]

10 years ago

This video is absolutely incredible. After a unicyclist became trapped under a double-decker bus in Walthamstow, north-east London, passers-by wasted absolutely no time in doing everything they could to help – and quickly formed a scrum along one side of the vehicle to raise it and free the man. He’s still seriously injured in hospital, […]

10 years ago

I could write a long intro here about Beyonce and Single Ladies and iconic video and Kanye and Taylor Swift and DuckTales and Scrooge McDuck and swimming pools full of gold. But you know what? Sometimes it’s best to just let the video speak for itself…

10 years ago

Sure, we could spend the weekend discovering new bands, emerging talents and deep-level cerebral tuneage that will resonate with us on a profoundly intellectual level. Or we could just take a few days to luxuriate in some awful crap that happens to come with a great melody. Yeah, let’s do that so. We’ve started building […]

10 years ago

Ireland, you’re too beautiful sometimes. We know that as we head into winter, Ireland can seem a bit grim, so we decided to remind you of its natural beauty. Prepare yourselves for an onslaught of visual goodness. 1. The Cliffs of Moher. Because where else would you possibly begin such a list? 2. Well, apart […]

10 years ago

The owner of a shop in Terenure has warned a suspected thief to come forward and pay for damage done to the store – or have his face plastered all over social media, and on a giant poster in the shop front. Brian Noonan, owner of Noonan’s Checkout in the southside village, posted the below […]

10 years ago

“If a tree falls in the wood and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it really make a sound?” If you fancy debating the relative nature of existence, you could open with that thought-provoking if perhaps a little clichéd line – or you could take a leaf out of Patrick Stewart’s book, and pose […]

10 years ago

For a few months there you couldn’t turn your head for hearing about protein balls – but it seems they’ve already been usurped by a new kid in town. Fat has endured a long spell in the wilderness when it came to health food trends, but that’s coming to an end now; every week, there’s […]

10 years ago

A barman in France has avoided jail after serving 56 shots to a man who later died in hospital. Gilles Crepin received a suspended sentence and a one-year ban from bar work over his part in the man’s death, which was the result of his participation in a drinking contest – a running competition in […]

10 years ago

When one user claims on a review site that a meal made them sick, you can put it down to unfortunate coincidence – or if you want to be super-cynical about it, a user trying to get their own back after a crappy eating experience. But when 11 such allegations pop up about the same […]

10 years ago

We want to say “Don’t try this at home” – but to be honest, if you managed to pull it off, we’d be too impressed to even care. The folks at the Syracuse University Lava Project – because what university doesn’t have a lava project? – have released this video that finally answers the age-old […]

10 years ago

Some 81 beaches around the country were awarded Blue Flags today, including five in Dublin that retained their status from last year. However, the news for the capital wasn’t all good, as the South Beach in Skerries lost its flag due to issues surrounding water quality. The beaches that retained their place on the list […]

10 years ago

The August Bank Holiday is already one of the busiest weekends in the city – and now, the decision of what to do with your weekend has become that little bit more difficult, thanks to the announcement of the awesome Beatyard festival. Previously taking place in the city centre, Beatyard is moving away from the […]

10 years ago

Okay, so apparently this video has been around a while. But we just saw it today. And we literally can’t even. Literally. According to the video’s description: “Made this video for fun with my boyfriend a few weeks ago. We came across the clip of these kids crip walking and thought it would be funny […]

10 years ago

It’s not that we’re suggesting you break any rules. We’re merely saying that some of these tips may – hypothetically – come in handy if you don’t wish to take out a mortgage before buying on-site booze at one of this weekend’s festivals. 1. Refashion a kids’ drinks pouch Let’s start with simplicity here. Get […]

10 years ago

We’ve all been there. Lunch time rolls around, your stomach is rumbling and your body is grumbling; it’s in dire need of some fuel, some sustenance, and some taste to get you through the day you’re oh-so-slowly struggling through. And yet, you can’t allow yourself to get excited by the prospect of sweet relief… because […]

10 years ago

Last week, as you may remember, the internet lost its mind over a rumour that there would be a shortage of Prosecco over the coming year. According to the story, a wet and cold season in the Italian growing regions meant that lovers of bubbly would be caught short – and the internet utterly lost […]

10 years ago

Healthy eating isn’t always good for your health, it turns out. That’s the lesson learned by a 21-year-old woman in the US, who reached into a bag of grapes she’d purchased in a supermarket – and ended up in hospital after being bitten by a black widow spider. Thankfully, she was released after just one […]

10 years ago

Put down that coffee! There’s a much better way to shake off that feeling that you didn’t get quite enough sleep – and it’s as simple as heading to the tap and pouring yourself a lovely, free* glass of water. According to a group of British GPs, quizzed for a survey by the Natural Hydration […]

10 years ago

Welcome to the club, Greenland! The country’s parliament has voted unanimously in favour of same-sex marriage – yes, unanimously – in a move that will allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt from October onwards. According to voting records on the website of the Inatsisartut, Greenland’s autonomous parliament, the vote has enabled the country to […]

10 years ago

It’s been around since the 8th century, and is said by the Guinness Book of Records to be the oldest pub in the UK – but Ye Olde Fighting Cocks has been asked to change its name. And it’s not even for the reasons you might think, of prudishness or over the top sexual morality; […]

10 years ago

This is very, very slick. From Dublin City Council Beta Projects – the people who brought us painted traffic light boxes and much-feted bike hangars – comes another really excellent idea that we’re really hoping to see make it beyond the experimental stage. Located on one of the busiest and most energetic streets in the […]

10 years ago

Grant Thompson, you’re our new hero. The YouTube star, responsible for the excellent King of Random channel, has released a recipe that fulfils just about every childhood dream in one fell swoop – it’s LEGO that’s not only colourful and stackable, but also edible. Edible. Better still, it’s not all that difficult to make; all […]

10 years ago

Sorry to be stoking the fire a bit here, but we noticed something weird today: nobody’s said a bloody word about Irish Water for weeks. After several months where you couldn’t put those two words in the same sentence without someone nearby breaking out into a feverish rage – and where images of protesters clashing […]

10 years ago

Oh man, oh man, oh man. He may not look it, with his vibrant yellow skin and his perfectly toned curves, but Pac-Man turned 35 earlier this week – and fresh off the back of his birthday celebrations, developers Bandai Namco have announced a return on mobile for the legendary character. Better still, this will […]

10 years ago

We love how Dublin is the tech capital of Europe – and we love how the so-called ‘Silicon Docks’ have quickly become one of the slickest and coolest looking parts of the city. But do you know what they really need? A big feck-off, in-your-face Starship, that’s what. The 43-year-old founder of Chinese game developer […]

10 years ago

We don’t normally put too much stock in weather forecasts that go beyond the next 48 hours, but when we’re in the lead-up to the June bank holiday weekend it’s a bit hard to resist taking a peek. Unfortunately, as things stand at the minute the story isn’t so good – while most of Saturday […]

10 years ago

Among all the tributes being paid to the late Bill O’Herlihy, one word that keeps popping up is ‘gentleman’. Not only regarded as a legend of the sporting, political and PR worlds, it’s become very clear in the last 24 hours that Billo was also regarded as a thoroughly lovely human being – and not […]

10 years ago

Nothing summed it all up quite like this image. Drawn by Sligo cartoonist (and all-round hero) Annie West, the picture summed up perfectly how Ireland had come together to change history – and very quickly, somewhat unsurprisingly, it went viral across social media. The illustration is actually a modification of an older cartoon, commissioned as […]

10 years ago