AS YOU may have gathered by now the Dublin restaurant scene is as vibrant as it has ever been and the great news is that the standards are staying high. If you want to experience it you could start at the bottom of South Great Georges Street and walk towards Rathmines and you will pass several excellent restaurants at all price ranges on this route alone.

The world of wine falls into two very distinct categories — the big brands making easy drinking accessible wines to please as many as possible, and the smaller producers that make wines in their own way and as best they can but with little or no thought to what the market wants — if they like it, why shouldn’t others?

How time passes when you’re having fun. And time has certainly passed for the 11-year-old West Waterford Festival of Food 2018 (April 20-22), an event at which The Menu has, in years gone by, put away more fun than a clown school on nitrous oxide.

Two brave David’s to talk about this week — David Whelehan of Whelehan’s Wines which opened in December in the old Silver Tassie pub in Loughlinstown on the N11; and Dave Gallgher of Green Man Wines in Terenure which opened last month.

AN iconic building in Foxrock, Co Dublin, which hit the headlines in July over a rent dispute has been bought, in an off-market deal, for over €1.5m as, separately, a UK investor Development Securities also swept up two other Dublin buys, for a combined €16m.