When it comes to food offerings, arguably Limerick city doesn’t get enough press. The Milk Market on a Saturday morning is as good as it gets when it comes to food markets and now there is something more to attract the food lover to Limerick.

Alex Findlater & Co Food & Wine Hall has just opened at 1 O’Connell Street, Limerick, at the heart of the city’s shopping and restaurant quarter.

The first of its kind in the city, the food and wine hall is a joint venture between Limerick hospitality firm the Savoy Group and Findlater & Co, the general grocers and wine merchants.

With 18,000 square feet of the best of Irish and international food, if you’re looking for us we’ll be perched at the oyster and seafood bar.

They are also running an elegant Bollinger Jazz and Supper Club, as well as a Warbler & Wren Coffee House. In fact, there are all-day dining options available throughout, with delicious dishes from carefully curated menus.

For Irish Country Living though there is nothing better than wandering through shelves of fine food, and with over 300 wines from across the globe showcased in the purpose-built wine theatre, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

This is the place to go if you’re toasting something special, or just planning on sitting in with a take-away.

If Limerick is a long way from home though, don’t worry too much. We have it on good authority that this is just the start of a new venture that could be rolled out in other Irish cities. As soon as we hear more, Irish Country Living readers will be in the know but in the meantime, we’ll be soaking up the buzz and excitement in Limerick’s vibrant shopping and restaurant quarter.

Burgundy on the beach

Whether the sun is beating down and you’re sipping a cool glass of white wine, or the winds are howling and you’re overlooking the stormy sea with a glass of red, Inchydoney Island Lodge and Spa is a great place to be any time of year. However, on 18 April its wine offering is stepping up a notch, with a wine dinner being hosted in the Gulfstream Restaurant, celebrating the wine of Maison Louis Jadot.

Situated in beautiful Burgundy, Maison Louis Jadot owns over 60 hectares of vineyard, many of them premier and grand cru, and is headed up by one of the most respected winemakers working in Burgundy today, Jacques Lardière.

Lardière is doing things a little differently when it comes to wine making and is very much of the opinion that the wine should run its own course as much as possible, meaning intervention is kept to a minimum. As a result, the wines really showcase the quality of the individual terroirs of the local villages and sites. This applies to the whites as well as the reds.

At the Burgundy on the Beach dinner in west Cork, Marie-Pierre Dardouillet, export director with Maison Louis Jadot, will introduce wines such as the Maison Louis Jadot, St Veran 2015 – a very dry, delicate and youthful white wine with a subtle nutty flavour which lends the wine a soft roundness, – going right through the repertoire before finishing with the Louis Jadot, Nuits St George 2013, a deeply coloured, powerful and full-bodied red wine with ripe, robust fruit flavours and nuances of oak in the bouquet.

Each wine will be paired with a dish that has been developed by head chef at Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa Adam Metcalf and his team. Full of local ingredients, think Atlantic crab, Macroom buffalo mozzarella, Irish beef from Coolcower in Macroom, oysters from Oysterhaven and new season rhubarb.

Burgundy on the Beach costs €129 per person sharing, for a five-course dinner with paired wines from Maison Louis Jadot, overnight accommodation in a terrace room and breakfast the following morning. Visit www.inchydoneyisland.com

Coffee Time

Its 6am, the cows need to be milked, the day is starting for the whole family. If you’re a coffee lover, we’re hoping there is a good coffee machine to help you get going.

Research shows that 56% of people drink their coffee in the morning and that this is the time of the day when we prefer to drink larger cups and milk-based coffees. So cappuccinos and lattes on the ready. If you’re thinking who has time for that kind of effort, well we recently tried out the Nespresso machines and they are a lot easier than operating a milking parlour.

Lattisma One has a new and innovative fresh milk system which will froth the milk directly into your cup, while simultaneously brewing the coffee for a coffee/milk combo that would give any barrista a run for their money.

Also with a range of capsules, you can choose just how mild or strong you want your coffee shot to be. The Ristretto capsules, for examples, have a strong blend of rich, roasted beans which creates a full-bodied cappuccino, while the Volluto is a sweet biscuit espresso which lends itself to a milder milk drink.

At €249.99 the Lattisma One is still a pretty penny, but given the technology, it is a lot more affordable than its predecessors. When heading out on the farm, Nespresso has travel mugs which are designed to keep your coffee warm for as long as you need and can fit any coffee up to 375ml.