Food in Fashion Thursdays at Brown Thomas in Dublin

I’m just back from two weeks in the States with family so rest assured many expat perspectives blog posts coming soon, but until then I thought this sounded like fun and worth sharing with our Dublin-based readers.

The Restaurant at Brown Thomas Dublin is now hosting Food in Fashion Thursdays! The name itself doesn’t explain it all, but it involves food and clothing (add tableware and I’ll never leave!) so it sounds good to me.

The Thursday evening event is being billed as “scrumptious”. From 5pm, Thursday foodie revellers can experience delicious dishes including a Mediterranean sharing plate, a selection of crunchy and fresh super- food salads or a delectable light soy and ginger glazed salmon, served with steamed greens and topped with a chili and coriander dressing,  that are sure to whet the appetite. Food in Fashion Thursdays offers a starter and a main course dish for €18 per person and for those who wish to indulge in a treat, they can enjoy a bottle of wine for half price, especially on Thursdays! Here’s what they have to say about it:

Domini and Peaches Kemp’s chic eatery is serving up an appetising selection of mouth-watering dishes and is the perfect pit stop for health conscious fashionistas, serving only locally sourced artisan produce.

The sample menu is:

FOOD IN FASHION THURSDAY’S MENU

STARTERS

Med plate to share: tapenade, beetroot marmalade, marinated feta, roast tomatoes,artichokes, chargrilled courgette & sourdough (V)

MAINS

Super-food salad: baby spinach, roast butternut squash, blueberries, sprouted seeds, roast tomato, avocado, candied walnuts, mixed leaves, light vinaigrette (V, FL, )

Add small escalope of salmon

Warm Fivemiletown Irish goat’s cheese with roast organic beetroot, candied walnuts, honey vinaigrette mixed leaves (V, FL,)

Soy & ginger glazed salmon, steamed greens, chilli & coriander dressing (FL ,)

Light grilled chicken salad, pumpkin seeds, roast tomato,cucumber, & house vinaigrette (FL,)

FL = FLOURLESS, V = Vegetarian,   = good for you (grilled rather than fried, ingredients lower in saturated fat)

€18 per person

Treat yourself…all bottles of wine are half price on Thursdays!

January Sales

When I first moved from the States, I was confused my the concept of January sales. Didn’t the stores have big sales all year? You know, President’s Day Sale, March Madness Sale, Memorial Day Sale, Back To School Sale, Columbus Day Sale, Black Friday Sale, Post-Christmas Sale,… Evidently, big sales are not commonplace here so January is the time to shop. The rest of the year, you may see special deals, promotions, or sale racks, but the big store-wide sales and massive deals are from December 26 (see photo below of the 7am queue at NEXT Opera Lane this year) through the end of January. As I learned, by late January it’s pretty “well picked over”. And for some things, it’s even picked over by Noon on December 26th (like Brown Thomas’s handbag department). But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good time to plan ahead. This year, I picked up a warm puffy coat for baby for around a tenner for next winter as well as some gifts for a group holiday gift exchange (this group does its exchange at Women’s Little Christmas).

It is especially great to shop the sales when doing a price-limit gift exchange because the same amount of money goes further. My recipient this year received a silver pendant on a leather necklace from Monsoon, basting sauce from M&S, cable knit slipper socks from NEXT, two glass ramekins from a gourmet store, snowflake tissues from NEXT, and a sequin belt/scarf/handband from Monsoon (plus jelly beans from the States).

But why are the sales just in January? I have no idea but I have embraced it.