The New Morrison Burger at The Morrison Grill

News comes from The Morrison after its recent makeover of a new burger that looks delish. Always on the lookout for places for a quick bite pre-theatre on the Northside before heading up to The Abbey or The Gate this would most definitely fit the bill.

 

The press release runs: "The humble burger has had a makeover at The Morrison Grill in the Morrison Hotel. Not trying to break the boundaries of burger making etiquette, the new Morrison Burger harks back to sheer simplicity itself, allowing diners to construct their own burger with a selection of sides and salads, making it a fast favourite with Morrison Grill customers.

The 8oz short rib dry aged Kettyle beef patty is carefully cooked to perfection by chef John O’Leary and his team on the Morrison’s iconic Josper Grill oven, which combines air, fire and charcoal at temperatures reaching 500°C to deliver perfectly cooked burgers! Topped with a slice of melting Dubliner cheddar cheese and placed on a bed of crisp iceberg lettuce and tangy wholegrain mayo in a soft floury bap, the Morrison Burger is ready for customers to create their very own masterpiece!

 Josper Grill Oven

The Morrison Burger comes ‘disassembled’ allowing diners to create their own personal combination best suited to their own palate. Served on a wooden platter, the Morrison Burger is accompanied by an array of ‘additions’. A generous portion of homemade tomato chutney, an in-house recipe, is joined by a perfectly put together selection of salad toppings; crisp iceberg lettuce, freshly sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced slivers of pickled cucumber as well as batons of piquant gherkin. Thin strips of deep-fried battered tobacco onion strings add a sweet taste and crunchy texture to the Morrison Burger which is, of course, served with a portion of hand cut chips to round out this popular dish.

Speaking on the launch of the new Morrison Burger, Chef John O’Leary said, ”The whole idea about creating the deconstructed Morrison Burger was that we wanted to allow our customers to pick and choose what they wanted. Rather than ordering a burger with everything and then taking out elements they simply don’t like, The Morrison burger lets people decide what they want and how much of it they’d like. People’s preferences can vary from day-to-day and we’re pleased to be able to accommodate our diners needs whatever they fancy on their burger!"

Available on both the lunch and dinner menu, The Morrison Burger is just €16.

The Morrison Grill / www.MorrisonGrill.ie / Tel: +353 1 887 2400 / E: info@morrisonhotel.ie FB: MorrisonGrill T: @MorrisonGrill 

On a More Serious Note...President to meet Council of State

I was interested to read this weeks 'IQ Issues and Questions of the Week' in The Irish Times about President Michael D Higgins convening his first meeting of the Council of State to consult whether the proposed abortion referendum should be referred to the Supreme Court. I'm not going to get into the fors and againsts of the Bill here. I was more interested in the members who make up Mr Higgins advisory body. They will meet at Áras an Uachtarain in the Phoenix Park on Monday afternoon and in case,like me, you are unfamiliar with who they are, this is just what I was interested to find out.

The advisory body is quite interesting. Ex officio members include Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Ceann Comhairle (Chair of Dáil) Seán Barrett and  Cathaoirleath (Chair of Seanad) Paddy Burke, Chief Justice Supreme Court Susan Denham, High Court President Nicholas Kearns and Attorney General Máire Whelan.

In addition to this veritable collective of the country's great and powerful are the former office holders that are invited. This includes former Presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese.
 
Former taoisigh, whatever our views on them may be, are invited. Liam Cosgrave is now 92 years of age and has largely retired from public life. Also Albert Reynolds who at 80 years was seriously ill in hospital this March and has Alzheimer's and Diabetes. John Bruton, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen are all also invited. An interesting article from last July in the Journal http://www.thejournal.ie/gallery-former-taoisigh%E2%80%A6-where-are-they-now-514085-Jul2012/#slide-slideshow6
 

 In addition past Chief Justices John L. Murray, Thomas Finlay and Ronan Keane are invited.

Finally, there are seven members who were nominated by the president on his election. These are:
-Michael Farrell, FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) Senior Solicitor and civil rights activist


-Prof. Deirdre Heenan, Pro Vice Chancellor Communication and Provost Coleraine and Magee,University of Ulster


-Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, retired Supreme Court judge and activist


-Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, NUI Galway (History). Known by all Irish history graduates for his seminal texts.


-Ruairí McKiernan, social entrepreneur and campaigner and the youngest member at 35years.
 

-Sally Mulready,UK Labour Party councillor (Hackney). With decades of work for the Irish community in Britain behind her Mulready is the only member not living in Ireland.


-Prof. Gerard Quinn, NUI Galway Centre for Disability Law and Policy.


Now we know who they all are, we can follow the progress of the legislation with a little more knowledge and from the calibre of the Council, total trust in their final judgement.

Man Booker Longlist - Three Irish Authors

Belated congratulations to the three Irish authors, and of course the other ten, who were announced on Tuesday as having made it to the longlist for the Man Booker Prize, whittled down from the 151 (phew!) nominees.

Of great interest is the inclusion on the longlist of The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan reviewed on this blog last year http://dublinduchess.blogspot.ie/2012/11/the-spinning-heart-by-donal-ryan.html .Already the recipient of the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year in the Bord Gais Irish Book Awards last November, it was Ryan's debut novel published by the excellent independent publishers Lilliput Press after, as we were reminded in yesterday's Irish Times, he had been rejected no less than 47 times.


The other two Irish novels are TransAtlantic by Colum McCann and The Testament of Mary by Com Tóibin. Good luck to all three of them.
      

All in all it is a great list this year and as the Man Booker site highlights, seven countries are represented, established authors with debut and just Jim Crace and Colm Tóibin having appeared on the shortlist before. The other ten novels are:
   
  
  


The winner will not be announced until 15th October giving plenty of time to read those on the longlist that tickle your fancy, with the final shortlist on the 10th September. Interesting articles about each of the books and authors are on the Man Booker site www.themanbookerprize.com .