Meatopia gets Guinness grilling

All foods at the recent Guinness Meatopia festival (held at the Open Brewery, St James’s Gate) were served with a lineup of exclusive Guinness beers, eclectic music, meaty panels, fiery Q&A’s and live demonstrations.

Flying in from the around the world, those commanding the grills included Niall Davidson (of hugely acclaimed Nuala in East London), Dan Doherty (former Duck & Waffle director), Jonathon Sawyer (James Beard award-winning chef and six-time restaurateur from Ohio), Pip Lacey (winner of the Great British Menu 2017), Elizabeth Haigh (Singaporean MasterChef winner) and New York’s Esther Choi (owner of mokbar).

This year a special guest was added to the line-up – Korean celebrity chef Chang-Wook Chung. Raised in Japan, Chang-Wook Chung spent his childhood in his uncle’s Korean restaurant kitchens and brought a breadth of Asian (and French!) influence to his cooking at his hugely popular and intimate restaurant in Seoul.

Guests were also able to try exclusive brews from the Guinness brewers as well as some experimental beers.