a taste of dublin (1 Viewer)

[La La]

a couple of us managed to get free tickets to this last night.

strolling around the iveagh gardens with a nice glass of malbec stuffing yourself with the gastronomic efforts of ireland's hardest-working producers is a pretty nice way to spend the evening.

has anyone else been?

i left my heart (and aspirations for a smaller waist) at the Artisan chocolate stand. their hot chocolate is to die for.

 

[Goff]

I have a coule of free tickets for this too, but don't think I'll bother. What's the deal with it? Do you have to buy food or is it free? What other food do they have?

 

[La La]

ah you should go, especially if you have tix. there are HEAPS of stands from restaurants to local producers - lots of people walking around with free samplers and tasters. once inside you can convert euro into this florins currency they have and pay for some dishes at some stands. it's worth going in even for the wander around, espcially with such a nice long stretch in the evenings


and the artisan hot chocolate will change your life

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I was at this last year and turned down tickets this time.
€5 to €7 for morsels of food served and plastic cups of wine with way too many people and not enough toilets.
There's the odd decent stall - Diep Le Shaker and Chapter One - but for most it's a money-making racket.

That said, as it's poorly organised, over-priced, full of c*nts and at the mercy of the weather, you do get a taste of Dublin.

 

[jane]

Several people in work keep bringing this event in conversation just to provoke me into my comedy rage. You either pay at the gate or you pay for the food -- you don't fucking do both. But whatever, anyone who pays the whopping gate price, THEN buys their fucking currency which is not 1:1, and so is meant to deliberately confuse you and to make you pay for food whether you eat any or not, and then....

Oh god.

I've started.

Should be call FUR COAT AND NO TASTE FESTIVAL of NEW DUBLIN GATSBIAN HUBRIS FESTIVAL FOR TOTAL CUNTOFFS.

I had to go to it to interview someone last year. The interviewee was lovely. The organiser person I dealt with was also lovely.

But the whole fucking festival is just an enactment of all the shit that I hate about this city, with none of the cool shit that I love. People get what they deserve, I guess.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

You either pay at the gate or you pay for the food -- you don't fucking do both. But whatever, anyone who pays the whopping gate price, THEN buys their fucking currency which is not 1:1, and so is meant to deliberately confuse you and to make you pay for food whether you eat any or not, and then....

I'm confused. Isn't it €25 in and a fiver a throw for the samples?

 

[jane]

I'm confused. Isn't it €25 in and a fiver a throw for the samples?

Not a fixed price, but these 'florins' you have to buy, which are confusingly not a 1 florin to 1 euro ratio, so you're never entirely sure how much you're spending. And because you buy them in advance, the festival gets your money whether you eat anything or not. Last year, most people were leaving with leftover florins, which meant they paid and got nothing. And left the Taste of Dublin with the Bitter Aftertaste of Dublin.

But it's not really clever, since it's playing on consumer stupidity. I mean you can walk into any of these restaurants for free and pay to taste their food -- it's cheaper to visit them all individually.

Also, last year, there were different classes of tickets, some of which included entry into Lillies.

SO FUCK THAT SHIT.

Beneath the shiny surface, the gilded turd is still a PIECE OF NASTY SHIT THAT CAME OUT OF AN ASSHOLE.

 

[jane]

Oh, sorry, I just got where your confusion came from. I was referring to a logical world, in which it does not make sense to charge people twice. But the Taste of Dublin charges you as frequently as possible and as much as possible.

You pay to get into a park that is normally free, in order to pay for samples from restaurants and cafes that normally would not make you pay to enter them.

It's insane.

I also think that you shouldn't be allowed to hold ticketed events in parks that are maintained with taxpayers' money. Free events, that's fine. But not pay events. If the taxpayer has already paid for the park, then it seems rather unethical to close the place off and charge them again.

Sorry.

Really get incensed about this kind of thing. I get as pissed off about these things existing as I do about the fact that people queue up to throw their money away, thus validating the whole fucking ripoff experience.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Not a fixed price, but these 'florins' you have to buy, which are confusingly not a 1 florin to 1 euro ratio, so you're never entirely sure how much you're spending. And because you buy them in advance, the festival gets your money whether you eat anything or not. Last year, most people were leaving with leftover florins, which meant they paid and got nothing. And left the Taste of Dublin with the Bitter Aftertaste of Dublin.

But it's not really clever, since it's playing on consumer stupidity. I mean you can walk into any of these restaurants for free and pay to taste their food -- it's cheaper to visit them all individually.

Also, last year, there were different classes of tickets, some of which included entry into Lillies.

SO FUCK THAT SHIT.

Beneath the shiny surface, the gilded turd is still a PIECE OF NASTY SHIT THAT CAME OUT OF AN ASSHOLE.

Right. You also pay with your dignity a bit too, so they kinda get you every which way.

 

[jane]

To me, the whole thing looks like a vision of what would happen if the city of Dublin were run by TV3.

*shudder*

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I also think that you shouldn't be allowed to hold ticketed events in parks that are maintained with taxpayers' money. Free events, that's fine. But not pay events. If the taxpayer has already paid for the park, then it seems rather unethical to close the place off and charge them again.

I made that very point to someone last year. No one seems to give a shit though, they've all drank the Kool Aid and are having a wonderful time.

Vent as much as you like, I went near apoplectic when I went into Iveagh Gardens about 3 weeks ago and half of it was shut off for this shit. I mean they get a huge chunk of Dublin's best park for a fecking month!
Cunts are still running the world indeed.

 

[jane]

I made that very point to someone last year. No one seems to give a shit though, they've all drank the Kool Aid and are having a wonderful time.

Vent as much as you like, I went near apoplectic when I went into Iveagh Gardens about 3 weeks ago and half of it was shut off for this shit. I mean they get a huge chunk of Dublin's best park for a fecking month!
Cunts are still running the world indeed.

It's insane. Maybe I'm being a total asshole here, but even if the PR company who runs the festival pays for the park (which I'm sure they do), that park does not belong to the Council, it belongs to the people of the city. So they should pay *us* for entering the park we already fucking paid for. But to be honest, I'd rather have the park than a few bob.

Ohhhh, so angry.

And the fucking amount of waste, when the world is in a fucking food crisis.

I feel the same kind of confused astonishment I felt when I went to the US a few years ago and realised that in the face of a fuel crisis, no one even drives regular cars anymore, just gas-guzzling SUVs. I couldn't even rent a proper car, and they gave me a small jeep, which was fine to drive, but I kept running out of gas because I wasn't used to such wasteful inefficiency.

I feel sad about the humans right now. So sad I'm going off on those distraught tangents about the state of the world.

 

[the strange guy]

This sounds mental.
The food must be great though, right?
RIGHT?

 

[magicbastarder]

those gigs they have in the phoenix park really fuck me off; granted, they don't close off the entire park, but using a park which is public property to line the pockets of gig promoters is a hard pill to swallow.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Shit, I was offered a free ticket for this but this thread has convnced me to tell that person to shove their rip-off papers up their hole.
I went to the Taste of Chicago this one time. Another total rip, but there was no entrance fee. It was in a public park, Grant Park. MAybe they don't do the charging in for things in public parks there, I dunno.

 

[magicbastarder]

speaking of rip off festivals, bloom in the park was pricey; five quid parking (in a field), and €22 or €25 in, with overpriced catering.

 

[jane]

Jesus.

It's totally illogical. "Hey folks! We were invited here by a for-profit outfit to promote our products to you, the public. And so here we are, offering you the privilege of paying for a place you've already paid for with your tax money, so that we can promote our amazing products just for you! What a treat for you! Here, is that money left in your pocket? I thought we talked about that! Yes, we need that money, too! We need it more than you do because we are aaaaarteeeezaaaanz!"

So they get corporate sponsors to pay their costs and then probably the restaurants/vendors have to pay for their spaces, and then everyone has to pay in, and then everyone has to pay for everything they touch, all made in less-than-ideal conditions in a temporary outdoor marquee.

That's not a festival, that's a fucking racket.

An outdoor festival is when shit is free in and everyone can bring their families and friends and possibly the dog, and people wander around and maybe buy a few things and hogs all the cheese samples, and kids run around with sno-cone stained faces and mammies and daddies are trying to clean chocolate off their own hands and the teenage punks pretend they don't know their own families and hide from their teachers while being fascinated because the teachers are spotted outside of school, and the other folk realise it's nice to take a break from being cool, and some cheesy bands play and people sit on blankets and have picnics and ants get in the potato salad and everybody laughs about it and there are pony rides, and there is a dunking game with a mouthy jerk who's been soaked a million times by cackling adolescents who can't get enough, and lots of things don't cost anything because it's only right to have a balance so that it isn't just one big outdoor shopping mall but it only costs like a tenner to get a stall anyway so there's everything from homemade t-shirts and bric a brac to artisan chocolates, and everyone hates the clowns even though it wouldn't be the same if they weren't there and the stiltwalker may or may not be a pervert and everybody generally has a good time and feels a kind of corny sense of civic pride and togetherness, so that when the skies open and it starts to rain everyone just thinks it's funny and half the kids are asleep before they leave and the other half have to be dragged out with screamy exhaustion with their painted faces getting all stained from the weeping and the parents are trying not to laugh and people start looking forward to the next one before they've even got home.

THAT IS A FUCKING FESTIVAL.

OH, and on the Aftertaste of Dublin's Piss website, I learned that a VIP ticket is 82 quid. AND that this afternoon was 'family day', where kids under 12 could come free with a ticketed adult. Other times, only children under TWO were allowed in free, and there was no kids' price. Your picky four-year old pays the same as you.

That said, there's an awesome Murder, She Wrote on right now. WHAT WOULD JB FLETCHER DO?

 

[Goff]

I'm with Jane on this. Public Park and all that. AND paying twice. Fuck that shit. Two tickets went to waste today though, so that cheers me up.

Fuck 'em.

 

[La La]

jesus christ. i got a free ticket and ate free food all night long. it wasn't that bad!!!!!!!!!!

it's not worth buying a ticket for, i agree, and you're a dork for paying for those plates the restaurant stands do, but i think i got a pretty good evening out of it!

these little guys would have too if they'd let him in

 

[the strange guy]

these little guys would have too if they'd let him in