The Dublin Community Blog

For a few brief hours last Friday (and probably Saturday and Sunday too), every wine bar in the city lay dormant as the entire middle class population of Dublin descended upon the beautiful Iveagh Gardens for this years Taste Of Dublin. Fortunately I managed to get my hands on a couple of cheap tickets too and so with 50 “florins” (Taste of Dublin currency) in one hand and my beautiful date in the other, I set off for some top notch grub.

The weather was a little on the soft side but this had no effect on the number of people who turned up and fifteen to twenty minute queues were the norm in order to get served by most of the exhibitors. I quickly discovered that the Taste of Dublin “currency” (florin) was a scam by greedy promoters to ensure that the squeezed the maximum amount of money from the crowd, as every tent I visited also accepted euro and indeed some wouldn’t even accept the florins.

The samples given by the main exhibitors cost an average of seven euro and were a little on the small side for that price, however we were treated to plenty of free samples by friendly staff at many stalls and I enjoyed some really tasty offerings especially from the nice folk at Donnybrook Fair.

In the end I had a good night with plenty of wine, beer and food (not so much song, though the Caribbean band in the pub tent were very good) and I’d recommend the event to anyone thinking of going next year – just don’t bother with the florins.

More pictures available at the Dublin Blog group pool on Flickr

Having a sneaky early Friday in town, I rang Derv to see if she was around for lunch.
In a fantastic moment of inspiration she rang the Winding Stair to see if they had a table available!
So we trundled up to the small but airy restaurant for our lunch.
The room is really nicely decorated – simple and sympathetic to the building. You see the kitchen through the hatch at the back, and all there is lots of action around the bar on the side of the room.

After long deliberations I ordered devilled kidneys and Derv had a poached duck egg with hollandaise and asparagus. And we splashed out on a bowl of homemade chips with aioli. The meal arrived in perfect time (too quick – I get suspicious, too long – I get cranky!).
My kidneys were presented on toast with a extremely simple but delicious green salad.
They were perfectly cooked and had a really great flavour. I really took my time over them to savour the taste.
Dervla’s egg was perfectly cooked, which for me makes the dish! The chips were piping hot, and tasted as if they were cooked in animal fat. YUM!

Not long after we received our food we decided to have a glass of wine each. We ordered the Riesling from the blackboard behind us. Two very generous glasses arrived and it was very (too!) drinkable.

Meal finished we ordered coffees – I have to say mine was a little cold, but after jumping on the chips when they arrived and burning my mouth… I didn’t really mind too much.

The staff were friendly and attentive. Our waiter attempted to schmooze two ladies beside us. He was under the impression that it was working, but they didn’t seem that impressed

I could have ordered ANYTHING from the menu, it all sounded really delicious. Right up my street. The focus seems to be on good ingredients cooked simply. I cannot argue with that!

I will DEFINITELY be back!

Rating: food: 5/5, ambiance 4/5, service 4/5 and value 3/5 All in all 16 out of 20.

Aaaand we’re back! For the second outing of the Gourmet Club we decided on the Eden Restaurant in Temple Bar. With a menu changing on a weekly basis, Eden is definitely one of these places you could go to every so often and still be surprised with what’s on the menu.

It is quite a stylish place with a modern, light interior, large windows looking out over the restaurant’s terrace and Meeting House Square and a semi open kitchen. We were seated at a large table next to the kitchen, so we had a great view of the bowls of fresh ingredients and the, surprisingly silent, kitchen staff working away preparing our dishes.

The pre-theatre menu is a weekly changing three course menu that, for this week, offers a choice of 5 appetisers, 4 main courses and three desserts. Available Sunday to Thursday and will cost €27. The wine was really nice and we once again managed to get through enough bottles throughout the meal.

Sticking with the vegetarian options this time, as a starter I chose a salad of Cashel Blue cheese, caramelised fennel, woodland mushrooms and tarragon. Lovely laid out on the plate and a great combination of flavours, but a small portion though. The steamed Mussels were another good option, but we all agreed that the first prize definitely went to the seared rate tuna, which was very steaky and incorporated in a beautiful creation on the plate.

The main course for me was aubergine gratin with lentils, mozzarella, oven dried tomatoes and rocket leaves. In one word delicious. Gratins can sometimes be far too cheesy and the flavour of the other ingredients is taken away by the overload of cheese. This was definitely not the case here. The lentils and aubergine were an excellent match for the cheese and the salad of rocket leaves and oven dried offered an excellent fresh alternative on the side. There might have been a bit too much rocket compared to the tomato, but all I think we all agreed that it beat the plaice fillet and the braised pork.

My dessert of choice was a moist baked chocolate torte with hazelnut praline semifreddo. The torte was not exactly a torte, but was actually more like chocolate cake. It was nice, but did not live up to the high standard of the rest of the meal. The other dessert of choice by some of the Gourmet club members was warm Danish apple cake, which was gorgeous and it made us torte-choosers very jealous I must admit.

The service was alright, although not excellent, but we definitely sat more comfortably than last time and there was no mix-up with any dishes.

There were no separate ladies and gents toilets as such, but a distinction between them could be seen on the doors of every individual stall in a quite original way, as the picture will surely show…

As for my grades on the ‘Gourmet Club Scale of 1 to 5’: food: 4/5, ambiance 3/5, service 3/5 and value 4/5 All in all 14 out of 20.

P.S. they have a cookbook too. So nothing can stop us from recreating these lovely dishes at home: ‘Eden Cookbook’ by Eleanor Walsh and Michael Durkin (Gill & MacMillan)

Seared Rate Tuna – Quail eggs, curried aioli and green salad



Aubergine Gratin – Lentil du Puy, mozzarella, oven dried tomato and rocket salad

Over St. Patrick’s Day weekend, I had the chance to visit a new restaurant and pub here in South Dublin (new to me anyway), both of which I can highly recommend.

On Friday night, my wife and I stopped in for dinner at La Dolce Vita, in the heart of Sandyford Village directly across from the Sandyford House pub, just south of the M50.  It’s a small, quaint little Italian restaurant that seats approximately 25 people.  The owners have done a decent job with the décor, including some interesting art work, and lighting that makes for a subdued, but classy atmosphere.  We both enjoyed our food and thought it was a good value overall.  My wife had a pizza, which she found far more tasty and less greasy than “fast food� pizza.  I had the Pollo Pesto and would probably give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.  (CLICK HERE to view the menu.)  It will definitely be a place we go back to in the future.

On Monday evening, we met some friends at the Wishing Well pub in Blackrock to round off our St. Patrick’s Day weekend.  It’s located just up the street from the TGI Friday’s on Newtown Park Road.  It’s a larger pub with modern décor and several flat screen TVs for the GAA and Premiership football fans.  There’s a back room that can be reserved for private functions and has more of a traditional look and feel to it.  Every Monday evening, a group of musicians convene in this back room for a traditional music session.  I was surprised at how many musicians were actually there, including a pair of accordions, banjos, and acoustic guitars, along with a fiddle, and a bodhrán.  Given the fact that there were so many of them in a relatively small back room, they seemed skilled and experienced enough to compliment one another and provide a good mix without making the guests wish they could turn the volume down.

As someone who loves to eat new things, what is better than making it a regular event! So we got together a motley (mostly Dublin Blog) crew and trotted on down to Town Bar & Grill last night for our first night out. Firstly – there were a few ground rules: You have to pick from the early bird/pre theatre and you must only order wine from the house selection.

Righteo – starting from the start, our table for 8 was set on a table fit for 6. Which was a bit annoying as they have all the bells and whistles on the table, which leaves little room for anything else. The anything else came along as a selection of delicious breads with some fabulous olive oil for dipping. Moving onto the menu – we had to ask for the pre-theatre menu as only the a la carte was on the table when we arrived. Service was prompt, nothing too exciting, a bit lifeless at times. Everything came in good time and it was hot and fresh tasting. Even though we had been told at the time of booking that we needed the table back for 8, they left us sipping the rest of our wine until nearly 9pm.

I had the chowder with smoked haddock. It had plenty of fish, but I like my chowder a little thicker. But that is my personal preference. For some reason Foie Gras appeared on the antipasti plate. It was delicious, but it seemed a little out of place. For mains I had the risotto, which had quite an intense flavour, I would have liked something sharp to cut through the dense taste. The other mains at the table seemed nice. I managed to get my fork into them all. Colin’s chicken was just a tad overcooked, and I’m just not a fan of polenta. But they did it justice and made it palatable. Desserts were tasty & simple. The house wines came in at €22.50 a bottle (two white and two reds) and they were both decent wines.

Now to the bill! Just as Colin was totting up what each of us owed, he realised that there was a major discrepancy between the items on the bill and the final total. We brought it to the attention of one of the waiters, who took it from Colin and walked away muttering. He came back – muttering some bizarre explanation and gave us the new bill.

SO! My two cents: It was a pleasant dinner, but if I had paid any more than €29.50 for the food I think I would have most definitely felt short changed. I would give it a 3/5 for food, 3/5 service, 2/5 ambiance and 3/5 for value. Giving it a grand total of 11 out of a possible 20. I don’t think I’ll be back in the near future!

I’m really looking forward to the next outing!

P.S. Santa in Holland comes on the 5th of December!!!

After having lived a few years in an English town completely bereft of good coffee shops, I’ve been quite pleased with the number of cafés here in Dublin. In fact, according to an article in this month’s edition of The Dubliner magazine, cafés are on the rise in Ireland’s capital city by 25% in the last five years. The reason for this growth is likely the amount of disposable income in the pockets of Dubliners (ie., The Celtic Tiger).

The Dubliner article also argues that pubs are a fading cultural quirk of the past and lists the stereotypical elements of Dublin’s public houses: loud music, bad food (if any), and uncomfortable seating. Personally, I’ve been to plenty of great Irish pubs in Dublin with decent food and an environment quite conducive to socializing, but for some reason I don’t think The Dubliner is known for looking at the good things in Irish tradition.

So, what are the necessary ingredients to a great café? Ambiance, comfortable seating, quality food/drink, and friendly staff. This last ingredient is my own preference and is probably reinforced by a bad experience I had recently. (I realize the price for a take-away coffee is often lower, but I never thought I’d get kicked out of an empty café for taking a seat with my paper cup!)

So any other thoughts on Dublin’s burgeoning café culture? Ideas regarding what makes a successful café? The Dubliner brings up some other pertinent issues in a very balanced way, like the influence of globalization (hello, Starbucks!), and the efforts of pub owners to adapt to the café culture demand. Anybody else think that pubs would do well to adapt? Or would it be disastrous for pubs to try and take on a café atmosphere?

Interestingly enough, in regards to globalization, the magazine article is quick to point out that, while Starbucks gets a bad rap for its obnoxious saturation marketing, they’re not the only company with an eye on world domination. Ireland’s own O’Brien’s sandwich shops boast 300 outlets in 12 countries. (Okay, not exactly world domination, but impressive for a sandwich shop nonetheless.)

Ireland is known around the world for friendly people and good conversation, among other things. Seems to me that a thriving café scene only serves to uphold that reputation!

Yesterday, after a shopping misadventure, we decided to try a Chinese place that we had walked past on other occassions and looked nice.  While looking at the menu outside, we wondered out loud if the food was nice since the menu certainly looked good.  A guy also looking at the menu said that it was “deadly.”  So, we went in, as did they.

The Good World has a nice interior with large tables.  The menu is fairly large and has many of the standard Chinese dishes.  Since a lot of Chinese food has MSG, I thought that I would take a chance and ask a waiter.  I flagged one down (which was quite easy) and asked him if the food had MSG.  After clearing up the miscommunication about what I said (he didn’t understand me), he said that some dishes have MSG and others don’t.  The king prawn cashew that I wanted could be made without MSG.  We were interested in a starter but the waiter was able to tell us that they had a trace amount of MSG since many of them are prepared elsewhere or ahead of time.  After ordering, the waiter came back to tell us the the dish my boyfriend had ordered had a trace amount of MSG in it!  He actually went to the kitchen to check.

So, the food arrived quite quickly and was excellent.  The portions were good sized (but not huge), which was nice to see since the prices were about 12-18 per main (entree).  As per usual here, you have to pay extra for a serving of rice but we were able to share one between the two of us, mostly because I don’t eat very much rice.  We had a pineapple fritter for dessert, which was also tasty.

The service was also excellent.  The waitstaff was friendly and attentive. They filled our water glasses without us having to ask and observed when we were finished with our food.  They allowed us time to relax/let our food digest before asking if we wanted tea/coffee/dessert.

So, we have finally discovered a good Chinese place in Dublin!  I am quite happy about this, since we miss Chinese. Oh, for those interested, Good World is on George’s Street over by Dunnes store.

On Saturday, I wanted to go out to dinner.  Since it was only 6:30, we figured out chances were pretty good getting in somewhere.  We decided to chance Elephant and Castle.  They had a three hour wait.  We then went to Parliment Street to the Porterhouse.  They didn’t have anywhere to sit and we don’t like to stand while we eat.  Next, we went to a little Italian place near Dame and Parliment.  All tables booked. We tried the Italian place next door which we have eaten at before: also all booked.  We walked past Toscano.  Completely full iniside with people standing outside.

We then discussed which of our usual places are easy to get in to.  We headed for La Paloma because the sound of paella and clerico made us happy.  Even though there were only a few people in the restaurant, they said they were fully booked.  We then went to Morgans since they have good tapas.  Also appeared fully booked.

By this time, we didn’t know any other places other than the Indian we go to often that would be likely to have room for non-planners.  We passed on Indian since we were there Friday night.  Instead, we went home and I made pasta with cream sauce and garlic bread.

Moral of my story: book a table in advance on Saturdays in city centre during the Christmas season (possibly most Saturdays).

Yesterday saw the launch of The Dubliner 2007 Restaurant Guide, an essential companion if you like eating out and about the city. I haven’t yet picked up my own copy, but, I suggest that you do. Not sure if you can buy it online, but, you can certainly pick it up in most good book stores and certain newsagents.

I finally paid a visit to one of northside Dublin’s most well known restaurants last weekend: 101 Talbot restaurant.

Taking a chance, I rang them at 8pm on Saturday night hoping a table might be free and thankfully my gamble paid off (The bank holiday weekend may have helped). We arrived at 9.30 to find the restaurant buzzing and full of people. There’s no background music but because of the layout of the dining area you don’t really miss it. The hum of people talking gives the place enough background noise so you don’t feel like your neighbour’s table is listening to everything you say. We ordered our meals (Garlic bread and olives to start, steak and cod for the main courses) and apart from a mix up with the starters, the grub was great and the wine was excellent. The coffee was good too, oh and for dessert you have to have the creme brulee!

We especially liked the fact that even the most expensive wines cost no more then €25. No pretension here, just good food and wine at a good price.

By the way the restaurant wasn’t as empty as it seems in these pictures, I took the pics at the end of the night!