The Dublin Community Blog

From today on you will be able to see a vast selection from the Natural History Museum’s collection in Collins Barracks. As the original Natural History building on Merrion street is closed for renovation, the museum have decided to set up this temporary exhibition for the time being.
A mix of familiar and new animals and geological specimens will be there to greet you!

Opening hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-17:00 and Sunday 14:00-17:00 at Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7

For those of you unfortunate enough to miss the first run, the Ross O’Carroll-Kelly play will have a reprise in April!  ‘The Last days of the Celtic Tiger’ is a play based on the books of Paul Howard about hasbeen Rugby talent/womanizer who still expects a call from Eddie O’Sullivan any day now and is living off his parent’s trustfund untill that happens.

In the meantime he has to balance his time between his illegimate Northdide son, drinking, cheating on his wife with the nanny and visiting his dad in Mountjoy prison.

I saw the play a few months ago and was crying with laughter.

So put on your Leinster jerseys, fake tan and Ugg boots, straighten your hair and head off to the Olympia!

Tickets start at €25 and are on sale through Ticketmaster 

Friday will see another edition of the Hoot night at the Sugar Club on Leeson Street. Hoot Nights are an opportunity for local bands to take the stage and perform slightly different stuff than they normaly would…. On a Hoot Night, two major artists or bands are the ‘Theme of the Eve’ and each performing local band will be playing one song of each artist.

This Friday the battle is on between the songs of Kylie and R.E.M. and 12 bands will be having their way with anything from ‘Can’t get you out of my head’ to ‘Nightswimming’

The fun starts at 7.45 sharp, entrance is €10 and location is The Sugar Club on 8 Lwr Leeson street.

The influx of beggars and homeless people on the streets of Dublin has, I’m sure, not gone unnoticed by anyone. And they come in all shapes and sizes: wearing the latest Nike shoes or just an old sleeping bag, sleeping, mumbling or flat out hassling. Anything goes today.

On my most recent visit to the ATM, I was approached by its new squatter. Nothing strange there you’d say. True, but this gentleman was actually ON THE PHONE while trying to convince me to part with my change.

to his friend: hold on a sec
to me: can ya help us out loooove?
me (being quite flabbergasted I must admit): ehh I don’t think so pal
to himself: feckin foreigners

FYI: I’m pretty sure his phone was a lot more expensive than mine is….

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

On Merrion Street, squeezed in between the Taoiseach’s Department and the National Gallery, lies Dublin’s Natural History Museum. This museum is, in my opinion, one of the true gems Dublin has to offer.

This 18th Century building is the purpose-built museum destined to house what was at the time the RDS’ collection of animal and geological specimens. It was part of the  then RDS complex, which now houses the Government buildings as well as the Archeology and History Museum on Kildare Street. Nowadays, the museum is, like the one on Kildare street, part of the National Museum of Ireland.
The museum opened its doors in 1857 and its collection nowadays comprises approximately two million specimens. Only a small percentage of this total collection is actually on display inside the museum, the rest is stored in the Museum’s storage facilities and used for research, teaching and conservation purposes.
Much of the museum’s collection is a legacy of eighteenth and nineteenth century British colonialism. A large number of so-called ‘Gentleman’s collections’ of exotic animals, birds, skins and skeletons from all parts of the British Commonwealth have been donated to the museum over the centuries, and this allowed for an enormous and extremely varied collection to be established.
Not only the specimens themselves and the stories behind them bring the visitor back to nineteenth century times, the whole layout and interior of the museum really allows for a little bit of imaginary time travel. From the moment you step in to the door, you enter a Victorian world of wood-framed display cases filled to their maximum potential with all sorts of animals.
The ground floor houses a collection of animals that can or could be found in Ireland at some stage. Two enormous Giant Irish Deer skeletons welcome you and behind them and along the walls are cases with birds, mammals, fish and other animals in all shapes and sizes.
On the first floor and the two balconies that look out upon it, the display is laid out in order to reflect the natural order of species. A revolutionary theory at the time the display was set up. The top balcony houses the invertebrates. Many of the sea creatures are glass models that show the amazing colours and drastically increase the size of the otherwise often not visible organisms. Insects and spiders with amazing colours can also be found on this level.
The lower balcony houses a vast array of fish, reptiles and birds; again reflecting evolution theory. The mammals on the first floor are quite often remnants or souvenirs of the big exploration expeditions of Victorian times. Lack of funding has prevented the museum from much needed restoration of many of the specimens, so the paleness of the lion and the cream and brown stripes of the zebra should not be mistaken for characteristics of alternative species.

Standing in the middle of the room on the first floor looking up, you meet the gaze of the hundreds of animal heads looking down on you from the pillars and balconies above. The whale skeletons that hang from the ceiling and the elephant, giraffe and rhino’s that are placed across the room really give the place that sort of mysterious vibe you get in dusty attics filled with children’s toys from the 1920s. You really wonder if the animals come alive at night…..
The museum staff can tell you an endless number of anecdotes of children coming in with bugs in a jar asking if they have just discovered a new species, people writing letters describing strange humming sounds coming from their greenhouse or even the vast number of panicky phonecalls about spider invasions and how to get rid of them.

Even though it might not be ‘up to speed’ with other natural history museums when it comes to display and interactives, this museum is well known world wide for its treasures and has definitely found a place in the collective memory of Dublin and its inhabitants. Many of them lovingly refer to it as ‘the Dead Zoo’. Which, I think, is the only correct nickname you could give a place like this.

The entrance is free of charge and the Museum is opened every day except Mondays. Be quick though. Word on the street is that it will close its doors for extensive renovation and necessary improvements to its facilities at the end of this year. In Ireland that unfortunately means it could take a few years before it will re-open…..

(I will post some pictures soon. until then: visit www.museum.ie for more information)

When asked about the weather in Ireland, and particularly Dublin, the only fitting description would be Four Seasons in One Day. You leave the house in the morning with bright sunshine, by the time you reach your destination you will be soaked, only to be blown off the pavement on your way back.

Today, of course, was no different. I once again found myself stranded on O’Connell street, waiting for a bus that didn’t come while the rain was pooring down and umbrella’s were giving in all around me. The best remedy to save you on a moment like that is to quickly pop in to a Butler’s Chocolate and buy a hot chocolate. With or without cream but with the complimentary truffle, it is in my opinion the best method to temporarily escape everything cold and wet while the rain is still pooring down on your head.

While letting the truffle melt in your mouth by the hot chocolate you drink, you simply forget that you are getting soaked and are freezing.

Trust me, the bus will be there before you know it…..