The Dublin Community Blog

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!!!

Is it acceptable practice for restaurants to tell you they need the table after you have eaten and are waiting for coffee? Having not mentioned it on booking or when you sat down?

Recently in one of my favourite restaurants in Temple Bar to which I’m a frequent visitor (should I name and shame?), I had booked a table that day for 7pm that evening and no mention of requiring the table back at 9pm was made, when booking or when taking our table. We were rather taken aback then when 2 different members of staff came up to us and said they needed the table back before we had gotten our coffee.

Is this the norm and should I not be surprised? I have to say its the first time its happened to me in this manner.

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!

Once again my plans for a post have been thwarted by tardiness. Well in fairness we had spent all afternoon in Dublin Zoo after which we decided to stop off at the elegant Phoenix Park tea rooms, only they were closing for the day. D’Oh.

The tea rooms are a lovely and enchanting place to stop off for some lunch, afternoon snack or just a lovely coffee. I first went there about six years ago and it was where I discovered panninis, and they look just as delicious now.We stopped in for a take-away coffee on our way to the zoo and the food looked yum. It looked so good that we decided to go back after the zoo, only as I said they were closing.

If you are up in the Phoenix Park make the tea rooms one of your stops. (And more on the zoo later.)

I came across this image of the tea rooms from 1929 on this site while looking for more information. The caption reads “Humpfrey Cook’s Bentley passes the Phoenix Park Tea Rooms at the 1929 Irish Grand Prix, Eireann Cup race”. Here’s another link to the Rough Guide’s section on this spot.

SO the sun is out, the kids are off school, neighbours are playing their music VERY BLOODY LOUDLY (ahem) and there’s a hint of ‘something’ in the air. Yes, mid-summer sale season is upon us again! (Work with me here.)

Most of the shops are frantically selling off their itsy-bitsy bikinis and summer stock, and getting ready for autumn, or fall for all of our visitors from across the pond, so now is the time to strike.

Of course, much of the stuff on offer is either a size 6 or a 24, or in a lovely shade of orange, but if you can bear rummaging through mountains of clothes, there’s bound to be a gem or two in there.

Last week I had occassion to visit the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Clondalkin in the west of the city with my sister and baby niece and found it a good alternative to shopping in the city centre, particularly with a baby on board.

First off, there is ample parking and it’s free for visitors of the centre (though I don’t recall if there’s a time limit, so maybe check that out when  you get there) which is a welcome change from paying huge prices to park in town. Just as an aside, most people who go to Liffey V tend to park either at the front entrance, or at the cinema entrance, but here’s my little tip, the Mark’s and Spencer entrance (Purple car park) usually has loads of free spaces, just follow the signs.

Liffey Valley is all on one level, except for the food court and one or two shops upstairs, meaning it’s buggy and wheelchair friendly (there’s a lift to the food court) and very easy to get around.

We started out at the far end of the centre, Marks and Spencer (where there’s a secret ATM in the men’s department), and had coffee in the Cafe Revive there which is very tasty and clean, with a plethora of staff on hand to man the till and clear tables; mothers and children are made to feel very welcome.

From there we mosied on down the centre, passing well known shops such as River Island and Principals until we got to the main concourse, which has the escalators to the food hall. Here is where you’ll find the Customer Service Desk, juice bar and where most charity stalls etc (say if someone was selling pins or buttons for cancer, this is where they would be) are set up, meaning everything is contained in this one area, not scattered about the rest of the centre. You can also hire fun car shaped buggies to transport your little ones around, costing just a few euro. (They don’t let adults get in them though, no matter how much you beg, harumph.)

The food court features the usual fast food outlets such as McDonald’s and Burger King but there is also a Bagel Bar, Cafe Kyelmore and baked potato shop, if you happen to be watching your waistline. I wasn’t, so gorged myself on lard. Mmmmm, lard.

We then hit Sasha, A-Wear and various sports shops until we got to a big Dunne’s Stores about three quarters of the way down the centre. There are large ladies and gents loos too in this area, along with pay phones and disabled toilets, as well as baby changing facilities. Any time I’ve visited, the loos been clean and tidy with plenty of paper and soap.

After this it was the home stretch to Eason’s, Boots and the cinema (Vue) where there is also an Eddie Rockets, Pizza Hut and steak house. So if you fancied doing a little shopping, having a meal and then hitting the flicks, this would be the place to do it. Be warned though, all three restaurants beside the cinema are usually very busy so be prepared to queue at peak times.

The cinema itself is large with a good number of screens and offers the usual movie fare, such as popcorn and nachos. Prices are similar to the city centre, though if you’re a large family it might be worth looking into a yearly pass or membership if it’s available.

While shopping in the city centre has its charm and offers a wide variety of shops along with tourist attractions, Liffey Valley is a great alternative on days when you can’t face the hassle of parking, you have the kids with you or you just fancy some retail therapy and the movies without traipsing about for miles, or indeed if you’re a tourist looking to get out of the city for a bit. Dotted throughout the centre are carts and stalls offering everything from new mobile phone covers, to sweets, to gorgeous jewellrey, so you could easily while away a couple of hours. On the day I was there last week, many of the shops were having sales and my little niece got a gorgeous brand-name coat for just 11 euro in Ladybird. Bargain!

To find out more about Liffey Valley including opening hours and directions, bus routes to and from the city centre and special offers vist www.liffeyvalley.ie

Righty so. After my first recommendation a while back my next suggested stop is a small spot called Idelwilde in Dalkey Village (just down the side street from Xtravision). I started going there a few years ago when my little boy was in Montessori in Dalkey for a short time and only started going back there in the last year.

It’s a busy spot with great black coffee, killer poached eggs on granary toast, a fry if you fancy it and a cosmo mix of Dalkeyites with time on their hands, builders (why are there always builders everywhere you find breakfast?!?) and Sinead O’Connor and David McWilliams on occasion!

Inside is lovely (as are the very efficient staff) but it was only when the weather took up a few weeks ago that I thought to brave their open air garden out the back and it’s a little oasis in a mad world. It’s worth heading out into even when the weather doesn’t demand it…

Top spot.

R

PS Did quite an extensive post recently on my first trip back to the refurbished Hugh Lane – it’s HERE if you fancy a gander.

Today we wanted to go out to dinner for Boyfriend’s mother’s last night in Dublin (she’s been here since the 1st of June). We wanted to go to La Paloma for clarico and tapas but they were closed. Disappointed, we thought that we would try our luck at Elephant and Castle even though it was 7:15 PM. We were told that we would have to wait an hour. So, disappointed again, we decided to head over to Porterhouse Central since they have a bigger menu than Porterhouse on Parliment Street.

On our way, we saw O’Shea’s on Anglesea Street in Temple Bar. We decided that the menu looked alright and they had OK specials so we went in. There were four other people in the place who were having dessert. It is a small place and we were seated at a table set for three that was really the size for two. We looked at the menu again and Boyfriend and his mom ordered two specials. His mom said it was the special, he did not. I ordered charcoal chicken. Boyfriend ordered the Whiskey sausages and his mom ordered spring chicken with bacon. Boyfriend also ordered a Smithwicks.

The service was fast and the food came up quickly. All the food had a beef gravy on it that tasted like salty beef. By had beefy gravy on it, I mean swimming in it. I don’t eat beef. I don’t like beef. Boyfriend’s mom’s chicken was also swimming in beef gravy. She didn’t like her gravy, either. The chips that came with the food were acceptable. The salad that came as a side dish was dirty. The Whiskey sausages were pretty tasty. The mashed potatoes were made from real potatoes. The mushy peas that came with the sausages reeked of vinegar. He tried to give me a taste but it burned my nose!

So, we ate our meals. Meanwhile, a couple near us had arrived and ordered. They both got some sort of stews that looked better than our meals. The brown bread looked good. After we declined dessert, we got the bill. They gave Boyfriend’s mother the specials price, not Boyfriend even though he had ordered a special listed in the window (which they took down after we ordered). We questioned it and were told that because he didn’t say he wanted the special he didn’t get the specials price. The waitress claimed that the portions were smaller for the specials. The portions all looked the same to us. We paid the bill exactly, no tip, and left.

So, moral: don’t go to O’Sheas unless you want a mediocre meal at best at high average Temple Bar prices.

After dinner, we went home and I made yummy chocolate brownies for dessert.