Open since 2007, Pakistani Kajal is consistently booked out at prime times, and locals know to reserve special tables weeks in advance. Staff are charming, drinks are thoughtful, and the chargrilled lamb chops are what meat-eating dreams are made of. Kajal Website kajjal.ie Address 7 The Green, Malahide, Co. Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Open since 2007, Pakistani Kajal is consistently booked out at prime times, and locals know to reserve special tables weeks in advance. Staff are charming, drinks are thoughtful, and the chargrilled lamb chops are what meat-eating dreams are made of. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Middle-Eastern leaning Brother Hubbard opened in Ranelagh in 2022 and the southside suburb suddenly had a new must-visit for all day brunch, all week long. Breads, pastries, pickles, ferments & preserves are made in house, and they have an impressive list of suppliers for the rest. Brother Hubbard Ranelagh Website brotherhubbard.ie Address 27 Ranelagh, Dublin 6 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Middle-Eastern leaning Brother Hubbard opened in Ranelagh in 2022 and the southside suburb suddenly had a new must-visit for all day brunch, all week long. Breads, pastries, pickles, ferments & preserves are made in house, and they have an impressive list of suppliers for the rest. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Madame Pho The Belfast-born Vietnamese chain is expanding rapidly, but it needs a Pho-King rethink Posted: 29 Oct 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about Madame Pho? Established in Belfast in 2020 by a second-generation restaurateur, Vietnamese street food chain Madame Pho has seen explosive growth since its sale to new management last year, with four new openings in the North of Ireland in the space of just six weeks – a manic pace by any standard. Not content with keeping that many plates spinning, they’ve now begun an incursion south of the border, slipping into the Exchequer Street spot vacated by Ukiyo’s recent shock closure . Their livery can also be seen on the Thomas Street Boojum that’s lain idle since lockdown, due to open before the end of the year, with the sheer speed of scooping up long-term dormancies and high-profile casualties showing the surplus of ambition here. Where should we sit? The layout isn’t wildly different to what was there in Ukiyo, with the ground floor bar scaled-back to make room for a few additional two-tops on the floor. A fresh lick of paint, wood wall panelling, and Vietnamese light fixtures and décor join colourful new chairs and banquettes for a casual reinvention of the space that’s fresh but familiar. The basement level is a bit more lavishly appointed, with a less crowded layout and more upmarket banquettes retained from the previous tenant – we’d bet on this space getting a lot more use in the evenings. The wraparound booth tucked in the corner has to be our top pick if you’re in with a crowd. What’s on the menu? We got stuck straight in with the Vietnamese mainstay gỏi cuốn (summer rolls), plump parcels of rice paper-wrapped prawns, vermicelli and shredded veg. With a fair serving of fat prawns and a pleasant tang of pickled daikon, these are a strong start and a solid option for a quick snack on the go. Peanut sauce on the side isn’t our top pick for pairing at the best of times, but all the less with the one-note flavours of this version. It makes more sense, if equally little impact, with their chicken skewers. The menu lists these chargrilled chunks as satay-marinated but until we dipped in the sauce there wasn’t the slightest taste of peanut. Or, on that note, much to taste at all – under-seasoned and over-cooked, they were a bland block of middling meat with neither the fatty flavour nor crisp coating we’d expect. Wings were a massive improvement - tender, juicy meat basking in a sticky-sweet caramelised glaze for a showcase of all the skewers are not. The umami-rich tang of fish sauce is balanced with sugar and soy, with garlic and chilli bringing more assertive flavour. The little side serving of sriracha mayo will satisfy those seeking a more prominent kick, but it's a glaze that needs no adding to as far as we and our licked-clean fingers are concerned. The bánh mì marks a major bump in the road, with Madame Pho’s take on maybe Vietnam’s most famous street food staple not likely to have anyone booking a flight. The new owners have said they’ll be shipping their baguettes from Belfast until they find a suitable substitute down south, but short of cheaper prices up north we couldn’t detect anything in this basic bread worth importing – Dunnes across the road does them just as well. We’d believe you if you told us the “Vietnamese ham” came from there too, with little to note in the paltry pink slices. BBQ crispy pork neck has been pummelled to a thin, tough texture, with the coating joining the chicken skewers in the gravely under-seasoned stakes. We’d forgive some of this in a cheap and cheerful lunch joint; at €14 it’s a big misfire. The curry makes for a modest return to form, a substantial serving that’s creamy and rich with coconut milk and mild spice, studded with your choice of meat or veg. We went with roast duck and found more favour in the thin, tasty breast slices than the chunkier cuts, more flavour needing to be rendered from the fat. Still, the sum total worked well, with coriander and lemongrass lending a freshness and balance to the bowl. You could do a lot worse. Just how much worse we soon sampled, as we slurped up the broth from the Pho King and almost let it spill right back into the bowl. The menu talks a great game of deep sweetness and fragrant flavour derived from an eight-hour simmer, but perhaps they forgot to flick on the heat – this was as bland as it gets, less bone and marrow than… water and water. Short of the rich depth of a proper broth, the four kinds of meat are left to carry the can and they are, putting it mildly, not up to the task. With no hint of suppliers or provenance across their menus or sites, it's safe to assume Madame Pho isn't working with Ireland's best produce. Sliced beef hasn’t a trace of the medium rarity claimed, from-frozen meatballs have a denseness that’s deeply off-putting, chicken chunks are of a chewiness we’d sooner starve than relive, while more of those fat, farmed prawns practically come off as gourmet by contrast. We started to eat the side of sliced chilli by itself just to feel something, and left the bowl behind. Pho, the menu explains for those not in the know, is pronounced in Vietnam as “fuh” – we think this dish needs a Pho-King rethink. What are the drinks like? Vietnamese-style coffee is a big part of the pitch and happily more successful than some of the efforts elsewhere. Our iced black offering, drip filtered over a thick layer of condensed milk, was deeply tasty, and these are likely to sell well. Cocktails are an effort to parlay fast food vibes to a slower, more spenny atmosphere come evening – the relatively keen pricing at just under a tenner a pop should do a solid job. The Pho Signature we sampled was decidedly fruit-forward, with apple and passionfruit bringing a leading sweetness to hide any real trace of vodka or lime. Four Asian beer options and a short but sweetly-priced wine bottle list won’t rock the boat for anyone. How was the service? Like lightning – we were seated and served so quick we’d barely got our coats off by the time the food arrived. This is a machine well-oiled and well-intent on turning tables over as quick as it can. That’s not to say there’s any sense of being rushed, though the onslaught of food could leave you scoffing your starters for fear the curry will go cold. Textbook brand expansion is on full display, with a few Northern accents on the floor a sure sign that experienced staff from across the business have been parachuted in to see the new opening over the line. It’s all very slick, smooth and served with a smile. And the damage? Madame Pho’s owners have noted the far higher cost of doing business down south, with overheads running anything from 20 to 50% above what they’re dealing with in Belfast. It was a pleasant surprise then to see coffees and starters running in and around the same price both sides of the border. It’s a pretty good deal. That’s not a theme that holds up across the mains, alas, with the banh mis, phos and curries clearly making up the margins. Substantial mains will see you starting off at €18, while the cheapest banh mi comes in at €11. That makes for street food speed at sit-down spend, with the wildly varying quality making for occasionally very bad value. What’s the verdict on Madame Pho? Badly dropping the ball on your namesake dish is a very big stumble to recover from, and the Dublin debut of Madame Pho is already clocking up the sceptical user reviews to show it. There’s a lot of good will going for the OG Belfast branches, but everywhere we looked here we saw creaking signs of an overly cynical effort to cash in on a big brand name acquisition under this new management. Part of the case they’ve set out for expansion to these parts is a relative lack of competition in the Vietnamese food space, but what’s true in quantity isn’t at all in quality. At a ten minute stroll across the Liffey, Capel Street’s Aobaba is the one to beat at a far lower price point, with honourable mentions for Pho Kim and Pho Ta – Madame Pho isn’t just not in the same league, it’s not even playing the same sport. Even up against less established players in the market it falters, with Little Geno ’s bánh mì head and shoulders above for a full three euro less. The real USP Madame Pho offers is quick and cheerful service with enough space that you’re near-guaranteed a walk-in seat. In a city with restaurants that are often heaving and booked out weeks in advance, that might be enough to keep a hold of this corner for now, but it’s not likely to generate the same affection and repeat custom. There is much more of the business of food here than the pleasure, and maybe that's a sad sign of the times. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Soup Ramen The best Dublin ramen discovery so far Posted: 3 Sept 2019 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Soup Ramen opened on Dun Laoghaire's main - in need of some TLC - George's Street Lower in summer 2018, adding life and a bright pink neon sign to an unloved part of town. It also gave Dubliners another place to go for ramen, in a city brutally under-served (yes first world problems but still). It's a joint venture from two friends - chef Conor Hughes and front of house Will Shannon - and their brightly coloured Instagram feed has been taunting us for months, along with flurries of online praise for the food, but apart from one pretty good review from Katy McGuinness in the Irish Independent and minimal information on their own website we didn't have a lot to go on. So off we went to Dun Laoghaire. Where should we go for a drink first? If it's a nice evening head for the terrace in Haddington House (and a deckchair if you're lucky) for a drink looking over the sea. If the weather's not with you, pop around the corner to " The Bar " for a cosy pint, or if you're looking for a cocktail head for The Lighthouse , which also has one of the most impressive non-alcoholic drinks lists we've seen - as do all of Bodytonic 's bars. Where should we sit? There's outside and inside seating, but we can't say the ones outside have the nicest views in the city - if it's warm you probably won't say no. Inside is bright and airy with three large communal tables made from Beach and Cedar trees downed in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, and two high tables which seat two each. There's also bar seating. It's a small space but they've used it well for maximum capacity. What's good to eat? Obviously you're coming here for the ramen so that's a no brainer. We went for the tonkotsu pork - the original and the best - but there's also grilled chicken or a vegetarian one (which can be made vegan). The juicy pork came chargrilled with those delicious blackened bits, on top of an incredibly flavoursome broth containing homemade noodles (they've started making their own since Katy 's review), spring onion, fermented vegetables and a soft, seasoned egg on top. Another thing that's changed since that review is that their eggs and chicken have been upgraded to free-range, which makes us (and her we bet) very, very happy. You can choose your own seasoning but we asked them to bring it how they liked it, and there was definitely a hint of coconut in there which might not wash well with purists but makes for exceptionally tasty ramen. We're always on the hunt for three things that are notoriously hard to get excellent versions of here - freshly made tacos, sushi and ramen, and for us this is the best ramen we've found here to date. It should be noted that owner Conor was in the kitchen on the night in question so you'd expect it to be as good as it's going to get if the boss is cooking your dinner. The rest of the menu features small plates/sides and three salads with optional extras. We'd ordered some small plates of deep-fried kimchi and fried chicken thinking they would come out first, but everything ended up on the table at the same time, leading to the inevitable eating half your food cold, so if you want them as starters and mains request it when ordering. We don't know where deep-fried kimchi has been all our lives but we're just glad we got there eventually. Deep-frying something so intrinsically good for you is a smart move (let's just ignore what high heat might do to all that good bacteria), and they're kind of like more tangy, more chewy onion rings, in a crispy batter managing to avoid feeling in any way greasy. The fried chicken was the only disappointment of the meal. The brown meat and batter were surprisingly soft and bland, and the fermented chilli mayo and mango butter didn't do much to liven things up. Our other main was the umami salad, which has rocketed into the top three salads we've ever eaten in Dublin. It comes with pickled shimeji mushrooms, cannellini beans, parmesan crisps, smoked seasame, seasoned egg, cured cherry tomato and shoyu dressing. Who knew there was no such thing as too much umami? You can add chashu pork, grilled chicken, fried chicken or 'grilled' halloumi which we went for, but it was actually cubes of deep-fried halloumi - delicious but not what we were expecting. Nevertheless, this is a salad that we're going to spend hours trying (and no doubt failing) to recreate at home. We also ordered the triple-cooked fries with house BBQ sauce and spice blend, which was a gigantic portion - fine if there are three or four of you but for two it's a bit much. They're skinny fries and the BBQ sauce was good and not overly sweet, but we'd skip them next time to try the side salad with pickled veg, unless we were with a gang. For dessert we couldn't side-step the blackboard special of sweet crisp bread with yuzu curd, basil mascarpone, yoghurt and strawberries, and we're hoping it makes a comeback with each strawberry season. The fried dough, which seems to exist in most Asian cultures in some form, was light and crisp, and a perfect vehicle for getting the basil yoghurt, sorbet, yuzu curd and semi-frozen strawberries into our mouths. It's also nice to see places putting as much thought and creativity into their desserts as they do their savoury dishes. Next time we're going for the gingerbread nachos with chocolate and chilli sauce, and black chai ice-cream. What about the drinks? That creativity also runs to cocktails, like sake, strawberry, lemon and tonic, and soft drinks, with homemade kombucha flavours including honey and habanero and kumquat and star anise. We tried a yuzu spritz with yuzu liqueur, dry vermouth and prosecco which was a definite upgrade from your bog standard aperol, and an apple and honey lemonade, which was equally lovely. The wine list is small but better than we were expecting from a scout online, with two whites, two reds and a prosecco, all decent, and none likely to cause chronic hangover (not guaranteed). They also do one beer - Kirin Ichiban. And the service? Full of smiles and checks that we were okay, although we would have liked to have been asked about the pacing of dishes when we ordered. Apart from that it was hard to find fault. The verdict? Soup has been on the to-do list for a while and we only wish we hadn't waited so long to get here. The ramen is best we've found in Dublin, and if this was our local we'd be in here every week - particularly over those long, dark winter months. We live in hope that Soup Ramen 2 is on the cards, so that more people get to experience the joy of really great ramen, that spectacular umami salad and the wonder of deep-fried fermented cabbage. Soup Ramen 28 George's Street Lower, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin www.soupramen.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Chef de Partie < Back Chef de Partie Glas Apply Now Location Dublin 2 Employment Full-time Date Posted 1 September 2026 Website glasrestaurant.ie GLAS IS HIRING: Chef de Partie We are currently looking for a Chef de Partie to join our kitchen team. We are a vegetable-led, fully gluten-free restaurant focused on seasonality, sustainability and progressive plant-based cooking. Our kitchen is driven by curiosity, precision and a desire to push vegetables to the centre of the plate in new and exciting ways. What we’re looking for: Minimum 6 years’ experience in a high-level kitchen A strong technical foundation and attention to detail A genuine interest in modern, forward-thinking cooking Passion for working with vegetables, seasonality and produce-driven menus Ability to work cleanly, efficiently and as part of a small, focused team A culinary degree is a plus, but not essential if experience and skill set are strong. This is an ideal role for someone who wants to be part of a kitchen that is actively shaping the future of vegetable-focused cuisine. Email cover letter and/or CV to info@glasrestaurant.ie

Potager Ex-Chapter One head chef makes Skerries a food destination Posted: 25 Jun 2019 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? In January this year it was announced that The Red Bank restaurant in Skerries, open since 1983, would close, and the site would be taken over by ex- Chapter One head chef Cathal Leonard and his partner Sarah Ryan. Interested eyebrows were raised, more so as the industry rallied behind them on social media to tell the world what lovely people they were and how great their first solo venture was going to be. Cathal had most recently been working with John Wyer at Forest Avenue , but also worked in UK restaurants like the Michelin-starred Clove Club in London, before coming home and settling into Chapter One. Sarah had been selling fish wholesale to the trade, which is how they met 10 years ago, and Potager has been their dream practically since they met. Despite being one of Dublin's most popular seaside villages, Skerries has been lacking a destination restaurant in recent years. A trip out there at Christmas was less than inspiring, and left us scratching our heads as to why no one was pushing the boat out (sorry). And as if by magic along comes Potager. 'Potager' means kitchen garden, and theirs comprises the wealth of vegetables and fruits being grown in North County Dublin, as well as fish caught locally and meat like Lambay beef from Lambay Island just across the water. They describe the food as modern, Irish and seasonal, built around Irish producers and their ingredients, and with Cathal being originally from Rush just down the road, he was no doubt familiar with the glut of produce in this part of the country, that few places seem to be taking advantage of. All of the pre-opening talk about it being a showcase for local produce made it sound like the type of restaurant we might have dreamed up, so we were full of anticipation heading off on the Dart. Where should we go for a drink first? We would come straight here and have an aperitif in the lovely waiting/bar area. Cosy up beside the fire (in June) with a sherry or an Irish G+T and enjoy a few moments of calm before heading into the dining room on the other side of the building. If you feel like a bit more action you could head into Nealon's a few doors down (who do a great trad session on Wednesdays), or to The Snug around the corner, which might be the most atmospheric (and snug) bar in the town. Where should we sit? The main dining room is down the corridor from the reception/waiting area, and is a good size whilst still feeling intimate. There are also two smaller rooms off the main one, which would be perfect for group dining or celebrations, or if you were looking for a bit more privacy. The room is very well lit despite there not being much natural light, so there will be no issues reading menus or getting those all important photos of your food. What's good to eat? At dinner it's tasting menu only, with a couple of choices to be made throughout. They say it's five courses for €55, but really it was eight when you include the bread (which you should) and the snacks, which for this amount of food at this level of cooking is incredible value. We imagine once the plaudits start coming in the prices will increase, so get in soon if you like bang for your buck. The first thing to arrive is bread, and it was the most perfect bread course we've had in years. A fluffy, white mashed potato bread, and a dense, fermented, crunchy crusted brown bread with pumpkin seeds came with cuinneog butter and ricotta with local lovage pesto. We could have left after this and it would have been a worthwhile trip. After this came snacks of a tapioca cracker with smoked cods roe, and white beetroot rolled and stuffed with more beetroot, walnut and mint. The cracker was the winner when it came to flavour, but both were interesting single bite snacks. Usually soup does little to get us worked up, but the next miniature course of potato soup with herbs, thickened cream and dehydrated bacon was about as exciting as liquid vegetables can get. We desperately scraped out every last drop out until becoming aware that we were probably disrupting the other diners. The next course of cured, then torched red mullet (a severely under used fish), in a red mullet sauce, with rush tomatoes, tomato jelly, tomato powder, basil and frozen buttermilk was probably the dish of the night, and one of those experience elevating plates of food that makes you wonder how a person even begins to put these flavours and textures together to create something with the ability to totally silence those eating it. After that came another highlight, and a curve ball in the form of strong blue cheese midway through a meal. A cashel blue cheese mousse sat on top of very finely chopped celery and apple, with apple jelly and pickled walnuts. So unusual, so dynamic, so insanely delicious. Then came a dish that we've thought or talked about daily since eating it - charred octopus with roasted cauliflower, Drummond House elephant garlic, and a milk and seed crumb. The garlic heightened everything without taking over, and the charred octopus tentacle was meltingly tender. There had been so much flavour by this point that our heads were spinning, in the best possible way. After that sensory rollercoaster it was onto the mains, and on the night there were two choices, both of which we tried. Hake came with broad beans, lemon confit, smoked mussells, samphire and Ballymakenny pink potatoes, while Aylesbury duck breast came with braised duck leg, cabbage and baby turnip. Both were faultlessly cooked plates of food, the hake probably winning it for us, but they somewhat lacked the excitement of everything that had come before. We wondered if they felt pressure to put on "a proper main course" for locals and former regulars, rather than continuing the theme of small and explosive. Dessert choices come on a separate menu with options for tea, coffee, dessert wine or any other after dinner drink you might want. Again there were two choices, and again both were eye-widening. A smoked chocolate mousse (genius) came on top of beetroot and cherries, with vanilla ice-cream in the centre and puffed spelt berries. Apparently Cathal has a thing about putting vegetables into desserts, and anyone that can do that and have us dreaming of eating it again is very talented. Another scraping the bowl scenario. The other dessert of set sheep's yoghurt from Velvet Cloud , came with the sweetest local strawberries, strawberry tea, strawberry sorbet, shortbread and burnt white chocolate, and it's hard to think of a more perfect, more delicious, Irish dessert at this time of year. And the drinks? The wine cellar is in the old bank vault, which must make it one of the coolest in the city, and they're fine for you to stick your head in and look around. There's a decent sized wine list with some real finds on there and they're working with great wine importers, but it's clear that there's no sommelier to refine it and give it a personality unique to the restaurant - they are looking for someone though. Servers were not versed on the list, so if you want a recommendation find Sarah the owner who will be happy to chat and talk through the options. They've played it very safe with the by the glass list, and the choices won't do much to excite wine lovers, but there's lots to try by the bottle with some really unusual options, and they do have plans to expand and change the wine list over the coming months. We had a really interesting white wine from Savoie in France made from the Jacquère grape - new one on us - and it was complex enough to cope with all of the flavours without over powering anything. And the service? Owner Sarah is a natural host, very generous with her time and clearly at ease working her way around the room making sure everyone is looked after. The chefs brought most of the dishes to the table, which is something we wish more restaurants did, giving us an in depth overview of what we were about to eat, but the few times that servers brought one (clearly as the kitchen was under pressure) they didn't know what they were bringing, and a chef ended up having to come out anyway. Things were very smooth and excellently paced up until the mains, which we had an abnormally long wait for, with no communication from staff about what the delay was. They did take two drinks off by way of apology at the end, but there were a few other issues that weren't dealt with as quickly or as fuss-free as they should have been. We think they're aware that service needs tightening and would be surprised if this isn't top of the agenda over the coming weeks. The verdict? There are a lot of panicked voices at the moment in Dublin about restaurant closures and how it's "carnage out there", but the reality is that most restaurants don't work out because they're missing a certain magic that makes it somewhere that people are desperate to eat in. Potager has that magic and feels like two people who've laid everything on the line to create their perfect restaurant, a chef who's finally been able to fully unleash his own creativity after years working for other people, and now it's exploding onto plates into Skerries. There is no doubt that this is a place that's going to get people very excited to get off their bums and go for dinner, and that's how you survive in a competitive restaurant market. Add to this that the menu seems to be changing daily and we're going to struggle to fight the temptation to hop back on the Dart on a weekly basis due to crippling FOMO. Potager 7 Church Street, Skerries, Co. Dublin potager.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

John Farrell’s modern Mexican 777 opened in 2012 and is still as heaving as ever, thanks to innovative, ever-changing small plates and excellent margaritas. Sunday is the best day to visit when selected dishes are €7.77, and the covid born 'Afuera' area out the back is now a permanent fixture. They only take bookings for more than six people. 777 Website 777.ie Address Unit 7, Castle House, South Great George’s Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story John Farrell’s modern Mexican 777 opened in 2012 and is still as heaving as ever, thanks to innovative, ever-changing small plates and excellent margaritas. Sunday is the best day to visit when selected dishes are €7.77, and the covid born 'Afuera' area out the back is now a permanent fixture. They only take bookings for more than six people. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

The Rooftop at Anantara The Marker A new food and drink menu, but it's all about those 360 views Posted: 27 May 2025 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What do we need to know about the Rooftop at Anantara The Marker? Open since 2013, The Marker Hotel was bought by and rebranded as Anantara The Marker in 2023. This saw a multi-million euro renovation to the already five-star hotel, with all rooms refurbished, a fresh update to the lobby and bars, and bespoke cabinetry and custom furniture across the hotel. It's always been a place to see and be seen, with Influencers and Tiktokers frequently spotted draped across the rails, while their Insta-boyfriends wear out their fingers taking photos, but this year was the Rooftop's turn for a refresh, with the hard, white geometric furniture gone , and softer, neutral sofas and loungers brought in to replace them. On a clear day you can see the Poolbeg chimneys, the Aviva Stadium, and as far as Dún Laoghaire and the Wicklow Mountains, so you won't get many better places for a 360 view of the capital. Indoor and sheltered zones are mixed with outdoor terraces, with the addition of a new fire-pit. There's a new menu for summer 2025 too from Executive Chef Gareth Mullins, which they say is " fusing bold Thai and Asian flavours with fine Irish ingredients ", a nod to their Thai-born parent company. A new cocktail list with similar Asian flavour inspiration completes the refresh. What happens if it rains? When you book online it doesn't specify seating areas, but you can request in the notes if you want to be in a particular spot. We had initially booked during the short-lived summer of 2025 and requested an outdoor table, but when the day (and the rain) came we called to ask what happens if the weather is particularly inclement. They said they can generally seat bookings inside or under cover, and only if conditions get extremely bad would they close the whole space and move people to the downstairs bar instead. There's room for around 20 in the fully enclosed bit, and three couch-based seating areas under a permanent structure, so a bit of drizzle won't ruin your plans. So if it's sunny where should we sit? First you need to get up there - arrive early for your booking as we were waiting at least five minutes in a queue to see the host. The days of taking yourself to the lift and pressing the button are over. There's lots of radio-ing back and forth from reception to bar to tell them that you're here, that you're en route, and you'll either get all the VIP feels or find it a bit OTT. This rooftop has wraparound views across the city so there aren't really any bad seats, but we prefer to face out over the Liffey and Grand Canal Dock, as the views the other way aren't as expansive. Your seating preference here might also come down to the type of chair you want to sit in - options range from single rattan chairs, to couches, to soft fabric loungers with little back support, so if this is an issue for your party, request the appropriate seating before you get there. What if we just want drinks? No problemo. They've made a big deal about their new cocktail list, " weaving exotic ingredients and imaginative storytelling into every glass ". Drinks have names like " Elephants: Love and Bananas" , and " Storm in Bangkok" , using ingredients like Szechuan peppercorns, pandan leaf and Kaffir lime leaves (whose name is a debate for another day ). If that all sounds too adventurous they cover the bases too with Margaritas, Old Fashioneds, and the lesser-seen-these-days Cosmopolitan. There's a compact, not very exciting, list of wine and Champagne with all the popular grape boxes ticked - including Whispering Angel rosé for the Insta huns just back from their hols in the South of France. A glass of cava will set you back €16, Ayala Champagne €28, and wines by the glass range from €10.40 for Pinot Grigio to €17.40 for Chablis. There's no added value in buying a bottle - it's the same price to buy four 175ml glasses, so you can mix it up without penalty. We tried the " Elephants: Love and Bananas" (based on the natural diet of elephants), and the " Storm in Bangkok" , and while on first sip we thought they weren't half bad, a few more sips revealed far more sugar than we want in our drinks on a night out, and everything else fighting to be tasted over the inert sweetness. At €18-€21 a cocktail we were hoping for more balance and refinement. As tempted as we were to try the "Celtic Sea" with it's "salmon-washed Method and Madness gin", we needed a mouth cleanse, and a glass of 3 Rios Vinho Verde and an Espresso Martini did the job. This cocktail was much better, with IStill vodka, Poitin coffee liqueur, espresso and Japanese buckwheat syrup. Next time we'll stick to the classics. What's on offer for food? The small plates are out in full force, at not so small prices. It's the kind of menu you'd expect to leave hungry after, and you could very easily drop €100 per person on food and a couple of drinks in a very short time, so keep an eye on your spending or prepare to get a shock. Hand-dived scallops (sliced so it was hard to tell how many there were but we guessed two-three) came layered with an aged oxtail soy broth, pops of trout roe, bursts of citrussy yuzu, and crispy potato straws on (€21). It would have been a knockout if not for the woolly texture of the scallops. We guessed they were over-cured, with too long an exposure to salt/acid causing the scallop slices to lose any bite they once had. The salt and chilli "spice bag" potatoes (€8) came next, with a spiced mayonnaise tasting mainly of Five Spice. With good flavour and just cooked veg this is one of the better dishes here, but those potatoes would have been so much better deep-fried instead of baked - maybe the crowd here are counting their calories. "Muu Grop Warn", is described as Caramelised pork and Dublin Bay Prawn, with Little Gem, pineapple and orange (€18). This was an absurdly sweet, chewy, crunchy mound of what could have been a multitude of things. Nuts? Sure. Fried chicken? Perhaps. Deep-fried noodles? Could be...? No Dublin Bay Prawn should have to suffer this fate. There may well have been none in here though - it would be impossible to tell without a kitchen inspection. Don't order this unless you've got a toothbrush in your pocket to get the sugar off your teeth afterwards. Handpicked crab sesame toast (€20) comes with "pickled cumcumber" (unfortunate typo) and sweetened Japanese mayo. If this had seen more time on the pan and been adequately drained of oil we would have had no complaints about this fancy spin on prawn toast. Crisp Gochugang chicken with Thai "nam jim" dipping sauce (€18) had one major problem - it was about as crisp as an over ripe banana (also if you want to taste nam jim in Dublin go to Achara, cos this overly sweet mixture isn't it). It was so soggy we flagged down a server and asked had it been sitting under a heat lamp since we asked them to slow down the food. What followed was an explanation of what panko breadcrumbs are, and how they absorb sauce, before they must have taken pity on our weary faces and offered to bring the prawn wontons instead. Thank God for happy endings because these were the best things we ate. The dumpling-like filling had proper chunks of fluffy Dublin Bay Prawns (€20 but they left them off the bill by way of apology), were juicy, crispy and just cooked, and only the non-existent Prik Nam Pla (a fish sauce and chilli dipping sauce) let it down. Was it supposed to be the soy dipping sauce? Prik Nam Pla has no soy. Thailand's ultimate, sour and spicy condiment would have taken this dish from "wow" to "holy cow". Dessert consists of three different combinations of soft serve ice-cream (€9), but as the meal ended up being more drawn out than we'd planned for we ended up having to leave before we'd had time to try one. How was the service? At times we felt like we were stand ins for a training session. Our lovely waiter seemed very new and didn't have the answers to most of our questions, having to go and fetch other team members each time. Eventually answers on portion sizes and ingredients were answered, but it was all a bit protracted. Food and drinks were also slow in arriving, which was surprisingly given it was early on a rainy evening and there were only a few tables occupied. Is there anything worse than watching your cocktail slowly warm up on the counter with no one to rescue it. After a decent wait for food, three of five dishes landed on the small table at one time causing anxiety to hit, so we asked them to hold the other two until we'd finished what we had. This request seemed to throw them, and much was made about whether or not the kitchen was already making the food and if they could halt the order. We dream of a day where we no longer have to have the conversation about wanting to eat food while its still warm. Also, where were we supposed to put the extra dishes? On our laps? What about the prices? Sky high, which is no surprise. Cocktails are at five-star hotel prices, coming in at less than The Sidecar in The Westbury, but well above almost everywhere else like The Mint Bar (€16.50), Peruke & Periwig (€15) and Bar 1661 (€5-€16). For those prices we would have expected more polish in those special cocktails. Food wise you're averaging €20 a small plate - pricey by anywhere's standards, but we did feel full after sharing five plates between two. Two cocktails each and five sharing plates and you could easily be down €200 after adding a tip. What's the verdict on The Rooftop at The Marker? Let's be real. The Rooftop at Anantara The Marker is all about the views, and you'll pay for them on your bill. While it would be a dream come true for Dublin to have a rooftop restaurant with food to match the 360 skyline, there's plenty here to keep a mixed crowd (with deep pockets) happy on a glam night out. If you're on a budget you can pop in for a pre-dinner glass of wine and some complimentary pretzels, and if you've got money burning a hole in your pocket on the next sunny evening in Dublin, you could spend a dream-like few hours here on a lounger floating above the city with a glass of rosé in hand, nibbling on tuna sashimi. There are far worse ways to spend an evening. When's it open? Wednesday to Thursday from 5pm, Friday and Saturday from 3pm, and Sunday from 1pm. There are plans to open daily from June, weather permitting. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Clanbrassil House A new kitchen team, bistro vibes and people-watching in D8 Posted: 26 Oct 2021 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Clanbrassil House was opened in 2017 by Bastible owners Barry and Clare-Marie Fitzgerald, as a more laid back, neighborhood spot for small plates and wine. It rose up the Dublin restaurant charts rapidly with Gráinne O'Keefe (now head chef/owner of Mae in Ballsbridge) cooking with fire in the kitchen and earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand , and dishes like their hot smoked trout, rib-eye steaks and infamous hash brown fries were soon appearing on every social media feed you own. Covid upended most restaurants in the city (and the rest), and when O'Keefe announced in May she was going solo with her own restaurant, we weren't sure what was going to happen with Clanbrassil House - would be business as usual or time for a switch up? We started to see glimpses of the new incarnation in July, and whilst initially subtle, there was obviously a more grown up feel starting to emerge from their feeds (and all traces of the old CH have been wiped from their Instagram page ). Soon after it was announced that the new head chef was James Dobson (formerly sous chef at Potager in Skerries, a restaurant we have a whole lot of love for ), and that he'd been joined by David Bradshaw, a chef we've been watching closely since he returned from Lyle's in London during the pandemic - a restaurant we're borderline obsessed with. It sounded like the new Clanbrassil House was in very good hands, so we went to check it out. Where should we sit? The major change in the dining room has been the move from high tables to low, and with the sage walls, exposed brick, wooden floors and barely audible music, there's a neighbourhood Parisian bistro feel about it all. It brought back memories of the much worshipped Le Baratin - right down to the chalkboard menus on the wall. If there are two of you, beg, borrow and steal to get the window seats, which is some of the best people-watching real estate in town. We felt a warm glow at hearing a newborn baby cry in the back - what a great place for exhausted parents in need of a treat to hide out and get a bit of headspace. What's the food like? It's a straightforward affair of snacks, starters, mains and desserts, with two courses for €38 and three for €48. There's also a six course option for €65 which is their choice so unfortunately you can't pick what you want, but might be good if you're feeling indecisive. Of course we ordered all the snacks (always on brand), and a Connemara oyster with smoked poblano pepper, tomatillo and prawn shell oil was fresh, full of flavour and beautifully presented. In the most exciting dough-based news since Scéal started Pastry Bae Thursdays , Bastible's fermented potato bread with cultured butter is now available at its sister restaurant. Genius move, genius bread. Don't leave without having ordered it or we'll be really mad at you. You may not have come across salsify before (a delicate-tasting white root vegetable that's part of the dandelion family), so it was a welcome sight to see it here in a light, crispy tempura batter with a zippy burnt lemon and chilli dip. This was such an elegant, different opener to a meal, and it's made us wish more chefs were using it (although this example was particularly good). Our first starter was a delicate, fragrant broth with roasted onion tortellini, girolles and tarragon. Less of a flavour slap in the face, more one of those dishes that develops and gets better with every bite. Grown up, restrained but a beauty of a dish, and felt very apt for an Autumnal night looking out at hat and scarf clad pedestrians on Clanbrassil Street. Our other starter of carrots, hazelnuts, house curd and bitter leaves was another beautiful looking dish, but tasted like it was lacking something, and overall felt a bit flat on flavour. More creaminess in the curd and a smack of acid (not that kind) probably would transformed it. A main of BBQ organic pointed cabbage with black garlic, lovage and potato crisp was probably the dish of the night, and would make us sidestep meat every single time. How anyone gets this much flavour into a plate of vegetables and vegetables alone is something that evades us in our own kitchens. The cabbage was swimming in a litany of sauces and swirls, each spoon tasting better than the last, and the crisps ended every bite with a satisfying crunch. Our other main of Salter's pork belly with barley, Hokkaido pumpkin and Szechuan pepper was another slow burner. At the start we were slightly underwhelmed, but as it went on the subtle flavours seemed to open up and become more identifiable, with the barley giving a lovely chew, a deeply flavoured jus underneath, and just the merest hint of Szechuan pepper. A very grown up, sophisticated dish, but the cabbage won for memorability. We're having a bit of a love affair with potatoes recently. The once boring, stomach filler sides seem to be becoming more interesting by the week, and the herby, buttery ones that arrived here were no different. It took all of our efforts to not finish the bowl so that we'd have room for dessert. We'd seen their new dessert of baked cream with fennel and wild blackberries on Instagram and immediately thought of Lyle's in London, so no surprise to find out this was David Bradshaw's creation, and he even foraged the blackberries himself - this is the kind of commitment we reserve internal claps for. It's made with egg whites only so is airy and light, the blackberries have the flavour that you only get from the wild ones (and will probably trigger memories of Granny's jam, Mum's crumbles etc.), and it's topped with a blackberry granita and fennel pollen. We adored it, and it's hard to think of a more perfect Autumn dessert, and a more perfect way to end a meal here. What about the drinks? The wine list here is right up our street, and for the first time in a long time we would have happily drank any bottle from the list. Prices are punchy though, with the cheapest bottle €38 (the lovely but simple Cantine Rallo Ciello Rosso), and margins are generally high. We drank the Fumey Chatelain Arbois Chardonnay (€50) which worked well with all of the dishes, but didn't have as much of the Jura character as we were hoping for. And the service? Very calm and collected, almost like they were performing a ballet. It would be difficult to imagine anyone front or back of house losing their cool in here, it looked like a very well-oiled ship (plus it would echo across the relatively quiet dining room). The head chef also brought a few dishes to the table, which we love because we get to fire a million questions at them about the dish in their hand. And the damage? Around €90 a head for three snacks, two starters, two mains, one dessert, a bottle of wine and two dessert wines. You could eat and drink here for cheaper, but we had a civic duty to take it for a proper spin. The verdict? There's a new Clanbrassil House in town. The lively, fire-filled restaurant has turned into a more grown up, bistro-style affair, with evident talent in the kitchen. Things feel a tiny cautious, albeit with flashes of originality, but often it's softly-softly when it comes to changing up a well-loved concept, and we're extremely interested to see how this one develops over the next few months. They've got the team, the room and judging by the amount of weekend tables already booked up between now and the end of 2021 they've got the clientele, so if you want in here for a pre-Christmas date/friend reunion/work night out, you need to get on it soon. Consider yourself warned. Clanbrassil House 6 Clanbrassil Street Upper, Dublin 8 www.clanbrassilhouse.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Chameleon A reinvention for Indonesian tapas in Temple Bar Posted: 2 Apr 2019 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Indonesian-inspired Chameleon 's been part of the fabric of Temple Bar for an incredible 25 years, and recently made the clever decision to do a bit of a brand update - they got a new logo, changed the outside of the restaurant from black to bright blue, and invested in a beautiful new spray-painted shutter . It's a shrewd move to stand out in a city that's currently seeing a record number of restaurant openings each month, and one that got them onto our hottest restaurants in Dublin list for March. We hadn't visited in a long time, and after a very well-eaten foodie told us they were "hitting all the right notes" when it came to Indonesian cooking we thought it was worth a visit. Where should we go for a drink first? The temptation is always there to dance into Oliver St. John Gogarty 's and act like a tourist for an hour - you'll leave with a lighter wallet but a newly invigorated sense of national pride that only twee Irish music, aran jumpers and barely passable bowls of stew can summon up (but best to avoid the toilets if you can - €5 million a year in profit clearly isn't enough for a new paint job and some air freshener). Roberta's and The Liquor Rooms (below) do great cocktails, and for wine both Piglet and Loose Canon are within a 5 minute walk. Where should we sit? Upstairs all the way, ideally at the lower tables with the cushioned seating for the full experience. Anyone with a dodgy back or who likes proper tables and chairs can opt for the standard tables. There are more tables downstairs, but we don't think it has the same atmosphere or feel as the first floor. What's good to eat? The main part of the menu revolves around set menus that are either meat, fish or vegetable based, from €36 - €40 per person. There are also 'Asian Tapas', a lot of which are found on the various set menus. We thought it would be a good idea to get one Java (meat-based) and one Sumatra (fish based) to try as much as possible, but we hadn't realised that four of the seven dishes were the same on both (noodles, vegetables and a fish cake), so if we were choosing again we'd pick one set menu and other dishes from the Asian tapas section so that we could try more. The best thing we ate was probably the fish finger bao, with tiger prawn and squid katsu and sambal (a type of chilli sauce) in a homemade bao. Immediate regret for not having ordered all the bao. Other highlights included the Sweet Sambal Udang - marinated prawns with pineapple and chilli mango sauce - which walked the line perfectly between sweet, savoury and sour, the Kari Java - a Javanese curry with braised shoulder of Wicklow lamb and sweet potato that was incredibly rich in flavour, and the sesame fried vegetables with sautéed onions and toasted sesame seeds, which managed to make cabbage addictive. Both the crab cake with haddock and the chicken satay (props for using free-range) were enjoyable, and the beef rendang had great flavour but the meat could have been more tender. We weren't keen on the noodles which had an overpowering taste of molasses, and the salad with cucumber, mango and Chinese leaves could have done with having the dial turned up on the dressing - or maybe just needed more dressing. A dessert of Kahlua and organic dark chocolate pannacotta with peanut brittle had the perfect wobble, and was a nice midway point between coffee and dessert, when your heart says espresso, but your head says it's too late, don't do it. And the drinks? The wine list is pretty compact, with half on tap and half in bottle. The advantage of those on tap is that they're available in small and large glasses, carafes and bottles, so everyone can drink what they want in exactly the amount they want, but we would have liked to see a few more options that would specifically compliment the food in either format, like off-dry Pinot Gris or Gewurztraminer. We drank the Hobo Workbook Californian red blend on tap which is a great all-rounder, and for white we would have gone for the Peter & Peter Riesling in bottle, a grape that tends to work well with Asian flavours. And the service? Really warm, and couldn't do enough for us. The only issue with the set menus is that everything comes at once, and it's a lot of food, so by the time we reached the end some of it was cold, but retrospectively if we had asked our lovely server to bring a few things first like the bao, satay and fish cake, we think she would have been more than happy to oblige. That would be the plan next time. The verdict? There are a lot of good flavours going on at Chameleon, and we kept thinking what a perfect place it is for group dining - bag one of the big tables upstairs, order all the food and a load of carafes of wine, and we're pretty sure everyone would leave happy. Keeping a restaurant open for 25 years is no mean feat, and keeping people talking about you for that long is even more difficult, but we think updating their image was just what was needed to put Chameleon back on Dublin diner's agendas. Chameleon 1 Fownes Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 www.chameleonrestaurant.com New Openings & Discoveries More >> Dublin's iconic dishes quiz 2 days ago 5 things we want to eat in Dublin this week 2 days ago The Best Autumnal Dishes In Dublin Right Now 2 days ago The Two Minute Review: Two Pups Wine Bar, Fairview 2 days ago

Honey Honey has been thronged from the day they opened in 2018 with locals, visitors and passing cyclists queuing up for specialty coffee, granola bowls and warm sausage rolls. It filled a much needed gap in the area for a quality café, and expect to wait for one of their in demand tables. Honey Honey Website honeyhoneycafe.com Address Strand Road, Burrow, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Honey Honey has been thronged from the day they opened in 2018 with locals, visitors and passing cyclists queuing up for specialty coffee, granola bowls and warm sausage rolls. It filled a much needed gap in the area for a quality café, and expect to wait for one of their in demand tables. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Yumgrub The Two Minute Review: Posted: 5 Sept 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about Yumgrub? Previously located in Ballybrack’s Village Yard before its sudden closurescuppered things, plant-based fast food “filth” purveyors Yumgrub have now setup shop in Grand Canal Dock’s The Place , alongside fellow food trucks Pastiamo , Tacoman , Dosa Dosa and The Drunken Cookie . The all-vegan menu is packed with Beyond Meat burgers, chick*n rolls, tofu baconand loaded fries, and we’d heard just enough positive word to want to get downto check it out for ourselves. What should we have? We might have expected to walk away from Yumgrub raving about one burger oranother, but actually it’s the nachos we can’t shut up about: slathered in a rich and creamy vegan queso, these well-loaded tortilla chips happily hold their own with the standard competition. Where meat alternatives have come along in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, plant-based cheeses are often lagging far behind. Yumgrub’s concoction gets it spot-on with a sharp, tangy tastiness that’s nigh-on impossibleto distinguish from the real thing. Well-seasoned guac and a piquant pico de gallo have just the right acidic kick to balance out the gooey, cheesy goodness. Had we known in advance just how moreish that queso was going to be we’d have gone for a helping of cheeze-loaded fries too – we make these mistakes so you don’t have to. Instead we went for the little-bit-of-everything Grub Box to give us a few little tasters. It’s a substantial serving of food anchored in the perfectly crispy skin-on fries, but we found the overly thin chick*n strips a little disappointingly bland in isolation – it’s easy to imagine one of the sauce-laden chick*n burgers being a more well-rounded vehicle for the breaded Seitan, with other ingredients giving it a chance to work in concert. We’d been really curious to try the “Mac ‘n’ Cheeni”, suspect though the pun may be, and while the textural contrast of crispy breadcrumbs, oozing cheeze and al dente pasta makes for a mighty mouthful, the filling was just a touch too under-seasoned to really resonate beyond that initial bite. We rounded things out with a Cowboi burger, and there’s no doubting the BeyondMeat patty looks the part, slathered with melted cheeze and topped with a messymound of caramelised onion and BBQ sauce – that’s no complaint. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/79af6f_1a38892b4bf349629d9584c4e4eee808/720p/mp4/file.mp4 Texture and flavour is on-point too, with crisped edges and a juicy interior making this a spot-on replica: vegan converts craving the nostalgia value of a dirty burger will be well-served here. The only slight drawback is the tofu “bacon”, too subtly flavoured and softly textured to stand out from the crowd in this busy stack. Why should I go? Dublin’s still a bit short-changed when it comes to decent vegan fast food – especially since the late lamented Vegan Sandwich Co. shut up shop – so those craving just that will be happy to discover Yumgrub. The slot at The Place also makes it a perfect compromise pick for mixed groups of vegans and carnivores unwilling to go without, though they might well be tempted to try it once they see how good it all looks. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

One of the best places for dim sum in Dublin, with prices that make it accessible any day of the week. They have an à la carte mainly Cantonese menu too, but the dim sum is what most people come for. Don’t miss the mince pork crystal dumplings, stir-fried mooli cake and the BBQ pork rice noodle rolls. Ka Shing Website ka-shing.site Address 12A Wicklow Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story One of the best places for dim sum in Dublin, with prices that make it accessible any day of the week. They have an à la carte mainly Cantonese menu too, but the dim sum is what most people come for. Don’t miss the mince pork crystal dumplings, stir-fried mooli cake and the BBQ pork rice noodle rolls. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Uno Pizza become legendary during the pandemic for teaching people stuck at home how to cook a Neapolitan-style pizza in a frying pan, with their pizza at home kits. The good news is that the ones they make in house are even better. A classic pizza menu with some 'bites' and salads, available to eat in or take away. Uno Pizza Website unopizza.com Address 105 Rathmines Road Lower, Rathmines, Dublin 6 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Uno Pizza become legendary during the pandemic for teaching people stuck at home how to cook a Neapolitan-style pizza in a frying pan, with their pizza at home kits. The good news is that the ones they make in house are even better. A classic pizza menu with some 'bites' and salads, available to eat in or take away. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Romain Tessier's Arty Baker stole hearts and Instagram feeds with his stand at Sandycove Store and Yard, before going permanent with his first shop and bakery in Dalkey. Get there early for sourdough loaves, chocolate raspberry cruffins, and jalapeno popper croissants. Arty Baker Website artybaker.com Address 20A Castle Street, Dalkey, County Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Romain Tessier's Arty Baker stole hearts and Instagram feeds with his stand at Sandycove Store and Yard, before going permanent with his first shop and bakery in Dalkey. Get there early for sourdough loaves, chocolate raspberry cruffins, and jalapeno popper croissants. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

The all-in menu at Lucky Tortoise in Temple Bar (and in their original Aungier Street site) is some of the best value in Dublin, with plate after plate of banchan, okonomiyaki and dumplings meaning you can try it all and still have change from €30. There's a vegan version too. Lucky Tortoise Temple Bar Website luckytortoise.ie Address 17B Asdill's Row, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story The all-in menu at Lucky Tortoise in Temple Bar (and in their original Aungier Street site) is some of the best value in Dublin, with plate after plate of banchan, okonomiyaki and dumplings meaning you can try it all and still have change from €30. There's a vegan version too. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

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Gráinne O'Keefe's first solo restaurant in partnership with the French Paradox wine bar downstairs, who look after the wine list. Modern Irish cooking and a regularly changing tasting menu, but the tarte tatin dripping in caramel will probably never be allowed a night off. Mae Website maerestaurant.ie Address 53 Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Gráinne O'Keefe's first solo restaurant in partnership with the French Paradox wine bar downstairs, who look after the wine list. Modern Irish cooking and a regularly changing tasting menu, but the tarte tatin dripping in caramel will probably never be allowed a night off. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Afanti Cross-cultural tastes at Dublin's first Uyghur restaurant Posted: 11 Jul 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about Afanti? The latest arrival on Dublin’s rapidly diversifying food scene, Afanti brings with it Ireland’s first taste of Ugyhur cuisine. The Turkic group of some 13 million people, the vast majority now situated in north-western China’s Xinjiang province, is a living embodiment of the Silk Road’s culinary cross-pollination, with a blend of Middle and Far Eastern flavours and styles. Uyghur sisters Eleanor and Halnur Halmurat wanted to share some of their culture’s best-loved dishes with Dublin, and the menu reflects the fascinating Turkish/Chinese fusion style to be found there. Where should we sit? The Parnell Square East building, formerly home to Lily’s Café, looks small from the outside but opens up impressively on entry with a high-ceilinged open space dominated by an ornate oriental chandelier. Further to the back there’s a more intimate area decorated with a handmade wall-hung carpet and a mural of the restaurant’s namesake mascot. Head here if you’re planning to make a night of it; out front is ideal for a quick bite on the go. What’s on the menu? We started with the naan, which is less light and airy than the more familiar Indian iterations. Its dense and doughy texture is softened by dipping it in a salted milk tea, the bread’s natural sweetness offset by the salted richness of the drink - it's thankfully better to taste than it is to look at. It’s an odd and intriguing combination of flavours, a good shared start to a meal that feels equal parts familiar and unique. The samsa - a distant spin-off from the samosa - is an Uyghur street food specialty, and one item on offer we suggest you don't pass up. Its crisp, hot crust-style pastry is a flaky, fatty shell for beef steamed to a delicate juiciness inside. The subtle sweetness of sliced onions rounds out a very satisfying mouthful of food. These come in ones, but you will be wanting more. The manti that came next make for an interesting contrast, and a valuable lesson in Uyghur cuisine’s hard-to-pin-down diversity. Stuffed with the same filling as the samsa, there’s more of a touch of Korean mandu to these steamed dumplings. The result is a succulent, moist meat filling with a thinner, drier, more low-key wrapping flavour. It’s a question of taste, but the samsa’s more ours. Kawap skewers play it straight and simple - chunks of lamb barbecued after a dry spice rub. The light kick of chili is a perfect accompaniment to the meat’s charred surface, though some of the cuts proved a little too lean to offer enough of the rendered fattiness we love in a skewer. One of the things we were most intruiged to try was the spicy bean jelly, a cold dish of mung bean “noodles” - the texture of silken tofu - swimming in a flavour-filled chili oil broth. It’s a fun game for friends to see who can make the least mess trying to eat these with chopsticks - the jelly is so delicately soft it’s as likely to be sliced open as scooped up. The base broth has a real depth that plays off the blandly squidgy noodles, but overall we found this one more curious than compelling. Staff were very happy to help with the Sophie’s choice that is picking between the bigger plates, and while we’d have loved to try the sharing chicken stew (we’d watched wide-eyed as the enormous bowl was brought to another table as we came in), the word was both noodles and pilaf needed to be tried if we were here for the most essential flavours. And weren’t we glad we listened. The hand-pulled udon-esque noodles, made fresh every morning by the Halmurat sisters’ mother, are one of the highlights here, chunky and chewy and perfectly shaped to soak up sauces. They came with leghmen, a kind of Cantonese-style stir fry that’s an Uyghur favourite. Afanti’s uses beef rather than the more common lamb. Paired with bell peppers and the deep umami intensity of black fungus, it works a treat. Ample carrots brought a surprising sweetness to the pilaf, but it worked against the gaminess of lamb, a leg so tender it practically peeled off the bone on sight. This is a heavy plate of food in its own right, never mind on top of what came before, and if you’re not full-on famished coming in, this alone will see you satisfied. We finished with a baklava that steered clear of the cloying sweetness you still get in many around town. This is a more subdued, almost savoury affair of pressed, coarsely chopped hazelnuts with a light spice flavour from cinnamon syrup. It’s a light finale - needed after all that. What are the drinks like? We were too caught up with the milk tea to try any of their others, but they come in ornate little pots and with a real air of ritual about them. A shared one over a baklava would make for a particularly nice cap to a meal. In terms of alcoholic options it’s just a simple beer on tap offering with Tiger and Asahi. How was the service? Considerate and quick - all of the food came in very short order after we’d asked for it, and all together. If you’re looking to space things out, be sure to coordinate upfront. Staff were happy to chat through the menu and keen to sell it too, but once everything was delivered, they very much left us to it. And the damage? All of that (which would happily feed three or more) and two Asahis came to a very reasonable €90.68. From the €2 baklava to substantial mains circa €15, you're definitely getting value for money in here. You could happily stuff yourself and stay on the right side of a €20pp spend. What’s the verdict on Afanti? Those culinary thrill-seekers always out to try something new should add Afanti to their check list, a rare arrival on the Dublin scene that can legitimately claim to be niche and novel. Not all of the dishes here are great, but all are worth trying for a cross-cultural cooking experience most won’t have had before. Whether popping in for a quick few samsas at lunch or indulging in a cheap feast on those divine hand-pulled noodles, there’s lots to discover here. Afanti 3a Cavendish Row, Dublin 1 www.afanti.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Note Bistro Get In Quick Before It Joins The Impossible To Book Club Posted: 28 May 2022 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story? Note's evening wine bar and daytime bureau (café to the lowly amongst us) opened at the end of October to all the adulation , with promises that the 'bistro' part of the trilogy was coming a few weeks later. Weeks and months passed and still no sign of a fully fledged menu, but their bar snacks got slowly more interesting - to the point where two national critics went in to review on the basis of those alone - bet they're raging now. Still, we waited, until a couple of weeks ago when a post appeared on their Instagram page announcing bistro bookings were now being taken, with lift off 10 days later. Note is owned by three friends - Andy Collins who owns the aesthetic Eden that is Indigo & Cloth in Temple Bar, and brothers Acky (the Creative Director of a design company) and Essa Fakhry (the chef). We first came across Essa after a stand-out meal at NY-style Mexican 777 a few years ago, finding out afterwards that he was heading up the kitchen, and when we saw him travelling off to other parts of the globe to stage in some uber-cool restaurants we knew he wasn't messing around. From the first night the bistro menu launched we were getting exclamation-laden messages from readers containing sentences like "the croquettes changed my life!", and "just had the best tuna I've ever tasted!", and we knew from a quick social stalk that they weren't Essa's sister/aunt/housemate, so we were feeling optimistic sitting down to dinner. Where should I sit? It's basically a choice between the bar or the main floor. We love the banquettes by the window so that would be first pick, but sometimes you just want to have the elevation of a bar counter, and if you're dining alone there's no better place to sit and have the chats with staff. What's the food like? This kind of menu is our all-time favourite, with snacks, small plates and larger ones, and no minimum order or demand on your time and wallet to have three courses. A few weeks ago there was also a chef's menu for €70pp where they brought you food with no decision-making involved, but that seems to be on hiatus for now. Most likely because at the time we visited it was just Essa and a commis chef in the kitchen - which became all the more impressive as the dishes started to roll out. For the first time in quite a long time we wanted every single dish on the menu, all killer, absolutely zero filler, and whittling it down to a generous amount for two was as close as we've (thankfully) come to slow, painful torture. Begrudgingly and after at least 20 minutes of torment, we settled on a snack, three small plates, a medium and a large. Coming here with a group would be a great way to get through most of the menu and leave having ticked every bistro box - but be aware, it's changing all the time so could be completely different when you visit. We skipped the sourdough with Glenilen butter because once we saw 'anchovy toast' there was no other option. At first it just tasted like really good toasted sourdough dripping with butter, but then you come across a little nugget of anchovy and an accompanying salty explosion. A great start. We go all starry-eyed emoji seeing ceviche on menus (it happens so rarely in this country of ours so full of fish), so we were right onto Note's Stonebass ceviche with lime, oregano and jalapeño, with unmentioned orange segments and slices of radish. It wasn't just a highlight of dinner, it was a highlight of the entire year so far. Staff told us Essa prepares it like an aguachile (soupier and less marinating time) and you will be fighting over the last few drops of that turbo-charged juice with the slightest hint of heat at the end. Ceviche, aguachile, whatever it was, it's difficult to imagine it could tasbetter than this, and if it doesn't stay on the menu permanently we'll be first in line with our placards. Next another ingredient so rarely seen on menus here, white asparagus, with Shepherd's Store cheese and toasted hazelnuts. The asparagus was barely cooked so still had crunch, and was generously covered in the nutty cheese sauce, with another flurry on top, and toasted hazelnuts hiding within. White asparagus has a brutally short season, and if we only get to eat it once a year we want to eat it like this. Next, another dish we've never seen on a menu here (are you sensing a theme?) - Vitello Tonnato, a Piedmontese dish of cold, sliced veal with a kind of tuna-flavoured mayonnaise on top. Super juicy, delicately flavoured meat, a dollop of subtly tuna tasting mayonnaise, and some caper berries to jolt your palate back to reality, resulted in another dish with forks clashing at the end, and not even a smear of sauce left. We'd ordered the lobster au homard (which technically means lobster au lobster) not knowing what to expect, but out came three stuffed mezzelune in a soupy bisque, with some chopped cucumber and more lobster meat on top. We love lobster in all its forms, and this had it coming at you from every angle - in the pasta, in the sauce, in the chunks on top. Everything else on the plate shone a light on the star ingredient, from the deeply flavoured bisque to the finely diced cucumber, with nothing threatening to overtake its subtle flavour - skillful and sensitive cheffing. We also tried a side of their potato mousseline, which was basically potato flavoured butter - and there ain't nothing bad about that. Desserts were on the more simple side - an affogato with hazelnuts and homemade coffee liqueur poured over the top (you won't need that post-meal espresso), and madeleines that would give St John a run for their money. If you don't end a meal here with them, you haven't really been. What about drinks? Even though Note is a wine bar first, they haven't let standards slip on cocktails, beer or cider. Bar manager Alan makes his own limoncello, the coffee liquor for the affogato, and no doubt countless other concoctions to be found within the cocktail list. For us the only way to start is with a glass of their grower champagne, a (relative) steal at €17 a glass, when many places around town are charging €25 a glass for Grand Marques muck. In a place like this we love to drink by the glass and try as much as possible, and the person you want making recommendations is the wine brains behind the operation - GM Katie Seward. We basically let her take the wheel bringing us pairings for each dish, and over the night tried Fiano from Campania, Vital (a new grape on us) from Lisbon, dry Pedro Jiminez from Catalonia, Cru Beaujolais, and Loire Valley Chardonnay. Without fail, every pairing made the dish in question taste even better, and we could count on one hand the amount of places with a hit rate this impressive. The only addendum we'd add is that the low margin wine prices we raved about at the start have taken a bit of a jump. There's still value to be had, particularly at the higher end of the price range (that Marguet Shaman grower champagne is less than €15 more than you'd pay retail to drink in), but prices at the lower end now feel more in tandem with average prices around town. How was the service? As lovely and professional as you would hope for. Food and drinks were perfectly paced, and we were never left to wave someone down or with empty glasses or plates for long. And the damage? €195 for two before tip, including champagne and cider to start, a wine for every dish, and an extra to end the night. Definitely on the higher end of dining out spends, but you could do it for considerably less if you just got one bottle of wine on the lower end of the scale. Our advice though would be to go and do it right. The verdict? Regular London or Paris goers will recognise the need for a wine bar/bistro like Note in Dublin, and we've finally got it - hopefully the first of more to come. This is somewhere that would hold its own in any buzzing European city, and we selfishly dread word getting out and it joining the "impossible to book" club of Library Street, Variety Jones and the rest. Rather than "giving the people what they want", Essa Fakhry is stirring, saucing and banging pots to his own drum. Rather than looking exhausted and stressed at serving an entire restaurant with such little backup, he seems relaxed, confident, invigorated - like he's finally cooking the food that's at his core. We've already got our next booking for Note Bistro in the bag, and suggest you do the same before everyone finds out about it. Note Bistro 26 Fenian Street, Dublin 2 notedublin.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Mr Dinh Daytime-only dim sum on Capel Street Posted: 20 Aug 2019 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Mr Dinh sits at the far end of Capel Street, close to Parnell Street, in a site that formerly housed Vietnamese restaurant Hanoi Hanoi. We've been unable to find out whether the owner and manager of Mr Dinh are the same as Hanoi Hanoi, but they're both from Vietnam. This is not a restaurant we would have made a beeline for, due to their 'Asian fusion' menu featuring Japanese, Hong Kong, Malayasian and Thai cuisine - in our experience muddled menus usually don't make for spell-binding eating experiences - but then the Dublin restaurant whisper network started talking about Mr Dinh's daytime-only dim sum. If you speak to anyone from Hong Kong (or anyone who's versed in their food) about where to get good dim sum in Dublin you're likely to hear three names - Good World , Ka Shing and Mr Dinh . We hear that the pendulum swings between all three of them as the favourite depending on the week, but that amongst a certain group of Asian ladies who dim sum, Mr Dinh was currently in the lead. Dim sum is a day time food in Hong Kong, with small plates of everything from dumplings to turnip cake often accompanied by Chinese tea, and Mr Dinh only serves dim sum until 5pm, so it's lunch or a very early dinner if you want to get in on the dim sum action here. Where is there to go for a drink around here? If you're planning on having one of those long, drawn out lunches which turns into a boozy afternoon - great plan. We'd head around the corner to Bonobo in Smithfield, particularly if the sun's out and you can wile away a few hours in their beer garden. Otherwise McNeill's on Capel Street is great for Guinness and trad music, or if you're having a dry day but still want to stay out, head for The Virgin Mary for non-alcoholic cocktails. Where should we sit? There's plenty of space over two rooms so you should have your pick. If you're in a group the round tables complete with lazy Susans are great for avoiding awkward arm-stretching, but if you're looking for privacy you can easily slink into one of the corners on either side. What's good to eat? There are 32 types of dim sum on the menu, featuring everything from prawn dumplings to chicken feet (not recommended, even for lols). Of everything we tried our favourites were the pan-fried pork dumplings (deeply-flavoured with a perfect chewy, meaty texture), pan-fried vegetable and meat buns (light, slightly blistered dough filled with more flavoursome pork and green vegetables), and baked BBQ pork puffs - although the latter were barely warm and very sweet - proceed with caution. Prawn dumplings Chaozhou style were better than prawn and Chinese chive dumplings, whose thin, slippery wrappers had gotten completely stuck on the steamer, causing them to fall apart, and soup dumplings disappointed due to a lack of soup. Steamed turnip cake with a type of Chinese sausage split the table - you definitely have to be on board with the gelatinous texture and slightly too oily exterior, but we were, and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf was very sticky, with a layer of something like a thick gravy with pork pieces and sweetcorn between two slabs of rice. Enjoyable at the time but not particularly memorable. Steamed BBQ pork buns were decent, but we've had better in the city (looking at you Lucky Tortoise ), and again that overly sweet BBQ filling could have done with easing off on the sugar, and BBQ pork cheung fun (rice rolls) had the sweet/savoury balance much more on point, although they could have done with a bit more filling. Pork siu mai were slightly bland and a bit too pink for our liking, and they weren't finished. What about the drinks? We've yet to encounter an Asian restaurant in the Capel Street/Parnell Street area with anything of interest to drink, and unfortunately Mr Dinh lives up to the stereotype. Wines come under the heading "avoid", and beers are basic. Under some grilling they said they would allow BYO at around €10 per bottle of wine, but wouldn't commit to a corkage charge. Definitely worth considering if you want something stronger than Chinese tea with your dim sum. And the service? Friendly but pretty perfunctory. The manager was very happy to answer a myriad of questions, and tell us about the exciting new Malaysian, Japanese and Thai menu changes to come on the main menu in a couple of weeks, but sometimes the staff bringing the food just dropped them on the table without telling us what they were. They always came back with a smile though when we called them to ask what type of dumplings we were about to eat. The verdict? Mr Dinh is dishing up decent dim sum and while it's unlikely to change your life it's very cheap, very filling and parts of it are very tasty. For €25 a head we had more food than we could eat - you could easily leave well fed for €15 - and if you're someone who likes small portions of multiple dishes and sharing food for the purposes of getting to try more, you'll have fun working your way through the menu here. Even if you get the odd dud you're unlikely to feel hard done by at prices like these. For us the dim sum debates rages on. We've already given Ka Shing the once over, so Good World's next on the list to complete the holy trilogy. Look out for that one some time in Autumn. Mr Dinh 101 - 102 Capel Street, Dublin 1 mrdinh.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

777 Tostados, tortillas & addictive margaritas Posted: 17 Oct 2018 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? 777 is no new kid on the block. Part of John Farrell's restaurant group, which also includes Dillinger's, The Butcher Grill, the contemporary Mexican opened in 2012 without a trace of Tex-Mex, which prior to this was pretty much all Dublin had experience of. Goodbye burritos and refried beans, hello tostados, tacos and carnitas. Like everything else that John Farrell touches, the interior design is first rate (not that you'd know from the unassuming outside), and they opened to some very good reviews , but like everything the buzz eventually dies down. In the past few months however, we feel like we're constantly being told to go there, that the kitchen's turning out fantastic food and the margaritas are worth a trip alone. So we took it upon ourselves to see if the rumours were true. Where should we go for a drink first? If you don't want to come straight here for a margarita (you're crazy, or on a mission), you could go to Loose Canon on Drury Street for a glass of natural wine, the soon to be open (any day now) Bar Giuseppe on Castle Market for an aperitivo, or any of the great pubs in the surrounding streets for a pint - Grogan's , The Foggy Dew or The Stag's Head to name a few. Where should we sit? The bar is good for singles or couples, and there are booth-style tables for big groups, although even fitting four is cosy. There are also a couple of bigger tables at the front if you have a group, but they don't take reservations for under six people, so you might have to wing it (or get more friends). What's good to eat? Honestly there wasn't a dud dish, and this was the closest we've found to Mexico City cooking in Dublin. The kitchen has the flavours and textures down, and there was really no comparison with our last Mexican experience here. Standouts for us were yellowfin tuna tostados with crispy shallots, chipotle mayo and habanero, and Mezcal marinated soft shell crab tortillas with chipotle, pickled onion and avocado, both of which we wanted more of. Chorizo tortillas were equally good, if very rich, as were the portobello mushroom ones with chipotle pesto, crema and pumpkin seeds, and an oyster shot with tomato and hananero citrus broth would be a great intro to oysters for the uninitiated. We tried one larger dish of Lamb Tlayuda, which is a Oaxacan dish that's like a Mexican pizza, and it came with BBQ lamb, pickled mushroom, chimichurri, wild garlic and feta fondue on a chargrilled flatbread. The meat was exceptional - we would happily go veggie six days a week if we got to eat this on the seventh - and the flavours were stunning. We were struggling to fit more in at this point but we powered on and finished the lot because it was so good. We would only get to share in a group as it's so large and filling, and if you had it on your own you probably wouldn't be able to manage much else. We also tried sides of elotes and papas fritas, both of which were good, but the crispy potatoes with garlic and manchego knocked patatas bravas out of the park for us. We imagine leaving any in the bowl would be a feat of Olympic proportions. Desserts are limited to bread and butter pudding with dulce de leche and vanilla ice-cream, and a selection of sorbets and ice-cream. We tried the former (purely in the name of research), and it was the type that's soaked and blow-torched, meaning the inside was cold and was left uneaten, but the flavour was good and the dulce de leche a nice addition. What about the drinks? Go margaritas or go home. Mondays the house ones are two for €14 (usual price €12) so that's the night to go if you're feeling thirsty, but we've heard the Margarita Especial is even better than the house (unfortunately we only heard this after we'd been). Neither the beer or the wine list are particularly inspiring, but that's not really the point of the place. Cocktails are where it's at. There are also some lovely sounding mocktails, like the Pinky Tuscadero with cranberry juice, jalapeno & rosemary syrup, lime and rhubarb. And the service? Functional. They got the job done but we wouldn't say there was an abundance of hospitality. Some of them looked like they had better places to be and we were holding them up. Others were more helpful. The verdict? For our money, this is the best place to eat real Mexican food (like in Mexico) in the city right now. You can keep your burrito chains and mediocre tacos. These guys have it down. It is very loud, so only go if you're happy with a side of ear-bursting hiphop, and we've lost count of how many stories we've heard about people getting carried away with food and drinks and getting a shocker of a bill, but if you choose carefully and keep a tab you should be able to get out while holding onto next month's rent. On Sunday all dishes are €7.77, Mondays are two margaritas for €14 and on Tuesday tacos are two for €6, so these are the days to go if money's tight, but we can't see you being disappointed whatever day you go. 777 7 Castle House, South Great George's Street, Dublin 2 777.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Six By Nico We went so you don't have to Posted: 16 Dec 2021 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Once upon a time Six by Nico was probably an exciting concept. One chef (Nico Simone), six dishes, six weeks of a themed menu, then it's all change for the next round. We'd heard positive reports from the Belfast one (before knowing it was rapidly morphing into a chain), and were pretty excited to hear we were getting one of our own, but then the Instagram posts started. We stroked our chins and wondered where we'd seen this type of thing before - maybe their neighbour around the corner with the Instagrammable bathrooms, over-reliance on influencers, and questionable reputation on staff tips. We could smell the #invite tagged posts long before they appeared, and appear they did, in their multiples. There were so many gushing #invite and #guest posts to Six by Nico in the first few weeks (see a small selection here , here and here ) that we wondered whether it was actually possible to pay for food there, and you guys were hounding us for an honest, hand in pocket review of whether it was worth the Insta hype, so off we went to perform our eating duties, on the stormiest day of the year so far. Where should we sit? For the love of God, do not let them sit you near the front door. We had the misfortune of visiting on a very wet and windy day, and whenever someone went in or out, Storm Barra himself would whip into the restaurant, sending shivers down our arms and coats off the back of our chairs - no one thought to hang them up and save us bending down every six minutes. The sheer unpleasantness of being thrust into an icy draft at least once during each course was definitely one of our more original dining experiences this year, and when we asked staff why they didn't have a curtain to protect diners from the icy wind of death, they told us that one had been ordered. Yet they didn't think to sit us as far as away from it as possible, or offer us a hot drink. Or a fleece. A dining out in 2021 highlight came when a group of six arrived, opened the door, then stood half in, half out waiting to be seated. They had hats and scarves on so were okay, we did not so weren't, and frostbite may have induced us to jump up and wail desperately "close the door!?" Fine dining at its most relaxing. What's the food like? It's a set, six-course menu for €45, currently "The Chipper", which runs until the 9th of January, and there's a vegetarian version too. There's an optional snack and bread for €7.50, and the wine pairing is €39 (more on those later). As tasting menu prices go this is definitely on the lower side, which probably goes some way to explaining how they're booked pretty much solidly until the end of the year. Grace Dent in The Guardian last week called it "fine dining for the Pizza Express generation", which feels apt. We plumped for one snack, in case it didn't deliver - a smoked cod croquette with gherkin ketchup, rapeseed emulsion, pickled onion and malt vinegar powder. It was pleasant enough, like a slightly posher fish finger, but hasn't been cemented in the memory bank. This also comes with bread - good (we're guessing not homemade) sourdough, and shellfish butter, which didn't taste remotely of shellfish. If we didn't know better we would have said they just squirted a bit of food colouring in there. Course one was "chips and cheese". We love a curry chip as much as the next Irish person so were looking forward to this one, but the way it arrived felt disjointed. A cube of potato terrine with curry emulsion came on a plate, then you lift that to find a bowl with a parmesan espuma and curry oil underneath. Neither element wowed alone, but together did work, and we thought it was quite clever. Course two was "Scampi" - crispy monkfish cheek, with dill emulsion, gribiche, peas and beurre blanc. We've never had to saw through monkfish with a butter knife before, and if it was more than two bites we would have sent it back, but one bite into the rubbery, overcooked fish and it felt pointless in asking for more. The accompaniments were pleasant enough, but had a whack of childhood dinners off them. Onto course three! The "steak pie", with 24-hour beef shin, burnt onion ketchup, mushroom duxelle, and ‘meaty salsa’, which was marginally better than a tin of Fray Bentos. Mushy, mouth-puckeringly salty and one-dimensional, with raw mushroom shavings to really seal the deal. Then an upset. Course four. The only dish which really worked, and actually encompassed what they've set out to do - bring a taste of the chipper to a tasting menu. Shetland cod came on top of tangy confit fennel, samphire, pickled mussels and beer emulsion, and had crispy salt and vinegar batter bits on top. It was so good it was a shock after what had come before, and had all the flavours from that salt and vinegar doused box of fish and chips in a different form. Presumably it was dishes like this which started the hype train rolling, it's just a pity there weren't more of them. Then course five. The dish that shouldn't exist. The dish that needs to be banished to culinary hell and never show it's smoke covered face in this town again. "Smoked sausage". Throughout your meal, you'll find your sight, conversations and breathing interrupted by pungent plumes of smoke from the unfortunates at nearby tables. It's like having the dud seat at a barbecue, where you're annoyed because you've just washed your hair and know you're going to stink when you leave. Then it was our turn to have our heads submerged in the stuff. Underneath this madcap dome of exhaust fumes was nothing to assuage the situation. Three unidentifiable parts of a pig, black pudding so dry it was almost sand, and various sickly sauces, jus and the worst choucroute we've ever tasted. The faces at the table while trying to choke down the meat said more than words ever could, and at times we felt like we were on an episode of I'm A Celeb, where getting through the gnarly, chewy animal parts would result in meals for camp. It was offensive on several levels, and most of it went back uneaten. Staff didn't ask why. The final course, and an end to the madness is "deep-fried Mars bar". A chocolate opera, Irn Bru sorbet, chocolate soil, and a little slice of actual deep-fried Mars bar. Unfortunately the plate must have waited on the pass for too long as by the time we got it the Mars bar was solid again and the sorbet was melting fast. Despite this it was actually a very nice dessert, the opera in particular, and a definite nostalgia trip back to our fizzy drink and E number-filled childhoods. What about the drinks? If the food is the Pizza Express of fine dining, the drinks list is the Wetherspoons. Wines start at €4.50 for a 125ml, spirits around €5. If cheap booze is top of your agenda you'll love it. The wine list has nothing of note on there, and reads like it was written by the interior designer. Sometimes the wine name has the producer in there, sometimes the grape, sometimes the region, often "Domaine" is casually thrown at the end, like "Chablis Premier Cru 'Montmains' Domaine", which makes less sense than the curtain-less door. There's a suggested aperitif to start, which for the chipper menu is the "Sea Side Spritz", with gin, falernum, orange, lemon, thyme syrup and soda. It was pleasant and a nice light opener. We also tried the cheapest and the most expensive white wines by the glass - we didn't dare risk it on a bottle. A Sauvignon Blanc/Verdejo (€4.50) blend tasted like water with a hint of citric acid. An Albarino (€7) had marginally more discernible flavours - water with a hint of actual citrus. Both were wasted alcohol units, and we high-tailed it to The Sidecar afterwards to cleanse ourselves. While we're on the subject of liquids, be warned that there is a single cubicle for each sex (plus a disabled one which wasn't open), so you might want to keep them to a minimum. Ladies, expect to queue each time you need to tinkle, and return to your next course going cold on the table. Maybe this is all part of the plan to get you out faster. And the service? There's been a lot of comments online about how nice the staff are, and they are nice, in a totally detached, "I'm only here on a secondment" kind of way. Almost everyone we encountered was Northern Irish or Scottish, and we're not sure whether that's a result of the staffing crisis or whether they just wanted to send tried and tested team members to get things off the ground. They were there, but didn't really seem to care. When we asked one waitress what the incessant beeping was that went off every few minutes and didn't seem to be coming from the kitchen, (wondering if anyone else could hear it or if the smoke had made ours ears go funny), she said "good question! I don't know", and toddled off. We were rattled through courses at speeds not seen since Elaine Thompson-Herah won gold in Tokyo, and they managed to get us through an impressive (if uncomfortable) five courses in 50 minutes, until we pleaded for it to stop. And the damage? Around €65 a head before tip, with one snack between two, one cocktail and one glass of wine each. Not crazy money, but not an insignificant amount either. The verdict? There are people who will like Six by Nico, people for whom settings are more important than snacks, gimmicks are more important than the goods on the plate, and for whom the total on the bill is more important than how things taste. They're not the people setting alarms to get a Chapter One booking three months in advance, hanging on for a cancellation in Uno Mas on a Friday night, and dragging a bunch of friends to Slane to experience Allta's summer incarnation, and that's okay, we can all co-exist together. As far as the food goes (and we're all about the food), Six by Nico didn't deliver. We'd rather put our dining dollars into genuinely exciting eating experiences, from Library Street to Locks, Big Fan to Mr Fox, than somewhere churning out formulaic dishes with little love involved in the process. It might be "only" €45 for dinner, but for our money, there are so many better places to spend €45. Six by Nico 1 Molesworth Place, Dublin 2 sixbynico.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Juno Forget the pints, get into Juno for brilliant bar food Posted: 13 Jun 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story with Juno? Juno is from the same people behind Happy's Bar & Street Food (formerly Happy Endings) on Aston Quay, and Brian McCarthy from Bedlam Events, who also owns The Fourth Corner in Dublin 8. While takeaway, casino and bookie-filled Dorset Street may not seem like the most obvious place to open a very of the moment bar and restaurant, the area has been the subject of urban renewal talks for years now, with a large flat complex due to be demolished to build new homes and community spaces and lots more regeneration plans - even if it's all moving a bit slowly - so getting in on the ground early could be a very smart move, and a sign of more good things to come. Juno pitch themselves as a bar, restaurant and event space, but it's not often you see a bar menu this interesting - battered sausages, pepper sauce smash burgers, and cheese and onion chips all had our interest piqued - and the word on the street (i.e. from ATF readers who are great for the intel) was that the food was exceptionally tasty. It sounded like it needed a visit. Where should we sit? It wasn't clear from their website or social feeds but they have some quality outdoor seating here, with early evening prime time for sun-downers and dinner bathed in a warm (possibly sweaty) glow - we'll take all and any rays whenever we can get them. There's plenty of seating inside too over a couple of rooms, with loads of space for whatever size group you're going with. Decor is a mix of "old man pub" with a new paint job and some eye-popping art. It's clear it was a fit out on a budget but we think they've done a decent job of updating the space. What did you eat? This is not your average pub menu, and like sister restaurant Happy's it's a mash up of "global flavours", with a nice injection of Irishness (see their crispy fried Gubbeen and bacon & cabbage arancini). The sourcing is also above and beyond for a bar, with fresh fish from Sustainable Seafood Ireland , free-range chicken from Rings Farm in Kilkenny, and breads from Oakesmoke Bakery . We've had multiple messages from readers about their black pudding and thyme battered sausage, and this is some dirty delicious bar food. Where your local chipper's is greasy this is crisp, while theirs is a sad rubbery length of meat this is soft and fragrant, pork speckled with black pudding rather than it taking over. The black garlic mayo and crispy onions take it up another couple of levels on the flavour scale, and we can see what all the fuss is about. It's obviously heavy though so one of these followed by a main and your digestive system probably won't thank you. This, some (excellent) chips and a pint? Stick a fork in us, we're done. Crispy fried Gubbeen is an upgrade on the 'fancy starter' deep-fried brie of yesteryear (it's actually still everywhere), and comes drizzled with hot honey and sesame seeds. We'd take this over the original any day, but the cheese needed a bit longer in the frier as it was still semi-solid inside. We love a good Irishing up of a non-Irish dish (as a country we don't exactly have a repertoire of recipes that went global) so loved the idea of the bacon and cabbage arancini, and loved it on the plate too. It's more ham than bacon, and spring greens than cabbage, but it all works, and the Cashel Blue fondue it's served with deserves icon status. They do a really nice job in here of lifting fatty/carby food with high acid sauces and spice, and they're big on pickled onions, designed to pull your palate back from the cliff face. It's a balancing act and they're skilled at the fatty food tightrope. The mains are more in line with standard pub grub - burgers; nachos; fish and chips; sausages and mash - except nothing is standard in here. The Hot Fish Sandwich came with a giant slab of spankingly fresh hake, jalapeño tartare, pink pickles, American cheese and iceberg lettuce on a sourdough bun. When the fish is this pristine and juicy, with a shatteringly light batter, it almost makes a burger feel like a health food - almost. There was debate in parts over whether it had enough flavour, but we think that was more to do with some slightly uneven spreading of the tartare. It's a great fish burger. We tend to stay away from chicken when eating out in casual places as the provenance is almost always pants, but the sourcing from Rings Farm (as well as the fact we don't think we've ever seen the Italian/US dish on a menu here) made us order the Vodka Chicken Parm, with smoked provolone, basil mayo, Parmesan and lettuce on a sourdough bun. It's a hell of a hybrid, with a perfectly pankoed, flattened chicken patty, the perfect amount of rich vodka sauce bursting with sun-ripened tomatoes, bit of cheese, bit of herbs, bit of greens, lot of delicious. The chips at Juno need a moment. On the menu as "twice-cooked rustic fries", they're clearly hand cut, clearly par-boiled, and are a chunky, crispy, fluffy sensation, drained properly and tossed in what looked like paprika. The "cheese and onion chips" come with pickled onions, crispy onions, and that Cashel Blue crema again, and while we can't say they tasted like Tayto, they didn't last long. The crema was pretty scarce though - we could have asked for more but dipped them in the leftovers from the arancini. We also tried the "smokey pep chip" with three peppercorn sauce, smoked provolone and those two types of onions again. We couldn't taste any provolone (and in retrospect don't think there was any on there), but the peppercorn sauce was clearly not from a packet, and had some serious heat alongside its pungency/sweetness/fruitiness. More than once we had to reach for the water to cool down, before sticking the fork back in. They also do this sauce on their beef burger - the "peppercorn smash". For added veggies we tried the fennel and mint slaw which was mistakenly brought with the small plates, and by the time we got to it was limp and watery. Dessert is a one choice affair, an "affogat-oh Jeaysus", billed as brown bread and Baileys ice-cream, brown bread crumble and an Irish coffee pourover (virgin version available). It's a very basic offering from a kitchen where dessert is clearly not high on the agenda, and came missing the brown bread crumble - the server tried to tell us it was in the ice-cream, hmmm... It was all fine, if a liquidy mess by the end. What about drinks? Cocktails and beers are where it's at here, with craft breweries like Kinnegar and White Hag alongside the more commercial operators. The cocktail list is a good one, and there were no complaints about a blood orange and rosemary margarita, or a not-too-sweet strawberry lemonade as an N/A option. Wines are basic, but will satisy your average bar crowd. How was the service? Ropey to start with, but got better with the arrival of more staff. We'd gone back to the bar after ordering to ask that the small plates come out first, with the big plates and sides afterwards, after having a panic that everyone would come at once and we'd end up eating half of it cold - is there anything more irritating? Despite this being noted and sent to the kitchen, the side of fennel slaw arrived in the middle of the small plates. We told the server about the error, she looked confused, then said okay and took it away, before returning with both portions of chips. We nearly had to lie down. After a detailed conversation about wanting the chips to arrive with the burgers, and not before them, they were taken away, but there wasn't anything resembling an apology and it was a tension point that shouldn't have happened. As two dedicated floor servers arrived in addition to the staff behind the bar things improved a lot, with suddenly people there to take plates, ask questions to and check if we needed anything else. And the damage? Around €105 for three smalls, two bigs, three sides, one dessert and three drinks - easily enough to feed three. We thought the quality to price ratio was excellent. What's the verdict? Juno might be pitching themselves as a bar but to come here for drinks and overlook the food would be a big mistake. There's very little in this neck of the woods just outside town, and very little in this fast food genre that would make us want to go back and eat it all again. If more bars did food like this we might spend less time in restaurants. Juno 58 Dorset Street Lower, Dublin 1 junobar.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Bright and beautiful brunch dishes (order anything with their homemade nutbutter), and an emphasis on Middle Eastern flavours at lunch, with wraps and salad plates. A café passionate about climate change, political activism, and doing the right thing, and it's contagious. Tang Abbey Street Website tang.ie Address 9A Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Bright and beautiful brunch dishes (order anything with their homemade nutbutter), and an emphasis on Middle Eastern flavours at lunch, with wraps and salad plates. A café passionate about climate change, political activism, and doing the right thing, and it's contagious. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Forest Avenue After 12 years the stars finally align in Dublin 4 Posted: 10 Mar 2026 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's happening with Forest Avenue? Well they've only gone and done it. Twelve and a half years after opening Forest Avenue on Sussex Terrace in Dublin 4, Michelin finally awarded John and Sandy Wyer the star that so many of the city's chefs and diners have been screaming they should have gotten a long time ago. Forest Avenue was one of the many Phoenixes that rose out of Dublin's recessionary ashes, carving out a new path for modern Irish cooking. This new era was marked by chefs with their own distinctive style, a strong focus on Irish produce, and a genuine desire (not just marketing bluff) to work with whatever the season brought. There was a bit of Scandi influence, a bit of French, some Japanese techniques, but it's always been about technical perfection - hold the fuss. In case it's all somehow passed over your head... John's from Cork, Sandy's from Queens, New York. The restaurant's named after the street she grew up in. They met while working in restaurants in Germany, before moving back to Cork, then Spain, then Dublin where Sandy worked in Chapter One, and they both worked at L'Ecrivain (him as head chef, her as head pastry chef). They had a stint as full time tutors at the Dublin Cookery School, before experimenting with supper club style pop ups around 2011, building a buzzy, insider fan base. When they opened the doors on Sussex Terrace in 2013, things blew up instantly. One of the biggest talking points about this couple is how far they're able to spread themselves without quality taking a hit. They currently run this Michelin-starred restaurant, modern French bistro Forêt next door, neighbourhood Italian Little Forest in Blackrock, and bakery Una in Ranelagh, all considered to be operating on the top rungs of their respective ladders. They make it all look very easy, when in reality we know it's very, very hard. Where should we sit? We have bad memories of being festooned up on the mezzanine here for a special occasion a long time ago, but that area above the restaurant thankfully now seems to be kept for storage. We've always liked the bar and counter seats in here, and they make solo Michelin-starred dining that much easier without the stress of taking up a table for two. Otherwise you'll want a table further in with a bird's eye view of the large, open kitchen, where owner John Wyer gets up to all kinds of magic with a small chef team rowing in behind him. What's the menu like? There's the expected Michelin-starred tasting menu (€95), but also a three course menu at a lower price (€78), available on Wednesdays and Thursdays only for tables of five or less. It's a good way to get the starry experience with a bit less food and wallet damage, but we're only ever going all in somewhere like this (and recommend you do the same). The tasting menu was a thrilling experience from start to end, with that technical precision that's finally won them the star slapping you in the face with every bite from every plate, and some unexpected surprises that pushed the excitement factor further. There was nothing sloppy, ill-cooked, added to a dish without good reason, and it's the type of cooking, assembly and flavour development that makes your own kitchen efforts look like they belong in the bin. Here's what we had. Yellow carrot and Dublin Bay Prawn shell bisque: A wildly good, wildly intense seafood opener, showing the levels of flavour that can be achieved with two of the most beautiful ingredients from Dublin soils and sea right now Coolea cheese, onion and thyme tart: Bury us with five of these in each hand. Short pastry, sweet onion, herby thyme, creamy gouda-like mousse. Could we have topped out at snack #2 ? https://video.wixstatic.com/video/79af6f_caaa7eac9a6548d9a0169417739ecfad/720p/mp4/file.mp4 Beetroot, smoked yoghurt and tamarind: A shatteringly crisp beetroot roll, filled with a tangy tamarind beetroot paste on one end, and smoked yoghurt on the other (mother of God), all of it leading to a smoky, tangy, crispy palate explosion https://video.wixstatic.com/video/79af6f_49e36617c6674a11a832dc93c6dfa8b0/720p/mp4/file.mp4 Cod belly, barbecued leek, Vadouvan: Diving deep into a creamy, curried sauce for juicy chunks of cod and burnished strands of leek, we genuinely worried that they were peaking too early, and nothing was going to top these snacks Yellow fin tuna, blood orange and Japanese spinach: A surprise snack, as seen on their Instagram feed the previous week. A palate cleansing beauty we'd take over a sorbet any day The one and only Forest Avenue sourdough with whipped butter: Never fails to emit all the ooohs and aaaahs and "why can't I get this crust at home" https://video.wixstatic.com/video/79af6f_c5327b1ad650437ea1d7500bc8e97875/720p/mp4/file.mp4 Parsnip soup: Another surprise, sweet and earthy with pine nuts coming up like hidden jewels with each spoon. Unanimously voted "the nicest parsnip soup I've ever tasted", and ideally timed for finishing off that last speck of sourdough you told yourself you were too restrained to finish Hand-dived scallop crudo, apple, smoked cashew nut, horseradish granita: A light, refreshing start to the larger plates, full of zingy apple, crunchy nuts and a kick of heat from the horseradish Cod, white asparagus, sauce of fermented rice, almond, trout roe: A snow white piece of fish flaking into a creamy, tangy sauce, almond paste adding depth and richness, the white asparagus bringing a mild bitterness, although we didn't think the sliced mushrooms on top added anything Duck boudin with prune and jus noisette: A pre-cursor to the next duck course, and presumably a way to make the most of the bird. A very rich duck sausage made from duck livers and prunes, with an equally rich brown butter sauce, lifted by shallots and lemon juice. Into belt opening territory now Thornhill duck, yeasted parsnip, sauce charcuterie: If you think of duck as chewy and fatty, this is the antidote. Butter soft flesh served pink, crispy skin that looks like it was barbecued, exceptionally rendered fat, and the sauce game here is biting at Chapter One's heels Chocolate cremeux, celeriac ice-cream, manzanilla: Anyone who can make vegetable ice-cream this sweet and delicious deserves a star for that alone. A simple enough construction, but all of the elements sang solo and together Croissant pudding with chestnut butter: These little bites on the side completely stole the show. You knew when they hit someone's table as the yummy noises because audibly louder. A very clever use of old croissants from their bakery Una A surprise petit four of a carrot and vanilla choux bun to end: Technically perfect (of course), more vegetables in dessert (we love), did not need another bite at this point (but when has that stopped us) There's a common complaint about Michelin starred restaurants (that mainly seems to emanate from men) that there's never enough food, that they had to stop at the chipper on the way home or make themselves a sandwich when they got in. This will not be a problem here. We absolutely, completely, undoubtedly overate, our stomachs left us in no doubt of that, so if that's a sticking point for you or someone in your life, don't worry - no chipper will be needed. What should we drink? Forest Avenue doesn't have the longest wine list in the world - good news if your dining companions are fed up of you taking 30 minutes to decide on a bottle while their lips remain parched - but there's a nice variety of carefully chosen styles and countries, with prices starting at €39. There's also an optional wine pairing at a peak price of €90. They would want to be some nice bottles for that price, and they are, with Champagne and high end Californian Pinot Noir among the pours. We think their own-bottled, gamay-based Burgundy (also available in Forêt next door) is super value at €48 - a nicely acidic, medium bodied red to see you through multiple dishes without much jarring. We also enjoyed a crémant from Alsace producer Albert Mann (€17 btg), and a bone-dry, golden-hued Austrian Riesling from Weinrieder (€18 btg). How was the service? Pleasant, but at times lacking in warmth. Service felt quite subdued, and sometimes dishes landed without introductions and descriptions of what exactly they were - "this is your duck", before walking off being the most memorable. Each time we called someone back they were able to give us detailed descriptions of each sauce, crumb, cream and general culinary flourish, but it became a mild tension point when waiting for the next dish to arrive that we might have to lasso the person who brought it back to the table to pepper them with questions all over again. It would have been a nice touch to have the main man occasionally leave the kitchen to deliver a dish too. What was the bill? Since gaining that all important star, prices have unsurprisingly risen. The evening tasting menu has gone from €85 to €95, and the three course has gone from €60 - €78 (maybe with more Michelin flourishes included?). €95 still makes this the cheapest Michelin-starred tasting menu in Dublin, with Variety Jones coming in next at €100, and Bastible after that at €110. We spent just shy of €160pp for food, wine and an optional service charge. What's the verdict on Forest Avenue? Fervent fans might disagree, but for us, the food at Forest Avenue is the best it's ever been - maybe those Michelin lads do know something? There's no denying this star was hard fought and well deserved, and to let the continued overlook push you on instead of beating you down is something to be commended on. The new award and resulting price tag has pushed it out of the neighbourhood restaurant realm and into the special occasion one, but the food was there anyway so this is just the last piece of the puzzle. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Contemporary Irish cooking in Portobello, who've had a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2018. They do an à la carte menu and an early bird, and once a month they host a Tuesday night five-course tasting menu. Richmond Website richmondrestaurant.ie Address 43 Richmond Street South, Portobello, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Contemporary Irish cooking in Portobello, who've had a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2018. They do an à la carte menu and an early bird, and once a month they host a Tuesday night five-course tasting menu. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Square Dish A Detroit-style disappointment Posted: 13 May 2025 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What should we know about Square Dish? It's Dublin's newest pizza restaurant (no we haven't peaked yet), with a fancy fit out on one of the capital's most desirable streets - St. Stephen's Green. While the combination of those elements initially made us think Square Dish must be from a big hospitality group with money coming out the wazoo, it's actually husband and wife team Andrew Eakin and Naomi Murtagh behind it. Eakin started London wine shops Bottle Apostle many moons ago, before moving into the wine industry in France, while Murtagh is a designer, most recently based in London. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Thai food centred around a custom made charcoal-burning grill, using the best Irish meat, seafood, vegetables and herbs they can source. The menu aims to shine a light on the grilling culture of Northern Thailand, with the team saying they've been obsessed with Thai food since their first travels across South East Asia. They're not trying to replicate Thai dishes to the letter, but using the cuisine and culture as inspiration for amping up Irish food flavours, and they're doing a very good job at it. The cocktail and wine lists are another highlight, as are the fair prices. Achara Website acharadublin.ie Address Achara, Aston Quay, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Thai food centred around a custom made charcoal-burning grill, using the best Irish meat, seafood, vegetables and herbs they can source. The menu aims to shine a light on the grilling culture of Northern Thailand, with the team saying they've been obsessed with Thai food since their first travels across South East Asia. They're not trying to replicate Thai dishes to the letter, but using the cuisine and culture as inspiration for amping up Irish food flavours, and they're doing a very good job at it. The cocktail and wine lists are another highlight, as are the fair prices. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

When you want a good steak, start with a good butcher. The FX Buckley brand started life as a butcher shop in the 1930's and now operates a small chain of shops and restaurants across Dublin. Offering classic steakhouse vibes with leather banquette seating, heavy wooden furniture and moody artwork, the menu is meaty and the steaks are cooked over charcoal. Although they have a few locations, our pick for the best atmosphere is the Crow Street FXB in Temple Bar. FX Buckley Crow Street Website thebuckleycollection.ie Address 2 Crow Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story When you want a good steak, start with a good butcher. The FX Buckley brand started life as a butcher shop in the 1930's and now operates a small chain of shops and restaurants across Dublin. Offering classic steakhouse vibes with leather banquette seating, heavy wooden furniture and moody artwork, the menu is meaty and the steaks are cooked over charcoal. Although they have a few locations, our pick for the best atmosphere is the Crow Street FXB in Temple Bar. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet