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We're not sure how, but it's rugby time again. Welcome to ten weeks of absent boyfriends and husbands, emotional highs and lows and very noisy pubs. But you don't have to stand in some grotty, cramped, city centre hole to get in on some social rugby action. You can actually go to civilised places instead. Ones that serve very nice food, while you're comfortably sitting down. This way, no matter what happens in the game, on some level you will have already won. Meltdown Staying central? Head to Crow Bar in Temple Bar where there's a full screen and you can order a Meltdown cheese toastie till 3pm. www.instagram.com/meltdowndublin Lemuel's in The Conrad Looking for something swankier? Head to The Conrad's cocktail bar, Lemuel's , for bar food, comfy seats and complex cocktails. www.lemuelsdublin.com Shelbourne Social Not one we were expecting to have on the list, but Dylan McGrath's new high end Ballsbridge restaurant Shelbourne Social are showing the match in their 'Loft' bar. You can order bar food including that famous hot curd bread, bao buns filled with pork belly, lemon sole or duck, and there's a wagyu beef burger which you can add freshly grated truffle or foie gras to. Cocktails are also a speciality. Super fancy match option. www.shelbournesocial.com Fallon & Byrne The posh supermarket on Exchequer Street are showing the match in their wine cellar. They're doing England Vs Ireland match day specials - ham hock and kale hash with black pudding and Guinness gravy Vs a Ploughman's platter, and they have a lot of wine down there. www.fallonandbyrne.com Urchin Comfy basement bar Urchin in the Cliff Townhouse is showing all of the matches, alongside an offer of fish and chips with a pint of Guinness or Hophouse for €22. We've also got our eye on their February cocktail specials, particularly the 'fuego de amor' - we've no idea what's in it but it looks great. clifftownhouse.ie/urchin-bar-2 Charlotte Quay Rugby with a view in Grand Canal Dock. Charlotte Quay are doing a special three-course match day lunch, or a bargainous offer of a burger and a pint of Guinness or Hophouse 13 for €12 - in case you were wondering, Guinness is the new official beer of the Six Nations, so expect to start seeing it everywhere. charlottequay.ie The Glimmerman Stoneybatter's most mentally decorated pub (be sure to look up to see Charlie Haughey and Maggie Thatcher in a bed hanging out of the ceiling) is showing all of the matches, and major bonus - Coke Lane Pizza are out the back from 4pm, serving their Neapolitan style works of art. www.cokelanepizza.com Lucky's And in case one place to get Coke Lane pizza wasn't enough, you can also get it in Lucky's , that brilliant bar in the Liberties with the great beer and the wine on tap, who are also very sensibly showing all of the Six Nations matches. Pizza from 1pm. www.facebook.com/luckysdublin MVP The super cool pub with the great cocktails on Clanbrassil Street are showing the rugby in their upstairs events space, and the even better news is that Irish street food duo Grálinn will be serving food from 6pm. Get on it. mvpdublin.com Kelly & Coopers Gastro-pub Kelly and Coopers in Blackrock (formerly Ouzo's) are showing all of the matches on their big screen in the loft. All the usual soakage like chicken wings, burgers and fish and chips, as well as the more gastro side of things with seafood linguine, halloumi salad and mussels and chips. And all the beer. kellyandcoopers.ie The Square Ball The character filled pub on Hogan Place has a very big thing going for it - Fowl Play . The live fire poultry experts cook everything on their rotisserie, charcoal grill or Texas wood-fired smoker, and the McKenna's called their chicken burger the dish of the year for 2018. Get in line. They also have one of the most impressive low/no alcohol lists we have ever see, anywhere. Just in case you want to substitute every second drink with something a bit more beneficial for your body. Just a suggestion. the-square-ball.com Know anywhere else showing the rugby that also serves great food? Let us know - info@allthefood.ie

For the main street in a capital city, O’Connell Street isn’t exactly the cultural and culinary hub of Dublin. Decent food choices are few and far between, with the main options consisting of dodgy chicken places, multiple McDonald's, and that weird pizza place beside the Savoy - who eats there? The GPO and the Spire just about overshadow the weird casinos, fast food places and corner shops that populate most of the street, and the Rubberbandits satirically pointed out that the statue of socialist Jim Larkin now looks onto the ‘totems of capitalism’ - Burger King and McDonald’s. The pinnacle of food on O’Connell Street is probably the 80c doughnuts from the Rolling Donut kiosk, and it’s hard to think of somewhere to eat when you’re trying to navigate year round tourists. But fear not, we have done the thinking for you and compiled a list of where to eat close to (but definitely not on) Dublin's main thoroughfare. Morning If you find yourself on O’Connell Street in the morning surrounded by commuters, tourists getting an early start to the day and those guys flogging city bus tours to every breathing human, go and find Tang on Abbey Street and get some buckwheat pancakes for breakfast. They’re topped with almond butter, yogurt and seasonal fruit and the bus tours don't come down this way. If you’re around on a Tuesday, Vice Coffee do a Tight Arse Tuesday deal, where all coffees are €2 between 11am and 1pm, but their coffees are top notch so just go whenever you're close by. Alternatively, if it's the weekend, you could go for a dim sum brunch in Bowls on Marlborough Street, and polish it off with one of their Macau style custard tarts. Or if you favour lunch over brunch, you can try one of their signature rice or noodle bowls. Lunchtime For a sandwich fix, head to 147 Deli on Parnell Street and straight for their weekly special - otherwise known as the best sandwich in the capital that week. In other casual carb related cravings, go to Laine My Love under the bridge on Talbot Street for one of their sandwiches for lunch, or proceed there from Connolly station in the morning for breakfast. For a sit down lunch head to The Vintage Teapot for their excellent dumplings, or take the ten minute stroll to One Society on Gardiner Street for a Croque Monsieur or brisket with salsa verde. Alternatively, they serve all day breakfast and brunch, like their full on pancakes (the ten minutes walking there will burn off the pancakes, right?). They also serve pizza in the evenings from 4pm, for those who miscalculated lunchtime. For a more dressed up lunch, try Mr. Fox on Parnell Square, the sister restaurant to  The Pig’s Ear . A three course here will set you back €28 before booze, and it's worth every penny - read our review here . Their nostalgic desserts are making quite the name for themselves, like the Super Split ice cream and the coffee iceberger. As naff as O’Connell Street is, it’s pretty easy to find good Asian food, even Steam on Westmoreland Street isn’t too far of a hike across the bridge. For some bibimbap and drinks, head to Kimchi Hophouse on Parnell Street (below), for Vietnamese Pho or Bun try Pho Viet on the same street, or for very good Sichuan cooking go to  M&L on Cathedral Street for dinner - with the added bonus of a €6 corkage charge in the last two (read our review of M&L  here ). And if you want to go all out, it's got to be Chapter One . Find someone whose birthday it is or achieve something worth celebrating, because this is an occasion place. It’s a little reminiscent of the Tiger who shall not be named but still, this fancy. It’s worth going for the Michelin-starred experience and beautifully constructed dishes, and let's face it, restaurants like this don’t usually fit into your average weekend of eating, so it will be a serious treat. For pre or post drinks, head to Wigwam for their extensive rum selection and Brazilian caipirinhas, or finish up the night in The Big Romance . The vinyl focused bar (music to our eyes - sorry) opened on Parnell Street late last year, with very cool craft beers and a sound system to beat all sound systems. Then head home with a new appreciation for what you previously thought was the most food-barren street in the city. Did we miss any of your favourite spots close to O'Connell Street? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie.

Okay. We’ve made it through the awkward romantic gestures and flurry of Instagrammed steaks and chocolate desserts that was V-day mania. Once you reach that overly comfortable couple stage, eating on Valentine's is like having a second chance at Christmas or your birthday - close your eyes, hope the calories don’t count and eat and drink like it’s not a school night. Back to regular programming and appropriate portions now (who are we kidding), so we’ve picked five snacks that look particularly good this week. ‘Snacks’ have officially overtaken the amuse bouches of the dining scene, much like gravy is the new ‘jus’. 1) Gertrude’s Crispy Egg Gertrude ’s snack menu has been the talk of Instagram since it opened in December - the bacon and cabbage dumplings, the Cooleeney croquettes, and now there's a new one to have us gazing longingly at our phones - crispy egg and fried capers. Gimme. 2) Squid Slider and a glass of Bérêche Champagne from Fish shop From their snack menu on Benburb Street, Fish Shop is serving squid sliders with garlic aioli - a creation of genius. The glass of grower Champagne isn’t included in the €4.50 price but that’s a serving suggestion we are very much behind. 3) Bastible’s Cheese Doughnuts Ok, this one was technically last week (please still be on the menu) but does it still count if we’ve been thinking about Bastible 's doughnuts ever since? Filled with Gubbeen cheese, fermented celeriac and thyme, this is where the doughnut phase in Dublin should’ve evolved to. 4) Sceal’s Coolea and Kraut Bear-Claw Pastries count as snacks right? Particularly when paired with fermented food which basically cancels out cheese and pastry, yes? It’s safe to say that any morning that starts with a pastry from Scéal Bakery is going to be a good morning. 5) Fia’s Little Plate of Goats Cheese This week’s small plate at Fia has some whipped goats cheese, salt baked and pickled beetroot, pesto and hazelnut. Looks as pretty as an Instagram picture.

Kale + Coco , the people who made smoothie bowls a "thing" in Dublin, are opening their first permanent site in Stoneybatter this Friday, on Grangegorman Road Lower, near the new Technical University Dublin . Founders Jenny and Rebecca left corporate jobs in 2015 to go travelling, and launched Kale + Coco at Wellfest after they returned in 2017. After that they did a pop up in Cocu on Hatch Street, followed by a six month stint at Eatyard , and have been looking for a permanent site for the past few months. As well as their signature bowls and smoothies, which include 'The Classic Açaí', 'Tropical Popical' and 'Treat Yo' Self', they're expanding to six "nourish" bowls, including 'Peas and Love', and 'You Guac My World', with little gem lettuce, tri-colour quinoa, black beans, spicy roasted veg, corn & bean salsa, guacamole, tortilla chips and a spicy cashew lime dressing. They're also serving 8th Corner Coffee , matcha and golden lattés, vegan hot chocolate and raw desserts, and the entire menu is plant-based, so expect the vegans to flock in their numbers. Kale + Coco say they want to introduce the vegetables back into veganism, as despite the number of new openings over the past year, much of it has been fast food, as have much of the new vegan products being launched - missing the point maybe? They're also focusing on being as environmentally-friendly as possible, with compostable packaging, a glass jar deposit scheme, reusable straws, and discounts to customers bringing their own cups or containers. Kale + Coco will be doing eat in or take away, Monday - Saturday until 4pm, and the interior is very nutbutter -esque e.g. expect to see it on an instagram feed near you soon - they've even got swing seats. Kale + Coco 18 Grangegorman Lower, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 Mon - Fri 07:30 - 16:00. Sat 09:00 - 16:00. www.kaleandcoco.com

Shaka Poke , the Blackrock based poke stall, will open their first fully indoor site in Stephen's Green today, on the first floor of the shopping centre. Shaka Poke founders Jamie and Dave started selling the Hawaiian seafood bowls at market stalls in 2017, before opening a permanent site in the outdoor but semi-covered Blackrock Market in early 2018. They've been looking for a city centre site for a while, but the high rent and key money was proving prohibitive, until the centre approached them to see if they were interested in moving into their 'food village' on the first floor. It seems like a shrewd move to put the centre back on the map, and we'd bet there's more in the pipeline. The menu features build your own bowls and seven 'house specials', including the 'heatwave' with ahi tuna, wakame, jalapeños, cucumber, sweetcorn and chillies, the 'off the wall' with salmon, edamame, carrot, red cabbage and mango, and three vegan options. Bowls come in two different sizes, and are €9.50 - €13 for the classic bowls, and €9.50 - €14 for the build your own. Shaka Poke in Stephen's Green will be open Monday - Sunday from 11:30 - 18:00, and there's lots of seating overlooking Grafton Street and Stephen's Green, so if you've yet to try Hawaii's most famous dish, now's your chance to get involved. Shaka Poke Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, Dublin 2 Mon - Sun 11:30 - 18:00 www.shakapoke.ie

There's a real mixture of moods this week, with some critics' lunch giving them "hope for a new future", and others downtrodden by oyster bars that feel more like a chipper. In the Irish Times , Catherine Cleary calls new Gardiner Street spot One Society a farm-to-table café that's a great addition to the north inner city. She flipping loved that the beef brisket on the menu was from the owner's sister's farm in Meath (music to an Irish Times critic's ears), and calls the whole place "heartening". A "not so classic Irish breakfast" sounds enormous but came with good sausages, smoked black pudding, caramelized apples ("just apple sauce but still good"), spiced beans, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms and her friend thought it was as good a breakfast as he'd had. Special mention for the Le Levain sourdough too. Desserts of brownie and crumble were bought in but good, and coffee excellent, and she calls One Society a "hope for a future which might not be as generic as the developments that surround it". And people say it's just food... Read her review here . In the Irish Independent Katy McGuinness admits to kicking herself for taking 25 years to get to Chameleon in Temple Bar. They recently did a bit of a rebrand, giving the exterior of restaurant a much-needed facelift, and for any restaurateurs getting worried about getting left behind with all of the new openings of later, this is a very clever idea - just FYI, the food needs to be good too or it doesn't work. She gives a nice bit of background on how Chameleon came about in 1994 which we'd guess most people won't know, before telling us that the bao are "perfect", their favourite being pork belly with pineapple compote, but buttermilk chicken and fish and squid "fish fingers" get honourable mentions too. Short rib of beef is "rich, tender, elegant", and a Wicklow lamb and sweet potato curry "the epitome of comfort". Also getting the love was the bami goreng (noodles), nasi goreng (rice), sambal fries (yum) and kimchi (gut health ftw), and she gives it 8/10 for food, ambience and value. Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent Lucinda O'Sullivan lists 12 cafés to try in "fringe locations" in Dublin, and it's a pretty cracking list. She's certainly been doing her groundwork of late. Making the cut are a lot of our favourites, including Alma , Bread 41 , Gertrude and Nutbutter , and One Society gets its second nod of the week. Also mentioned is Bowls by Kwanghi Chan just off Parnell Street, Groundstate Coffee in Dublin 8, Industry (not a fringe location but still great), Koffee + Kale just off Dorset Street, Lilliput Stores and Mooz in Stoneybatter, and The Green Bean in Dun Laoghaire. You could do a lot worse than working your way through this list. (Not currently online). In the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis visited the newly revamped Ely Wine Bar on Ely Place, finding it "buzzing". The food sounds good, with some great provenance including beef from the family farm, but there were a couple of "could do better"s including some "bland" scallops and a celeriac dish that needed some crunch. She calls the burger "one of the best in town" and they loved the desserts of poached rhubarb with rhubarb jelly and ice-cream. Read her review here . In the Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley gives the new Alex Findlater & Co in Limerick a proper dressing down, by comparing their Oyster & Seafood Bar to a busy chipper, replete with the sounds and smells of deep-fat fryers on overdrive. And they couldn't even produce decent chips. The food sounds almost universally disappointing, except for a "decent enough" prawn cocktail, and "excellent" battered monkfish. A crab and salmon scotch egg (with potato to dilute the fish - why? Never mind, we know the answer) came with a "masala dressing" that sounds particularly woeful, with Tom comparing it to curry power mixed with catering mayonnaise and calling it "haunting". Just what you want from a review. Cod croquettes came filled with the same mashed potato as the scotch egg, and the aforementioned fries were "anaemic looking and deficient in that essential quality of crunch". Thankfully the service from their "outstanding" waitress was charming and efficient, but he says if they're planning on rolling this concept out, which has been suggested in the media, they need to have a long hard think about what the concept is. Interestingly, Gilian Nelis loved their "Grill Room" (in the same building) so much that she put it in her " Top 10 Restaurants of 2018 ". Confusingly inconsistent. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Examiner , Joe McNamee had what sounds like an extremely frustrating meal at Greene's in Cork - it kind of sounds like he just wants to go in and sort it out himself. He'd heard they were targeting a Michelin star, but it doesn't sound like it's in reach based on this experience. Bad start when their confirmed window table wasn't available and no apology was offered in its place. Breads were "pleasing but unremarkable", and three amuse bouches (all meat) were "mildly pleasing at best". Spare a thought for his poor wife (a pescatarian) who had to settle for an "uninspiring" tomato-based soup. Starters were better, with celeriac and Ballyhoura mushroom cigars, and Goatsbridge trout two ways (pate and cured) "delicate, precise affairs", but more issues when the sommelier didn't know one of the wines on the list, and it ended up being a big fat disappointment. Even MORE disappointment that the only non-meat dish on the menu was a veggie risotto, so his wife ordered fish without the bacon it was supposed to come with, and they accidentally took the smoked sausage out of Joe's fish dish too. God it's exhausting even recounting this, imagine being there. He makes the valid point that faults like these are more pronounced when the food is this expensive, and you can read the full postmortem here . Finally in the Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley was at Dalkey neighbourhood bistro De Ville's , where he found proper bistro food well-presented, and seemed happy to overlook some kitchen niggles due to the crackling atmosphere. Read that here . More next week.

It's a full run of new openings this week, with mostly wins, a couple of misses, and a major difference of opinion on one of Dublin's most talked about new restaurants. In the Irish Times , Catherine Cleary boldly declares that newly opened Italian Grano in Stoneybatter does the best early bird in Dublin and gives it 9/10 (no arguments from us - read our review here ). She brought a "self-respecting Italian" along for verification purposes, and it all got the authenticity thumbs up. Cured meat from Puglia, Capocollo, was "utterly gorgeous", burrata was "a blister of deliciousness", and so was the frisella di farro - "you taste it and happiness happens". Pasta for mains was "comfort cooking". Scialatelli with anchovies, capers, pine nuts and breadcrumbs was "hearty", and pumpkin gnocchi with cream and fresh black truffle was "satisfyingly dense". Desserts of tiramisu, panna cotta and chocolate salami (much better than it sounds) all pleased the table too and she calls it "Terrific hand-made, home-cooked Italian food without shortcuts". We were actually in Grano the same night as CC and she and her buddies seemed to be having a roaring time. Just a shame that once again they didn't partake in Roberto's very special, and very well-priced wine list. More fool you guys. Read her review here . In the Irish Examiner , Leslie Williams reviews Variety Jones , comparing 'experience' restaurants "with posh toilets, multimillion-euro budgets and boring or terrible food" (he names The Ivy and Café en Seine in case you're scratching your head) with "funky chef-run spaces where the food is the star — places like Variety Jones." No surprises, he loved it, but does issue a word of warning that you'll need a "very open mind" to partake in the 'natural' wine list - the rule of thumb with natural wines is, the younger you are, the less this will be a issue. A Flaggy Shore oyster with Vietnamese dressing and rye bread topped with goat cheese curds and trout caviar both "popped", and the chicken liver parfait had a "lovely lightness of touch" with contrasts from fried and pickled onions. The comté ravioli with mushrooms "raised the meal to another level", and a shared main of hearth-roasted brill kept it there. The only mild complaint was with a wine pairing for the pasta which it doesn't sound like they loved. An apple sponge cake came with a "star element" of brown butter custard, and he calls it "outstanding cooking", saying "do please visit as this is the kind of restaurant that deserves to thrive." Read his review here . In the Irish Daily Mail Tom Doorley reviews Gertrude , which opened just before Christmas on Pearse Street. He left very impressed, but we have to take issue with reviewing somewhere on the basis of two courses (three if you count nicking some of a neighbouring diner's dessert). Isn't the non-binding rule two people, three courses? Luckily for Gertrude the two dishes in question were A-rated, as was the manzanilla by the glass, which he calls "an indication that you are in a place that cares about wine and food" - agreed. Bacon and cabbage dumplings were "first rate", with the riff on a traditional Irish dish "inspired", a Tonkatsu pork sandwich was "rather lovely", and his neighbour's apple fritters were more like doughnuts and therefore "misleadingly flagged" but "fine", and that's all you're getting in terms of opinions on the food. He does say he wants to go back, so maybe we'll get the other half at a later stage, but in the meantime we did a lengthier dive into the menu at Gertrude which you can read here . (Review not currently online). In the Irish Independent , it's another disappointing review for Bowls from Katy McGuinness, albeit with the benefit of the doubt that things can get better. She blames owner Kwanghi Chan's absence for the underwhelming food that included an aubergine noodles bowl whose main vegetable was "a sludgy, watery mess", and came in broth which lacked flavour and with "fridge-cold broccoli". A beef brisket rice bowl was similarly bland and disappointing, and chicken and chive potstickers were "heavy, solid and lacking in flavour". The macau-style custard tarts were "pleasant" and she says that bearing in mind other reports (presumably including but not limited to being listed in this year's McKenna's Top 100 Restaurants in Ireland), what's missing in Bowls is rigour, and that Kwanghi himself should be there day in day out making sure that execution is up to scratch. She generously says that she has no doubt it can be consistently excellent if this happens, but for now gives the food 6/10. Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent Lucinda O'Sullivan was visiting recently opened Gigi in Ranelagh. We've heard little or nothing about it, which is surprising considering owner Giorgio Casari used to own The Unicorn , host to many visiting celebs and "legendary" long lunches during the Celtic Tiger era. They ordered pâté and an antipasti selection to start, but the latter was so huge and "splendiferous" that they cancelled the pâté. There's also an insinuation that he might have give them more than what's usually included, which makes no sense to us, as the critic ends up reviewing something the diner won't get. They liked their pasta with mussels and sliced, rare, picanha steak for mains, as well as the vibe and the Vermentino, and finished with a "luscious" tiramisu. She advises taking "your love" there for Valentine's Day to soak up the Italian charm, and if that too obvious and cringe for you we've put together an alternative list of choices here . (Review not currently online) In the Sunday Business Post Gillian Nelis went to newly opened Lily's in Wicklow for Sunday lunch, and calls it the type of place she'd love to have at the bottom of her street - "Friendly, unpretentious and welcoming, but offering some really great food". Special mention for the homemade Guinness and olive breads, and the smoked salmon tartare with cucumber, avocado and dill. Read her review here . And in the Sunday Times Ernie Whalley's sounding particularly curmudgeonly in his review of Variety Jones - the first negative one they'd had. All seven national critics have now been in, the first six slinging praise all over the shop, so we're not sure what happened, but we're guessing it started with the natural wine list (see earlier comment) and went downhill from there. Read that here . More next week.

Chez Max , the French bistro with two city centre locations has closed its Baggot Street site. The restaurant announced the news on its Facebook page , saying that the team were "very sad" that the restaurant would be closing, but that the Palace Street site near Dublin Castle would remain open. Twelve months ago, the building that houses Chez Max was put on the market for €2.1 million. The annual reported rent was €90,000, but the estate agent advised there was “significant reversionary potential”. It was reported to be in "very good condition throughout". The café and shop above the Baggot Street restaurant will stay open for a few more weeks, and details for the remaining Palace Place site can be found here .

Ah Valentine’s Day. The romance, the Tesco flowers, the discount chocolates on the 15th that follow like a walk of shame the morning after... We're just gonna put it out there, Valentine’s Day is a really substandard day to go out with a loved one. Literally every other existing couple will be out, clogging up public spaces with over the top displays of affection and couple selfies on the Ha’Penny Bridge. If you insist on going out on the 14th, here are some places that aren’t the quintessential date spots - more places to go to avoid every other gag-inducing couple in Dublin, whether you're with your significant other, sparking the flames of a bromance or substituting the traditional day with Galentine's. Or just do yourselves a favour and go out on the 15th. Fish Shop on Benburb Street Sit at the bar in Fish Shop for a more romanticized version of fish and chips with a side of very delicious wine. The bar seats in Benburb Street mean that it won’t be as easy to stare into your loved one’s eyes all night, and let you focus on the person who really deserves your attention, the one pouring you wine. fish-shop.ie Assassination Custard If you want to avoid the masses and are actually planning a V-date earlier in the day, go here (it's lunch only). And if you haven’t been before, prepare to scold yourself for not coming any sooner. Eating at this corner café off Kevin Street feels like you’re in on a secret and the food is top notch. It’s BYOB, cash only and won't bleed your bank account dry. Sharing one of two tables is the norm, so it's guaranteed that goopy hand holding will be kept to a minimum. www.facebook.com/assassinationcustard Lucky Tortoise The dim sum spot on Aungier Street is way too cool for public displays of affection, and for €20 a head you get the full dim sum tasting menu, so perfect if you want to take someone out but don't want to forgo eating for the rest of the month. The fluffy bao buns are reason to go alone. www.luckytortoise.co Token Okay, the hipster arcade bar in Smithfield might be cramped with couples hogging the two-player Mario Kart, but this is a good place for a platonic friend date where you won't have to worry about how bad you are at Tetris. You can also avail of their Cheapskate deal, which includes a main, a side, a drink and 10 tokens for €20.95, without the fear of being judged. tokendublin.ie The Cupcake Bloke If you’re not up for a big night out (no shame) or single, fill the void of a relationship with half a dozen Valentine's themed cupcakes from The Cupcake Bloke ... or else give them to a loved one, we guess. Their cupcake aptly named ‘My Last Rolo’ really hits the feels, and their bouquet-like rose and champagne cupcakes are infinitely better than any other non-edible flower alternative. thecupcakebloke.com The Seafood Cafe Temple Bar might be a quarantine zone for touristic Valentine’s affection, but the Seafood Cafe can offer some respite from the overly hyped date night. Also, if getting lobster isn’t a usual option for you and your other half, why not splash out now, under the peer pressure of ‘the most romantic night of the year’. www.allthefood.ie/klaw-seafood-cafe Grano The new pasta bar in Stoneybatter serving Italian ingredients and house-made pasta is perfect for that hit of carbs and cheese without the paralysing portion sizes, unless you order a lot of courses - no judgment here. www.allthefood.ie/review-grano 777 Go for some tacos and if the date isn’t going as planned...stay for the margaritas. Whether you’re going with a significant other, on a bro date or with a gang of the girlos, you could do a lot worse than planning it around the margs and tacos in 777 . www.allthefood.ie/review-777 Loose Canon A good place to be reunited with cheese and wine, especially if you’ve been on Dry January. If you’re not someone who’s wine savvy, the cheese and natural wine fanatics at Loose Canon are very obliging at helping you around the menu, and it's a great place if you want to go ‘out’ but not ‘out out’. www.allthefood.ie/single-post/2018/07/11/Loose-Canon-Cheese-Wine-opens-on-Drury-Street Cliff Townhouse The Oyster Bar and Urchin Bar at the Cliff Townhouse will be serving their “Share the Love” seafood platter with crab claws, oysters, mussels and lobster, plus two glasses of bubbles, for €59 for the whole month of February, with €5 from each one going to Focus Ireland . Perfect if you want to celebrate the greeting card holiday but avoid the masses by going out on any day other than the 14th. clifftownhouse.ie

We've been getting requests for this one for a while, and as we're not members of the dog owner club, we thought we'd enlist Taurean Coughlan from Two Boys Brew / TAUR.ie , parent to Milo the beagle and Dublin coffee shop expert (and owner) to put it together for us. There really is nothing better than finding a new place in the city to grab a coffee, a spot of brunch or to just hang out with your friends. With the proliferation of new places opening up in Dublin at the moment, it’s hard not to find somewhere you’ve never tried. But what happens when like us two boys, you get yourself a new puppy and you’re left wondering where can we go now? Since Milo’s arrival, it’s been great to have been welcomed into so many of the places we love to visit, with the little lady. Below is just a small selection of some of the places we like to hit up during our days off and whether your fury friend is small, big or gigantic – you can be rest assured you’ll all be looked after extremely well. 1. Two Boys Brew Of course, she loves a trip to TBB to say hello to the team and chill while we grab a bite to eat. For the best part of putting down roots in Phibsborough, we have been dog friendly and it’s been great. We have so many customers who love to take their pup with them when going for a coffee or food and we love to see them! 2. Lilliput Stores Living in Stoneybatter, the Lilliput Stores is a godsend to those who love their food in this part of the city. Early morning walks with Milo usually begin with a trip there to grab a coffee and a small treat sometimes. These guys use Ariosa Coffee who are a wonderful roastery based in Ashbourne, Co. Meath. Their coffee packs a real punch and is just the thing needed before heading to the Phoenix Park for that long walk. As well a full deli offering, the store stocks everything from breads, cheeses, fresh fruit and vegetables and the best olive oil and balsamic vinegar you’ll find. 3. The Fumbally Milo sure likes to walk, so it’s not unusual for us to make our way over to the other side of the city most weekends. The Fumbally is a perfect spot for us to visit as it’s so big that you can grab yourself a space in the corner and be confident that you’re not going to annoy anyone too close to you. We like to grab some coffees and lunch while Milo takes a well-deserved nap on one of the comfy sofas. That nap mightn’t last long, so we enjoy it while we can. 4. Proper Order Coffee Co. Proper Order Coffee Co . are just down the road from where we live in Smithfield so we visit them a few times a week. Milo’s been visiting Niall, Ali and the team there since she was tiny and it’s just a lovely place to relax during your morning coffee. They do a really nice selection of pastries and breads from Bread 41 throughout the week and don’t be surprised to see Milo nibbling away on a bit of a morning bun – she’s got a bit of a sweet tooth like her dads. 5. Two Pups Coffee Milo and I have spent many a morning in Two Pups over the last year and it’s great to visit during the week with your dog. We usually grab a seat by the window where Milo does some people watching down Francis St. while I try and sneak a bite of their Avo Toast (with that insanely delicious garlic peanut butter). They serve great coffee from a range of top roasters and make sure to grab one of their brownies – they’re so good. 6. Love Supreme Owners Ken and Katie have two gorgeous dogs of their own so naturally Love Supreme is a brilliant place for other dog owners. The team there are always lovely and they’ve got a great selection of sausage rolls, breakfast pies and cakes to tempt you while you order your coffee at the bar. Everything is made onsite and using the best quality ingredients available so definitely one to check out. 7. Meet Me In The Morning We’ve been massive fans of MMIM since the beginning and with Reference Coffee now part of the mix, we’re so glad we’re still able to visit and bring Milo along. Brian, Kevin and their team have created a wonderful space that serves insanely delicious food and their coffee is kept varied and international meaning you get to try a new roaster during each visit most times. 8. The Belfry I love The Belfry and thankfully it’s one of our locals. Since reopening, it’s become a real hotspot for locals and visitors alike who love the cosy space, its great drinks menu and the various food trucks that visit throughout the week. Whether its vegan burgers, pizza or falafel; you can grab yourself some food, a drink and relax with your fury friend in a really relaxing space. 9. 3fe (including Daniel) When we moved back to Dublin from Melbourne, 3fe was one of our regular destinations as it really reminded us of our favourite Melbourne cafes. The coffee, the space and the wonderful hustle and bustle is everything we love so it’s amazing to be able to visit them with Milo. While we don’t get to visit them as much as we like these days, we do visit Daniel often where the team there look after Milo with treats so we can take a minute to really enjoy our coffees and pastries. 10. Ariosa (not Dublin but a short train ride away) We love to bring Milo to Kevin’s family home just outside Drogheda as much as we can, where she gets to play with his brother's dog Alfie. Both of them run the legs off themselves, and once its nap time we’re in the car down the road to visit Ariosa for a coffee and a piece of cake. Having grown up in Drogheda, speciality coffee shops were few and far between, so it’s now amazing to have somewhere like Ariosa right in the middle of town. And….. The Fat Fox! Since her first trip to meet Claire, Rob and Jack nearly a year ago, Milo’s visited The Fat Fox quite a bit - each time a little bigger. They’re all mad about dogs so it was a wonderful spot to bring her during our walks around the city as she was showered with cuddles and kisses. It was sad to see these guys having to close on Camden Row last year but be assured that they're working so hard to get those doors re-opened and will be back with a bang in a fantastic new location soon. We can’t wait!

Met Éireann had us bracing us for winter like Jon Snow in Game of Thrones. Bread quivered in its packaging on supermarket shelves, wine bottles rattled, students and workers alike anticipated a solid three days off once again. So when the big freeze never came, it was a bit of a let down. The country didn’t shut down, the heating bill stayed up and it’s still feckin cold outside, but the bread and wines stocks are safe for now. Still suffering from snowy PTSD after not stockpiling food properly last year, here are some dishes that we want to have in our ice bunker for the next winter outbreak, which should be coming any week now. 1. Beef Brisket Ramen from the Ramen Bar Now that there’s no sign of a weather traffic-light warning, it’s safe to go outside and find warm, comforting bowls of ramen, like this beef brisket bowl from The Ramen Bar on South William Street. www.allthefood.ie/the-ramen-bar 2. Cauliflower Wings in Vish Shop If you missed these in Eatyard, you have a second chance ever since Vish Shop opened on Dorset street. These cauliflower wings are pretty impressive and while they might not be directly related to their meaty cousin, they definitely hit the satisfaction spot. www.facebook.com/Vish.Shop 3. Craft's Peanut Butter Tart This peanut butter tart with salted peanut praline and rhubarb jam from neighbourhood favourite Craft in Harold's Cross, is perfect for putting on those extra layers of insulation to keep the cold away. www.allthefood.ie/craft 4. Barolo Risotto with Gorgonzola, Walnuts and Radicchio from Crudo Crudo at Dunne & Crescenzi in Sandymount, is making risotto sexy again. Barolo and arborio rice is the alcohol-carb marriage we didn’t know we needed. www.dunneandcrescenzi.com 5. Any Meltdown Toastie And in a glorious return for those who were on the Veganuary path for the last month (or for those returning from Dry January - they’re open late) ... welcome back to real life. We’d like to direct you towards any cheese filled toastie from Meltdown in Temple Bar. www.facebook.com/meltdowndub

Cotto , Stoneybatter's go-to spot for pizza and brunch, has closed today after three years in business. Owners Conor Higgins and Amie Costello, who also own café Oxmantown , which has two branches in Dublin 7, have told followers that the building has been sold, and despite hoping for their tenancy to continue, they received very short notice that it wouldn't be possible. Cotto opened in January 2016 to very positive reviews, and initially built up a business for sandwiches by day and pizza by night. The introduction of weekend brunch proved to be just as popular, and they had a very loyal following in the community as one of Stoneybatter's best places to eat . Writing on Instagram they said, "We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every customer who has made Cotto an overwhelming success for our little family over the last 3 years. We would also like to thank our amazing team in the kitchen and front of house who made it all possible. Thanks to our neighbours, friends and family for all of your support. We are heartbroken and we will be taking some time to pick up the pieces. But we hope to be back in action again soon, so watch this space... 🖤. Love, Conor, Amie, Ruby and Elliot."

The poor Shelbourne Social heads aren't having the best weekend. They've already had two ropey reviews from Lucinda and Gillian , and this weekend they've had another two, from Catherine and Katy. After an estimated €2 million investment, this isn't really what you were hoping for. In the Irish Times , Catherine Cleary calls it a "deep dive into Tiger 2.0" and compares it to a Mercedes showroom. Like the other reviewers she thought the lengthy menu needed a sat nav, and seems a bit put out by the all-male staff, who pronounced each dish brought to the table as "brilliant" or "amazing" - sounds a bit carry-on-esque - but it wasn't all bad. The hot curd bread we've been lusting after was "fiendishly delicious", but a bowl of egg, artichoke crisps and trout roe that the chef sent out with it would have been nice were it warm, but it was cold, and presumably meant to be that way - no one sends mistakenly cold food out to Catherine Cleary. She liked a plate of wild forest mushrooms with Tete de Moine cheese, and pork belly with baby squid and blackened Jerusalem artichoke was the dish of the night, but scallops in a gluey almond cream were "a curious mess", and a crispy rice hot pot came with "wonderful" prawns, and "good" softshell crab, but after a corn mole was poured over it by McGrath himself, ended as "a hot mess ... a tepid soup" - nightmare. She describes her dessert of soft serve, smoked banana ice-cream with miso caramel as "a car crash" and "nobody's idea of a good time", and says that while there are "true flashes of brilliant cooking ... the swerves from delicious to disaster feel dizzying." This all added up to a score of 6.5/10, and you can read the full autopsy here . More bad news in the Irish Independent , with Katy McGuinness calling the Ballsbridge boyo's club over-wrought, over-chummy and over-lit. Even before getting there she found the restaurant's website "migraine-inducing", singling out the random, pulsating graphics in the auto-play video - how had we not noticed this?? Join the Tupac party here . She felt they were pushed upstairs for a cocktail (gotta love the up-sell), before coming down to attempt to make sense of a menu "desperate to be different". Major cringe when reading that the waiter attempted to memorise their order rather than partaking in the inconvenience of writing it down, which ended up in one dish not arriving, and two interruptions to double check the order. Pre-school stuff people. She also thought the hot curd bread was "delicious", but Dexter beef tartare had too much going on, and burrata with truffle sauce was "woefully over-chilled". Sirloin on the bone lacked flavour, and she felt that the food was becoming indistinguishable, with eating starting to feel like a chore. Ouch. Wild forest mushrooms with Madeira and pickled pistachio was "bland", potato purée with gribiche-dressed beans and egg yolk "weird", and hazelnut chocolate meringue "dull", but the chef sent out a complimentary bowl of that car crash smoked banana ice-cream, which they actually found "delightful", calling it the high point of the meal. Different chef? Different tastes? She gives the food, ambience and value 5/10, and makes it four disappointing reviews out of four for McGrath. Read it here . It's a much better weekend for Variety Jones , who can now add Lucinda O'Sullivan to their growing number of super fans, which appears to include 99% of the people who have eaten there. There are not one but two digs at Press Up this week (more on that later), with Lucinda declaring herself sick of "the faceless, formulaic format of Instagram-perfect spectacular decor matched with food that is 'middling'" - aren't we all Lucinda - and calls Variety Jones, with its "edgy up-and-coming location" a joy to visit. She calls everything "classically cool and delicious", including "sublime" foie gras and chicken liver paté, and everyone's favourite blackened cauliflower which was "gloriously enhanced" with burnt yeast, sea trout, brown butter and salmon roe (above). A sharing main of sole was again "sublime", and despite the €50 price tag she calls it "the bargain of the year". Treacly Jamaica cake for dessert was "indulgent" and the wine "delicious", and she ends by saying: "Go now. Soon you won't be able to bag a table here for love nor money." With talk of them currently being booked out weeks in advance we'd say she's probably right on that one. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley reviews Bowls , Kwanghi Chan's new Asian rice and noodle bowl joint just off Parnell Street. The headline of "Lick your bowl clean" sounds like it's going to be a home run, but he's actually pretty critical, calling the dumplings "too doughy to write home about", but Asian chicken broth was "very good", and the wok-fried prawns with XO sauce and real depth of flavour the best thing they ate. A char siu pork rice bowl was "pretty good" and "remarkable value" at €9.95 for the amount of food, but a BBQ pork bowl was "dry, tame and timid", with the highlight being the miso roasted aubergine. A Portugese-style custard tart for €2.80 was good (although he does compare it to Lidl's which are 3 for €2 - bit unfair?), and he says it feels like a chain but without the wow-factor needed to make it work. (Review not currently online) In the Sunday Business Post Gillian Nelis gives another thumbs up to the food at the newly reopened Café en Seine . Despite some slightly lacking service and cramped tables the food impressed across the board, with highlights including warm crab rolls, pappardelle with walnut, chestnut mushrooms and an egg cooked in brown butter, and black pudding sausage rolls. The only disappointment was a chocolate and raspberry ice cream sandwich for dessert which was "unmemorable", and she ends by saying: "It goes to show that it’s far from impossible to marry good food with swanky decor, a task that seems to be beyond many others in the capital at the minute." Meow (and also, well said). Read her review here . In the Irish Examiner , Joe McNamee was dragging out the festive season at Blackrock Castle Café , who still had their lights up and brussel sprouts on the menu in late January. Respect. Overall it sounds liked a solid B - very good, but could do better. A pork wellington with mushroom duxelle was tender and well-cooked, but came with weary potatoes - "top drawer" sautéed sprouts went some way to make up for it. Marinated chicken with stuffing was "very decent", but came with under roasted veg and disappointing red cabbage. A gamekeeper’s pie with venison, pheasant and wild boar had "thumping unami notes" but overwhelmed the non-wintry sounding ‘winter greens’ of sprouting broccoli and mangetout, and the dish of the night was a seafood pie, "a savoury-sweet prawn bisque with a lid of potato and kale galette". Service was very good and the venue "a delight", and he gives it 7.5/10. Read his review here . Finally in the Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley visits Green Man Wines in Terenure, which reminds him of those wine bars in rural France with simple, well-cooked food and good wine. If only every neighbourhood had one. Read that here . More next week.

Tiller + Grain, a new café from ex- Ottolenghi chef Clair Dowling, opens on South Frederick Street today, with slow cooked meats, whole baked fish and lots of salads. Dowling, who previously worked as a surveyor before chucking it in to become a chef, spent the last five years in London working for Ottolenghi, Richard Corrigan and Spring by Skye Gynell . She moved home to Dublin six months ago and managed to secure a city centre site in record time. The name comes from the people who farm the land and what they reap from it, and all of the food is Irish where possible, including all meats and seasonal fruits and vegetables. The menu will change depending on the time of year, but in Winter breakfast will include blood orange and cardomom porridge, apple and vanilla overnight oats and Bread Nation pastries, and lunch will have hot dishes including slow-cooked ox shin, whole poached salmon and borlotti bean curry, as well as salads like farro, olives, tarragon, radicchio and preserved lemon, and roasted onion and butternut squash with mint and herb yoghurt, nigella seeds and pickled chillies. They're also doing sandwiches like slow-cooked pork with kewpie mayo and pickled cucumber, and slow-cooked lamb with harissa mayo and pickled red onions, both on Bread Nation sourdough. All of their packaging is compostible and they're taking a hard line with suppliers to avoid the use of any single use plastic. Coffee is coming in cans from Imbibe , all delivery containers are returned to be reused, and much of it is coming in glass or paper. To ensure that remains the case they have no waste bin, only recycling and composting. There's also a discount for keep cup users and a drinking water tap for people to fill their own containers. Dowling says she wants to serve "feel-good food" that nourishes people and makes them feel great, and is always looking for ways to get more nutrition into dishes. Once up and running they plan to expand to an early evening take away service, for people wanting to bring dinner home with them. Tiller + Grain is open from Monday to Saturday from 07:30. Closing times currently TBC. Tiller + Grain 23 Frederick Street South, Dublin 2 Mon - Sat 07:30 - TBC. tillerandgrain.ie

This week's winners are undoubtedly Variety Jones and Bowls by Kwanghi Chan , who not only got stonking write ups this weekend in the Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner, but also made it onto the McKenna's "Best Restaurants in Ireland 2019" list - no small feat after only opening last month. However, it hasn't been such a good week for others. In the Irish Independent, Katy McGuinness gives the food at Variety Jones 9/10, calling it "nigh on perfect". That's four achingly positive reviews so far for Keelan Higgs and team, and we have it on authority that the other three critics featured here have also been in, so there's more to come. Despite arriving in a grump as they had no record of her reservation (major oopsy), the situation was quickly rescued by charming staff and "impeccable" food. Grilled cauliflower with burnt yeast, trout, brown butter and fish roe was "so full of flavour that we plead for spoons for the sauce" (been there, done that ), and comté ravioli with hearth roasted and pickled mushrooms was "exquisite". They loved the whole sole grilled on the hearth, and the warm potato and eel salad - "beyond in terms of flavour". She calls cavolo nero grilled over ashes "a revelation" and "utterly delicious", and a cheese plate and dessert of Jamaica cake were "excellent" and "just right". They thought the wine list was cleverly curated, and her only gripe was the sparse room with nowhere to hang her coat, but she calls the food "outstanding". (Review not currently online but should be soon here ). In the Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan goes no holds barred, declaring Dylan McGrath's Shelbourne Social "fur coat and no knickers". It's not quite as bad as Gillian Nelis' one a few week's ago, but they certainly won't be celebrating it with a bottle of champagne. She says that due to her slating of Fade Street Social in November, she wasn't expecting the red carpet to be rolled out when she rocked up on their first night open, but McGrath is a professional and gave her a warm welcome - not sure that will be the case next time. She sounds unimpressed that the foie gras with the hot curd bread was just a grating over the top, and her friend's crab dish had too much rice mixed in which she says felt like padding. She was irritated at how many mains were for two or four people, but settled on a crispy rice pot with prawns, soft-shell crab, corn and mole which was "tasty enough", while her friend enjoyed her wild forest mushrooms with madeira, pickled pistachios and Tete de Moine cheese. The service was excellent but they found the menu too complicated and the food over-priced - special mention for the €160 shortrib. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Examiner , Leslie Williams visited newly opened Bowls by Kwanghi Chan just off Parnell Street in Dublin's China town, and says if he had a spare million he'd set up a chain of them. They loved the dim sum, which included "excellent" chicken and scallion pot stickers, and "lovely" shrimp dumplings, while crispy prawns with XO sauce and Chinese sherry (eh, yum) had "excellent contrasting flavours and textures". They found the baked char siu buns the least interesting, with a "rather light" filling of pork. They were big fans of both the rice and noodle bowls, with the 5 spice pulled brisket "rich and satisfying", and the BBQ rubbed pork and aubergine having a "gorgeous smoky character". The best had soy and rice wine chicken thighs with kimchi, pickled enoki mushrooms, chilli sauce and mixed seeds with wheat noodles and chicken broth, and he says it's this he'll be going back for. They finished with custard tarts, "enough of a reason to visit on their own", and he says Bowls is "warmly recommended". Read his review here . In the Irish Daily Mail Tom Doorley gives the restaurant in the newly reopened Cafe en Seine a big thumbs up. It's had a mixed response, with Lucinda O'Sullivan calling the food "insanely good" and Leslie Williams finding it all a bit underwhelming, but Tom's with Lucinda. He calls the menu "delightful" with "first rate execution" in an environment that feels decadent. For someone with a "notoriously small appetite" they got through a hella lot of food, including "gloriously savoury duck wings", scallops with merguez sausage - "explosions of layered flavour" - and a "deeply comforting" Jerusalem artichoke, spinach, cream and cheese dip with housemade tortilla chips. Tuna sashimi with watermelon and ponzu was melt in the mouth, but he didn't appreciate the dark dish it came served on, which made it "unattractive to look at". And after all that they stormed into a côte de bœuf, which was immaculately cooked, "bloody and minerally inside" - not sure how appetising a description that is - and worth the €70 price tag apparently, even if the chips it came with were "undistinguished". €4 million well spent it seems. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Times , Catherine Cleary must have needed an antidote to all the "new" of late, as she kicks it right back with a visit to The Cedar Tree on St. Andrew's Street. She starts with a really lovely story about a friend of a friend who was also at dinner, who's living in direct provision and making the best of a less than ideal situation, and it's worth a read. Generally she liked the food, but nothing seemed to wow, and she gives it 7/10. Hummus was creamy and tabbouleh the real deal ("almost entirely green"), and a chicken kafta sausage with spiced potato cubes was "the best kind of chicken and chips". A chicken shawarma was "generously portioned", and falafel were "nutty and tasty", with the only let down being a tomato salad where the tomatoes tasted old. Assorted baklava to finish were more nutty than sweet, and she says The Cedar Tree feels as old as the hills in the mosaics on the walls, "where little has changed over the years. And these days that feels like no bad thing." Read her review here . In the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis marvels at the value to be found in the €20 dim sum menu at Lucky Tortoise . High points included "delicious" Okonomiyaki, char siu buns and kimchi and peanut slaw. She says that LT's Thom Lawson joins a group of independent operators going their own way and providing, good, fairly priced food in chandelier-free premises. Amen to that. Read her review here . No review in the Sunday Times today as it's the annual McKenna's "100 Best Restaurants in Ireland 2019". There are 32 restaurants in Dublin and you can see the full list here , but new additions include Variety Jones (just one month after opening), Overends Kitchen at Airfield , Bowls by Kwanghi Chan , Fowl Play , Host , Locks , One Pico , The Seafood Café , Shouk , Two Boys Brew and Uno Mas . Dropped from last year's list to make room for the newbies are Amuse, Brother Hubbard, Ely Wine Bar, Fish Shop, Heron & Grey (closed and reopening as Liath in March), Hey Donna (closed), Hugo's, Klaw, L. Mulligan Grocer, O'Connell's, Osteria Lucio, Storyboard and The Winding Stair. Get all the details here . More next week.

In January we tend to get wrapped up in ourselves. Physically, because it’s cold and you want to put that Christmas scarf to good use, and mentally, because January is a time of reflection, or really just a time for comparing ourselves to others, pledging a career change and wishing we could move house. To make ourselves feel more positive this month, we put a shout out for people and places in the food and drink industry in Dublin that give back to their communities and set an example for all of us, so if we're going to compare ourselves to anyone during this blue month, it's going to be them. Passion 4 Food The Turkish kebab shop with branches on Clanbrassil Street and Camden Street has acquired something of a cult following, and last summer started an initiative to provide free meals to the homeless on Mondays and Tuesdays. They also provide meals for volunteers who feed the homeless in the city centre, as well as bringing food to sick children and their parents at Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin. www.passionforfoodtakeaway.com Food For Thought Chef Daniel Hannigan (currently at Richmond ) has been running Food For Thought pop-up dinners for the past year to raise money for mental health charity 3ts , and he's managed to rope in some of the best chefs in the city to work for free. They've raised €12,000 so far and it doesn't look like he's stopping any time soon. Their next event, a dinner in L'Ecrivain on February 3rd, sold out in minutes. www.instagram.com/foodforthought__17 Imbibe Coffee Roasters Imbibe in Dublin 8 donate 1% of their sales to Women's Aid , an organisation that works to end domestic violence against women and children. They've provided staff and free coffee for Food For Thought events, with the proceeds going to suicide prevention and mental health charities, and they've recently launched "coffee in cans" for their wholesale customers, collecting, cleaning and refilling them when they're done, making the whole process zero waste. ​imbibe.ie One Society Café The Gardiner Street café has been running their ‘Caffeinate and We Donate’’ initiative since they opened in November, where they donate 10c from every cup of tea and coffee sold to Temple Street Children’s Hospital. www.onesociety.ie Stampify Stampify is a scheme where users are able to donate meals to charity by completing a Stampify loyalty card in participating restaurants and cafés, which include Dublin Barista School , Third Space , Meltdown and the newly opened Flax & Beets . For every completed card, the restaurant and café partners make a donation to Stampify’s affiliated charity, Mary’s Meals , which provides enough funding to feed a child for a week in their place of education. stampify.ie Third Space Social business venture and café Third Space run monthly ‘Square Meals’ dinners on the last Friday of the month, where diners pay what they think the meal was worth, and all proceeds go to that month's charity. They provide the food for free and staff volunteer their time. thirdspace.ie Nick's Coffee Nick's in Ranelagh offers free coffee to over 65’s, and only charge nurses and emergency service staff €1 for coffee. They also gave €1 teas and coffees to all women on last year's International Women's Day. www.facebook.com/NicksCoffeeCompanyLtd/ Bang Bang Bang Bang in Phibsborough is the local shop every community should have. They're a real community hub in the area, and are constantly raising money for charity, including the Peter McVerry Trust, the Irish Traveler Movement, Together for Yes, The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Inner City Helping Homeless. They sell t-shirts for asylum seeks, give out free dignity packs for the homeless, and with the help of the local community, collected and delivered Christmas presents for 82 children in the Direct Provision Centre in Clondalkin last December. Heroes. Check out this lovely video about them from The People We Meet . bangbang.ie Skinny Batch This Rush café provides free porridge and fresh fruit to children up to 18 from 8 - 9am on school mornings. No questions asked and it’s BYOC - bring your own container. skinnybatch.com BuJo Since it opened in late 2017, Bujo in Sandymount has been helping out the community at every opportunity possible. From giving food to the Capuchin Day Centre and other charities, donating prizes for local events, and helping to physically clean up the area, the work that Bujo has done and continues to do to help the surrounding community is endless. They're also an amazing example of how to operate a sustainable restaurant, with all of their packaging compostible, and their electricity coming from renewable sources generated from composted waste. So they're basically making the world a better place for all of us. ​bujo.ie Inner City Helping Homeless Multiple cafes and restaurants around town have been working to raise money for Inner City Helping Homeless . Two Boys Brew organised a collection at the café for ICHH in the run up to Christmas, with food, clothing and personal hygiene products being donated by the surrounding community. Plans are underway for another collection, details of which will be communicated through their social media. Wishbone on Montague Street donated a day’s worth of profits to ICHH last December, for the second year in a row, and on Black Friday last November, Fire on Dawson Street donated 10% of all online gift voucher sales to ICHH. So there are a few reasons to feel more positive during these cold, dark January days. Know any other food or drink businesses doing nice things? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie.

Ah Sunday. The day of rest. Or for many of us, the day of eating and drinking everything around you in order to forget that you have to go to work again tomorrow. To add insult to injury, Sunday is notoriously bad for finding somewhere good to eat, as many sensible restaurateurs and chefs shut up shop due to also having families and friends that they like to spend time with, but every week we field desperate instagram messages from people (many of whom are restaurateurs and chefs come to think of it) wandering hopelessly around town not knowing which door to knock on. So consider your problems solved. 1. Grano Neighbourhood restaurant Grano has dived into our favourite restaurants in Dublin this week (read our full review here ), and we're struggling to think of a better end to the week than stuffed artichokes, spicy nduja and guanciale pasta. www.grano.ie 2. Mad Egg Mad Egg have perfected their fried chicken, and the fact that it's Irish and free-range makes us very happy. The Charlotte Way branch is also a perfect stop off on the way to see a movie in The Stella to really round Sunday off in style. www.allthefood.ie/mad-egg 3. Wilde 1930's-style Wilde at The Westbury is a great spot if you're after fine dining, or have someone to impress. Steak and seafood reign supreme, and any excuse to go for a cocktail in The Sidecar works for us. www.allthefood.ie/wilde 4. Klaw Niall Sabongi's Temple Bar seafood shack Klaw is a consistenty dependable place for fresh seafood in the city. He's also been known to get the blow torch out which we imagine is handy for keeping warm on those cold winter nights. www.allthefood.ie/klaw 5. The Saddle Room A few months ago Catherine Cleary called The Saddle Room in The Shelbourne "Dublin's best Sunday-night dining secret" - if that's not testimonial enough nothing is. The room is complete with super swanky golden booths and the menu is big on Irish produce, with different seasonal ingredients championed throughout the year. www.allthefood.ie/the-saddle-room 6. Old Town Chinese Authentic Sichuan cooking on Capel Street, where most of the clientele are Chinese. Dumplings are a must, but follow the chef's recommendations if you want the real deal. www.allthefood.ie/old-town-chinese 7. Peploe's Peploe's has gotten a new lease of life since chef Graeme Dodril took over the kitchen last year. What was previously seen as a den for business meetings and ladies who lunch, is now being talked about as somewhere that's seriously upped its game. Classic bistro cooking with lots of Irish seafood and meat. www.allthefood.ie/peploes 8. Pho Ta This lovely Vietnamese in Temple Bar does really tasty food at really cheap prices, and with €5 corkage you can keep the weekend going right up until 10pm when they'll kick you out. www.allthefood.ie/pho-ta 9. Osteria Lucio Another Italian favourite of ours, Osteria Lucio uses the best ingredients in their simply prepared but totally delicious dishes. Staff are lovely and the wine list is ace. Read our review here . www.allthefood.ie/osteria-lucio 10. Bunsen Everyone's favourite straight-up burger joint is open seven days a week, and with four Dublin locations (and more in the works) there's bound to be at least one you can get to. www.bunsen.ie 11. Sano An often-mentioned contender in the "best pizza in Dublin" debate, Sano 's pizzas are typically Neapolitan in style and extremely cheap, priced at €6 - €12. A good option for when you overspent on Friday and Saturday. www.allthefood.ie/sano 12. The Woollen Mills The menu at The Woollen Mills is a real crowd-pleaser so good if you have fussy eaters in tow or just can't decide what you want. There's everything from butternut squash bahji to whiskey and marmalade bacon ribs to Dublin coddle, and Elaine Murphy and Co are the original Irish food champions. www.allthefood.ie/the-woollen-mills 13. Rosa Madre A great Sunday night seafood option, owner Luca takes a lot of pride in sourcing the freshest fish for his Temple Bar restaurant. Pasta is excellent and there's an extensive wine list. www.allthefood.ie/rosa-madre 14. Dillinger's American inspired Dillinger's in Ranelagh has all of your Sunday soakage, like burgers, BBQ ribs and chicken wings. The nachos are legendary and they also do their sister restaurant 777 's famous margaritas. Bring it on. www.allthefood.ie/dillingers 15. Manifesto When you ask Italians where they go for real Italian food in Dublin, Manifesto comes up again and again. Owner Lucio's pizzas have won gold at the Pizza World Championships and he has a stellar Italian wine selection upstairs that not many people seem to know about. www.allthefood.ie/manifesto Where's your favourite Sunday night spot? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie.

Flax and Beets , a new café focusing on "functional food" has opened in the Powerscourt Centre . Qualified personal trainer Jessica Nolan says she was getting increasingly frustrated at not being able to get a salad in Dublin and know exactly what was in it in terms of nutrition and energy, as well as seeing fake health claims, or dishes held up as healthy when in reality they're not, so she decided to open her own café to fill the gap. The menu was created by nutritional therapist and 'medicinal chef' Rachel Graham, and full ingredient details as well as the nutritional information for each one is provided. At present there are three salads to pick from, two with chicken and one vegan, as well as raw desserts like almond butter cups and cheesecake, and cold pressed juices. The entire menu is sugar free and they don't have any on site, so if you want some for your coffee it's BYOS. They cater for vegans, coeliacs and anyone on a raw food diet (wonder if that'll be the next trend after veganism), and they say they're hoping to educate their customers about why health food ingredients like kale are actually good for them. They also want to show people that nutritious food doesn't have to be "bland and boring". We particularly like that the salads come in glass jars (high fives for cutting down on plastic) and if you bring it back you'll get 50c off your next salad. Win win. They're also planning events including fitness classes, yoga brunches, nutrition talks and cooking demos, so if that sounds interesting keep an eye on their social media for more details. Flax and Beets 2nd Floor, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin 2 Mon – Wed 10:00 - 18:00, Thu 10:00 - 20:00. Fri 10:00 - 18:00. Sat 09:00 – 18:00. Sun 12:00 – 18:00. www.instagram.com/flax_and_beets

We will soon be leaving the January blues and entering the fangirlisation of seasonal produce. Purple sprouting broccoli, wild garlic and asparagus will be all the rage in the coming months, and the hot produce of the moment is the humble (brag) blood orange. More appealing than a grapefruit (pun intended) and more instagrammable than an orange, we are big fans. Gram at the ready, here are 5 blood orange dishes we’d like to eat this week. 1. Sceal Bakery's Blood Orange Danish Worth dragging yourself out of bed and trekking across town for one, no one makes pastries quite like Scéal. You can find them at the new Naomh Olaf Farmers Market on Fridays in Stillorgan, as well as at the Stoneybatter Market at Pender’s Yard on Saturdays...double the pastry coverage. www.scealbakery.com 2. Tang’s Blood Orange Fever Tang has gone so far as to populate multiple dishes on their menu with blood oranges, making sure that you reach your seasonal fruit quota. You can find fresh blood orange on their granola, salad bowls and buckwheat pancakes. Breakfast, lunch and dinner sorted. www.tang.ie 3. Blood Orange Choux Buns from Chapter One Blood orange does fine dining with Chapter One ’s next petit four. The choux buns are topped with a blood orange zest cookie and filled with blood orange jam and a barley and buttermilk cream... *looks in wardrobe for fanciest outfit* www.chapteronerestaurant.com 4. Gralinn’s Cocoa Custard with Blood Orange Marmalade and Sesame Crunch A posh jaffa cake in a bowl, this is definitely not like the jar of marmalade you’ve forgotten about in the back of your cupboard. You can find this dessert at MVP where Grálinn are currently doing a residency, and maybe if we're lucky, at their first supper club next week at Elmhurst Cottage Farm. www.facebook.com/GralinnLtd 5. Five Points' Blood Orange Breakfast Bowl So we may have used Five Points in our last ‘ 5 Things We Want To Eat ’ but how could we leave this out of a blood orange round up? The kitchen minds at FP have made their brioche French toast with housemade mint and lemon ricotta, blood orange curd and fresh blood orange, and it's pretty much all we can think about. www.facebook.com/fivepointshx

Some more new openings to get your teeth into this week, including the best fiver you can spend in Dublin right now, the dumplings not to be missed and the octopus that was thankfully killed before being put on the plate, but more on that later. Catherine Cleary in the Irish Times found "fire and flavour" at Variety Jones , and says it's already one of her meals of the year. Quite the statement with it only being the third week in January. She describes the interior as "a bare bones decor job", but says the craftsmanship is in chef Keelan Higgs' food, and the Vietnamese Pacific oysters are "probably the best €5 purchase on any Dublin menu." Spaghetti Alfredo was "one of the best you'll eat anywhere", and a sharing platter of venison came with caramelised celeriac, charred hispi cabbage and "fabulous" mushrooms, saying "wild meat doesn't get any better than this." She was rumbled when the chef's brother Aaron (front of house) realised that they were very distantly related, and we can only imagine how awkward that encounter was. They stuck to sparkling water, as is the status quo in much of the Times' reviews these days, and because CC won't tell you we'll have to - Variety Jones has one of the most interesting wine lists in the city right now - go and make the most of it. Live your lives. Read her review here . Another new opening from Katy McGuinness in the Irish Independent who was at Gertrude on Pearse Street (read our take on it here ). She said she didn't wait long enough before paying them a visit, but we think a month is enough time to get your house in order. She praises the fact that Gertrude is "hot on provenance", and advises not to miss the bacon and cabbage dumplings (we concur), or the tonkatsu pork sandwich, which is the dish she says they'd go back for. A game pie was generous with great pastry, but she found the duck buns too dry, the butternut squash gnocchi unexciting, and the seared lamb tartare "curiously unbalanced". Apple fritters and custard for dessert were "divine", while a brown sugar tart had a luscious filling but under-cooked pastry. She describes the wine list as "one of the most interesting I've encountered in a long time" (no sparkling water here thankfully), but she does find the mark ups hard to swallow, particularly given the more casual vibe, and thinks they need more lower priced options. She gives them 7/10 for food, ambience and value. Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent Lucinda O'Sullivan reviews Uno Mas . She ate there almost two months ago in their first week of opening, so we were starting to think she'd ditched it altogether. No surprises here, she loved it as much as everyone else, particularly the morcilla, piquillo pepper and fried quail's eggs, and the chargrilled octopus with crispy kale and violet garlic aioli. She was also relieved that the octopus was served well done, and not alive on the plate as it is in Korea - apparently the suckers can stick to your throat on the way down. Hungry? Mussels came in a "delicious" smoky sauce, and a mushroom main with chestnut, Jerusalem artichoke purée and slow-cooked egg was "a delicious combination" - lots of deliciousness. A chocolate and olive oil ganache dessert was "guaranteed to send chocoholics off their heads", and she was mucho impressed at the amount of wines under €40 on the list. She calls it "an absolute gem". (Review not currently online) In the Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley jumps on the city's current pizza obsession, tracing its Dublin roots back to a café on South Anne Street in 1962. After all that digging he was hungry so went to Boco to try theirs. We've had a few people messaging us about Boco saying it's a contender for best in the city, and Tom was impressed, calling the pizzas "dead sound". Despite taking slight issue with the fact that their tomato sauce isn't cooked down as he likes it, a combination of ricotta, fennel sausage, red onion and chilli "worked well", and another with black pudding, goat's cheese, proscuitto and rocket with Highbank Orchard apple syrup was "a symphony, cleverly judged, indulgent". The best came with roasted garlic olive oil, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, bresaola, rocket and herby salsa - and no tomato sauce. A Bean and Goose chocolate selection made to look like a cheese board was "witty and rather wonderful" and he says they left "very well fed". (Review not currently online) In the Irish Examiner Joe McNamee reckons he's found "some of the finest coffees to be drunk in Cork" at Duke's Coffee Company , over a lunch that was supposed to be child-free, until one of them feigned sickness to get out of school - nicely played. The food sounds a bit carbon copy café - Cajun chicken sandwich fillings are still a thing! - but he describes it as "very solid comfort food". Falafel with couscous and tzatziki was "a cracker", but a quiche was leathery, with disappointing coleslaw. A strawberry sponge affair "mightily pleased" his wife, while his own ginger cake was good but was too light and gently spiced for his tastes (he should try the one at Variety Jones , there's no going back), but says the true stars are the coffees - which maybe doesn't say a whole pile for the food, which he gives 7/10. Read his review here . In the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis is in Belfast at The Muddlers Club , where she finds "a very modern and gloriously unstuffy take on fine dining". We're planning a trip just for the Wicklow venison carpaccio with beetroot slices, artichoke cream and artichoke crisps. Read her review here . Finally in the Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley reviews new Italian pasta spot Grano in Stoneybatter, wondering how they get so much flavour into the wild boar tortellini. Read that here . We have our own review on Grano in this Tuesday's mail out, so if you're not already signed up you can do so here . More next week.

Wing It , the chicken wing specialists, which opened in Tallaght in 2014, and has also been available at Eatyard for the past two years, will open their first city centre site on George's Street at 5pm today. The two floor, 60 seater site, which was previously home to Camera Exchange, has taken them three years to find, and features art work from local artists on the walls. The menu features three types of wings - regular, boneless and even vegan (made from wheat protein by Moodley Manor ) with 16 different flavours, including medium and spicy buffalo, Teeling whiskey BBQ and mango habanero. They also do burgers, 'loaded fries' and nachos. Wing It was started after founders Sebastian Conway and Tim Cole were travelling in the States and came back thinking that Dublin was missing a chicken wing specialist. They started testing various cooking methods and flavours at food markets and festivals, before settling on recipes for their regular and boneless wings. Their buffalo wings were crowned winners at Bray's Wings Food Fest in 2017, and taking a pitch at Eatyard allowed them to dip a toe in the city centre market and build up a following there before opening their own central space. Wing It on George's Street opens at 5pm today, and will be open from 12pm daily from tomorrow onwards. They'll also be available again from Eatyard when it reopens in mid-February. Wing It 63 South Great Georges St, Dublin 2 Mon - Sun 12pm - late www.wingit.ie

Alma , a new Argentinean Café with dulce de leche pancakes and eggs with steak and chimichurri on the menu, opens in Portobello today. Alma is a proper family affair, owned by Argentinean couple Alejandro and Lucrecia, with their four daughters also involved, as manager, assistant manager, front of house and social media manager. Alma means 'soul' in Spanish, and the four letters are the initials of the family's four daughters - Anabella, Luciana, Macarena and Augustina. Alma's chef Thiago Marques (formerly in Fia and The Fumbally) is Brazilian, and together the team have spent the last few months putting together a seasonal menu featuring local Irish produce with Argentinean flavours. The menu features dishes like grilled morcilla with caramelised walnuts and sultanas, choripan (chorizo argentino with chimichurri on tartine baguette), and a chocolate granola bowl with Greek yogurt, coconut and chocolate shavings, lemon curd and fruit. Three of the sisters have worked in various cafés in Dublin for the past few years, and have always wanted to open their own place with a link to home. It was earlier this year that their parents and other sister decided to take the leap and move to Dublin, and the family decided to go all in on looking for a site to make Alma a reality. Alma is now open and will serve food from 8am on weekdays and 9am on weekends. You can follow them on instagram here . Alma 12 South Circular Road, Portobello, Dublin 8 Tue - Fri 08:00 - 16:00. Sat - Sun 09:00 - 17:00. www.alma.ie

Those fretting about the amount of coverage going to "the new" restaurants - imagine - best look away now, as there's a fair amount of "new" this week, plus a new incarnation of an old haunt that most of us have probably danced in while drinking bad wine, but we'll get to that later. First up, despite only opening five days before Christmas, Variety Jones is straight out of the blocks with two reviews this weekend, in the Irish Daily Mail and the Sunday Business Post, and both are glowing. It reminded Tom Doorley of cool London restaurants like Brat or St Leonards , and the moral of the story is he "absolutely bloody loved it". The dish of the night was grilled cauliflower with burnt yeast, sea trout and brown butter (and having eaten this we can attest that it is shockingly good), which he calls "an exquisite, jewel-like dish", and comté ravioli with picked and fresh chanterelles was "perfectly balanced" with "a subtle alchemy" going on. A whole black sole to share was cooked perfectly and came with mussels and cockles, which slightly dominated the dish, and a warm potato salad with "nuggets" of smoked eel was "remarkable" - and sounds it. He calls the wine list "commendably compact" and "bang on trend" and is vowing to return very soon. Read his review here . Gillian Nelis in the Sunday Business Post was similarly impressed after her visit to Variety Jones , saying that the food really did the talking. She also praised the cauliflower, as well as the "smooth as silk" chicken liver paté with "lovely" potato bread, and the "moreish" smokey vegetables with barley and curd. Comté ravioli was "top notch", sharing mains of sole and venison were "great" and cooked perfectly, and Jamaica ginger cake for dessert was "moist and delicious". Read her review here . More of "the new" in the Irish Examiner , as Leslie Williams paid a trip to new Italian pasta bar Grano in Stoneybatter, and like Tom Doorley last week he left very happy. Olives to start were particularly "flavour-packed" thanks to time drying out in an oven, and Black Pig lardo on sourdough toast was "delicious" (need to get us some of that). Frisella di Farro, traditional Puglian spelt bread topped with tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil was their favourite thing of the night, and he said the simple dish had "no right to taste this good." Filejio al Pommodoro (textured strips of pasta in tomato sauce) was "simple but rather glorious", and struncatura (a mixed grain pasta) with cockles, mussels and bergamot was light and fresh with wonderful texture but they thought a denser sauce would have worked better with the "robust" pasta. Tiramisu for dessert was "just about perfect", and they also enjoyed a deconstructed cannolo. He calls Grano "a gem of a spot and warmly recommended not just for the quality of the food but the generosity of the welcome...". Read his review here . It was semi-new for Katy McGuinness in the Irish Independent who was chowing down on cheese toasties at wine bar Loose Canon on Drury Street, which opened last July. She calls it "a little gem", and "something new for Dublin", as well as an ideal place to dip your toe into natural wine, which "can be "pretty funky", but "rarely dull". She calls their toasties "a thing of beauty, made with fabulous ingredients", and "gargantuan", and says the only way you could spend a lot of money there is by drinking oodles of wine (dunno Katie, more than once we've nipped in here for an hour for a few glasses of wine and some small plates and been handed a bill for €80. Oops.) She calls the toasties with wine "a truly joyous food experience", and one that she'll be repeating in the year ahead. She gives it 9/10 for food and 10/10 for value. Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent Lucinda O'Sullivan was checking out the newly reopened and refurbished Café en Seine - €4 million pumped in apparently. We weren't expecting a lot from the food in a venue that can hold 1300 people, and Leslie Williams delivered the 'meh' review we were waiting for a couple of weeks ago, but Lucinda (or the sub-editor) calls it "insanely good". She calls it "high-end casual food", and they shared small plates including "divine" seared King scallops, "superb" gambas a la plancha, and roast spears of salsify with Gorgonzola and Madeira which they loved. She says everything was "delicious and good value for money", but did take exception to the fact that there was only one wine under €30. She also calls Picpoul de Pinet (which encompasses a whole region of France) "plonk", which we're sure the Sud de France promotional board wouldn't be too happy about. Although having seen the wine list, it probably is plonk. (Review not currently online) Finally to quell the burning flames of the new, Catherine Cleary in the Irish Times revisited Pickle on Camden Street, which she previously reviewed soon after opening in 2016. She finds it better than ever, and we dare you to read her review and not immediately want to book a table, with descriptions of lentil and rice crisps with shrimp pickle, aloo tikki chaat smothered in jammy pomegranate molasses, and "one of the best dhals I've ever tasted", with "fresh puffy naan". There were loads more lovely sounding things on the vegetarian thali, and she says Pickle is "a restaurant that has grown into a very special place to eat", with the joy of its new vegetarian dishes the "less-but-better approach". She gives it 9/10. Read her review here . Finally, in the Sunday Times Ernie Whalley was eating in West Restaurant in The Twelve Hotel in Galway, where he had a memorable meal featuring rabbit, venison and a 'soubise'. Read that here . More next week.

BuJo , Sandymount's sustainable burger joint, will today launch the Beyond Burger , a plant-based patty that looks and tastes like meat and even bleeds. Launched in the US in 2016, it quickly swept the country, leading to issues keeping up with demand, and retailers like Wholefoods frequently running out of stock. They launched in the UK in Autumn, going into burger chain Honest Burgers and All Bar One , as well as certain branches of Tesco, and BuJo is currently the only place in Ireland to get it. The Beyond Burger is predominantly made from pea protein (as well as beetroot which gives it its red colour when raw and mimics bleeding), and is soy, gluten and GMO free. It has the same amount of protein as a beef burger, more than twice as much iron, half the saturated fat and no cholesterol. Founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, Ethan Brown, says he broke down the components of beef into its separate parts, and was sure that a similar product could be made from plants. He's spent much of the last ten years isolating these elements in the plant world and figuring out how to "stitch" them together to create something that could be mistaken for meat. His investors have included Leonardo di Caprio and Bill Gates, who got involved after trying a taco made with their plant-based meat and being unable to tell whether or not it was chicken. Beyond Meat say that their Burger uses 99% less water, 93% less land and 46% less electricity to make than a beef burger, and if that if each American substituted every third burger they ate for a beyond version it would be the equivalent to taking 12 million cars off the road for a year. Sustainability is the driving ethos behind BuJo , and it's the only casual restaurant in the UK and Ireland with a three-star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association , so owner Michael Sheary wanted to be the one to bring the Beyond Burger to Ireland. They have a limited supply which is available from today in two versions, created by culinary director Gráinne O'Keeffe. The vegetarian one comes with their signature brioche bun and sauce, cheese, tomato, onion and pickles, while the fully vegan version comes with a vegan bun, violife cheese, roasted garlic aioli, tomato, onion and pickles. Sides of fries and panko pickles are vegan friendly too. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peek yesterday and were ultra impressed at the meat like texture and taste - if we didn't know it was plant-based we definitely would not have guessed. Is it as good as the regular BuJo burger? For us, not quite. That one's pretty special and we don't think a plant-based source is going top it. Is it a game-changer for vegetarians or vegans who miss meat? Most definitely. For those looking to cut down on their meat intake, BuJo have also introduced a 'Beeftroot' burger, with 70% beef, 15% beetroot and 15% crunchy quinoa, designed to be a lighter alternative to the regular burger - we tried that too and it is very, very good. For extra health points you can go bun free and get it on top of a kale bowl. The Beyond Burger launches in BuJo today and initial supplies are limited, so if you want to try it this week we'd advise not hanging around. www.bujo.ie

Because we’re still hungover from Christmas shenanigans. Don’t @ us. You’ve met everyone you ever knew growing up over Christmas and you’ve chit chatted your way through all of your relatives, now it’s time to go back to normal: brunch with people you actually want to talk to. Spoiler Alert/Trigger Warning: There will be no mention of turkey, ham or second helpings of roast potatoes in this article. Well, except for now. We’re about as sick of those as we were of your Insta 'best nine of 2018". Yes Karen, we saw you went skiing, no need to show us again. 1. Dim Sum from Bowls Bowls by Kwanghi Chan have just launched a Dim Sum Brunch menu (have more beautiful words ever been uttered?) filled with dumplings, bao and their egg custard tarts. We have our eye on the chicken and scallion potstickers and steamed shrimp dumplings, and we've seen more than one respected source saying the egg custard tarts are some of the best in town. ​www.bowls.ie 2. Potato Hash from Five Points A prime brunch spot in Harold’s Cross, especially when this potato hash with cavolo nero, poached eggs, basil and kale hollandaise is on the menu. In the words of the Five Points Instagram page , ‘vibez’. www.facebook.com/fivepointshx 3. Toast from Nutbutter Grand Canal Dock’s toast hub that is Nutbutter presents, you guessed it, toast, topped with almond butter, banana, salted seeds and honey. Like something you might make at home, but better. www.nutbutter.ie 4. Two Boys Brew Overnight Oats Recently highlighted as one of Katy McGuinness’s ‘ Top 30 Healthy Food Experiences to Try in 2019 ’, TBB’s vegan overnight oats is now at the top of our list for breakfast this week, particularly because they come topped with cinnamon baked apples, blackberry compote, hazelnut butter and lemon balm. www.twoboysbrew.ie 5. The Squash Bowl from Slice Slice’s brunch bowl is filled with McNally  squash, labneh and hazelnut dukkah with poached eggs, pomegranate and chilli oil. So many things right with that sentence. www.asliceofcake.ie

January, the time of remorse and rejuvenation... Whatever you want to call it, the beautiful free bar of booze that was Christmas has ended and thus, we’re back at it. We’ve now reached that stage where bread and alcohol have calories again, you should know what time/day/year it is, and turning off your OOO felt like tearing down the Christmas tree too early. It’s okay, you’re not alone, we don’t want to look at our bank account either, but we still want to eat, so here are ten dishes that we can convince ourselves are undoing all of the festive over-eating without the need for an overdraft. 1. Sprout’s Salads - €8.50 - €9.95 Most of the menu here is under a tenner and a breath of fresh air away from your sad homemade lunch al desko. They also offer loyalty cards on salad bowls, making each January salad purchase that little bit easier. www.sproutfoodco.com 2. Porridge at Póg - €3 The OG breakfast of champions that is porridge is only €3 from Póg, with additional extras costing 50c each. That’s breakfast for the price of a coffee. Sold. www.ifancyapog.ie 3. Bircher Bowl at Brother Hubbard - €7.50 The bircher bowl is a staple at both BH locations and changes frequently, depending on the season. Choose between the northside winter bircher bowl (also vegan), consisting of overnight oats with carrot, orange, toasted seeds and candied walnuts, topped with fresh blueberries and spiced ginger syrup, or the southside sister’s spiced orange oats with apple and roasted squash puree, topped with sweet nut dukkah. www.brotherhubbard.ie 4. The Fumbally’s Avocado Toast €7.90 The Fumbally’s avocado toast can cure a host of ails. It's served with housemade pickled cabbage and popped amaranth. Bonus health points if you grab one of their fermented drinks. thefumbally.ie 5. One Society’s Pan Fried Kale on Toast - €8.20 Ah kale, the hip-and-with-it food that drives the Insta huns wild. One Society pan fries kale and serves it with almond basil pesto, cranberries, toasted seeds and nuts, poached eggs, chilli and sesame salt, and it gives kale a very good name. www.onesociety.ie 6. Airfield Estate’s Salad Plate - €10 After being stuck indoors for so long, particularly for those of you who stayed in Dublin for Christmas, it might be nice to drag the family to Airfield Estate to treat yourself to some fresh air and Luke Matthews’ cooking. The salad plate in Overends Kitchen is a thing of dreams, with much of the ingredients sourced from the farm. If you can stretch to it, the pannacotta made with milk from the estate's Jersey cows is the way to finish (it's healthy, honest). www.airfield.ie/overends-kitchen 7. Aobaba’s Pho - €8.50 The Capel Street Vietnamese spot is one of those places that’s often talked about for the right reasons. All of their regular pho are €8.50, and it's a bargain. Read our review of Aobaba  here . aobaba.com 8. Legit Coffee Co's Super Green Omelette - €10 We’ve recently hailed Legit as the best brunch we've had so far on the Northside , and this omelette seems to go hand in hand with the rejuvenating properties of January. It comes with sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, spinach, feta, lime, avo and some sourdough toast. www.legitcoffeeco.com 9. Shouk’s Falafel Pitta €6 Okay, maybe falafel isn’t the healthiest option on this list but think of the bigger mezze picture here. It’s a great spot if you’re on a Veganuary buzz or are just trying to reduce your meat intake. www.facebook.com/shoukdublin 10. Tang’s Salad Plate - €7.50 Tang’s colourful salad plate comes with either hummus or tzatziki and you can add on protein for an additional €2 (for optimum gainz). www.tang.ie Any other tips on healthy food for under a tenner? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie.

It's an affirmative start to the New Year, with opinions out in full force this weekend - no one's even so much as perching on the fence. Isabelle's gets raked over the coals by Catherine Cleary, and Gillian Nelis does a total takedown of Shelbourne Social, but Grano, Loretta's and Lucky Tortoise are winning. We were starting to wonder if Catherine Cleary would ever have a cross word to say again after the somewhat controversial  Five Guys incident ​ last June (and to be fair, that veggie sandwich looked and sounded like one of the worst things imaginable), but she's starting 2019 by letting it all out in the Irish Times , although she sounds more dejected than outraged at Press Up's latest opening Isabelle's . She visited twice, as the first one was so bad, with two out of three plates going back to the kitchen half-eaten, and it all sounds a bit grim. Pumpkin linguine was "blander than watered-down baby food", and she describes the food as "there for the look rather than the eating". Visit two was better, but "dry" falafel worked out at €5 a piece, and her pasta was better but the pumpkin was "as watery as a slippery sponge", and by the end had cooled to a "glutenous mass" - she reckoned she could do it better herself (maybe they should make her an offer). Desserts were the highlight, with a "tasty" banana and peanut parfait, and a "good" fudge cake, and she ends with a depressed summing up: "Theirs is the model that is both cause and effect of a market with fickle crowds, sky-high rents and rock-bottom talent pool. There is nothing new here. It’s an idea that’s beginning to taste depressingly old." She gives it 5/10. Read her review here . If it was pasta CC wanted she probably should have gone to new Italian spot Grano in Stoneybatter, like Tom Doorley  did for this week's Irish Daily Mail review. He says "Dublin 7 has won again", and calls the pasta "outstanding", with "glorious Italian hospitality and lovely wines". 'Zuppa di orza perlata' with pearl barley and al dente vegetables was "so simple, so good", and 'orecchiette grano arso' (unfortunate name for the Irish market) were ears of handmade pasta in a tomato and burrata sauce which "combined to create something greater than the sum of its parts". He hands down the compliment of compliments by saying that Grano 's bolognese sauce is better than his (which he's been perfecting since his student days), and says it has "depth that can only come from long cooking". He finished with some sharp Italian cheese and a dessert wine, and calls the whole experience "simply heavenly". Noted. Read his review here . Another happy customer in the form of Lucinda O'Sullivan who was at Loretta's in Phibsborough. We have it on authority that she was the first critic through the door back in November, so we're wondering what the hold up was in getting this one to print. She gives some interesting background on Phibsborough's connection to cattle markets and dealers, before some background on chef Jimmy Wiley, who she says "knows his onions". They liked their starters of oyster mushrooms with parmesan fondue and Skeaghnore duck salad so much that they ordered a third, the Nashville hot oysters, which she says was a "knockout taste combination". Her mate enjoyed the wood-grilled yellowfin tuna, and despite the "unwritten rule that a critic shouldn't order steak or chicken" - hadn't heard of that one - Lucinda rebelled and went for the fried chicken with buttermilk biscuit and a corn salad, which was so good she thinks he should patent it. They didn't have dessert, but she describes the food as "beautifully presented contemporary plates". (Review not currently online) In The Irish Examiner Joe McNamee reckons he's found Cork's oldest restaurant,  Jacques , which he describes as "a genuinely treasured institution", serving "well-sourced local, seasonal produce treated with integrity and respect." Blue corn tostadas (which seem to be popping up everywhere at the moment) had "smashing and generous fillings" including West Cork crab with chipotle mayo and Mexican slaw, and a vegetarian tasting board with granola stuffed mushrooms, romesco and stuffed red peppers was "excellent value" at €12. Empanadas came with less than traditional pastry but were "a real Winter comforter", a chocolate and salted caramel tart "lovely", and the Burgundy they drank "cracking". He calls it "a sublimely delivered hospitality experience", and says that Jacques' aim of serving "simple fresh Cork food, bursting with flavour, in a friendly relaxed atmosphere", is accomplished and then some. Read his review here . In the Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness lists her restaurants to try in 2019, and there's loads of great new openings in Dublin to add to your restaurant bucket list, including Bowls by Kwanghi Chan , Variety Jones , Grano , One Society and Liath, formerly Heron & Grey , as well as some new openings to come. Read the full list here . In the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis obliterates Dylan McGrath's new Ballsbridge opening  Shelbourne Social , comparing the €45 wagyu beef to a placenta, describing the chicken wings as so tasteless that if she was blindfolded she wouldn't have known they were chicken, and the pork belly with bao buns as "anaemic", "stodgy" and "a disaster". Totes awks. And in the Sunday Times Ernie Whalley describes Lucky Tortoise as one of Dublin's all-time bargains, with scintillating miso soup, exemplary dumplings and superb fried rice. Read that here . More next week.

Whilst updating the "where to eat" section on the site yesterday, we noticed that quite a few restaurants listed are no longer trading, so we had to slap a big closed sign on them so you knew not to show up at the door. Restaurants in this section of the website have been reviewed by at least one national critic (usually more), which means that they should be at least worthy of your attention, but this wasn't enough to save the following establishments in 2018. Restaurant Forty-One The first high profile closure of 2018, Restaurant Forty-One , part of the former Residence club on St Stephen's Green, closed quietly one Friday in January, with a press release from the Press Up group saying they'd bought the premises (read more about that here ). The whole building reopened as The Grayson in August. Moro Kitchen The more casual sister restaurant to Moroccan Dada on South William Street, Moro Kitchen seemed to be doing well after its 8/10 score from Catherine Cleary in The Times, but it wasn't enough to keep it open, and it quietly shut its doors early in the year. The building now houses Del Fino , which opened in October. Eat Greek Eat Greek opened in Glasnevin in early 2017 and everything seemed to be going according to plan, with an 8/10 for food from Katy McGuinness in the Irish Independent and talk that the Greek community in Dublin finally had somewhere to go to eat the foods they knew and loved. So it was a surprise to find that it had closed in July 2018, but one of the original founders who had left the business, has since decided to take on the lease and reopen it as Yeeros Greek Souvlaki Bar . They have yet to have a visit from a critic (or us), but online reviews are very good. Cavern Another summer closure came in the form of Cavern , the wine bar underneath Baggot Street Wines. They had also started off well, with a very appealing €5 corkage on anything from upstairs in the shop to drink downstairs, meaning the wine lovers of Dublin flocked there to fill their boots at bargain prices. They withdrew this option at the end of 2017, presumably because of the loss of margin, meaning wine bar goers could only choose from their limited (and relatively uninteresting) wine list, which seems to have been the beginning of the end. They announced they were closing in July. Ember Neighbourhood restaurant Ember in Milltown, from chef Greg O'Mahoney, had received mainly positive reviews from some of the country's top critics, but after closing for holidays in August failed to reopen again, with no announcements on social media or their website. Farmhill Another neighbourhood restaurant, Farmhill in Goatstown, opened in 2015 with Anita Thoma in the kitchen, and had received very positive reviews across the board, but after Thoma announced in June of 2018 that she was moving on, things look to have deteriorated fast. The restaurant started to offer free corkage in an attempt to attract diners, and looks to have closed suddenly overnight at the end of August. Read more about it here . Sivad Sivad , an Irish restaurant with an Indian sounding name, opened in Leopardstown in 2016, and managed to bag a glowing review from Lucinda O'Sullivan in 2017, but throughout 2018 their offers (including more free corkage) seemed to become more panicked, and a pleading email to their customers in July asking for their help to stay open looked to be the final nail in the coffin. They announced they were closing in August . Le Plancha Originally opening in Blackrock, the husband and wife team behind Le Plancha moved it to Monkstown in 2016, and a predominantly negative review from Catherine Cleary in The Times followed soon after. They struggled to attract any more press, and shut their doors in Autumn 2018. Nicos One of the longest standing restaurants in the city, traditional Italian Nicos announced it was closing in November after more than 50 years on Dame Street, with the owner of more than 40 years deciding it was time for a break. You can read more about it here . Klaw Poke Niall Sabongi closed the poke branch of his Klaw restaurants in November, saying he wants to concentrate on his new project, 'The Urban Monger', due to open on the North side of the city this year. Could the poke trend be going the way of the doughnuts? Read more about Klaw Poke closing here . Jo'Burger/Crackbird/Hey Donna/Bar Giuseppe The big shock of this year came a week before Christmas, when the Jo'Burger group, headed up by Joe Macken, announced on social media that the group had gone into liquidation. All of the company's restaurants ceased trading immediately, including two Jo'Burger locations, Crackbird on South William Street, the newly opened Hey Donna on Dame Street and the group's new wine bar Bar Giuseppe . The news gained national coverage across the press, and caused shock waves in the industry. Read more about it here . As you're probably sick of hearing, there are many predictions of more closures to come in the first few months of the year, between a challenging trading climate, the VAT increase (effective now) and all of the uncertainty around Brexit. We're on watch to see if anyone doesn't come back from their Christmas holidays, so as always will keep you posted.

The Highs The opening of Uno Mas Etto’s younger sister spent a semester in Spain and opened in December. We almost passed out waiting for the doors to open but it was worth the time spent drumming fingers on tables and peering in the window on Aungier Street. If you need us we’ll be at the bar eating the potato and onion tortilla. The Death of Doughnuts A combination of doughnut fatigue plus the slow realisation that most of them are actually rubbish and made using a pre-mix has finally led to the decline of the doughnut. Thank u, next. Different Dining 2018 brought about very welcome alternatives styles of dining. Street food from Vietnom , small plates from Grálinn and all day dining at Gertrude to name a few. Before 2018 was it even possible to get a buttermilk chicken pancake stack for breakfast or a banh mi from a horse box in the back of a Stoneybatter pub? Wine Bars A new crop of wine bars has finally hit the city, like Loose Canon and First Draft , and places like Grantham's, Industry and Lilliput Stores have started doing wine nights. Viva la wine revolution. Getting to experience Heron & Grey It's no secret that getting a table here is not for the faint-hearted, and after 18 months of waiting with fingers poised waiting for tables to be released, only to be brutally rebuffed each time, we finally got through the doors for one of their waste dinners in April. They charged a reduced price and cooked with what was left in their fridges, freezers and fermenting areas before closing for a month, and we weren't sure what to expect, but it was one of the most exciting meals we've eaten in Ireland. Earlier this month owners Andrew Heron and Damien Grey announced they were going their separate ways in the New Year, with Damien continuing the restaurant under the name ' Liath '. Needless to say our fingers will be flexed and ready when reservations open on the 1st February. White Mausu Mania You can find a jar of peanut rayu in nearly everyone’s cupboard. New flavours coming to a pantry near you soon. Sustainability More cafes and restaurants are looking for more sustainable ways of running their businesses, and it's now the norm to constantly have a KeepCup in hand, eat farm to fork from McNally's in North Dublin, or sea to fork from Niall Sabongi's SSI wholesale . The Lows The VAT increase The VAT rising to 13.5% in January will have huge implications for both customers and establishments alike, whether it comes in the form of rising menu prices or full on closures. Buckle up for some big changes out there. The Ivy Ever since The Ivy opened during the summer, drama has been rife. Between the strict door policy, the vouchers furore and the tipping fiasco it seems the restaurant is all fur coat and less of the undergarments. Maybe save yourself the stress of trying to get a table and give this one a miss. Unless you feel the need to reminisce on the boom times of yore. The Price of Wine in Restaurants When did 70-80% become a standard margin on wine in Dublin? The capital's going to struggle to develop a wine culture as long as it costs this much to drink well. The Closure of the Dublin Flea After being forced to move from Newmarket Square in Dublin 8 in May by developers building new offices, the flea has yet to find a new home . The Christmas Flea allowed the traders a brief return, and it was packed with old and new customers, but the fact that there is still nowhere for it to trade, despite willing traders and eager customers, is a tragedy for independent shopping in the city. The Loss of the Jo’Burger Group Joe Macken’s mini chain of restaurants have long been a staple on the modern Dublin food scene, and the announcement that the group had gone into liquidation caused shock waves throughout the industry. We are particularly grieving the loss of our formerly new favourite wine den, Bar Giuseppe . Let us know your food highs and lows of 2018 by emailing info@allthefood.ie

It's been a year of countless new openings, the big pizza debate and every restaurant in the city fearfully generating a vegan menu - with varying results. These were our most read stories in 2018... 10) Where to eat and drink in Stoneybatter Between Vietnom, Vurgerface and Scéal pastries at Pender's Market, Stoneybatter has had it going on this year. Our guide on where to eat and drink in the batter was the tenth most read article over the past 12 months. Read it here . 9) Dublin's first Vegan Diner and Takeaway opens It's no surprise that anytime we write anything about where to eat vegan food it explodes, and the news that Beast diner and takeaway had opened on the quays was our most read vegan related story of the year. Read it here . 8) Four New Openings and a Closure News in September that Farmhill in Goatstown had closed down along with four new openings in Dublin, including "Irish soulfood with an American twist", two cafés and a city centre bakery is at number eight. Read it here . 7) Critics' Reviews - Gastropubs A tale of two gastro pubs in November is at number seven, where Lucinda's review featured one of the worst food photos ever published in a national newspaper (she took it), and Tom Doorley kicked off the big homemade chip debate of 2018 . Read it here . ​ 6) Critics' Reviews - The Pizza edition A pizza packed critics reviews in July was our sixth most read article of the year, where Lucinda rounded up the best pizza in Dublin and left Pi off the list, and Katy McGuinness had a "truly terrible" one in Clontarf, which left her stomach churning. Read it here . 5) Four New Restaurants that have just opened in Dublin This July round up of four new restaurant openings including a pizza place, a diner and two new vegan restaurants (of course) proved so popular that another online publication lifted it practically word for word. Thankfully we stumbled across it (albeit months later) and had it taken down. Read it here . 4) Loretta's Opens in Phibsborough Chef Jimmy Wiley's US-inspired comfort food and Loretta's upscale fit out had everyone talking, mainly because no one knew it was opening until we published the story (and we only heard about it the day before - ninja levels of secret restaurant planning). It was also a very welcome addition to a side of the city that's somewhat barren on the food front, and Northsiders nearly lost their lives with excitement. Read about it here . 3) Daniel opens on Clanbrassil Street A very under the radar entry, the newest café from 3fe's Colin Harmon opened on Clanbrassil Street in August and became a solid fixture on Dublin's coffee scene within about three minutes of opening its doors. Read about it here . 2) Uno Mas Opens on Aungier Street The second, Spanish-focused opening from the Etto team had us seriously low on patience, after a planned June opening turned into a December one. Luckily it was worth the wait. Read about it here . 1) The Pi Once Over In June Dublin got a new pizza place, and we had a feeling even from the pre-opening posts that it was gonna be a good 'un. When we tried it we nearly keeled over at just how good it was, and took great satisfaction in declaring it the best pizza in Dublin before the masses descended. Despite Lucinda O'Sullivan's not at all disguised irritation at the "frenzied foodies" and their nonsense about where to find the best pizza in Dublin, we consider the spirited debate that followed hugely positive, and just went to show how much great pizza is being made in the city right now. It's also a far better conversation to be having than saying it's all shite. Read the Pi once over here . Got any stories you'd like to see in 2019? Let us know - info@allthefood.ie.