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*Disclaimer: We've already published this under where to eat when Christmas shopping, but let's face it, you'll be in the exact same areas, and these are some of the best places to eat in those areas. Shopping is hard. Shopping for a variety of people in a short amount of time with a limited budget (see: Dublin rent) is even harder. Well, we’re not here to give you tips on how to master the art of finding every present in one day, but what we can do is provide you with a list of pit stops for your shopping days in the big smoke. With this in mind, everything here is close to the main shopping areas to reduce any additional walking trips with heavy shopping bags. For Breakfast Brother Hubbard North With the expansion to their Northside cafe came their artisan food shop, in the original seating area. This is really a two birds with one stone scenario: get some brunch and then nip over to their shop to stock up on presents for your loved ones (or really, just for yourself). They also have mulled wine, winter tonics and Christmas spiced hot chocolate. www.brotherhubbard.ie Laine, My Love Laine, My Love on Talbot Street is handy if you’re getting the DART into Connolly and physically can’t make it any further without a coffee hit straight away. It also helps that the coffee is good. You might be tempted by their cashew nut butter and blackberry jam toastie as well. www.lainemylove.com Tang With two locations in town, Abbey Street and Dawson Street, Tang is great to hop into for a coffee and some food. It gets pretty packed during lunchtime in both spots. It’s best to go in the morning to grab a seat before you venture out into the scary paths of Grafton Street or Henry Street. They also serve brunch at both locations on Saturdays. www.tang.ie The Pepperpot If your parent decides to tag along for some Christmas shopping, take them here. The people-watching and the tea will distract them from the extortionate Dublin prices and “fancy luas transportation”. Also Bewley’s is more likely to hold the entire population of Leinster within its walls during December, so this might be a better bet if you’re in the Grafton Street area. thepepperpot.ie For Lunch Kimchi Hophouse It’s getting to a point now where if you haven’t been to the “Hophouse”, do you really know Dublin? If you do make it to the half-pub, half-Korean restaurant on Parnell Street, we would recommend the bibimbap and kimchi pancakes. kimchihophouse.ie Industry Another place where you can go for sustenance on your shopping quest and find some presents. Caution: this may cause distraction and deviation from the plan...what was the plan again? industryandco.com The Woollen Mills The Woollen Mills is running a Christmas lunch menu with items like whiskey and marmalade glazed sticky bacon ribs, black pudding boxty and mince pie ice-cream. Something to look forward to after braving the crowds in the Jervis Centre. thewoollenmills.com Loose Canon Loose Canon do some mean toasties during the day, featuring a glut of Irish farmhouse cheeses. They also sell retail cheese, charcuterie and wine, just in case you want to forsake your gift buying plans for others and focus on treating yourself. Each hour you spend Christmas shopping, a part of your soul withers. The only way to revive it is with warm, melting cheese and alcohol. loosecanon.ie Overends Kitchen For those brave enough to venture to Dundrum Town Centre (*shudders*) for their Christmas shopping, do yourself a favour and go for a peaceful lunch at the cafe in Airfield Estate. www.airfield.ie/cafe Dinner Uno Mas The new cool kid on the block. The recently opened restaurant from the Etto family is already topping our list of favourite restaurants. Sit at the bar, or better yet the alcove. It might be hard to grab a seat here but trust us, it’s worth it. www.unomas.ie Pi This is our favourite place to get pizza in the city. Plus if you have a loved one in tow who isn’t really feeling the shopping vibe and won’t sit in the designated chair in the shop, give them the gift of Pi pizza to cheer them up. www.pipizzas.ie Pichet Pichet is one of the most consistent restaurants in town, service is inviting and the food is delicious. Probably one of the nicest ways to end a Christmas shopping day. pichet.ie The Seafood Cafe A more casual place to go but definitely not lacking in quality, Niall Sabongi’s Seafood Cafe is a welcoming spot after a day of trekking around town. They also do ‘Build your own Mary’s’ during brunch on Sundays. Just saying. www.facebook.com/klawcafe Sisu Izakaya This newly opened Izakaya just down from Stephen's Green shopping centre is like a dimly-lit haven in the middle of the city centre. The ramen is very good, and they do a killer lunch bento box for €10. sisuizakaya.ie Luna One of our favourite restaurants in Dublin at the moment and it seems to be getting better and better. Let Luna be the light at the end of a weary day of bag handling and extra-exhausting thoughtfulness. ​lunarestaurant.ie Chameleon We understand you’re tired. You picked up too many bags and the next shop seems so far away. Hanger is setting in. Your phone being on 5% doesn’t help anything. But there is some soft, pillowy bao at Chameleon in Temple Bar that might help soothe you. www.chameleonrestaurant.com Hang Dai A little more upbeat in terms of dining rooms (or train carriages in Hang Dai’s case), it’s definitely somewhere to get excited about party season. And if there’s ever a time to get involved with their wood fired Skeaghanore duck, it’s Christmas. www.hangdaichinese.com

It's two days before Christmas, which means all the round ups! Some critics have picked their favourite restaurants from the past 12 months, some have literally just listed everywhere they've eaten, and a few actually reviewed somewhere new. First to the new... The Irish Independent's Katy McGuinness is the latest in the door of US-style Loretta's in Phibsborough. The smart fit-out reminded her of some Press Up venues (which is a compliment), and she says she admires the bravery involved in opening "a big, proper restaurant ... at a time when there is a chill wind blowing through the industry". Nashville hot oysters with brown butter and bone marrow sauce could have been hotter but the flavours were "dirty fabulous", and oyster mushrooms with parmesan fondue and aubergine relish were "properly tasty". A Skeaghanore duck salad was "a gorgeous composition" and a striploin steak was "impeccable" with "excellent house-made chips", but side salads were over-dressed. She wasn't a fan of the beef and pork ragu either, feeling it had been rushed, and the black bean chilli on the side of Wicklow venison lacked depth, although the cornbread it came with was "buttery and delicious". An American style baked cheesecake to end was "a winner", and she calls it "a family-run restaurant with a very nice vibe". She gives it 8/10 for food, ambiance and value. Read her review here . In the Irish Examiner , Joe McNamee was in Green Man Wines in Terenure, enjoying the experience of "being able to stand up, walk over to a wall of wine and spend a few minutes mulling over your next choice." A lot of the review is about the wines they drank, including an Italian 'Pét Nat', a "beautifully balanced" Italian Vermentino, and a "bright, juicy" organic Italian Syrah - we're suddenly very thirsty. Mediterranean snacks of corn kernels and lupins divided the table, while a bowl of wild mussels with parsley and garlic butter were flavoursome, sweet and nutty, but missing bread to mop up the sauce. A tender Flat Iron steak came with "terrific" bearnaise and "criminally addictive" parsnip chips - both so good that seconds of each were ordered, and he says that while the food offering is designed to serve the drinks offering, it's "extremely decent, well-cooked and tasty grub, a fine servant to some splendid wines." Read his review here . In the Irish Times , Catherine Cleary is doleling out her restaurants of the year awards, and says the places that got her attention were the ones paying attention themselves - "food geeks who lie awake at night wondering how to make it better". Locks get her vote for "best neighbourhood place", for their relaxed team and "wonderful food" (read our review here ), Assassination Custard take "best café" for their "small brilliance" (we reviewed them too ), and Indian 3 Leaves in Blackrock gets "best value". No doubt there will be consternation amongst the country folk for her "best out-of-Dublin" category ( Restaurant Chestnut ), but three out of nine of her awards go to restaurants outside the capital, which seems about right? (Luckily as this is a Dublin-based site we shouldn't get too much abuse off the back of that one). Pi takes "best newcomer", Vietnom takes "best street food", and Airfield's Overends Kitchen takes "best farm-to-fork. The full article (including those out-of-Dublin places) is here . It's a similar story in the Irish Daily Mail, with Tom Doorley picking out the best restaurants he reviewed for each month of 2018, eventually settling on his favourite five. Etto makes the list for their "simple and brilliant" cooking and "sensational" wine list, Campagne in Kilkenny for their "sublime" food, Everett's in Waterford for their transformation of raw materials that lives on long after the last mouthful is swallowed, and Pichet for a simply perfect lunch. He's hesitant to commit to a meal of the year, but eventually gives it to Uno Mas , "one of the most joyful experiences of the year", where he had "the best squid I have eaten anywhere". He also says he thinks he's eaten better this year than ever before, which says good things about the Dublin/Irish dining scene. (Review not currently online) In the Sunday Independent Lucinda O'Sullivan lists almost every restaurant she visited this year, month by month. Twenty-eight different places are mentioned (not counting her "20 best" lists which seemed to go on for most of the summer), and if you've been reading either her Sunday column or this weekly round up there'll be nothing much new in it for you. Our personal highlights include a recount of her "train wreck" brunch in Bun Cha with their "awful beef" and out of order loos (worth noting that other critics liked it), her trip to The Grayson which included wanting to "push some of the stool-hogging Prosecco ladies off their perches", and another dig at the "non-stop nonsense of foodies on social media whining about the best pizza spot" in Dublin. Hopefully she'll unwind a bit in 2019. (Review not currently online) Another yearly round up in the Sunday Business Post , where Gillian Nelis picks her top ten restaurants of the year, only four of which are in Dublin - Locks , Luna , 3 Leaves and Craft (read that here ), and in the Sunday Times Ernie Whalley is "seriously impressed" after a visit to newly opened Uno Mas (read that here ). No critic review round up next week. See you in 2019.

It's Christmas Eve babe. Do yourself a favour and get out of the house for some fresh, cold air and  decompressing, cold drinks before being quarantined with your loved ones. It's a time for festive fizz, indulging in early food and going home to eat cheese and crackers for dinner before the cooking marathon starts the following day. Most of these take walk-ins but there's a few fancier booking options at the end - at the time of publishing these are booked out online, but restaurant customers have been dropping like flies this month so if you fancy one of them it's definitely worth giving them a call. 1. Urchin Urchin , downstairs in The Cliff Townhouse , is open from 11am - 3pm and has a festive drinks menu including mulled wine, Ferreo Rocher cocktails and hot buttered whiskeys. They've also been doing a 'Christmas Shopping Pitstop' during December which includes a plate of ham croquettes and a drink for €15. Get involved. clifftownhouse.ie/urchin-bar-2 2. Lucky Tortoise Lucky Tortoise has set up shop in their previous pop up location on George’s Street (for how long is TBC), serving  their dim sum style menu. It’s €20 for everything on the menu including miso soup, dumplings and bao, and they have wine on tap. What more could you possibly want? www.luckytortoise.co 3. Gertrude Newly opened Gertrude from 3fe's Colin Harmon and chef Holly Dalton has turned into one of Dublin's hotspots overnight, and they'll be open until lunch on December 24th. Even if you haven’t been there yet you’ve probably seen some of their dishes on Instagram, like their Tonkatsu sandwich, bacon and cabbage dumplings and apple fritters with custard. www.gertrude.ie 4. Pi The answer is always Pi . Or else 3.14159, whatever you’re into. We're into really good pizza, and Pi will be serving that until 5pm on Christmas Eve. www.pipizzas.ie 5. Featherblade Indulge in steak and two veg (one being chips), without a dry turkey or cranberry sauce in sight. The burgers are decent too. featherblade.ie 6. Mad Egg Mad Egg are donating all revenue from Christmas Eve to Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Last orders are at 3pm, so get in early for some Christmas feels and excellent Irish, free-range fried chicken. www.madegg.ie 7. The Grayson The Grayson has a quick lunch menu from 12-3pm, serving sandwiches and salads, and it's a great spot for a midday drink overlooking Stephen's Green to kick off the booze fest. It's also a good alternative to the queues of people trying to wedge themselves into The Shelbourne . Two in, two out. Two chances we're standing in that. thegrayson.ie 8. Two Boys Brew Head here for Christmas Eve breakfast and to buy a haul of their 'granny's recipe' mince pies to take home. It's a great place to meet with friends before going your separate ways to endure tedious dinner conversations, and Taurean’s (one of the Two Boys) decorations will give you serious festive envy. www.twoboysbrew.ie 9. Grano Stoneybatter’s newest pasta bar will be open for all of your carbohydrate-related needs. Freshly made pasta and organic wine until 6pm. www.grano.ie 10. Pickle Sunil Ghai’s modern Indian restaurant on Camden street will be open from 12-6pm. Lunch is a two course a la carte menu and dinner is a set menu served family style. www.picklerestaurant.com 11. The Garden Room at The Merrion ​The Garden Room at the Merrion is offering a four-course menu at €135 pp. If you’re looking for something lighter, they'll be serving festive afternoon tea in their Georgian Drawing Rooms. And when we say lighter, we mean smaller portions but the same amount of food. At this stage, who’s counting mince pies? 12. Pichet Pichet’s buzzing atmosphere is sure to get you into the festive mood, until 3pm when they close, at least. Plus...their bar, you know, to ease you into some solid family time. pichet.ie Also, don’t forget about those in the service industry who work long and late hours during Christmas and put up with a lot of drunk customers, very loud groups and a lot of no shows. Smile, be patient and make sure to leave a tip.

Variety Jones , the new restaurant from chef Keelan Higgs opens at 6pm tonight on Thomas Street in Dublin 8. He describes the food as 'Modern Irish', and the opening menu features comté ravioli, hearth grilled sole and chicken liver parfait with sweet and sour onions and potato bread. Higgs, formerly head chef at Locks and Luna , was looking for a site for two and a half years, but says nothing felt right until he found the one on Thomas Street. He wanted Variety Jones to be in the inner city, where he felt he could be more dynamic with the menu, and have more freedom to keep things interesting. The menu doesn't take the typical starter, main, dessert format - most dishes are designed to be shared, and Higgs said this was important to him as it's how he likes to eat. "The restaurant is based around the Irish principles of sharing, warmth and togetherness. Sharing food breaks down barriers." There's also has an open hearth where certain foods will be cooked straight over burning ash. Keelan's brother Aaron is front of house, and sommelier Vanda Ivančić has put together a wine list focusing on minimal intervention wines from small producers. Food and wine pairings will be a feature on the menu, and they want the wines to inspire dishes, and vice versa. Higgs isn't worried about the number of restaurants opening in the city right now, and the impending doom being forecast by many due to Brexit and the upcoming VAT increase - "It's a dog eat dog world. If we can keep the food interesting to us I think we'll keep it interesting for the customers too, and hopefully they'll want to keep coming back." Variety Jones opens tonight at 6pm, and will be open until Sunday before taking a break for Christmas. They may be back in between Christmas and New Year - keep an eye on their social media feeds for updates. Bookings can be made through their website, and their opening night menu is below. Variety Jones 78 Thomas Street, Dublin 8 Opening hours TBC www.varietyjones.ie

Grano , a new Italian restaurant, has opened in Stoneybatter, with the owner's Mum flying over from Italy to supervise the fresh pasta making. Italian born Roberto Mungo has been living in Dublin for the past six years, most recently working as a sommelier for Wallace Wine Bars , and says the aim of Grano is to create "a contemporary cuisine that respects the roots and traditions of Italian cooking." The menu is inspired by Roberto's childhood in Southern Italy, and they're collaborating with Italian farmers to source cured meats, flour, cheeses, olive oil and tomatoes, amongst others. Pasta is made fresh each day at the pasta counter (which at the moment features Roberto's mother, Mamma Roma, straight from Calabria) and there's a small selection of starters, meat and fish dishes. The predominantly organic wine list is all Italian, with three whites and three reds by the glass, and there's a lot on it we want to drink. There's also a good value early bird at €19 for two courses or €24 for three, served Tuesday to Thursday evenings until 7pm and from 12pm - 7pm on Sundays. In his hometown of Borgia, Roberto's mother and grandmother ran a local Osteria making fresh pasta every day for the neighbourhood, and he said it was the memory of his mother making fresh maccheroni every sunday with the smell of ragu bubbling in the background that was the inspiration for Grano. He wanted to open a restaurant in Stoneybatter as he said its sense of community reminded him of home. Grano is open now from Tuesday - Sunday with lunch from Wednesday to Sunday. Grano Unit 5, Norseman Court, Manor Street, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 Tues 17:00 - 22:00. Wed - Thu 12:00 - 15:00, 17:00 - 22:00. Fri 12:00 - 15:00. Sat 12:00 - 22:30. Sun 12:00 - 22:00. Phone: (01) 538 2003 www.grano.ie

This week has been dominated by talk of "carnage" and a New Year "bloodbath" in the restaurant industry, after Joe Macken's Jo'Burger group went into liquidation . For months now there's been a lot of chatter about Dublin being at 'peak restaurant', and how we have too many seats for not enough bums, and it looks like a correction has begun. We personally think it's more complicated than this. There are enough bums, they're just not eating out as much for a variety of reasons, including the soaring costs of living in Dublin (including the cost of eating out). If everyone ate out once more per week we wouldn't have enough seats. What the New Year will bring is anyone's guess, but we're hearing of more restaurants in trouble (as well as a tonne more opening), so if anything it's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. But onto the reviews... Uno Mas are definitely this week's review winners, after receiving a coveted 9.5/10 in the Irish Times from Catherine Cleary - cue angry tweets about how punters can't get a booking in January. You might want to give that a few weeks and save yourself the heartbreak... She said she knew it would be great, but "the thrill is that it's perfect". Hard to get a better write up than that. She calls a gilda a "pure tapas bar treat", and the cecina (smoked beef) croquettes "a combination so good you could burst into song." She said she wanted "all the mains", but settled on "great" hake with rainbow chard, a clam broth and fermented black garlic sauce. Another of pork 'presa' with apple sauce, potato and flower sprouts made for "one of the best mouthfuls I've eaten all year". She says she'll be dreaming of the 'flan queso' for weeks to come, and a chocolate and olive oil ganache is "brilliant" - we've had it, it is. She says there's a "rightness" that she rarely finds in any restaurant, let alone one on its fourth night of service, and calls Uno Mas "delightful". Read her review here . In the Irish Independent Katy McGuinness took a trip to Yuleyard , Eatyard's festive iteration, as a Christmas shopping pit stop (see our refuelling recommendations here ). She was looking for somewhere more individual, "owned and run by people rather than corporations" - which is a good yardstick to measure any dining choice by - and liked Yuleyard's "eclectic bunch of street-food traders". Dim Sum from Lucky Tortoise were "juicy, tasty and delicious", and their lemongrass pork came in a "soft and pillowy bao with great, not-too-pungent kimchi and white rice". A Mexican Box Burger was "hot, hot, hot", and an apple and mustard hot dog from Flamin' Marvellous came in a "tragic seeded roll" but was "fine"- not really selling it. She calls Yuleyard "the hippest place to grab a bite while you're Christmas shopping", and there's also an unfortunate reference to the fondue in Bar Giuseppe, part of the Jo'Burger group which closed this week. Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan was in Zozimus bar to check out the new Asian menu from chef Jules Mak, which by all accounts is being well received across the board. Lucky Lucinda found herself surrounded by celebrity faces Norah Casey and Keith from Boyzone, and she says the only problem with the menu was that they wanted everything on it. Prawn and chicken dim sum were "pretty as a picture", and she doesn't say how they tasted but we're assuming she was happy. They stuck to the small plates, including "silky" scallops in a spicy sauce with crumbed pork belly crackling, crab claws wrapped in minced pork and panko breadcrumbs, and duck pancakes, whose pleasure she says was "hard to beat". Her favourite was the panko-crumbed fingers of aubergine with sriracha sauce, and a side of singapore noodles was "excellent". She ends by comparing herself to the terminator, and saying "I'll be back". (Review not currently online). In the Irish Daily Mail Tom Doorley was enamoured with meat-free Good Day Deli in Cork, with its "genuinely striking" welcome, "calm, tall-windowed room", and meaty lentil burger. He says that while the website's talk of sustainable eating, positive attitudes and inspiring atmospheres might have been off putting, the proof was in the eating which was "a delight". Although he's a burger devotee, the lentil burger did deliver something of a hamburger experience, and the chips were "excellent" - the paprika ones even better. Fish tacos came with subtly spiced, battered hake, lemon and coriander mayonnaise, pickled red onion, lime wedges and a colourful slaw, and he calls it "a cracker of a dish". Desserts were mixed with an orange polenta cake "too sweet and pure stodge", but a chocolate and Beamish cake "fabulous". Their bill was "eminently reasonable", and he says that despite Cork being well served by places to go for lunch, Good Day Deli adds something new and different. (Review not currently online) In The Irish Examiner Leslie Williams was in JP McMahon's café-cum-wine bar Tartare in Galway, which he calls a "fine idea", and a place where thought and creativity has gone into the food - like the crisps served with seaweed, fermented cream and trout roe. Good quality beef tartare came with pickled onions and smoked egg, a beef and cheddar sandwich was "packed with meaty flavour", and a venison and barley stew was "a fine filling bowl for a winter afternoon". The only slight off note was a halloumi, gubbeen salami and pumpkin seed salad, due to some over-dressed salad leaves. They finished with a rich, salted caramel tart, and he says that "real care has gone into everything from the wines to the decor, to picking charming, friendly staff, and of course to the food". Review not currently online but should be soon here . In the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis also reviews and highly rates Uno Mas , which she calls "a solid business" in a rapidly oversupplied restaurant market, read that here . And in the Sunday Times Ernie Whalley finally passes through the 'gilded portal' of The Ivy to find food that "will never provoke as much as a flicker of excitement, a soupçon of stimulation". Read that here . More next week.

Joe Macken's Jo'Burger Group has gone into liquidation, and its restaurants Jo'Burger, Crackbird, Hey Donna as well as wine bar Bar Giuseppe have ceased trading. It's understood that staff received a text message yesterday morning telling them of the news, with none of the sites opening yesterday. In a statement released on social media the group said, "With great regret we confirm that Jo'Burger Group Ltd is going into Liquidation. A combination of factors including challenging trading conditions have forced this move. Jo'Burger, Crackbird, Hey Donna & Bar Giuseppe will cease trading immediately. We would like to thank our many customers for their years of support. But mostly thank you and sorry to all our crew and suppliers for their dedication and trust." The Jo'Burger group was founded in 2007, and changed the casual dining scene in Dublin with restaurants Jo'Burger, Crackbird, Skinflint and Bear, but had gone into examinership in 2009 and had been declaring losses for the past few years. The opening of Middle Eastern Canteen Hey Donna in Rathmines in early 2017 was seen to many as the new phase of the group, and Joe himself described it as the type of food he wants to eat these days. The Rathmines site closed in early December, with the company citing difficulties making it work in the suburbs, but a new one had opened on Dame Street in the old Skinflint site. The group's natural wine bar, Bar Giuseppe , only opened above Jo'Burger on Castle Market six weeks ago, so this news has come as a shock to the industry. The rate of restaurant openings in Dublin at the moment seems to be unparalleled (we are genuinely struggling to keep up), and more closures are predicted in the New Year, with many people saying there are too many restaurant seats for the city's population.

Shopping is hard. Shopping for a variety of people in a short amount of time with a limited budget (see: Dublin rent) is even harder. Well, we’re not here to give you tips on how to master the art of finding every present in one day, but what we can do is provide you with a list of pit stops for your shopping days in the big smoke. With this in mind, everything here is close to the main shopping areas to reduce any additional walking trips with heavy shopping bags. For Breakfast Brother Hubbard North With the expansion to their Northside cafe came their artisan food shop, in the original seating area. This is really a two birds with one stone scenario: get some brunch and then nip over to their shop to stock up on presents for your loved ones (or really, just for yourself). They also have mulled wine, winter tonics and Christmas spiced hot chocolate. www.brotherhubbard.ie Laine, My Love Laine, My Love on Talbot Street is handy if you’re getting the DART into Connolly and physically can’t make it any further without a coffee hit straight away. It also helps that the coffee is good. You might be tempted by their cashew nut butter and blackberry jam toastie as well. www.lainemylove.com Tang With two locations in town, Abbey Street and Dawson Street, Tang is great to hop into for a coffee and some food. It gets pretty packed during lunchtime in both spots. It’s best to go in the morning to grab a seat before you venture out into the scary paths of Grafton Street or Henry Street. They also serve brunch at both locations on Saturdays. www.tang.ie The Pepperpot If your parent decides to tag along for some Christmas shopping, take them here. The people-watching and the tea will distract them from the extortionate Dublin prices and “fancy luas transportation”. Also Bewley’s is more likely to hold the entire population of Leinster within its walls during December, so this might be a better bet if you’re in the Grafton Street area. thepepperpot.ie For Lunch Kimchi Hophouse It’s getting to a point now where if you haven’t been to the “Hophouse”, do you really know Dublin? If you do make it to the half-pub, half-Korean restaurant on Parnell Street, we would recommend the bibimbap and kimchi pancakes. kimchihophouse.ie Industry Another place where you can go for sustenance on your shopping quest and find some presents. Caution: this may cause distraction and deviation from the plan...what was the plan again? industryandco.com The Woollen Mills The Woollen Mills is running a Christmas lunch menu with items like whiskey and marmalade glazed sticky bacon ribs, black pudding boxty and mince pie ice-cream. Something to look forward to after braving the crowds in the Jervis Centre. thewoollenmills.com Loose Canon Loose Canon do some mean toasties during the day, featuring a glut of Irish farmhouse cheeses. They also sell retail cheese, charcuterie and wine, just in case you want to forsake your gift buying plans for others and focus on treating yourself. Each hour you spend Christmas shopping, a part of your soul withers. The only way to revive it is with warm, melting cheese and alcohol. loosecanon.ie Overends Kitchen For those brave enough to venture to Dundrum Town Centre (*shudders*) for their Christmas shopping, do yourself a favour and go for a peaceful lunch at the cafe in Airfield Estate. www.airfield.ie/cafe Dinner Uno Mas The new cool kid on the block. The recently opened restaurant from the Etto family is already topping our list of favourite restaurants. Sit at the bar, or better yet the alcove. It might be hard to grab a seat here but trust us, it’s worth it. www.unomas.ie Pi This is our favourite place to get pizza in the city. Plus if you have a loved one in tow who isn’t really feeling the shopping vibe and won’t sit in the designated chair in the shop, give them the gift of Pi pizza to cheer them up. www.pipizzas.ie Pichet Pichet is one of the most consistent restaurants in town, service is inviting and the food is delicious. Probably one of the nicest ways to end a Christmas shopping day. pichet.ie The Seafood Cafe A more casual place to go but definitely not lacking in quality, Niall Sabongi’s Seafood Cafe is a welcoming spot after a day of trekking around town. They also do ‘Build your own Mary’s’ during brunch on Sundays. Just saying. www.facebook.com/klawcafe Sisu Izakaya This newly opened Izakaya just down from Stephen's Green shopping centre is like a dimly-lit haven in the middle of the city centre. The ramen is very good, and they do a killer lunch bento box for €10. sisuizakaya.ie Luna One of our favourite restaurants in Dublin at the moment and it seems to be getting better and better. Let Luna be the light at the end of a weary day of bag handling and extra-exhausting thoughtfulness. ​lunarestaurant.ie Chameleon We understand you’re tired. You picked up too many bags and the next shop seems so far away. Hanger is setting in. Your phone being on 5% doesn’t help anything. But there is some soft, pillowy bao at Chameleon in Temple Bar that might help soothe you. www.chameleonrestaurant.com Hang Dai A little more upbeat in terms of dining rooms (or train carriages in Hang Dai’s case), it’s definitely somewhere to get excited about party season. And if there’s ever a time to get involved with their wood fired Skeaghanore duck, it’s Christmas. www.hangdaichinese.com

The signs of a Dublin Christmas are popping up everywhere - people hauling around tiny Christmas trees for their overpriced apartments, fairy lights strewn shoddily on bare trees and Christmas FM has risen from the shadows to unleash its merry rumps upon us. The Black Friday sales have come and gone, leaving us looking forlornly at full price tags, and while we may have been cynical before, we’re ready now. Fill us with festive carbohydrates, oh sweet and savoury consumer god. 1) The Fable + Stey Christmas Toastie Let the excess commence, and what better way to embrace the season than Christmas dinner in a sambo. The toastie by Blackrock café Fable + Stey  features roast chicken, smoked gubbeen ham, cranberry sauce and onion and thyme stuffing, with sprout salad. Bonus feature: no awkward interactions with relatives you see once a year. (Hint: You can’t choose your family but you can choose your sandwiches.) www.fableandstey.ie 2) The White Mausu Rice Bowl at the Christmas Flea Market This might not be the most festive dish on the list, but that doesn’t dull our lust for it. White Mausu 's rice bowl, available at The Christmas Flea , contains sticky Japanese rice, miso aubergine, homemade fermented kimchi, peas, rayu, and an egg pancake. The Christmas Flea is only open for one more weekend, so why not cross a few presents off your list, and then inhale this as a reward. www.whitemausu.com 3) The Christmas Toastie at Daniel The idea behind Daniel's signature sandwich, the ‘Black and Blue’, was conceived around the festive time last year (when executive head chef at 3fe , Hilary O’ Hagan Brennan made a Christmas leftovers toastie), and it was one of the best things to come out of the silly season since the bearded man himself. Now they've released a new Christmas toastie with turkey, ham, brie and cranberry mayo, and we've been eyeing it up all week. 3fe.com/locations 4) The Cruffins at Oxmantown Pastries, amirite? Oxmantown ’s insta feed has been seducing us with cruffins for weeks. The chocolate orange cremeux cruffin topped with caramelised orange, lemon meringue, toasted nut praline and of course, a malted chocolate cremeux. *double tap* *double tap* *double tap* ... *double tap* www.oxmantown.com 5) Bujo Paddy’s Ranch Burger We’re going to say it first. Burgers are festive now. Burgers are great. Burgers are always a good idea and what other time of the year is it as acceptable to impulse eat them? Plus, every new limited burger at Bujo  feels like opening a window of your advent calendar. Their new special. 'The Paddy Ranch', features house-made Korean ranch and panko red onion rings. See, I’m dreaming of a ra-a-nch Christmas... bujo.ie

Not all mince pies are created equal, so it's time to ditch the sad store bought ones that your aunt insists on feeding you - let’s face it, no amount of tea can make them taste any better. Here’s our pick of where to get the best homemade mince pies in Dublin. The Cupcake Bloke The Bakery by The Cupcake Bloke in Rialto has an entire ‘Mince Pie Bar’ running through December, with 7 different kinds of mince pies to gorge on. The pies on the bar include a Christmas pasteis de nata, mince pie brownies and mince pie cake pops. Needless to say, we've very jealous of anyone who lives in close proximity to the bakery. thecupcakebloke.com Bread 41 The roaring fire of the pizza oven in Bread 41 is enough to get Nat King Cole's ‘The Christmas Song’ stuck in your head for the foreseeable future. Throw in mince pies and it's a done deal. Eoin Cluskey uses his grandmother’s recipe, where the secret ingredient is Guinness - not so secret then. www.breadnation.ie/eatery Two Boys Brew One of the best mince pies found on the North Side. These bad boys fly out the door and are from another grandmother’s recipe (grannies really are the queens of mince pies). You can also order a box of them to take home from December 19th. www.twoboysbrew.ie Five Points Five Points in Harold’s Cross have taken an inventive approach this year by topping their mince pies with meringue, making them look like something out of a snowy Christmas scene. www.facebook.com/fivepointshx Love Supreme Love Supreme ’s savoury pies and sausage rolls always hit the spot and their take on the boozy festive pastry is no different. They’re serving their “Xmas spice fruit crumble” mince pies all month. www.lovesupreme.ie Sceal Bakery These flaky pastry mince pies can be found at the Christmas Flea this weekend and are worth elbowing Christmas shoppers out of the way for. Keep your eyes on the prize...or, better yet, the pies. www.scealbakery.com

We were starting to think it would never open, after delays spanning months, but the good news is that Gertrude , the all day diner from 3fe's Colin Harmon, has finally opened on Pearse Street, with Holly Dalton in charge of the food. Holly comes from 3fe's Grand Canal Dock location, and took some time out to travel around Japan a few months ago, which is presumably where she got her inspiration for Gertrude's pork tonkatsu sandwich. Holly describes Gertrude as "like a diner, but good", and the all day menu stays the same from breakfast to dinner, so steak for breakfast and a fry up after work are now distinct possibilities. They're open seven days a week, and the only night they're currently open is Saturday, but eventually the plan is to open seven nights a week - they just need more chefs first. The menu is a mixture of semi-typical diner fare, Asian influenced dishes and the best Irish produce, with dishes like friend chicken and buttermilk pancakes, duck buns and game pie, as well as scrambled eggs with crab and hot sauce, snacks, sides and sweets. The wine list has been put together by Pete Conway O'Neil, formerly of Greenman Wines, and as is fast becoming the trend across the city, has a natural wine steer with loads of great options, as well as sherries, vermouth and white port. All of the bread and pastries are from Bread 41 down the road, and coffee is of course from 3fe . We can personally recommend the snacks of Cooleeny croquettes with beetroot ketchup and the bacon and cabbage dumplings, which are like a slap of umami right across the face. The pork tonkatsu sandwich with homemade kewpie mayo (a Japanese variety made with rice vinegar) and shredded cabbage on Bread 41 batch loaf is also something special, using Irish free-range pork from The Whole Hoggs in The Boyne Valley, and they're all very generous portions for the price Holly says she wants Gertrude to be accessible, all-day dining, where people can just as easily drop in for a small plate or food or a three course meal, and it's certainly somewhere we can see ourselves lingering for an afternoon. Gertrude 130 Pearse Street, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2 Mon - Fri 08:00 - 16:00. Sat 10:00 - 22:00. Sun 11:00 - 18:00. www.gertrude.ie

Bowls by Kwanghi Chan has opened on Marlborough Street, just off Parnell Street - Dublin's unofficial Chinatown. Kwanghi, a Hong Kong born, Donegal raised, Michelin-trained chef, is probably best known for his range of Chan Chan sauces and spice bag mixtures, but was formerly head chef at the Cliff House Hotel in Waterford, and was also food director of the short-lived Soder and Ko on George's Street. This is his first solo restaurant. Bowls unsurprisingly serves Asian rice and noodle bowls, with a choice from either their signature options like roasted aubergine, beef brisket and char siu pork, or you can build your own from a large selection of ingredients. They're using big green eggs to barbeque meats and vegetables, and there's an abundance of chan chan sauce to top it all off with. We've tried the pork and the aubergine and were seriously impressed with the deep, smoky flavours. They're only doing soft drinks, including Asian iced teas, as well as tea and coffee, and they've got some very tasty looking pasteis de natas on the counter, as well as some other cakes and pastries. Bowls by Kwanghi Chan is open from Monday - Saturday, and currently there's no website but you can follow them on Twitter and Instagram . Bowls by Kwanghi Chan 56 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1 Mon - Fri 08:00 - 18:00, Sat 10:00 - 18:00. twitter.com/BowlsD1

Hey Donna in Rathmines closed last week, around 18 months after owner Joe Macken turned the original Jo'Burger site into a Middle Eastern inspired canteen. A second Hey Donna opened on Dame Street last month in the group's old Skinflint site, which will remain open. Hey Donna was seen as the Jo'Burger group 2.0, and a move away from burgers, pizzas and fried chicken to something more upscale and 'Ottolenghi-esque'. Joe described it as the type of food he wants to eat now, with freshness, big flavours and a focus on vegetables. Dishes like their whole roast cauliflower and miso aubergine made frequent appearances on social media, as well as their platters of grilled steak, chicken and ribs. The group, who recently opened natural wine-focused Bar Giuseppe , above Jo'Burger on Castle Market, published this statement on the Hey Donna Rathmines website: "Rathmines has changed beyond recognition since we first opened there as Jo’Burger over 10 years ago. The HEY DONNA concept was a huge success but unfortunately unsustainable in an out of town location.​We are hopeful that the staff affected by the closure can be redeployed, either with Jo’Burger or elsewhere.​The Jo’Burger Group will continue to evolve new ideas and restaurants, while focused on our city centre enterprises, Crackbird, HEY DONNA and Bar Giuseppe.​Thank you for some unforgettable times Rathmines x" Bookings for Hey Donna on Dame Street can be made here .

We were wondering who would get the first review of Uno Mas in, which has been undoubtedly one of the most anticipated openings of the year. The safe money was on Lucinda who we know had booked in for opening night, but lo and behold Tom Doorley beat her to it. Presumably we can expect her take on the Spanish influenced cuisine from the Etto crew next Sunday. No surprise to hear that Tom loved it. He describes the gildas as "bursting with savoury goodness", slivers of pig's ear were tender and crisply coated, and the squid a la plancha with just salt and olive oil was "the best thing I've eaten all year". Morcilla with fried quail's egg and piquillo pepper was "breathtakingly simple", with flavours working "like a symphony", and a potato and onion tortilla was "perfectly seasoned ... perfectly oozing". We can confirm it is that good. They finished with a dessert of milhojas, which reminded them of childhood custard slices, and he says that even though his visit was on their fourth night they didn't miss a beat. He describes the food at Uno Mas as "very simple dishes ... very clever and executed exquisitely." Needless to say they were very pleased to wake up to that yesterday morning. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Times this week, Catherine Cleary has gone very worthy altogether by using her column to highlight The Fumbally team's brilliant work in taking over the canteen at a local school . The reason she gets away with it (by a sliver) is because they're starting to offer food for collection to local businesses as a way to keep money coming in. She went to their fundraising dinner to see (and eat) the type of food they're serving up to the girls, and that will now be available as part of a catering service. Roasted squash with labneh and spices was "a perfect plate", and corn tortillas with tomatillo salsa, pork belly and pickled red onion are the best she's had outside Mexico - which is saying something. Two curries, one chicken and one butternut squash were "delicious", and dessert of apple crumble with custard caused bowls to be "almost licked clean". She says that The Fumbally have made good food in Dublin cafés the norm, and if they can make the same work financially in schools it's a model that could be rolled out anywhere. Okay we forgive her. Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent Lucinda O'Sullivan was in Cork trying out "contemporary Italian osteria" Da Mirco in Cork, where she found the drink of her dreams - a mixture of Campari, Martino (Martini?) Rosso and Prosecco in case you're interested. Like Joe McNamee a couple of months ago, she was very taken with the "simple food and good wine", which included a baked potato cake with a cod mousse ("tasty and filling") and raviolini with gorgonzola and walnuts ("absolutely delicious"). Tagliatelle with a mixed-meat white ragu (above) had "a rich and edgy taste", and casarecce alla puttanesca was "a whopping bowl with tonnes of everything". Her friend's salame di cioccolato was "the perfect chocolate fix", and her Lombardy cheeseboard was "just fabulous". She says the menu is concise and the prices great, and they clearly left delighted with life. (Review not currently online) In The Irish Examiner Joe McNamee was remembering the good and the bad about A.A. Gill at the Farmgate Café in Cork's English Market. The good - his stylish and funny prose. The bad - his brutal hidings. Thankfully when the now passed critic visited Cork's Farmgate Café he loved it as much as Joe does. He calls it a "sanctuary", and upon entering "the world without vanishes entirely, for as long as you choose to stay". Their chicken liver paté was "fine and herbaceaous", a lamb shank was "divine meat" cooked perfectly, and a smoked cheese, potato, leek and caramelised onion tart was "quite delicious", with a "wonderfully gooey filling". An Irish stew was "tender, sweet and exquisite", and he says the Farmgate's essence and ethos has remained consistent for the 24 years it's been open. He even goes so far as to say on certain days it's his favourite restaurant in the world. Hard to beat. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness took a trip to London to super cool Shoreditch eatery St Leonards , which she calls "flamboyant but flawed". Their mixed experienced started with an icy welcome, before they got onto the food that didn't all taste as good as it sounded. High points included shell-on prawns with Old Bay mayonnaise, grilled leek heart cooked on the grill, filled with almond cream and topped with truffle, and a foie gras custard with smoked eel and crunchy pork rind, but there were plenty of lows too. Oysters with beef dripping, green tomato and horseradish were a "non-event" with their "unpleasant mouthfeel of cold fat" (gag-worthy), grey mullet crudo was "awful, unpleasant", with a "complete absence of flavour", and a Mangalica pork chop had a meat to fat ratio that her fellow diners found "off-putting". Dessert of a salted caramel and sherry tart was "sublime" and while she says the food is by no means perfect, it's certainly exciting. This seems to be the theme of the place as Jay Rayner called it "not so much a restaurant as a funfair ride". Read her review here . In The Sunday Times Ernie Whalley enjoyed "a masterclass in styling and flavour" at The Owenmore Restaurant in Ballinahinch Castle, read that here , and in the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis liked the bistro dishes more than the exotic ones at The Three Q's in Greystones. Read that here . More next week.

Damien Grey and Andrew Heron, owners of the tiny Michelin-starred restaurant Heron & Grey in Blackrock, have announced that they are going their separate ways, with Damian reopening the restaurant early next year under a new name, 'Liath', which means Grey in Irish. The restaurant is fully booked until January 26th, after which they will close for a month, and reopen in a slightly new format. It's a surprisingly turn for the duo behind one of Dublin's most successful restaurants, which first opened in 2016 and gained a Michelin star in under a year. Heron and wife Jessica had their first child earlier this year, and he says he hopes to do something that allows him to spend more time with his family. Heron & Grey have been changing their menu every two weeks, never repeating a dish, and Grey says he plans to bring back the best from the past three years, after going through his 8 A4 folders containing every dish from the past three years. The menu will continue to change with the seasons. Choosing to reopen as 'Liath' means giving up the Michelin-star that's been awarded to the team every year since 2016, but Damien says their main priority is getting Liath off the ground and making sure all guests are looked after when they visit in its new guise. They hope to gain a star again, but for now, he says, it's heads down and getting to work on Liath. We have a feeling this will have precisely zero impact on the enormous demand for seats. We'll update you on bookings for Liath once we hear more.

This year’s Christmas Flea Market starts TODAY in the Point Village, and with a Dublin flea shaped hole in our hearts we're very excited to get in there and start eating our favourite things again. Usually held over one long weekend, this year's Christmas Flea has been split over two weekends; 6th-9th December and 13th-16th December. The indoor market will be open on Thursdays and Fridays from 1-8pm and 11-6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Food stalls will include Corleggy Cheese with their raw milk cheeses from Cavan, The Proper Chocolate Company with their bean to bar chocolate made in Glasnevin, 4 Hands Studio fermented foods and The Wooded Pig charcuterie made from free range pork in Meath. Camerino Bakery will be there with their signature cakes and bakes - their raspberry cheesecake raspberry brownies are especially good if you need a pick me up whilst browsing the stalls - and the Flea will be running a mulled wine stall with all proceeds going to charity. Dublin Honey Project , started by Gearóid Carvill and Kieran Hartnett, will be there with their local honey collected from apiaries in various Dublin postcodes. The honey from each postcode has a different taste, and comes from spots including a rooftop in Dublin 1, an apple orchard in Dublin 4 and a suburban garden in Dublin 14. White Mausu , creators of the infamous Peanut Rayu, will be there with their condiments and signature rayu bowls - one of the few times a year you can catch them in Dublin. The rayu bowls will have sticky Japanese rice, miso aubergine, pickles, homemade kimchi, peas, peanut rayu and egg pancake, and are really worth the trip. They’ll also be launching their new sauce, Cashew Miso Maple. Sceal Bakery will be there with their show-stopping pastries, and Christmas puddings made with their sourdough breadcrumbs. Yes, a thousand times yes. They’ll also have flaky mince pies, sausage rolls, mince meat and vanilla sea salt brandy butter. MuTonics will also be there with their signature turmeric drink, Jamu tonic, made in West Cork. Clovis Ferguson, from the Gubbeen empire, and Ruth Calder-Potts are behind the tonic drinks, and we intend on stocking up on some for January, and let’s be honest, the heavy mornings over Christmas. The organisers have advised to head there on the Thursday and Friday to beat the crowds, which is pretty solid advice if you’re not yet in the mindset of rabid Christmas shopping. Similar to the regular Dublin Flea Market format, entry is free. We recently wrote about the current situation with the Dublin Flea Market and their search for a home which is still ongoing. You can read about that here . The Christmas Flea Point Square, Dublin 1 Thu 6th - Sun 9th Dec, Thu 13th - Sun 16th Dec. Thu & Fri 13:00 - 20:00. Sat & Sun 11:00 - 18:00. dublinchristmasflea.ie

Shelbourne Social , Dylan McGrath's Manhattan style, super high end restaurant in Ballsbridge opens to the public today, with every luxury food ingredient you can think of, leather dining tables and some very punchy prices - their €120 steak was quite the talk of social media yesterday. The menu is most definitely unlike anything else currently on offer in the city, and while it's not anchored to any one cuisine, there are some jaw-dropping dishes on there - both in description and price. Wagyu beef on crispy potatoes with sesame, garlic, hot sauce and crème fraîche will set you back €45, you can get a pot of whole roasted duck with confit leg, citrus pancakes, preserved lemon, bitter leaves and rice for the princely sum of €90, or the aforementioned 35 day dry-aged rib eye with pickled red onion, fried chard and Café de Paris Hollandaise for €120. All to share apparently. Phew. The menu is pretty extensive, with crudo (raw), nearly cooked, fish and meat sections, and there are less expensive options too, if you're one of those unlucky people paying Dublin rents, like soba noodles with brown shrimp, prawn and Thai basil for €15, and cacio e pepe pasta for €18. They're also adding a bar menu soon which should be on the more affordable side. We have a serious gaze on the 'hot curd bread' section, which is being described as being like an Irish potato bread made with sheep and goat's curds, cooked like a large pancake and served with different options, from foie gras with poached plum, Riesling and pine nuts to caviar and seaweed butter. Please god let these taste as good as they sound. The interior, described as old fashioned American, is proper swank, with leather topped tables, Italian marble and a mezzanine cocktail bar. There are several dining areas, and we're being promised intimate niches in the restaurant and the cocktail area upstairs. Shelbourne Social is on the corner of the new No. 1 Ballsbridge development on Shelbourne road, and we're pretty sure the residents of the five-star luxury apartments above will be regular customers. It's a 5 minute walk to the Aviva Stadium and a 10 minute talk to the RDS, and in a part of town that's not exactly bursting with good eateries it's great to see another quality sounding option opening up. This is the sixth restaurant and bar from McGrath's restaurant group Prime Steak Ltd, which also includes Fade Street Social, Rustic Stone, Bonsai Bar, Taste and Brasserie Sixty 6. This latest opening has cost a reported €3 million - they'll need to sell a lot of €120 steaks to make that back. Shelbourne Social is open now for dinner from Monday - Saturday, with lunch to follow in a week's time. Bookings can be made through their website below. Shelbourne Social Unit 1, 1 Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Mon - Sat 17.00 - 22:00. From 12th of December, Wed - Sat 12:00 - 15:00 also. www.shelbournesocial.com

Well this is embarrassing. Three of the critics have reviewed the same restaurant this week. Is this like showing up to a wedding in the same outfit as not one but two other guests? Lucky for Loretta's in Phibsborough, it's a fried chicken filled hat-trick. In The Irish Times , Catherine Cleary calls it "a slice of Americana" on the Northside, with "big, gutsy dishes cooked from the heart". Despite the fact she found the lighting slightly too bright, she says "they've done a brave thing with this space", and that their accountant probably would have recommended opening a superpub or burger joint instead. More fool them. A chicken-liver mousse on brioche with candied walnuts and whit port soaked golden raisins "works really well", and oyster mushrooms on toast with Parmesan fondue and aubergine relish is "great". The dish that's probably going to be their signature, a 'biscuit' with fried chicken and a corn and fennel salad, she calls "a keeper", and combining it all makes for "a truly satisfying mouthful". Cured then fried seatrout with butternut squash gnocchi is "rib-sticking", and the only let down was the desserts, which were "fine". She calls it "a place to sit back and ... enjoy a district reinventing itself through small businesses wearing their hearts on their sleeves." All the feels... Read her review here . In the Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley calls chef and owner Jimmy Wiley's food "excellent ... rather original, American accented cooking." He was also feeling the fried chicken, calling it "a knockout", and loved a Skeaghanore duck salad with roasted baby beetroot and violette mustard. A striploin steak had "a lovely touch of smoky char" and came with homemade chips - another win . He calls Loretta's "more than a neighbourhood restaurant", saying he can see people travelling to eat here from all over the city. He found out in the course of the meal that Jimmy grows his own vegetables in North Dublin, and it sounds like they had a bonding moment over some tomatillos. Needless to say he's a big fan. (Review not currently online) Another love letter to Loretta's in the Irish Examiner (are you bored yet? Stick with us...), where Leslie Williams is super impressed with the "lovely job" done refitting the former bank - "the grandeur of the space kept fully intact". More love for the fried chicken ("tender and flavourful") and the "excellent" buttermilk ‘biscuit’, which he notes rarely seen in Ireland - we're more likely to call it a scone. "Excellent" Nashville Hot Oysters’ came in a crispy coating with "pungent" bone marrow tartare, dry-aged Angus striplon was "tender, good quality meat", and beef and pork ragu with pappardelle was "properly" Bolognese style, even if the pasta was slightly overcooked. Their desserts (different to Catherine Cleary's) sound pretty good, and he says it would be great if every neighbourhood had a spot like Loretta's. Read his review here . Now for something completely different. Another disappointing meal at Del-Fino . Katy McGuinness in the Irish Independent says she gives her 5/10 for food "with a heavy heart", as she was so looking forward to eating there. She says Del-Fino is "barely holding it together, in terms of either food or service", which is pretty similar to what Leslie Williams and Ernie Whalley said. Things didn't start off well after they were abandoned at an uncomfortable high table, with no one coming back "for the longest time", and after asking to move they ended up very cramped, with no remedy in sight. She calls the menu "a strange mix ... no one can decide what the food is supposed to be". Fermented potato beignets weren't as interesting as they sounded, two different pasta dishes had excellent pasta but sauces lacking depth of flavour, and the only one that felt like "an O'Reilly plate" was a starter of pork cheek, celeriac, hazelnuts and sherry vinegar. Mains featured overcooked côte de boeuf, dried out shortrib and monotone gnocchi, and she calls the desserts "pedestrian". Despite the head in hands experience she ends on a very generous note, saying "I'm sure things can and will improve". Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent, Lucinda's back on the round-ups, this time the best places to get something to eat while Christmas shopping (look out for our own feature on this next week). Funnily enough, after the pizza bashing of two weeks ago, she recommends Pi as a good place for a stop off. Maybe she's coming around to the "peasant meal" after all. Her other Dublin recommendations for Christmas shopping stop-offs include Greek restaurant Corfu on Dame Street which will "transport you immediately to the Aegean", Glovers Alley for "some of the most elegant French style food in the city", and The Legal Eagle - "the hottest gastropub in town". She also gives Saba a shoutout for their cocktails, and Duck , for the, er, pork. (Not currently online) There's no review in the Sunday Business Post this week due to their gift guide, and in the Sunday Times Ernie Whalley is left cold by his trip to The Botanic House in Glasnevin, which he says wavers between being a pub that serves good food and a neighbourhood restaurant, and is falling short at both. Read that here . More next week.

Uno Mas, the long-awaited restaurant from Liz Matthews and Simon Barrett ( Etto ) and Paul McNamara ( Locks ) opens on Aungier Street today. Uno Mas, meaning 'one more', has a predominantly Spanish theme, and the team have spent the large year making research trips to Madrid and Galicia to get inspiration for the menu and wine list. Similar to Etto , there's a two or three course lunch option, and an á la carte menu in the evening. The menu will change regularly, but features traditionally Spanish things like gildas, jamon iberico, padron peppers, croquettas (with cecina - smoked beef), and the best tortilla we've tasted in years. There's also a bit of Irishness going on, with dishes like venison carpaccio, pickled walnut, treviso and horseradish, and suckling pig with pink fir apple, potato and parsnip. There are nods to Etto  too (which was named  RAI restaurant of the year 2018 ), with their much-loved mussels and nduja with chargrilled bread getting a makeover and popping up here as mussles with rojo mojo. There's also a Delmonico ribeye with Bordelaise sauce for two, similar to Etto's côte de boeuf, and they've done something very clever with a dessert of 'milhojas', by adding a layer of red wine prune juice to it. Anyone who's been to Etto will know that their signature dessert is a bowl of red wine marinated prunes with mascarpone - now the leftover juice will come to Uno Mas. There's an extensive, mostly Spanish wine list, with a sizeable amount of sherries, and vermouth on tap. The impressive hand-made wooden bar is officially the best bar seating in town (more of this please), and the two seater alcove opposite it is going to be the table in demand, so get your requests in early. Uno Mas is open now for lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday. Their website isn't live yet, but bookings can be made by emailing info@unomas.ie or calling 01 4758538. Get in fast as this one is going to go crazy. Uno Mas 6 Aungier Street, Dublin 2 Mon - Sat, Lunch from 12pm, Dinner from 5pm www.unomas.ie

Isabelle's , the latest addition to Press Up's Entertainment bar and restaurant portfolio opens on South Anne Street, just off Grafton Street, at 5pm today. Like the rest of their venues ( Sophie's , Roberta's , The Grayson ), the fit out is high end, with oak clad walls, marble floors and handmade wall tiles. There's an open kitchen, and seating at banquettes, the bar or the copper-covered pizza counter, where you can watch the pizzas being made (if your dinner guest has no chat). Press Up have been known to get some flack over the food in their venues, with menus of the "everything to everyone" variety, and it might be for that reason that they're really pushing the food with this one. Head chef Barra Hurley worked in Shanahan's on the Green for 9 years, and spent the last year as head chef in Tomahawk , Press Up's Temple Bar Steakhouse. They say that he and fellow chef Stephen Ryan (most recently head chef at Lucky Duck ), travelled to London several times for inspiration for the food, which they say is "simple but packed full of flavour, centered on seasonality". The proof will be in the Po'boy. There's not much of a theme to the menu, with everything from bolognese pizza, to glazed beef shortrib to that blackened shrimp Po'boy (pictured), and desserts like Valrhona broken chocolate fudge cake with warm salted caramel and Black Forest Alaska (below). Cocktails all have twists on the classics, they have a large selection of wines on tap and in bottle, and refreshingly (no pun intended) there's a focus on low alcohol drinks, including a selection of spritzers. Definitely sounds like a good one for the 12 pubs. Isabelle's opens at 5pm today and will be open 7 days a week for lunch, dinner and brunch on weekends. Isabelle's 13-14 South Anne Street, Dublin 2 Mon - Fri 12pm - late Sat - Sun 10am - late isabelles.ie

Klaw Poke , Niall Sabongi's Hawaiian seafood bowl restaurant on Capel Street has closed. Opened in May of last year, Klaw were one of the first to get in on the poke trend that's swept the globe in recent years, and like the rest of their sites, the aim was to get people eating more Irish seafood. Sabongi's been working on a new concept, the 'Urban Monger', and said he's closing Klaw Poké to concentrate on this new project, which is due to open on the Northside next year. The Urban Monger will act as the base for Sabongi's wholesale business, Sustainable Seafood Ireland , and will also have a retail arm, a restaurant and a fish cookery school. Customers will be able to buy fish to take home, or have it cooked to order then and there, and we very much like the sound of all of this. Klaw in Temple Bar and The Seafood Café are trading as usual, and The Seafood Café recently launch a new brunch menu which you can read about here . More news on the Urban Monger as and when we get it.

In keeping with the ever-growing Irish tradition of copying whatever over-the-top thing the Americans do (Krispy Kreme, anyone?), we - through Instagram - celebrated Thanksgiving this year. And by proxy, Black Friday/Cyber Monday and all of the associated neo-liberalism afflictions. This week, with the ever-increasing pace of LAST CHANCE discount emails pinging our inbox, we began to feel some premature shopping anxiety, which normally presents itself around the 22nd/23rd December. So, let us lay down our new logic. If turkey is moved up a month, then why not festive over-drinking? Sure, the rush of actually buying Christmas presents in a timely manner is cool but have you considered procrastinating until last minute? Here’s five ways to drink your Xmas stress away. *Alexa, play Michael Buble’s Christmas Album* 1. The Wine Bagnums at First Draft Coffee and Wine Nothing says ‘I’m spending an excessive amount of time with my family’ like having wine on tap on your person. Give the gift of a bagnum today... to yourself, you deserve it, small talk is tough. The bagnum, boxed wine’s younger, more hipster sister who took a gap year to find herself and has now become an eco warrior, has got your back. A bottle of wine is cool and all but stand out today with a bag of wine. First Draft launched their new wine bar last week, complete with this beautiful Le Grappin Gamay by the glass, but really, we want the whole bag. www.facebook.com/firstdraftcoffee 2. A Pear and Cinnamon Bellini at Coppinger Row If you read our last 5 things , you may have noticed our slight aversion to cinnamon during the pre-Christmas period. But rest assured, following increased exposure to the festive spice, we’ve decided to scale back our aversion - at least when it comes to cocktails. Maybe by December we’ll be ready for a cinnamon-themed 5 Things? www.coppingerrow.com 3. This cocktail from Bar Giuseppe Upstairs on Castle Market Street, Bar Giuseppe has quickly become one of our favourite places for a drink in town. Apart from the bar’s obviously Instagrammable interiors, this place knows its way around a cocktail. When mixed together, campari, silver tequila, grapefruit, bitters and lime, are known as a “Siesta”, and once you add in their cheese fondue, you'll most likely need "a nap". bargiuseppe.ie 4. The Exchequer's 'Ode to Vogue' When you’re in town this weekend, remember: Christmas shopping is not a race, it’s a marathon that takes up a lot of energy and brain power. It’s not about buying everything in one day, it’s about getting distracted, forgetting your list and walking past The Exchequer and realising you need a fashion inspired drink. Oh capitalism. Distract yourself with this 'Ode to Vogue' and mull it over. www.theexchequer.ie 5. Henriot Champagne at The Coburg It’s hard to follow winebag up there, but this is not your average ‘bubbly’ (we literally hate ourselves for saying that). Look, we know it’s hard to accept, but prosecco is losing its hype, and this particular Champagne tastes approximately 150 times better. Plus it’s Christmas, the time of year where you close your eyes and tap your bank card like you’re moving in time to the festive music. Just go with it. www.thecoburgdublin.com

First Draft Coffee on Lennox Street has officially become ' First Draft Coffee and Wine ', with the launch of a new wine bar in the evenings. Open from Thursday to Saturday, they're serving wines by the glass and bottle, along with small plates of some very nice looking food. Wines are being poured from 16:00 - 22:00, with the wine list having a definite slant towards the small/natural/interesting, but they say they're just serving things that "taste nice" with "minimal intervention". We like. All of the wines are available to take away, and you can pay corkage of €10 to drink in, which trust us, is a good deal. First Draft was first opened in 2016 in its former Temple Bar location above Filmbase, before moving to Lennox Street in April of this year. The man behind the coffee shop turned wine bar is Ger O'Donohue, formerly training manager at The Fumbally , and publisher of the Dublin City Coffee Map , a collaboration with Ruan van Vliet and Dublin Drinks Coffee . During the day, First Draft serves coffee by Roasted Brown (which is roasted in Delgany), with food by The Pie Man and Camerino Bakery . The food menu in the evening is of the small but perfectly formed variety, and designed to pair with the wines on the bar. There’s an Irish farmhouse cheese board, with the option to include Irish charcuterie, and bread from Gaillot et Gray , and small plates include mackerel pate and sardines on toast. We don't know about the rest of you but we are very excited to see what's been happening with wine in Dublin over the past few months. First Loose Canon , then Bar Giuseppe , then this, and now we're hearing that Grantham's and Lilliput Stores are about to extend into wine nights too. Say goodbye to crap wine people, the revolution is coming. www.facebook.com/firstdraftcoffee

Vish Shop , the vegan chip shop from Veginity founder Mark Senn, has opened on Dorset Street, with Vish and Chips, Carrot Dogs and Cauliflower Wings on the menu. It's a one minute walk from big brother restaurant Veginity, which opened a permanent site in June, after starting as a food truck in Portobello. Vish Shop had most recently been operating at street food market Eatyard beside The Bernard Shaw, and had gained a very loyal following for their vegan version of fish and chips, so when Veginity opened without the cassava and seaweed substitute 'vish' (and the highly addictive BBQ sriracha cauliflower wings) on the menu we were wondering why. Now we know it was all part of a grand plan to turn the North inner city into a vegan dining destination. Vish Shop are currently open from 12:00 - 22:00 Thursday - Saturday, and from 12:00 - 20:00 on Sundays. They're hoping to extend to Wednesday opening, and to soon be available on a food delivery service. We're also told they're considering extending to breakfast if the demand is there. Between Beast Eatery opening last week, and the newly reopened Takeaveg in the Moore Street Mall, it's a very good time to be a vegan in Dublin. We here there's more to come, so watch this plant-based space. Vish Shop 1 Blessington Street, Inns Quay, Dublin 1 Thu - Sat 12:00 - 22:00, Sun 12:00 - 20:00 www.facebook.com/Vish.Shop

We've have fallen out of love with brunch. Well, not all brunch - just the ever-pervasive/over-saturated menus of eggs benny and avo toast and we just need a break, and it seems we’re not the only ones. We’ve seen a resurgence in Sunday lunch in the last few years, with some restaurants opting to open solely for lunch on the Lord's day. There are actually a myriad of benefits to overloading on potatoes come Sunday lunch time - the convenient time slot, allowing less time for Sunday Scaries and more time to savour the end of the weekend, the one-size-fits-all nature of Sunday lunch allowing you to bring the whole family along, and of course, let’s not forget about the potatoes. Those beautifully golden, hangover-curing, starchy carbohydrates. So, keeping avocado and the b-word out of mind, here are some of the best places in Dublin for Sunday lunch. Bastible Bastible, just off Clanbrassil Street, serve a modern, family style menu for Sunday lunch, which changes every week depending on the season. The set menu includes four courses plus snacks, and it's a great spot to bring a gang and share a few bottles of interesting wine. Whilst it will most definitely be more relaxing without the kids, if you need to bring them there's a changing area and high chairs. www.bastible.com Locks We’ve said before that we’d go to Locks for the butter alone, so it wouldn’t take much to persuade us to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon here. Lunch consists of two courses for €30 or three for €35, with a good amount of choice. Their weekly (generally meat-based) special often includes their salt aged Delmonico ribeye (for two) with braised short rib, potatoes, onion rings and béarnaise. www.locksrestaurant.ie The Saddle Room at The Shelbourne The upmarket steak and seafood restaurant at the Shelbourne runs a Sunday lunch menu that changes frequently. It's €28 for two courses or €32 for three, which is pretty good value, and the menu is full of reliables like chicken liver parfait and pan-fried salmon. One for if you need to impress the parents or just want a reason to get dressed up. For extra luxe points, start with a glass of Champagne in the Horseshoe Bar. www.shelbournedining.ie/sunday-lunch-restaurant-dublin Old Street The neighbourhood restaurant in Malahide is a lovely spot if you fancy a day by the sea. An á la carte Sunday lunch is available from 1-7pm and major family bonus - kids eat free on Sundays (one for each adult). The rib roast is something special, but there's plenty of non traditional options too, like a Korean spiced chicken burger with kimchi slaw. oldstreet.ie Shouk If you’re looking for something different to the usual Sunday roast, Shouk in Drumcondra serves Middle Eastern food that we daydream about. Go hungry and get the mezze for the optimum post-Sunday lunch food coma. They also do BYOB for €4 per wine or €1 per beer, but have recently brought in their own wine list too if you're not that organised. Either way it's a winner. Read our review of Shouk here . www.facebook.com/shoukdublin 3 Leaves 3 Leaves is one of the best Indian restaurants in the city and another place to check out if you’re avoiding the traditional Sunday roast. Whilst the weekday menu is more structured, the weekend menu has more of an emphasis on Indian street food, but nothing disappoints here. Sunday lunch is from 12:30 - 16:30 and is walk in only. www.3leaves.ie Bresson The fine dining French restaurant in Monkstown offers an á la carte Sunday lunch, featuring a traditional roast, as well classic and contemporary French dishes, like Boeuf Bourguignon, and deep fried Brie de Meaux with red wine poached pears. Fancy. bresson.ie The Legal Eagle For a dose of nostalgia, The Legal Eagle has recently started to serve a “Seriously Seventies” lunch on Sundays, featuring prawn cocktail, vol-au-vents, lamb wellington and baked Alaska. You can also order a more up to date weekend roast, if 70’s throwbacks aren't your bag. thelegaleagle.ie The Old Spot The Old Spot offers an á la carte lunch menu with dishes like prawn pil pil and wild mushroom tart to start, and smoked pork shoulder and dry-aged rib-eye to follow. As for classic roast options, you can get their beer roasted chicken or dry aged sirloin of beef, which both come with duck fat roast potatoes, roast carrots and cauliflower cheese. The onion rings are pretty special too. theoldspot.ie The Butcher Grill The Butcher Grill in Ranelagh launches their “Weekend Roast” this weekend, which replaces their brunch menu. Roasts can be ordered for 1-6 people, with a choice of roast rib of beef with horseradish sauce, roast rack of pork with apple sauce, or roast chicken with chicken jus. Sides include Yorkshires, stuffing, gravy and roast potatoes, and there's bread and butter pudding for afters. www.thebutchergrill.ie The Exchequer, Ranelagh The wine bar in Ranelagh (which also has a location in the city centre) does a roast Sunday lunch for four people from 11am - 4pm, and needs to be booked in advance. It includes a bottle of house wine and all of the trimmings for €69.95 - €79.95, with a choice of roast rib of beef, roast rack of pork, roast chicken or a seasonal special. www.theexchequerwinebar.ie The Chophouse A brilliant choice if you're on the Southside of town, The Chophouse are known first and foremost for their steaks. Our vote would be the 35-day dry-aged rib-eye every time, but the Sunday lunch menu at €25 for two courses or €29 for three has loads of non-cow options too, like pan-fried hake with mussels and chorizo cream, or the Chophouse fish and chips. The menu changes regularly. thechophouse.ie/menus/sunday-lunch Did we miss any of your favourite Sunday lunch spots? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie.

After a lot of average meals last week, normal order has resumed, with a glut of good reviews in the weekend papers (barring one, and spoiler alert: it was the subject of last week 's difference of opinion between Leslie Williams and Lucinda O'Sullivan. Ernie Whalley is team Leslie). In the Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley braved the "down-at-heel streets" behind The Gresham for lunch at newly opened One Society Café (which you can read more about here ), and found food that was "robust, thoughtful, unpretentious, big on flavour and mercifully low on fancypants stuff". He loved their list of "trusted suppliers" and the fact that they donate 10c from every hot drink to Temple Street Children's Hospital, and got the feeling that "these were nice people". His gargantuan Croque Madame was "an exercise in decadent savouriness", but he would have liked a little more mustard, and his companion's brisket and greens were "outstanding". They even made kale "deliciously moreish" with the addition of their homemade almond pesto. They're due to start making pizzas in the evening soon, and he says if they're as good as the other lunch dishes he'll be a regular visitor. (Review not currently online) Catherine Cleary was also braving some mean streets, those Saturday night tourist-filled ones in Temple Bar - the things restaurant critics do for us. She was eating at Crow Street , the recently opened "Irish soulfood" spot that's had mixed reviews . They must have breathed out the biggest sigh of relief imaginable when they picked up the paper yesterday, because CC calls it "a solid addition to Temple Bar's food scene", praising their tribute to the old Dublin classic "smokies". She generally found things "light on innovation, heavy on flavour", with dishes like deep-fried balls of Fivemiletown goat's cheese, crispy lamb shoulder, and a special of juicy rare slices of duck with an orange flavoured duck cigar - "deft and delicious". Desserts from "the least innovative dessert list in Leinster" were the only low point - if you want to cut costs in a kitchen you ditch the dessert chef. She says Crow Street are serving large plates of well-cooked comfort food, and "in these days of chef shortages, shiny concept restaurants and flown-in food service reheats, that's something to crow about." Wonder who she's talking about with the flown-in food ... Read her review here . In the Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan calls Layla's , the newest opening from restaurant super group Press Up , "a very cool spot". LOS seems to be a bit of a fan of Press Up's restaurants. The general consensus amongst the critics has been "good at interiors, less so at food", but she's given positive reviews to all of their venues, and this one is no different. She calls the building "amazing ... stunning", with a "lovely glass-fronted terrace", and the cocktails "hit the spot". Chicken livers with mushroom, pappardelle, sage and marsala was "absolutely delicious", as was a "pretty plate" of prosciutto with lardo, figs, burrata, rocket and apple balsamic. Tempura shrimp with sweet pea and pancetta risotto was "delish", as were parmesan fries, and her only complaint was the €36 sole on the bone that she thought was tiny and "really bad value", despite the delicious melange of fennel, capers and chillies on top. They passed on desserts, and for once she diversified from the usual house Sauvignon or Picpoul to drink one of the most interesting wines on the Dublin market right now - Milan Nestarec's Czech Gruner Veltliner. The times they are a changing. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness went in search of free-range, rare breed pigs at No. 35 Kenmare in Kerry, whose grazing location so close to the Atlantic makes their diet rich in iodine, which means juicier, more tender meat. Imagine if instead of half the country turning vegan, we all committed to only eating meat like this? A lot less processed food and chemically enhanced meat-substitutes would be consumed. The sausages these pigs were sacrificed for (which came with champ mash and onion jus) is her husband's new death row meal, and she admits to scraping the plate clean. A pulled pork brioche had "soft and tender" meat and a smoky barbecue sauce with "enough of a tang to cut through the richness of the meat", and fries were "hot, crisp, just right". They also looked hand-cut (another to add to the list ). "Tender" octopus came with cubes of chorizo from the same delicious sounding pigs, and a boozy chocolate torte to finish was "a bit much at lunchtime but good nonetheless". She gives the food 8/10. Read her review here . In the Irish Examiner Joe McNamee was trying out two eateries in the vicinity of Cork airport. The first, The Workshop , had good soups, but unsuccessful sandwiches had a "paucity of ingredients", some of which were "lacklustre". Baked offerings were "good", with an Oreo milkshake the best thing about the place. The following day he took himself to Dwyer's electrical shop, and their on site café Eden , and was "pleasantly surprised". A calamari burger (why don't we see more of these?) with roast garlic aioli, gem lettuce and pickled jalapenos, had thin strips of well-cooked squid fried in polenta, and came with crispy fries. A maple-glazed bacon crunchy ciabatta, and a ham, cheese and onion toastie were also good, and the salad selection wass "intriguing and innovative". A piece of carrot cake was "light and mildly spiced" and Tunisian orange cake was "delicious", and while the food isn't cutting edge it's "considered". He vows to buy all lightbulbs and plugs there from now on. Read his review here . In the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis is loving the throwback fondue and "ingenious" wine list at the new Bar Giuseppe on Castle Market (read that here ), and in the Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley has a similarly frustrating experience to Leslie Williams at Del-Fino on Camden Street, particularly with the osso bucco that wasn't. Read that here . More next week.

' Yuleyard ', Eatyard's 'winter wonderland" themed food market opens today, with heated and covered outdoor stalls, festive food vendors and "winter warmer" bars. It's open Thursday to Sunday until December 23rd, with pop-up craft and farmers markets on Saturdays and Sundays. Here's what you can expect if you head along. The Food Eatyard staples, Box Burger and The Big Blue Bus will be there with their usual menus along with some seasonal specials, and Lucky Tortoise will be serving their dim sum style menu, with dishes like pork shoulder bao and steamed dumplings. Meltdown will be selling Christmas themed cheese toasties, including the “Cheese’s of Nazereth” with mature cheddar, brie, blue cheese and plum and apple chutney. They also have cheese fondue, which needs to be pre-booked. Flamin' Marvellous will be there with their Irish bratwurst sausages, and Wow Bubble Waffle will be serving their highly-instagrammable waffle cones - if that's your thang. The Booze As always with Bodytonic , there are plenty of drink offerings to choose from. Baileys, who ran a pop-up market in Eatyard last year, return with their Treat Bar for cocktails and boozy hot chocolates, featuring a table full of toppings to let your inner child go nuts. Carlsberg will be pouring their new pilsner, Carlsberg Unfiltered, Schweppes Alchemy Bar will be serving a range of cocktails, including the “Tinsel Toddy” and “Merry Margarita”, as well as their festive version of a gin and tonic, the “Jingle and Tonic”, and The Bernard Shaw have their own stand, a Winter Warmer Bar, with mulled cider, mulled wine, hot whiskey and hot port. So no reason to be cold. The Fun Bodytonic have installed their own version of carpool karaoke, 'Caravan Karaoke', with Christmas tunes galore, and the Eatyard Stage will host crafting workshops, demos and tastings, along with Christmas films and live music. We could definitely think of worse ways to spend a day in the city. Yuleyard at Eatyard 9-10 South Richmond Street, Dublin 2 Thu - Fri 12:00 - 14:00, 17:00 - 22:00. Sat - Sun 12:00 - 22:00. the-eatyard.com/yuleyard

Beast Eatery , Dublin's first vegan diner and takeaway, has opened on Victoria Quay in Dublin 8, with padron peppers, garlic cheese fries and banoffee milkshakes on the menu. From the couple behind vegan meat alternative producers, Moodley Manor , Beast is aiming to give vegans in Dublin "a cool new place to hang out and eat great food". Moodley Manor was started by couple Aisling Mooney and Gavyn Pedley (hence Moo-dley) five years ago to supply meat alternatives like badass bacon and boss burgers (both made from wheat protein) to the vegan market in Ireland. Their products are in health and specialised food shops around the country, and they've also been going around the country with their food truck, popping up at events, festivals and markets. They were looking for a production facility when they came across the new premises on Victoria Quay, which was previously a takeaway of the non-vegan kind. Pitched as a diner, takeaway is expected to be a big part of the business, and with a menu including harissa fries, onion rings with garlic dip and the "Monster burger", we would bet this is where you'll be able to find Dublin's hungover vegans for the foreseeable future. Beast Eatery 41 Victoria Quay, Dublin 8 Wed 12:00 - 15:00, Thu - Sat 12:00 - 22:00, Sun 11:00 - 20:00. www.moodleymanor.com/beast-eatery

After a rake of glowing reviews last week, and the stirring up of a debate which provoked a lot of responses from critics, restaurants and diners, it's a rake of mediocre ones this week. Who says they never say anything bad? (FYI - The critic's responses ranged from "don't believe everything chefs tell you" to "sometimes I am too soft".) Two very different reviews of newly opened Del Fino on Camden St in this weekend's papers. In the Irish Examiner , Leslie Williams describes his "hot mess of a meal", after having high hopes for chef Alan O'Reilly's new opening. He found the "eclectic" mix of cuisines on the menu frustrating, so went for a bit of everything. Highlights included potato beignets - "crisp and fluffy" - and "wafu beef" with fermented pimiento, before things started to go downhill. Crispy pork croquettes lacked punch, gnocchi in tomato sauce was "serviceable" and pasta landed on the table at the same time as the starters. Calamari with fried Padron peppers, marinara, and aioli came with none of the above, instead with some scattered herbs and red chillies (which the wait staff insisted were padron), and slow-braised pork shank was "bland and characterless". The wine list didn't impress either, and there were more issues but we'll let you read the full thing . The chef came to the table at the end to apologise for the problems, and he ends by saying, "There were flashes of excellence but this was a hot mess of a meal. Del Fino needs a massive injection of focus at both front and back of house or they won’t survive Christmas." He gives the food 6/10. Read his review here . It sounds like Lucinda O'Sullivan was in a different restaurant, as she calls Del Fino "an Italian masterclass". Before getting into the review, she manages to give pizza, that "peasant meal" that's "cheap as chips to make", a proper bashing, as well as those "frenzied foodies" with their "twitter spats and nonsense" about where to find the best one in Dublin. (We'll just leave this here ...) Thankfully Del Fino provided the higher end Italian food she's been looking for. The "super dooper" building had a buzz, great music and comfy banquettes, and she calls it "a better class of restaurant" than most of the fast food joints and kebab shops on the street - controversial LOS. They also thought the wafu beef was "superb", and pasta with porcini and oyster mushrooms was "delicious". A half lobster and rabbit pappardelle for mains also impressed, and it doesn't sound like they had dessert but she calls them "good value" at €6.50. In another contrast to the other review, she calls the wine list "excellent". She ends by saying "who wants a pizza when you can eat like this?" Leslie Williams probably. (Review not currently online). In The Irish Times , Catherine Cleary took herself over to furniture shop-cum-eatery Industry on Drury Street, who've recently started opening on Friday and Saturday evenings with an Ottolenghi style menu. It's "noisier than a late-night house party", but she calls the menu a "love letter" to Middle Eastern cooking, with a "nimble little wine list". A mezze plate consisted of "all the standards, done well", including chargrilled scallions ("a good judge of the kitchen"), meaty marinated olives, and the star of the plate, a lemon-infused labneh, "luscious enough to eat on its own with the great bread". She was less impressed with the almond falafel (more mealy than nutty) and the "marinated" feta which didn't taste marinated. An Irish lamb chop came in an "odd" linseed coating, but the meat was "great, tender and succulent", and spiced, roasted cauliflower was a little underdone and undersized, but they "nailed" the flavour, with tahini yoghurt and pomegranate seeds. Desserts were "good but not cheap", the better being a bowl of "winter rhubarb" with "more of that luscious labneh", and she says that while they aren't breaking any new ground, they're doing the crowd pleasers well. Read her review here . Over in the Daily Mail, it seems we inspired Tom Doorley to go in search of freshly made chips after asking restaurants who weren't buying them in to let us know. Lots of places put their hands up, including Chameleon , Michael's and The Old Spot , and so did Press Up , saying that all of their venues cut and cook them fresh. Despite having plenty of sites to choose from, Tom really took one for the team by heading out to Captain Americas . While he thought the hamburgers were "very good", the bacon and cheese in particular "splendidly savoury", the chips were "a disappointment", and "simply not crisp". He did however do them the favour of trying Wowburger , another of their burger restaurants, the following day, and there found "perfect" chips, "crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside". He liked the burger too, but still thinks Bunsen is the best in town. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness was impressed with the turf, less so with the surf, at Cowfish in Bray. More sound issues here, with the hard surfaces amplifying the "screechers and guffawers", but the "abundance of foliage and plenty of warmth" sound nice. The running theme here is disappointing seafood. Crab croquettes "don't taste of anything much", and tiger prawns are "insipid", with a pil pil dressing lacking "oomph or sizzle", and she asks "why on earth not Irish prawns?" Lamb cutlets were better, accompanied by "smoky" baba ghanoush "full of flavour", and a rib-eye on the bone was "a fine piece of meat". "Anaemic" chips had spent "too little time in the deep-fat fryer", while a crispy onion nest is "similarly pale, and greasy with it". A Bailey's bread and butter pudding was "stolid" and a tequila-based cilantro cocktail was "delicious", but overall she gives the food 6/10. (Review not currently online but should be soon here .) In The Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley ignored the pleas from Oliveto in Dun Laoghaire to avoid reviewing them until they get to the standard they want to be at, and lucky he did as he left feeling "genuinely enthused about a restaurant that is something of a gem." Read that here . And in The Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis says that new Indian Ruchii in Blackrock "joins the ranks of solid, affordable neighbourhood restaurants in the Dublin suburbs." Read that here . More next week.

It's official, Phibsborough is on the up, and now there's another reason to visit, with the opening of US-style, comfort food serving Loretta's from chef Jimmy Wiley. Jimmy, originally from Colorado, has been working as a chef in Dublin since 2000, most recently in 777 and Dublin Pizza Company , and has opened Loretta's with partner Ciaran Donnelley. Jimmy comes from a family of cooks and Loretta's is named after his Aunt. Jimmy and his family lived in Phibsborough until recently, and his business partner Ciaran currently lives there. Both felt that the area was in need of a family-friendly restaurant serving great food. Jimmy says his ethos is about not over-complicating things - "I want to cook fresh, simple food made with love and cook with chefs that enjoy what they do." The menu at Loretta's is described as "comfort food dishes rooted in family recipes from Jimmy's home in Colorado Springs", and we've already heard good things about the pork butt, green chilli, home fries, fried eggs and cilatro - coriander for the uninitiated. Other dishes on the menu include Nashville hot oysters, steak tartare with blue cheese toastie and pickled red onion, and pork hock, pickles, hot mustard and steamed buns. Yes, yes and yes. Loretta's is open from Wednesday to Sunday, with dinner every night and brunch from Friday to Sunday. Between Loretta's , Two Boys Brew and the newish Legit Coffee Co , we can feel another area guide coming on... Loretta's 162-165 Phibsborough Road, Dublin 7 Wed - Thu 17:30 - 22:00. Fri 12:00 - 15:00, 17:30 - 22:00. Sat 11:00 - 15:00, 17:30 - 22:00. Sun 11:00 - 16:00. www.lorettas.ie