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The northside of the city has always been a bit barren in comparison to the south when it comes to places to eat nice food and drink good coffee. Yes we have 147 Deli , Laine my Love and the newly opened Tang on Abbey Street, but there's hardly one on every corner, so we were very happy to add another to the list. One Society Café opened last week on Gardiner Place, just off Gardiner Street, and we like the cut of its jib. Open from Tuesday - Sunday, there are some serious ingredients on the menu like smoked black pudding from Higgins Butchers , beef from the owner's sister's farm in Meath, and blue corn tortillas made from flour ground by volcanic rock. We have no idea what that adds to the process but it sounds good. Bread is from Le Levain , coffee is from Roasted Brown and tea is from Wall & Keogh . They're due to expand the menu over the next few weeks, but for the moment we particularly like the sound of the 'Pan fried kale on toast' - toasted Le Levain bread, pan fried organic kale, almond basil pesto, toasted nuts and seeds, soft poached egg, chilli & sesame salt, and the Shakshouka with red peppers, red onions, chillies, chickpeas, toasted seeds, rustic bread and homemade pink hummus. They'll also be adding an evening pizza menu soon, with an oven that's been shipped from Naples. Set up by Will Monaghan, who's left a career in sales to pursue what he says is a 13-year dream, One Society is also donating 10c from every hot drink to Temple Street Children's Hospital which is just down the road, and students get 10% off with valid student ID. More reasons to pay them a visit soon. One Society Café 1 Lower Gardiner Place, Mountjoy, Dublin 1 Tue - Fri 7:30 - 16:00. Sat & Sun 9:30 - 15:30. www.instagram.com/onesocietycafe

Brunch has always had a special place in our hearts. As it covers breakfast and lunch it means we can eat double the food, and anything that makes drinking before midday acceptable is something we're in favour of. So we were only too delighted to come across four new brunches in the past week and they all look and sound worthy of a weekend visit. The Seafood Café Niall and Co. launched brunch here at the weekend to celebrate their first birthday, and it looks very good. There's small plates, large plates and egg dishes, and as you'd expect the emphasis is on seafood - crab cakes, hot buttered crumpets with shrimp and Southern fried fish collar with waffles all get our vote. Plenty for seafood-phobes too like sweetcorn fritters, shakshouka and Eggs Forestiere (eggs benedict with proscuitto). There's also a build your own Bloody Mary bar. Sold. www.facebook.com/klawcafe Tang Middle Eastern inspired Tang opened their second site on Abbey Street in August, with much more space than the original Dawson Street site, and they've just started brunch on Saturdays from 10am - 4pm. The menu features dishes like Irish shiitake miso and ginger mushrooms on Le Levain sourdough with poached eggs, beetroot labneh and lemon yoghurt, and 'hummus eggs', with hummus, crispy fried eggs, zhoug, dukkah, chilli oil and feta on sourdough. Could you be bothered with a full Irish when this is on offer? www.tang.ie Bread 41 Bread 41 , the new bakery and café on Pearse Street all but exploded after opening in September, and anyone with an instagram account has been posting pictures of their cruffins, croissants and morning buns. Calls for them to extend their opening hours past Monday - Friday followed fast, and now they've been answered with Saturday opening hours and a new brunch menu. We're eyeing up the fish tacos with citrus cured black pollock, avocado cream, coriander and house tomatillo fermented salsa, and the pork belly with sauerkraut, burnt apple, jus & a fried egg. Pre or post pastries are mandatory. www.breadnation.ie/eatery Shaka Poké The Shaka Poke pop-up opened yesterday in Portobello and runs until Wednesday 21st, and this Sunday the 18th they're hosting a special 'boozy brunch', with two course for €20 or three for €25. The menus includes all of the usual poke bowls plus some specials, starters like prawn and charred pineapple salsa, and acai ice-cream for dessert. There's also live music. www.shakapopup.com Also check out the newly opened Loretta's in Phibsborough whose brunch we'll be making a beeline for very soon.

There’s something in the air. Actually, you can probably taste it. You know what it is, it’s the inescapable seasonal scent of cinnamon. Not yet prepared to embrace the festive fear of last minute Christmas shopping? Already dreading the lure of the open bar and its subsequent consequences at awkward Christmas work parties? Don’t even like cinnamon? Welcome to peak pre-Christmas! Anyway please find below 5 dishes that have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas (and none of which include cinnamon). You are welcome. 1. The Beef Kofta 'Bab' at the new Hey Donna on Dame Street Hey Donna has added a second location to Dame Street recently (read about that here ), making it a handy central spot for a casual meal, and we have our eye on their new 'Babs', particularly this beef kofta one with blistered bieber long peppers, radish, pickle and pink yoghurt. www.heydonna.ie 2. The Bangers and Mash Pie at Love Supreme The monthly special from Love Supreme is served with onion mash and baked fennel gravy, and is only available from Friday to Sunday. We’re can't decide whether we'd want to get this to take to the Phoenix Park or eat it in their cosy cafe in Stoneybatter... Jokes! It’s cold, stay inside. www.lovesupreme.ie 3. Fried Eggs on Sourdough with Gubbeen Chorizo and Peanut Rayu at Eathos Another day, another rayu dish. And are we complaining? Most definitely not. Another thing popping up everywhere is Gubbeen chorizo, and once again we’re not complaining. We'd eat this all day erry day. eathosdublin.com 4. Dublin Bay Prawn Scampi at The Seafood Cafe It’s hard to believe The Seafood Cafe has only been around for a year. We could think of worse things than celebrating their birthday with this new addition to the menu - prawn scampi and hand cut fries. That's right Tom Doorley , another place in Dublin making their chips fresh. Who'd have thunk it. klaw.ie 5. The Vegan Gin and Tonic Mess at Token The vegan offering at Token is one of the best in the city, and if you’re not vegan, you probably just skimmed over this one. But wait, come back! There’s gin! And sugar! We’re an easy sell and this dessert comes with the feel good factor that you’re basically saving the planet. tokendublin.ie

Grálinn , the Irish food pop-up currently operating out of MVP on Clanbrassil Street, have announced a series of supper clubs in the New Year at Elmhurst Cottage Farm in Glasnevin. Dee Kelly and Matteo Grisci, the duo behind Grálinn, have also moved their prep and test kitchen to the urban farm, run by Nadia Cassidy-Friemuth and Rossa Cassidy, former manager of The Fumbally . The two couples will be working closely together on projects over the next few months. Elmhurst Cottage Farm was previously home to Scéal Bakery , who spent eight months there before moving into their own bakery in Smithfield, freeing up space for a new food start-up to move in. Grálinn plan to host Christmas parties on the farm and in the upstairs of MVP, and in the springtime, Rossa and Nadja will hold farming workshops, with a farm-to-table meal produced by Grálinn to end the day. Supper clubs are will start in the New Year with just 10 people at each one, family-style dining and food sourced from Irish growers and producers, and the menu at their MVP pop-up will continue to evolve. Desserts and paired filter coffee have recently been added to the menu, and we're told that desserts will gradually change into a “pie and ice-cream” format. Nothing wrong with that. Keep an eye on their social media for details. Links to book the supper clubs will be released soon.

A chef recently said to us, "you can't get a bad review in Dublin, it's too small", and it's something we've thought about a lot since. True the industry here is tiny and people always end up at the same events, but isn't the critic's responsibility to the diner and not the restaurant? Or is it to their editor to sell papers? Ernie Whalley references this in his review this week, saying that these "pitbulls", encouraged by their editors to inflict GBH are "a declining breed thank goodness", but the alternative scenario where mediocrity is allowed to go unchallenged isn't great either. There are probably hours of debate in this, but if you have any strong feelings on this (from any side) we'd love to hear them. In this week's Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley was very impressed with the new Asian menu at Zozimus (all the umbrellas) from chef Jules Mak, calling it "a mix of the best in food and drink". He calls the salt and chilli calamari "possibly the best I've ever had", dumplings were "excellent" with good texture and assertive flavours, and Asian beef served in a rice noodle basket was "kitsch but fun". Peking duck had skin so crisp it was brittle and the flesh was "pleasantly moist". He also liked that it was served on pineapple with soya sauce - "slightly sweet and very salty, very savoury". A zombie cocktail with pineapple and rum was "rather lovely" and he said they had plenty of fun. He sends a mild note of warning about the wine prices though. (Review not currently online) In Cork, Katy McGuinness ' search for the best provenance in all the land led her to House Café in the Cork Opera House. After a scary intro featuring an investigation into some "Made in Co. Wicklow" chicken slices, which after some digging turned out to be made from Brazilian chickens (major yuck), she was in need of swift relief, and found it at House with their "host of local ingredients". A celeriac and apple soup was bland, but hake tacos came with "fine spiced and breaded" fish and tacos that tasted of corn, and hot, crunchy, skin-on fries were "the business". Ballyhoura Mushrooms in a herby, buttery sauce on sourdough toast was "a thing of beauty", and they finished with a "good" lemon tart, a "lucious" salted caramel truffle and "excellent coffees". And all was right with the world again. Read her review here . In the Irish Examiner , Joe McNamee was revisiting The Chart House in Dingle. He also discovered what sounds like the world's best chipper the night before, so a successful trip by all accounts. He calls it a family favourite, with "superb yet utterly relaxed hospitality", and nothing they ate disappointed, including a "beautiful hunk" of pan-seared tuna, a "divinely balanced" parsnip soup and slow braised Kerry lamb shank - "an elemental hunk of braised meat barely clinging to the bone". Oven-baked fillet of monkfish with butternut squash purée, caper & almond butter and rocket provided "deep, deep comfort", and he admits to swooning. A passion fruit tart was accomplished, and a brownie with malt ice-cream and Dingle whiskey sauce "smashes it out of the park". He says The Chart House isn't reinventing the wheel, but it remains "one of the finest examples around of what might best be termed, ‘Irish Bistro'." Read his review here . In The Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan was carb avoiding (her words) at The River Lee Hotel in Cork, who've recently given their ' River Club Bar & Grill Room ' a 'neo-Georgian' makeover. While her side of cauliflower fulfilled requirements, someone should probably tell her that the 'lovely dips and bread' to start with definitely didn't. She describes The Grill Room as "smart, classy and clubby", and she loved her grilled gamabs with harissa and samphire to start, and tuna with ginger seaweed and miso which was "perfectly seared". She calls a whole Dover Sole with lemon and caper butter "a real treat" and "a steal" at €30, and the carb-light cauliflower and pomegranate side was "a good bowl of crunchy cauliflower florets". Lemon tart with citrus crème fraîche was "lovely" (who wants to tell her?) and she left thoroughly impressed with the revamp. (Review not currently online) In The Irish Times Catherine Cleary's lost the run of herself altogether by jetting off to Paris for lunch in Michelin-starred La Dame de Pic . The jury's out on this one. Every time a critic reviews a restaurant in another country we get annoyed messages about it, but how many of the restaurants reviewed each week do most people visit anyway? We're undecided. She's not, and gives it 9/10, calling it "a delightful way to see how the food culture that invented restaurants is doing things these days." Her Tarbouriech oyster (had to look that one up) was the best she's ever tasted, black ravioli with brie and potato had "layers of comforting", and octopus came with arms glazed like roast meat and tiny cubes of pork which were "mouth explosions of flavour". Dessert of apple tart tatin with Japanese whisky and barley ice cream is "gorgeous", but a fig cheese cake with lemon thyme is memorable pastry cheffing". Let the complaints commence... Read her review here . In The Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley visits Donnybrook's Avalon , calling it an "under-the-radar gem" and pleading with Southside Dubliners to look at what's on their doorstep, rather than always trotting into town to try the latest "over-hyped" opening (wonder where that's a dig at...). Read that here . And in The Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis recommends eating, drinking and staying at The Bullitt Hotel in Belfast for the "gorgeous" food and "superb" service. Read that here . More next week.

“A city with no housing and no markets is not a city.”- The Dublin Flea Market The much-loved Dublin Flea Market closed in May this year, along with a number of other markets that were also held in Newmarket Square. They had been forced to move by developers taking over Newmarket Square, with plans to build new offices. Right next to the two new hotels opening up down the street and the extortionately priced student accommodation. In September Dublin Flea Market posted a location update on their Facebook page , the update being that they still have no place to base their market in. After creating business plans and documents with other markets in an effort to find a new location, they have been turned away by the city council, estate agents and the OPW. They have fallen into the same game that renters in Dublin face, constantly competing to win a bid. The Dublin Flea has around 80 stalls, making finding a large enough space even more difficult in the current climate. Dublin has seen the closure of seven weekend markets this summer - The Dublin Flea Market, Brocante Dublin, Fusion Sundays, Pure Vintage Fair, Rumble in the Jumble, The New Market Collective and the Grand Social’s Ha’penny Market. In the flea's own words “A city with no housing and no markets is not a city.” Market culture is prolific in most European cities and is integral to the food scene in Cork and Limerick, so why is Dublin hindered like this? The Limerick Milk Market , one of the oldest markets in the country, was renovated for €2 million a few years ago, supported by Limerick City Council. They did this to sustain the market and let it flourish. It now has an impressive canopy, turning it into an all weather, six days a week food hub. The English Market in Cork is one of the city’s main attractions and farmers' markets in Cork happen almost every day of the week. Located mostly in car parks, they showcase some of the best produce in the region. Food markets instill a sense of community and a connection to where our food comes from, and the Dublin Flea was an integral part of Dublin 8. While we still have city centre markets like the Temple Bar Food Market and Eatyard , both offering high quality produce and hot food (along with a new ' continental-style food hall ' on the cards for St Andrews Church just off Dame Street later this year), the Dublin Flea embodied the creative neighbourhood in which it was located. Stalls within the market are also taking a blow due to the closure, losing a main source of their income. The Dublin Flea ended their online update on a somber note, “We are very sorry. We really miss it. We really miss you. We stay ever hopeful, although frustrated and we thank you for your support and encouragement.” Where to find the food traders while the Flea looks for a new home... Scéal Bakery is continuing to trade at Pender’s Yard market in Stoneybatter every Sunday. You can also find their breads and pastries at The Fumbally and Proper Order Coffee , and can catch their sourdough making workshops in their bakery in Smithfield. The Dublin Food Co-op is relocating to Kilmainham and plans to be in their new premises by mid-November. You can find White Mausu ’s Peanut Rayu in a number of shops in Dublin, including Avoca , The Cake Café and The Cupcake Bloke . Until the return of the market, you can get your falafel fix at The Fumbally , where the stand is originally from, and Camerino Bakery can now be found in two of their own locations, Capel Street and Merrion Square. The Christmas Flea will also return to the Point Village from the 6th - 9th and 13th - 16th of December, where loads of the original vendors will be popping up again. More details to come on that soon. dublinflea.ie dublinchristmasflea.ie

* Note - this event has already taken place. We will update with new dates when we get them. MVP , the Clanbrassil Street pub that's part of the Bodytonic group, are launching 'Sober Sundays' this weekend. They're out to prove that no drinking doesn't equal no craic, and each event will be curated with specially chosen alcohol alternatives, and an emphasis on 'mindful drinking'. The first one this Sunday will start with Reggae Yoga at 12pm, and tastings will take place over the day from Seedlip, Open Gate Brewery, Grand Cru and Findlater who will be showing their non-alcoholic wine. There'll also be kombucha & kefir tastings from King of Kefir and Synerchi, and a Kombucha Masterclass with Katie McCann from Five Points, and Brewtonic will be launching their first non-alcoholic Beer Club. Grálinn will be serving food to match the non-alcoholic drinks, and the day will end with ' Sing Along Sober ', a booze-free version of Aoife McElwain's Sing Along Social, the mass, feel-good karaoke session. Sounds like a dream day out for anyone who's pregnant, teetotal, or just fed up of the Monday fear. Sober Sundays at MVP 29 Upper Clanbrassil Street, Dublin 8 12pm - late mvpdublin.com/sober-sunday-mvp

This week's reviews have it all, from fast food, to gastro pubs (or "proper pub/restaurants" as Tom Doorley likes to call them), to five-star hotels and Michelin-starred boltholes. The two gastro bar experiences though, were quite different. In The Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan was trying out the new menu at Dylan's McGrath's Fade Street Social Tapas Bar/Gastro Bar - we're not really sure what it's called. It sounds from the offset like she's not his biggest fan, calling him the "Irish glowering enfant terrible ", and saying that while he's a big deal in the foodie world, the new menu at the Gastro Bar was "not up to par". She's also in contention for the worst ever picture in a newspaper restaurant review, of a ransacked piece of 'BLT lobster on toast', with lobster meat "not even half the size of the prongs of the fork". She did like the truffle pasta, calling it "delicious", and the citrus-glazed duck breast which "did what it said on the tin", but was wholly unimpressed when, after complaining about a "bland" sauce, she was told that it obviously wasn't to her taste. No critic's pics on the kitchen wall? They passed on dessert, and she calls the experience "less than ideal". (Review not currently online) In The Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley was at The Dalkey Duck (in Dalkey), lamenting the word "gastro" in the term "gastro pub", calling it "too intestinal for comfort". After a ramble about how crap Irish pub food has been over the years, he calls The Dalkey Duck a "proper Irish pub" with "a kitchen that really knows what it's doing". Despite the near fatal error of describing Young Buck cheese on the menu as Stilton (morto), the starter it came with of beets, walnuts and smoked duck breast was "lovely ... salty, sweet, tart, savoury". White crabmeat on sourdough was "as pleasing as it was simple", and fish and chips - "a very difficult dish to get right" - was nailed, "to a point". Two out of three pieces of hake in "excellent crispy batter" were cooked perfectly, a third was "overdone and mushy", and he was so impressed by the "skinny, crisp, dry" chips he asked about them. He tells us "they are bought in, naturally, but were carefully chosen." (Are we the only ones shocked at the assumption that chips are always bought in?) The dish of the evening was Wicklow venison with wild mushrooms and bacon - "an exercise in restraint, simplicity and confidence" - and he calls The Dalkey Duck "a lovely place". (Review not currently online) In the Irish Times Catherine Cleary reviews lunch at The Garden Room in The Merrion Hotel . She gives it 7.5/10 and calls it somewhere you can go "upmarket on a budget". After months of nothing but positive reviews from CC we're seriously wondering if she's been told to "drop the knife", ever since the infamous Five Guys slating back in June. Each week we wait for the inevitable car crash meal, and it's just not coming. Everything in The Garden Room is "good, but...". Wood pigeon is "great, hearty-cooking" but the lentils it sat on needed more astringency. Goat's cheese and beetroot is "a lovely plate", but a side dish of smoked carrots is "more watery than a November weather forecast". Pork belly is "beautifully presented" and "juicy", but the accompanying salad was worse off for having seen a heat lamp. Dessert of poached pear with ice-cream could have been softer. Despite this she says she liked it, and that if The Merrion 's afternoon tea is ever booked out you could do worse than coming here for lunch instead. Read her review here . In The Irish Examiner , Leslie Williams gives us a fried-chicken twofer, with a review split between Crackbird and Mad Egg . Crackbird's large double wings were "as good as ever", boneless juicy thighs were also good if slightly overdone, and sides of cheese croquettes and fried potatoes were "excellent", but the deluxe crunches (boneless bites of chicken) needed more crunch and flavour. At Mad Egg , a ‘Hot Chick’ burger was "honestly some of the best fried chicken I’ve tasted", "decently spicy" with a "crispy" crumb and juicy chicken. The 'Heartbreaker' burger was also "excellent", and the sticky tenders "showed off the batter at its best". The single dessert of DIY cheesecake came with "excellent" toppings, but the crumbly cheesecake was disappointing. He recommends going, ordering the spicy options and sticking to beer from the drinks list. Read his review here In The Irish Independent , it's Katy McGuinness's turn to write a love letter to Ichigo Ichie in Cork, one of the country's newest Michelin-star holders. Like all the critics before her, she's mesmerised by "the beautiful interoir", the "stellar tasting menu" and "the master" at work. There are so many components to their "kaiseki" and it changes so often that her review "barely scratches the surface", but she strongly advises going and experiencing it for yourself. Their favourite course was a sashimi selection, comprising a Harty's oyster with ponzu jelly, stonebass with yuzo miso, aged halibut, squid with shiso vinegar, monkfish cured in kombu, scallop with Gubbeen chorizo and saffron, and cured swordfish that "tastes almost like bacon". A savoury egg custard with salmon roe "burst delightfully in the mouth", and chargrilled duck with "tasteless" buckwheat gnocchi was "the only blip in an otherwise faultless meal". She calls it an "utter delight, the food exquisite, gorgeous to behold." Read her review here . In The Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis is impressed with new opening Del Fino on Camden Street, where she finds "damn good pasta" and "a really superb" dessert (read that here ), and in the Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley finds "mute" steak and general "mediocrity" at 1909 in Dalkey (read that here) . More next week.

Hey Donna , Joe Macken's Middle Eastern inspired eatery has opened on Dame Street in the old Skinflint site. The original Hey Donna opened last year in Rathmines, and has been universally praised by critics and diners alike, for their "vibrant" and "thrilling" flavours, with dishes like smoked aubergine, pomegranate, za'atar, yoghurt and sesame, berber spiced lamb chops and house made labneh. The menu for the second site is similar to Rathmines with some new additions, including Hey Donna's take on a kebab, and feasting menus where you can pay a set amount per person (€19 - €27) and they'll just bring you loads of food (current menu at the bottom of this article). Sounds like the perfect pre-game food spot. The menu in Hey Donna in Rathmines is also getting a shake up, becoming slightly more upscale, with sharing meat and fish dishes that you'll be able to order in advance for the table, and a more serious wine list. Expect more details as we get them. Hey Donna on Dame Street is now open for dinner with lunch starting next week. Keep an eye on their social media for details. Hey Donna 60 Dame Street, Dublin 2 Lunch from 12pm (starting next week). Dinner from 5pm. www.heydonna.ie

Industry , the Scandinavian-style homeware shop and Ottolenghi-style café on Drury Street, has started opening on Friday and Saturday nights with a Middle-Eastern inspired menu and a full wine list. Head chef Wagner Dos Santos has designed a menu of mezze, small plates, sides and dessert and we want it all, particularly the saffron potatoes with chargrilled padron peppers and tahini, and the pistachio meatballs with tomato sauce, feta and pita. Industry was opened in 2010 by brother and sister team Marcus and Vanessa Mac Innes as a lifestyle store and eatery, selling handpicked furniture, pottery and homewares, with a café that quickly became an "in the know" lunch spot for people working around town, who line up for their vibrant Middle Eastern-inspired salads, hot pots and morning pastries. The evening offering is their latest expansion, but we're told there's more on the cards over the next few months. Evenings at Industry are currently running from 7-10pm on Friday and Saturday nights, with Thursdays to follow soon, and you can see the menu below. Reservations can be made by emailing reservations@industryandco.com. Industry 41 a/b Drury Street, Dublin 2 Ph: 01 613 9111 industryandco.com

The clocks went back at the weekend, so naturally we’ve entered the temporary state of confusion where neither the clock in the kitchen nor the car is the same time and we’re not really sure if we’re getting more or less sleep. What we do know however is that it’s dark way too early, and very soon, Christmas lights will begin to populate every inch of Dublin, so naturally we plan to eat our way through this to the other side... 1. Breakfast: Bread 41’s Twice Baked Carrot Cake Croissant ​We know this could technically be classified as dessert, but these guys pretty much sell out by mid-morning so what choice do we have? The Pearse Street bakery seems to be getting better and better and it’s getting harder and harder to make excuses as to why we shouldn’t indulge. www.breadnation.ie/eatery 2. Brunch - Kimchi Pancakes at Storyboard ​ Storyboard’s newest dish features kimchi pancakes made with McNally’s kale, scrambled eggs, housemade hot sauce, garlic mayo and a mushroom brown sauce. This is one of those dishes that you’ll never, ever have time to make at home, so save yourself the hassle and make a beeline for Islandbridge. www.storyboardcoffee.com 3. Lunch - Meatball Sub with Tomato Relish on Soft Ciabatta at Legit Coffee Co. This sandwich, available in both locations (Meath St and North Circular Road), uses ciabatta from Arun Bakery in Stoneybatter and looks pretty damn delicious. *hunky hand model not included* www.legitcoffeeco.com 4. Late lunch: Chickpea and Pumpkin Curry in Slice We made a list a couple of weeks ago on where to find pumpkin dishes in Dublin (which you can read here ) but since then pumpkin has been popping up absolutely everywhere. Slice’s pumpkin curry, served with mint raita and chapati, looks like one of our favourites so far. www.asliceofcake.ie 5. For dinner: Fivemiletown goat’s cheese, red pepper ketchup and shaved fennel at The Old Spot After a day of eating we'll want a light dinner, and we've been obsessing over this new starter on the Old Spot’s menu since it popped up on our feed. Hot, crispy, gooey cheese. What a way to end a day. theoldspot.ie

The Creative Quarter is the quarter you want to be in. The other three quarters? Well, we won’t even mention them. So clear your next day off and prepare for a day of great food, blissfully aimless shopping and too much coffee. Here’s how we would spend it... (and in case you're not sure where we're talking about, here's a map too) Morning... Start off in the Pepperpot Café in the Powerscourt Centre for breakfast. Whilst we’re big fans of their famous pear and bacon sandwich (it’s worth the hype), their scrambled eggs are also spot on. Afterwards, poke your head into homeware shop Article , before walking down South William St to Clement & Pekoe for coffee. The bench outside is one of the best places for people-watching in the city, if you can nab a spot. If it's too cold for that there's plenty of indoor seats too. Lunchtime... Head to Industry & Co. on Drury Street for Ottolenghi-style meats and salads, and have a browse around the shop afterwards. They’ve also just started opening on Friday and Saturday evenings - details on that here . If the weather is good, Blazing Salads is a great spot for a takeaway salad to bring to Stephen's Green, and if you want to finish with something sweet, head over to The Cupcake Bloke ’s stall on Coppinger Row, which is usually there Thursday - Saturday. Get your afternoon coffee fix from Kaph on Drury Street, one of our favourite cafés in town. The seating upstairs is a nice place to get some work done but be warned, it can be packed. If you’re still feeling peckish, go for the quintessential pint and toastie in Grogan's . It’s nothing fancy but it hits the spot. During the day... Go to the Irish Design Shop , the Secret Book and Record Store or do a day course in Cook’s Academy . Have a stroll around Asia Market on Drury St and walk through George’s Street Arcade . Have a browse around upmarket grocer Fallon and Byrne and try to nab some of their truffle brie. They also do €1 corkage on any bottle from their wine cellar to drink in on Mondays and Tuesdays. For a caffeine top up, call into Grantham's . The coffee shop has recently departed from its Aungier Street location and moved to George’s Street, in collaboration with Dunnes Stores and garden designer, Diarmuid Gavin, making for very Instagrammable coffee. Evening... To start off the evening with a drink, Loose Canon is perfect for a glass of natural wine and a plate of Irish cheese and charcuterie. Opened by the guys from Meet Me in the Morning a few months back, their small plates are great if you don’t want a big meal, but it's easy to rack up a very large bill quickly. Bar Giuseppe - Joe Macken’s new wine bar above Jo Burger on Castle Market Street - has instantly become one of our favourite spots, and we’re pretty sure this place will provide some excellent respite during Christmas shopping season. *shudders* For a casual dinner, Pi is one of our favourite spots and since a certain restaurant critic reviewed it, queues have been constantly out the door. Trust us, it’s worth the wait. Another good option is Duck on Fade Street, for their Irish duck spice bags, or there's Masa on the corner of Drury Street, which is great value for tacos and quesadillas. If you want something a bit more fancy, Luna is one of the hottest restaurants in the city in the moment. Head Chef Vish Sumputh recently came here from Chapter One and is doing some really exciting things in the kitchen. It's also an amazing room. Manhattan meets Italian drug den. 777 on George’s Street is always a lively dining experience (you can read our review here ). It can be a bit pricey so if you’re conscious of your budget go on Sundays, where all dishes are €7.77. If you want to push the boat out, head for Dylan McGrath’s Asian and South American influenced Taste at Rustic , or check out Gareth Naughton's contemporary Italian cooking at Drury Buildings . Finish off the night with drinks at No Name bar on Fade Street, the only indicator of its whereabouts is the wooden snail hanging above the door. Alternatively, head for more casual pints and board games in P.Mac’s - the sibling to Blackbird and Cassidy’s. Then crawl off home to bed to recover, filled with a whole new sense of creativity. Have we missed any of your favourite Creative Quarter spots? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie.

When we wanted to write an article about the best places to eat with kids, who better to confer with than Dublin City Mum . Lucky for us, the lovely Avril offered to write it herself. Dublin City Mum all started with food. In London we brought our daughter everywhere, partly because we had no family on hand to help and also because we liked exploring new restaurants. After moving home to Dublin we continued to bring our kids to all the cafes + restaurants we wanted to explore. As parents we spend most of our days preparing and eating food. It comes first after love in our house! We love eating out and don’t want to compromise on quality just because we have the kids with us. Forget sausages and chips! If you enjoy good food, and eating out with your kids in Dublin, check out a few of my family friendly recommendations. The cafes and restaurants below are listed in no particular order. I've narrowed it down to 10 but a few more could have squeezed in! Quality of food is first and foremost the priority, followed by general kid friendliness, highchairs/baby changing facilities, and space for buggies. I like them all equally but you'll probably figure out from Instagram which ones we frequent the most! Gaillot et Gray ⌂ 59 Clanbrassil St Lwr, Dublin 8 Pizza | Highchairs | Website Wood fired French style sourdough pizzeria to make your mouth water, a bookshelf bursting with kids books, colouring pencils with paper and an outdoor terrace - Gaillot et Grey has it all. Serving artisan breads, pizzas, speciality coffee, indigenous herbal teas, wine and beer, it's our go to Friday evening pitstop with the family. This is quite possibly the most kid friendly restaurant in Dublin (although I'm reluctant to mention that as it's our neighbourhood favourite and still want to be able to get a table at the weekend...or any day of the week!) Brother Hubbard North ⌂ 153 Capel St, Dublin 1 Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website Open for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner 7 days a week, Brother Hubbard North serves great coffee, the tastiest, freshest and most creative food as well as a warm and friendly welcome. The food is absolutely sublime and bursting with flavour. It's massive so there's tons of space for buggies. There's a great kids menu, and the younger ones can also eat eggs and toast from the side menu. If you haven't been, go. It's a family friendly weekend must and the food is incredible. Neon ⌂ 17 Camden Street, Dublin 2 Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website Neon is fast food with flavour at affordable prices - good food with no fuss! Serving fresh, authentic Asian street food, wine and beer, it's relaxed, very kid friendly and informal. In fact, so much so that families can make their own dessert! The free ice cream cone policy goes down a treat with the little ones and it's definitely something my kids request we come here especially for...after the chicken and rice. Although more often than not my youngest will insist on holding her ice-cream while eating her dinner. Whatever works! Pi 10 Castle House, 73 South Great George's Street Pizza | Highchairs | Website This is probably the trendiest restaurant in Dublin right now, with super stylish decor and queues often seen bursting out the doors at weekends, it's being touted as serving the best pizza in Dublin. Don't let all the style put you off as the pizzas are absolutely incredible and it's super kid friendly. The toppings are exceptional, with a mix of Italian and Irish ingredients, as are the simple but perfect desserts. Dunne & Crescenzi ⌂ 14-16 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2 Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website Serving simple Italian food with the best quality ingredients, authentically Italian hospitality and excellent wines! The food is delicious, there's lots of buggy space, highchairs and they'll serve half portions for kids from the main menu. It's the perfect spot for a decent family lunch or dinner in town and would highly recommend it. It's one of our family favourites. Fallon & Byrne Rathmines 39 Castlewood Ave, Dublin 6 | Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website There’s a simple idea behind Fallon & Byrne Rathmines. They've stacked their shelves with wonderful high quality delicious produce, in a big light-filled restaurant for families to either eat in or take away and it is a feast for the gastronomic senses. With a variety of food counters, you choose your meal, sit down and eat! There's half portions for the kids, high chairs and baby changing facilities, complete with a great sun filled outdoor terrace area. The best bit (and not just for kids!) is the incredibly good Gelato section for ice creams, crepes and waffles. Go, the food is excellent and it's the perfect spot for family brunches, lunches or dinners. Fish Shack ⌂ Sandycove + Malahide Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website The seafood is fresh and tasty. With a kids menu, highchairs, and colouring for the little ones (to keep them busy for the 2.5 minutes you get to enjoy your lunch!), it's the perfect lunch or dinner spot combined with a trip to either seaside destinations of Sandycove beach or Malahide. Best of all is their delicious ice cream sourced from Paul and Simon Cooper from featherbed farm in Olyegate, Co. Wexford. Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...especially when the fish and ice-cream tastes so good. The Woollen Mills ⌂ 42 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1 Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website Quintessially Irish, local and of its locale. Overlooking the Ha'penny Bridge and the River Liffey, it's a great place to grab a serious coffee and bun, or a plate of Irish ham and chips (or if your kids can handle it!) to sit down for seven courses of anchovies, crab, herrings, pork and beef rib. The food is divine, there's a kids menu, high chairs and if you're in this part of town it really is the best place to eat. BuJo ⌂ 6 Sandymount Green, Dublin 4 Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website BuJo is a neighbourhood burger joint where their grass fed, chargrilled burgers are cooked fresh to order and taste great. As the only burger focused restaurant in Ireland and the UK to hold a 3 Star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, they take their environmental responsibility for the local community and the planet pretty seriously. From day one BuJo has only used fully certified 100% compostable packaging. It's more expensive but it doesn’t cost the earth! There's highchairs and a fab kids menu for under 12's. Their kid's shakes, made from ice-cream and dairy from grass fed cows are delicious. It's counter-service so no need for reservations, just rock on up and enjoy. Shouk ⌂ 40 Drumcondra Rd Lower, Drumcondra Kids Menu | Highchairs | Baby Changing Facilities | Website Shouk is a Middle Eastern restaurant tucked away behind The ABC, Drumcondra. It serves a mouth watering selection of mezze platters, salads, burgers, roasted cauliflower, chargrilled aubergine plus ribeye steak, chicken shawarma and a gorgeous kids menu. Think Yotam Ottolenghi with less finery. There's highchairs and a fab outdoor terrace. If you just want to pop in for a coffee you’re in for a treat with their delicious homemade cookies and cakes. Shouk is an absolute delight and the food is so good I would happily eat there every week. Check out more of Dublin City Mum's family friendly cafés and restaurants here .

Central Dublin has itself another wine bar, with the opening of Bar Giuseppe above Jo'Burger on Castle Market. The latest opening from Joe Macken (who's also behind Jo'Burger, Skinflint, Crackbird and Hey Donna) is being touted as "a space to sit, sip and snack away from the crowd", and if you ask us, it's a very welcome addition to the Creative Quarter. The wine list is full of interesting bottles with a slant towards the natural, and the list will change every few weeks. They also have a selection of amaro and fortified wines, both on their own or mixed in short drinks. As much as we want to move into natural wine bar and shop Loose Canon around the corner (how spoilt are we getting for excellent wine bars?), their limited serving hours (5-10pm) can be a bit of a buzzkill. This is your antidote, with Bar Giuseppe open from 12pm until 11pm Sunday - Thursday, and until 1am Friday and Saturday. And it has seats. Hallelujah. The food offering consists of sandwiches at lunch, and small plates, toasties, cheese and cold cuts in the evening. They're also doing fondue on Monday and Tuesday nights, so if ever there was a cure for the Monday blues this is it. Bar Giuseppe is open daily from noon, with food starting this week. Tell them we sent you, and don't ask for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Bar Giuseppe 2-3 Castle Market, Dublin 2 Sun - Thu 12:00 - 23:00, Fri - Sat 12:00 - 13:00 bargiuseppe.ie

If you're planning a staycation any time soon and are the kind of person who picks where to go solely based on the restaurants you want to eat in (*waves*), there's plenty of inspiration in this week's reviews. Katy's in Drogheda, Catherine's in Tipperary, Lucinda's in Cork and Joe's in Dingle, and there isn't a dud meal between them. One person who stayed in the capital was Tom Doorley , who found himself enjoying a leisurely Friday lunch at One Pico , after hearing constant reports about how good the food is right now (we've been hearing the same reports so were glad to see it highlighted). He calls his lunch "pretty outstanding" with "key autumnal flavours" like wild mushrooms, pumpkin and Jerusalem artichoke. Cod with savoy cabbage, pumpkin, mussels and smoked yoghurt was "ostensibly simple" from a chef with confidence and with "nothing redundant" on the plate, and he says the same for the smoked rib of beef, "falling apart with prolonged cooking", with crunchy cavolo nero, Jerusalem artichoke and a single chanterelle. He also tells us that One Pico has a cheese trolley (the contents of which are in "peak condition"), which is reason alone to go if you ask us. (Review not currently online) In The Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan managed to get a table at 18-seater Restaurant Chestnut in Ballydehob, after they were awarded a Michelin star a few weeks ago - not sure how she pulled that one, they're currently booked out until December. She tells us how she "got a vibe" that Cork was getting three new stars, before having "a bitch" about Michelin not doing their job properly outside of France, and then it's onto the food, which she calls "an extraordinarily elegant and delicate progression of exquisite colours, and contrasts of flavour and texture." After a melange of mussels, seaweed and tapioca with micro herbs and caviar, she wondered "how can he top that?", but "the perfection just went on". Highlights included "seared, silky king scallops" with cauliflower, squid ink, nasturtiums and hibiscus, "crispy seared nuggets of brill" with courgette, dill and crispy kale, and venison with ratatouille, smoked celery root and celeriac purée. Desserts were a "masterclass in simplicity" and they ended with Young Buck cheese dripping in honey and pollen. She calls it "the very best food I've had in a long time, and an absolute snip for what we experienced." Definitely worth the trip then. (Review not currently online) In the Irish Times , Catherine Cleary's ongoing hunt for farm to fork cooking led her to O'Neills Bistro in Tipperary, after a tip off from a millionaire's chef. Despite a website "so terrible it seemed almost deliberately designed to repel any interest", she finds food consisting of "beautiful arrangements of good ingredients", like "sweet, thready crab meat" with lightly pickled cucumber, and a free-range chicken terrine with a soft poached country hen's egg. Hake is meaty and comes with "butter-crisp skin" and a dill dauphine - "airy gobstopper-sized balls of fluffy potato made by combining pureed potato with choux pastry and lightly frying them in hot fat" - which has now become our latest obsession. Lamb is "luscious and tender" and comes with a snooker-ball sized croquette made from the shoulder, and "perfect" long-stem broccoli. She calls it "a bit of a discovery in a quiet corner of Ireland" and says it's well worth a visit. Read her review here . In the Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness took a trip to Drogheda's most talked about restaurant, Eastern Seaboard , and despite the disappointment that it's not actually on the coast, found a menu so appetising that they struggled to limit themselves to an appropriate amount of food. She praises the warm welcome from the staff, the effort to make the place look attractive and the glut of produce from the nearby Boyne Valley. Courgette fries were "fantastically hot and crunchy", Karaage chicken wings "a deep-fried delight", and their "famous" crab cakes were "unusually all crab" and deserving of their title. Cripsy shell-on baby prawns were "a delicious steal" at €6.50, but an aged-beef short rib lacked flavour, and a baked Japanese style cheesecake for dessert was "grim", like something "you might be forced to eat in the home of an elderly relative". She gives it 8/10 and says it's "a restaurant making a real effort to be creative - and succeeding". Read her review here . In The Irish Examiner , Joe McNamee is unsure what to expect when revisiting Doyle's Seafood in Dingle after a 20 year hiatus. Luckily he finds it "buzzing" with a "warm welcoming embrace", and "sublimely comforting, deceptively simple seafood". Dingle Bay crab claws are "an exercise in elemental perfection" and pan-fried scallops are "superb produce, cooked superbly". The theme continues with pan-roasted turbot - "superb fish cooked with confidence and simplicity", and he spent "a blissful spell ferreting out every last bit of the precious sweet meat from my Ventry lobster". Even the tricolour veg impressed, "cooked with the same loving care and attention as accorded the star ingredients". Desserts of sticky toffee pudding and chocolate orange brownie were "sound" and they were very reluctant to leave, something Joe says is "another sign of a really good restaurant". Read his review here . In The Sunday Business Post, Gillian Nelis finds value and "one of the best Naan breads I've had in Dublin" at Indie Spice in Sandymount (read that here ), and in the Sunday Times, Ernie Whalley makes a plea to Johnnie Cooke to improve the food, generosity and service at his new restaurant Cooke's in Dundrum (read that here ). They won't like this one. More next week.

Taco Taco , the contemporary Mexican based in East Side Tavern just off St. Stephen's Green, has announced that it's closing this weekend, due to the fact that East Side Tavern is closing - in effect making them homeless. Taco Taco was started in April 2015 by promoter Anthony Remedy, in what was the old Odessa building on Dame Court. They moved to East Side Tavern in November last year, taking their loyal following with them. They'd also been holding post-taco club nights in the bar, which they hope to relocate to another site soon. The food at Taco Taco is unsurprisingly focused on tacos, with weekly specials, starters like nachos and empanadas, and mains like seafood burritos and halloumi fajitas. They've been open for lunch and dinner, and this Saturday is likely to be their last night, so you've got three more days to get in there before they're gone. They're hoping to find a new site asap and we'll update you when we hear more. Taco Taco @ East Side Tavern 104 Leeson Street, Dublin 2 www.tacotacodublin.com

Del Fino , a new restaurant from long-standing Dublin chef Alan O'Reilly, has opened on Camden Street, next door to Hang Dai . The food's being billed as "eclectic", and the dishes that O'Reilly loves to cook, but there's a definite emphasis on Italian, with pasta, risotto and gnocchi all featuring on the opening menu , as well as seafood specials and the current darling of the Dublin dining scene, côte de boeuf. Alan O'Reilly is well known amongst veterans on the Dublin dining scene. He used to own Alexis in Dun Laoghaire, before moving to Wildside café in Cabinteely after Alexis closed during the recession. Both received much acclaim, with O'Reilly's cooking described by critics as " outstanding " and " exceptional ". Recently, he's been consulting at China Sichuan in Sandyford, and we're told that his encouragement of the Chinese chefs there to express themselves and their cuisine has been instrumental in taking the food to the next level. A definite Chinese influence can be seen on the menu at Del Fino , with dishes like "wafu" beef - thick cut tenderloin with fermented pimento and pignoli (pine nuts). We love the sound of the fermented potato beignets with romesco, the caesar salad with proper anchovies (ask for extra) and the braised rabbit pappardelle. They'll also have daily specials, and O'Reilly is know for having a special way with game, so sika deer amongst others will feature when in season. You can see the full menu here . Del Fino is open from 5pm Tuesday - Saturday for dinner only right now, but we expect this to extend to lunch once they're up and running. They don't have online booking available yet but reservations can be made by phone or email. Del Fino 21 Camden Street Lower, Dublin 2 Ph: 01 4413208 Email: reservations@del-fino.ie www.del-fino.ie

We've been waiting for a flurry of reviews of The Grayson , which opened two months ago in the former Residence building on St. Stephen's Green, but things have been surprisingly quiet. The only reviewer they've managed to attract up until now is Lucinda O'Sullivan , who despite marching in on their first week, loved it. Are the critics just jaded about the latest cog in the Press Up machine? Well Tom Doorley isn't, as he reviews it in today's Irish Daily Mail, and while he admits that the food is "less ambitious" than the previous incumbents, he says that "the food is probably not actually meant to take centre stage". This is restaurant "as entertainment". Whatever you're into yourself. Their entertainment came in the form of four "alpha males" who were "unbearably loud", but their table overlooking St. Stephen's Green was "rather lovely". The food was mixed but veers towards the positive. Pork belly and croquette with puy lentils was "no hardship to eat", halloumi with crushed, smoked almonds and pesto was grilled perfectly and "ate well", but pan-friend halibut with nduja ratte potatoes, samphire, sweetcorn and okra had too much going on with flavours over-powering the fish, and needed to be reduced to its essentials (we've had it, and agree). A rib-eye steak on the other hand was "spot-on", with a "sensitively dressed salad" and "decent" chips. Brown bread ice-cream "wasn't bad" and coffee was good, and he calls The Grayson "a pretty impressive place" with food that's "decent enough", but that will hopefully improve as the kitchen gains confidence. He also tells us his niece works there but she was off that night (she's the area manager for Press Up ). Do with that what you will. In the Irish Times , Catherine Cleary loved the new site from Camerino Bakery in the Goethe Institute on Merrion Square, and praised the person who put "a real cook into a cultural space". A bowl of sweet potato soup with chickpeas, peas, tomato and herb salsa was the best soup she's had in a long time, and her toasted sandwich "a king of toasties", with "properly fiery and funky kimchi, salami that’s been fermented till it honks ... a good cheddar to bind it all together and seeded sourdough toast finished with butter on the outside." Both a carrot and walnut slice and a cinnamon and chocolate cookie were "divine", and the coffee excellent. She gives it 8.5/10 and calls it a beautiful new café in a food dessert part of town. Read her review here . In the Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness is the latest critic to be wooed by 25 year old head chef Karan Mittal's cooking at Ananda in Dundrum - although she didn't fall quite as hard as Lucinda . Long a Dublin destination for high-end Indian food, Karan seems to have taken it to new heights, and Katy says "I couldn't recommend Ananda more". Everything sounds incredible, from tandoor smoked duck with duck-leg samosa, fig, plum ketchup and medjool date with St. Tola goat's cheese, to char-grilled prawns with avocado koshimbiri (like a raw vegetable salad) and mango confiture. "An explosion of flavour" came in the form of a Kashmiri morel stuffed with wild mushrooms, chicken tikka and asparagus, on top of mushroom kedgeree with Parmesan, tomato and pine nuts, and Mittal's signature black lime sorbet was "pungent, intense, magnificent". Mains of Bombay Keema Salli (lamb, quail's egg and padron pepper), Jhinga Neel Giri (wild prawns) and lamb biryani were "impeccable", as were sides of okra and black dahl, and she calls it "sophisticated modern Indian food from a young chef focussed on flavour", giving it 9/10 for food, ambience and value. Read her view here . In the Irish Examiner , Leslie Williams finds a tapas restaurant worth travelling for at Solas in Dingle, who source almost everything from the Dingle peninsula (which is enough to get us interested). Chargrilled octopus was "firm and packed with flavour", and came with slices of marinated ‘carpaccio’ and squid ink aioli as contrast, seafood chowder croquettes sounded like they wouldn't work but did, "gloriously so", and the "sweet and tender" prawns in the pil-pil had come straight off the pier. They took home "delicious" petit fours, whose flavours all had a nod to the west, and he says Solas is full of the little touches that make a restaurant, like mint and lemon slices in the water and offers of extra bread, and seconds - SRSLY?? He advises "you definitely need to go to Dingle", and we're convinced. Read his review here . Finally, Lucinda O'Sullivan is living it up at the world's best hotel in the Sunday Independent, with a trip to Adare Manor in Limerick. She sacrificed the hotel's fine-dining restaurant to eat in the more casual option, The Carraige House , as she figured that's where us plebs would be more likely to be able to afford to eat. A salad of Alaskan king crab with avocado, datterini tomatos and salad leaves was "delicious", and her Dublin Bay prawn cocktail came with little jugs of extra sauce - "a nice touch". A roasted squash risotto with goat's cheese, fried sage and garlic oil was "perfectly cooked", and pan-fried seabass with a bean, chorizo and hazlenut cassoulet was also "delicious". Desserts of banoffi and berry sabayon were "divine", the latter coming with a huge "fluff" of Champagne sabayon and a "quenelle" of orange sorbet. She reckoned they could have stayed in JP's paddock forever, but they "saddled up" and hit the road - cue involuntary groan. (Review not currently online) In The Sunday Times Ernie Whalley is impressed with 1826 in Adare, calling it "some restaurant" (read his review here ), and in the Sunday Business Post, Gillian Nelis revisits Avalon in Donnybrook and finds the welcome warm and the food elegant and well-balanced. Read her review here . More next week.

With news that the VAT on the hospitality industry is rising by 50% in January, from the current 9% to 13.5%, it’s safe to say that we’re all feeling a bit defeated. Restaurants will inevitably have to raise menu prices in order to stay afloat and we’ll all be a little out of pocket when it comes into regulation. Until then, in order to support the industry and make ourselves feel better we should eat! Maybe we could all just go into food-induced hibernation until the government comes to its senses and lowers the VAT again? So on that note, here's some comfort food... 1. The Lobstar Burger This surf n’ turf style burger from Lobstar includes poached lobster and dexter beef, with 'plum tomato textures' and crispy fries, and these guys know what they’re doing. Not sure what's more comforting, a juicy burger or a pile of lobster, which is why you should have both, at the same time. www.lobstar.ie 2. Seared King Scallops and West Cork Mussels with Herb Lime Butter at Michael's ​ Michael's in Mount Merrion is the unofficial kingdom of comfort food - possibly to do with the amount of butter that's delivered to the kitchen each week. A picture of these scallops and mussels on toast drenched in herby lime butter says more about this fact than we ever could. www.michaels.ie 3. Beans on Toast at Five Points Beans on toast, the childhood comfort food we all fall back on when times are hard, but the chefs at Five Points are taking it to a new level this week with Whole Hoggs sobrasada, cannellini and butter beans, poached eggs and herb yoghurt on sourdough. Everything's going to be okay. www.facebook.com/fivepointshx 4. The Truffle Brie from Fallon & Byrne There’s nothing like the welcoming sight of a cheese counter, but this brie sandwiched with creme fraiche and black truffle from Fallon & Byrne is the only think we've got eyes for right now. www.fallonandbyrne.com 5. The French Toast at The Pepperpot Café This is BAD but like, in the best possible way. The apple and blackberry compote is at least one of your five-a-day, justifying the dollop of whipped cream cheese and candied walnuts. Undoubtedly a mood-elevator. thepepperpot.ie

We're big fans of Shaka Poke , whose main base is in Blackrock market but can also be found popping up around the city during the week at some of Dublin's lunchtime food markets. So we were very excited to hear that they're doing a one week pop up in Portobello in November, where they'll be serving their poke bowls as part of a three course meal. The Shaka Pop-up is coming to Lock 6 Café from Monday the 12th of November to Wednesday the 21st, and it's part of a collaboration with digital marketing agency Socio-Local , to demonstrate the effect of email and digital marketing - which is the only way the pop-up is being promoted (and how we heard about it). Set up by friends Jamie and Dave last year, Shaka Poke started out as a market stall, but opened a permanent (shack-like) space in Blackrock market at the start of this year. If this pop-up goes well we imagine they'll set their sights on a bricks and mortar site with seats and walls. The menu for the pop-up will have starters like 'surfer's broth' and prawns with pineapple salsa (€6-8), their house favourite poke bowls for mains as well as some special additions (€15), or you can build your own, and for dessert there's pineapple upside down cake or acai banana ice cream (€7). So a three-course meal is going to set you back around €30, which is not bad at all. There will be drinks too but the list isn't finalised yet. The Shaka Pop-up will be serving lunch (eat-in and take away) from 11am - 5pm every day, and dinner from 6pm, with the last seating at 9:30pm, and dinner needs to be booked in advance. You can reserve a table for dinner on the special Shaka Pop-up website , or follow them on Instagram to see how it goes. Shaka Poke @ Lock 6 Café 12th - 21st November Lunch: 11:00 - 17:00. Dinner: 18:00 - 22:30. 8 Dunville Terrace, Canal Road, Dublin 6 www.shakapopup.com

Coffee shops are popping up in Dublin faster than government officials can sign off new hotel deals (not that we’re complaining), but over in Dublin 8, Clanbrassil Street has been changing so fast our heads are spinning. In just a few years it's become one of the best, food-filled streets in Dublin. It’s far enough from the city centre to avoid tourist traffic, but within walking distance, and has so many great options for coffee, cake, lunch or dinner, while maintaining a very chilled out buzz. It's hard to imagine how run down Clanbrassil street was in the 80's. When the street was extended to four lanes, costing around £2 million Irish punts at the time, locals were very unimpressed about the changes, and the buildings that were being torn down to make room for them. Amongst those was the pub, “The Bunch of Grapes”, which according to locals was “about the only place in Dublin now that you get a decent pint” (check out this archive video gem ). If only they knew what was coming! This is how we'd spend a day eating and drinking on Clanbrassil Street in 2018. Morning... Start in The Fumbally for breakfast. Created by Luca D’Alfonso and Aisling Rogerson as a spot for good falafel, it was set up in a forsaken Celtic Tiger office building, but it's far from the traditional office space. Order at the counter and grab a seat wherever you can - sharing tables is encouraged. Their breakfast menu runs all day and we recommend trying the avocado toast with pickled cabbage and popped amaranth or scrambled eggs with gubbeen smoked ham. They use Calendar Coffee from Galway and Coffee Collective from Denmark. They also sell housemade fermented drinks and possibly the best chocolate cake in the city. Mosey on up to Clanbrassil Coffee Shop for a coffee and a pasteis de nata. If the gods have smiled on you, the pastries might be fresh out of the oven and even a touch too hot to eat. Heaven. Sit in the window, overlooking Eddie’s grocery shop - a definite blast from the past. Both Clanbrassil House and its coffee shop are relatively new to the scene but very much cornerstones of the area. Afterwards, walk down to Salt and Stove to peruse their artisan food stocked shelves. Since opening at Christmas, they now have a sit-in area that’s quite cosy to do a bit of work in. They also have a well stocked cheese counter and wine on tap. Need we say more? Lunchtime... Head back to Clanbrassil Coffee Shop for their house-made porchetta with rocket and pickled cabbage on homemade sourdough, or go across the road to Daniel , 3fe’s old-man-pub style coffee shop. It’ll take you back to the days of years gone by, eating crisps and drinking Cidona in the local. They don’t do crisps here, but there’s some mikados going if you ask for them. The short and simple menu consists of tea, coffee, toasties and treats, but this is not the food and drink offering you’d expect in your bog standard pub. The quality here is as high as the rest of 3fe’s cafes, and the crockery is gimmicky but nostalgic. For lunch, try the black and blue toastie - black pudding and blue cheese with onion marmalade, or the basic but perfect ham and cheese. Bread and pastries are supplied by the newly opened Bread Nation on Pearse St, and 3fe ’s brownies are some of the best we’ve had. Pair one with a flat white for a winning dessert. After experiencing the hipster coffee version of the old man pub, you might be longing for an actual pint. To remedy this, head to MVP , another old man style pub - the only indications that it's actually a hipster joint in disguise are the staff and the craft beer list. They also do very good cocktails. Evening... You have a few options for dinner. If you’re in the mood for sharing, try Clanbrassil House 's family style menu at €42 pp. They also have an early bird menu at €25 for three courses. The baby sister of Bastible , the kitchen in Clanbrassil House is run by head chef Grainne O’Keefe and has recently been awarded a Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide. They're known for hash brown fries, meat cooked over charcoal and insanely good smoked trout on toast. Big brother Bastible is another great option, but be sure to book ahead. Its chef's menu only on Friday and Saturday nights, and this is definitely the best way to experience the kitchen talent here. The dishes are always seasonal and change weekly. Gaillot et Gray , the French style pizzeria run by couple Emma Gray and Giles Gaillot, is another worthy dinner choice. The pizzas are topped with emmental instead of mozzarella and eating here is a casual affair. They're also a bakery by day, so if you have the time grab a loaf of their bread in the morning. They keep the freshly baked loaves by the window once they come out of the wood fired oven, taunting anyone who walks by to grab one - how jealous are we of people who live around here for all the amazing fresh bread options? If you're looking for some spice in your life, Konkan on Upper Clanbrassil Street, is a great place to grab some authentic Indian food, specialising in dishes from the south-western coast like Konkani fish (fishcakes with green chillies, curry leaves and mustard seeds) and Raarha Gosht (lamb cooked with black eyed beans and spices), and Passion 4 Food (don’t be fooled by the numerical use) does some of the best kebabs in Dublin. We're also big fans of the fact that they offer a free meal to homeless people on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wrap up the night with a gin and tonic in 57 The Headline . After a renovation a few years ago, it's become quite the gin destination in Dublin, serving a huge range of Irish gins and craft tonics. They also run a gin membership, where you get a discount off their gin of the week and there’s no sign up fee. No.57, their upstairs dedicated gin bar is open Thursday to Saturday. After that the best thing to do is probably to take your overly stuffed stomach home to sleep off the immense food and drink coma. Have we missed any of your favourite Clanbrassil Street spots? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie.

Stop the lights. Tom Doorley is claiming that he's discovered pizza better than Pi 's. In Dublin. And no one has even heard of it. The establishment in question is the Wood Fire Café , just off Dorset Street in Dublin 7, which opened earlier this year. Tom admits that Pi 's pizzas are "exceptionally good", but that he believes this new discovery "eclipses" it. We might need some time to process this. He says that it's clear the staff are cooking to please themselves and other Italians, not the Irish palate (tick), and that it was friends rather than social media which led him there (depends who the friends are but - tick). The margherita came with a "bubbled crust ... on the cusp of blackening", with "creamy rich mozzarella", "juicy San Marzano tomatoes" and "exceptional flavour", and a base that had a "perfect texture, correctly floppy but without the faintest hint of doughiness". Tirimasu was "very good indeed", with "ethereal sponge, lots of whipped mascarpone, just enough espresso" and no booze, and unusually that's all the food that's mentioned. He said he meant to go back again but couldn't wait to share the good news. (Review not currently online) In The Irish Times , Catherine Cleary is still loving life after a visit to The Saddle Room in The Shelbourne. It's been months since she had even the whisper of a bad meal, and we're starting to wonder if she should go in search of one, for balance like. She liked the look of the pre-theatre menu, full of Autumnal dishes both "light and earthy", but was momentarily unimpressed when four oysters came on a plate with six wells in it - that might slip down to three once the VAT hike kicks in. Everything else is "perfect", including whipped Fivemiletown goat's cheese with pickled butternut squash and dark walnut pesto, venison with salsify and "nutty" brown mushrooms, and skate wings with a parmesan and truffle cream, dill and capers. A bread pudding for dessert was "the loveliest thing", and she says that "this is a kitchen paying the extra attention you typically find in smaller chef-patron operations, where a pride is taken in everything that leaves the pass." She calls it Dublin's best Sunday night dining secret - watch out for that list coming soon. Read her review here . In the Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness tries to be nice about her visit to Brothers Dosirak , the casual Korean eatery at the back of an Asian mini-market on Capel Street, but finds the high points to be "volume and value". Disaster strikes when the vegetable dosirak (like a Korean bento box) comes with a slice of what they suspect to be Spam underneath the kimchi. No word on what the staff's response was when they presumably flung it in disgust towards the counter. A beef bimibap (rice bowl with meat and veggies, topped with a fried egg) was better, the highlight of which was Korean chilli sauce, "many-layered in terms of flavour complexity", and dessert, which was included in the price, was a "tiny cube of rather dry brownie". She says that the lack of provenance information is "hardly surprising at these prices", but that she's sure she's not alone in being less than thrilled at the thought of unknowingly eating battery eggs, industrially-reared pork and intensively-farmed chicken. We'll join you up on that perch Katy. Read her review here . In The Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan went on a gal's night out to Dalkey had had such a delightful experience at The Dalkey Duck that she questioned if she dreamt it. This was her second trip - she walked out the first time because the menu "didn't cut the mustard", but this time she said they'd gotten their act together. They were "totally impressed" by starters of a balsamic roasted beetroot plate with fivemiletown goat's cheese and candied walnuts, and grilled fillets of red mullet on sourdough toast with sauce vierge. Bouillabaisse for mains was "sophisticated and delicious", and a whole lobster at the "knockdown price" of €28 was far superior to the one she paid €48 for in The Ivy a few weeks ago , and with none of the claw cracking hassle. A duck egg and vanilla crème brûlée was "lovely", as was their German Riesling - even more so because all wines are half price from 5-8pm. Sounds like a reason to hop on the dart. (Review not currently online) In The Irish Examiner , Joe McNamee is "besotted" with Da Mirco Osteria in Cork, which opened earlier this year. He calls it "a traditional Italian osteria, offering home-style cooking and good wines". Owner Micro Fondrini is "the embodiment of hospitality", and he finds the whole experience "entirely authentic" and "quite excellent". Food highlights included ravioloni in a purée of butternut squash, walnuts and gorgonzola which was "delightfully al dente", a golden brown, chewy lasagna with porcini and Italian sausage, which was "truly delicious", and patate e baccalá, layers of grated potato and salted cod mousse baked in the oven, was his favourite dish of the evening. Tiramisu passed the authenticity test, as did a plate of regional Lombary cheeses. His only quibble was the sole fish option of farmed, imported seabass, "when an abundance of fabulous Irish seafood is so readily to hand", but he calls Da Mirco "nigh on perfect". In The Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley doesn't regret a last minute decision to visit Saba on Baggot Street (read that here ), and in The Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nellis finds great views and exhilarating pub grub at The Strand Bar in Wexford. Read that here . More next week.

Grálinn , the couple who brought Irish Street Food to the festival circuit this summer are starting a residency this weekend in MVP on Clanbrassil Street, where they'll be for the next three months. Launched during the summer by couple Dee Kelly and Matteo Griscti, Grálinn took their food truck to Another Love Story and Electric Picnic , serving dishes like French toast with blackberry compote and lemon basil and McNally Heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella, olive caramel sauce and rye bread crumb, and got festival-going foodies very excited about the idea of street food with an Irish angle. Now they’re settling in for the winter with a residency at MVP on Clanbrassil Street, and we're very excited to see them join the Dublin food scene. Dee and Matteo, who met over coffee, want Gralinn 's focus to be on local, ethical and seasonal food, with a big emphasis on their producers, which include McNally Organic Farm and Scéal Bakery . Matteo who’s behind the food, studied in DIT before working as a chef in Fia , Two Pups and Tang . Dee, who runs front of house, has worked in various places, including Two Pups and Clanbrassil Coffee Shop . They say they've always shared a love of food, coffee and people and the connection that sharing food brings. Grálinn 's residency starts this weekend and will run every Thursday to Saturday from 6-10pm and will continue through to January. The opening menu features small plates such as Hokkaido pumpkin, miso and chestnut, King Oyster mushroom with burnt celeriac and coppa, and beetroot cavatelli with capers and salsa verde, but it will evolve as the season changes. They’re also developing a dessert offering, which will include housemade ice-cream, and drinks pairings will be provided by the bar downstairs. You can keep up to date with Grálinn at www.facebook.com/GralinnLtd.

Health-conscious café Póg has opened a second site on Tara Street, adding to their first location on Batchelor's Walk. Since opening in 2014, Póg has become a mecca for people who want to eat out without compromising on health, with a menu full of acai bowls, paleo eggs and protein pancakes. They're also vegan friendly, with their instagram-friendly vegan breakfast boards popping up constantly in our feeds, and almost all of their desserts are vegan. Póg was started by owner Rachel Keane as a frozen yoghurt shop, but quickly expanded to salads and raw juices, and the quality of their social media feeds led to a rapidly expanding following. They continued to expand the menu but without a full kitchen they were struggling to offer the dishes they wanted. The Tara Street location will act as a prep kitchen for both sites, allowing the menu to expand and develop. Some of the new additions include 'Eggs in Purgatory' - poached eggs with polenta, charred kale, nduja, red pepper escabeche, burrata and parmesan, vegan waffles with coconut whip, chia jam and cashew butter, toasties and hot pots. They say they're inspired by the Melbourne and London café scenes, and have always put as much emphasis on how the food looks as to how it tastes - hence rainbow lattés. Póg on Tara Street is currently open from 07:30 - 17:00 Monday to Friday, 09:00 - 16:00 on Saturday and 10:00 - 16:00 on Sunday, and they hope to start an evening service from December including wine and cocktails. They're also introducing a vegan afternoon tea in November, which will undoubtedly be coming to an instagram feed near you soon. www.ifancyapog.ie

We love seeing a seasonal menu around town and pumpkin is popping up everywhere at the moment. Most of the pumpkins we see at this time of year are large and ready for carving, with skin that's something to be battled, but there are loads more variations than your Cinderella carriage standard. The best ones are smaller, filled with flavour and have tender skin that's chewy and sweet after roasting, and thanks to growers like McNally Family Farm , we're seeing a lot more of them on Dublin restaurant and café menus. Here are some of the best places to eat pumpkin in Dublin right now. The Regal One Forest & Marcy , sister restaurant of Forest Avenue has made its mark from day one with a seasonal menu done right. Case in point - this Crown Prince pumpkin with cep custard, capers and raisins. The Middle Eastern One Spot on flavour pairings at Hey Donna with their roasted pumpkin, shiitake creme, mint and honey yogurt, and killer Insta game to boot. The Whipped Cheese One 3fe 's squash, orange and whipped feta salad looked like another well balanced plate of flavour from chef Holly Dalton’s kitchen. The Healthy One Sprout and Co are known for making healthy tasty, and this spicy Indian chicken and squash salad with curry yogurt, organic kale and spinach leaves from the Sprout farm fits the bill. The One on Toast Pumpkin on toast is something we never knew we wanted or needed. Storyboard ’s version with preserved lemon yogurt and spiced nut butter is looking like a very appealing brunch option for the weekend. The Sweet One Fable & Stey 's cinnamon spiced pumpkin cheesecake uses organic pumpkins from McNally farm, which must offset any negative impacts associated with a second slice. The Drinkable One Taking on Starbucks in the authenticity stakes, Laine My Love have launched their own pumpkin spiced latté, and we can't think of a better way to ease into Autumn. The Unattainable One Just to tease you (because you'll probably never get a booking), this is from Heron & Grey 's Autumn menu. Pumpkin, wild summer flowers and birch. Keep trying people, it's worth it. The Pizza One If all else fails, stick it on a pizza. Shovelhead 's October special, 'The Hocus Pocus', comes with a pumpkin cream base (yum), gorgonzola (yes please), toonbridge mozzarella (most definitely), nduja and fresh basil. Suddenly we're feeling better about that chill in the air. The Vegan One As if eating your veg wasn't enough, you can go full on virtuoso vegan with the pumpkin brunch option at Veginity . This Indian Masala Dosa with Japanese blue pumpkin and ginger curry, caramelised onion sambol and freshly ground coconut sambol contains more health than we would even know what to do with. Best to follow it with one of their homemade cinnamon buns for balance. The Cupcake One Did cupcakes exist before The Cupcake Bloke ? We literally remember nothing before his lemon drop, butterbeer and pinata cupcakes came to town, and of course he wouldn't let October go past without working the pumpkin.

If we were 'theoretically' putting together a list of the hottest restaurants in Dublin right now, Luna would probably be at the top of it. Since new head chef Vish Sumputh (formerly sous chef at Chapter One ) took over in early summer, the buzz has been steadily rising, and now that the critics have started heading in to size things up, the consensus is unanimous - Luna 's got itself a brand new bag. This week it's Leslie Williams in The Irish Examiner who's under Luna 's spell (as well as Conor Stevens in Totally Dublin ) . He gives the food 9/10, the key to which he says, is the saucing - and if you're a regular reader of Leslie's reviews you'll know how he feels about inadequate saucing. It was the walnut milk sauce that made a starter of baby fennel, tangy goat's curd, caper sprouts and poached peaches (below) a resounding "success", and 'Ragu Bolognese with agnolotti di Parmigiano' had an "intensely rich (and rather glorious) proper Bolognese sauce", made from slow-cooked pork shoulder. It was the description of the rabbit main course however that had us reaching for the phone to make a booking, which he calls "Michelin star food at around half the price". You had us at rabbit legs stuffed with mousse made from from the kidneys and liver with added smoked bacon and foie gras, never mind the apricot-scented girolles and "silk pillow gnocchi". No complaints about desserts or wine, and he says that "Luna remains one of the very best restaurants in the country." Read his review here . In The Irish Times , Catherine Cleary gives Feast on Golden Lane their second positive review in two weeks, after Ernie Whalley's last Sunday . Feast recently moved from their original premises in Dun Laoghaire, and despite numerous restaurants attempting and failing at making a go of it in their new home on Golden Lane, CC says she hopes this one's a keeper. Highlights included bread with almogrote and an "excellent" black olive tapanade, "expertly cooked" scallops with chorizo-roasted carrots and smoked eel in a "delightful" sweetcorn broth, only slightly ruined by "Mr Kipling-sweet" chunks of corn sponge, which "should never have been there in the first place". Lamb shoulder with aubergine (above) was "stunning", coming with potato cubes diced and crisped with Reblochon cheese, and duck breast with parsnips was "excellent", and good value as part of the pre-theatre meal. A baked-carrot cheesecake had a bit too much going on, but she says that trying too hard is definitely better than not trying hard enough, which is all too common at this price point in this part of town. Preach. Read her review here . In The Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness was at new Blackrock café Fable & Stey , wishing they'd try a bit harder. Despite the menu being littered with buzzwords, they found the avocado toast dull, with salsa that 'isn't salsa, just a bunch of chopped tomatoes with coriander", and a butternut squash soup was "thicky, smooth and blandly comforting". The best dish was a lunch special of warm potatoes, jammy tomatillos, garlicky yoghurt, peas, peashoots, pickles, herbs, peanut rayu and a fried egg, but another kicking comes in the comment that it's not a patch on Etto 's workers lunch which costs just a few euros more. Takeaway cakes were good, although a Bread Nation cinnamon swirl was suffering from overexposure to air, and service was "smiley but verging on hapless". She was unimpressed that their water jug needed a proper clean, as did some grubby highchairs, and that her "stingy" serving of good kombucha came in a glass hot from the dishwasher. She says she's "getting bored of this café-by-numbers kind of establishment, where every menu reads the same and every dish feels like a cover version of the real thing i.e. The Fumbally ". She gives the food, ambience and value 7/10. (Review not currently online but should be soon here ). In The Sunday Independent, Lucinda O'Sullivan thinks she's figured out one of the big mysteries of life - what do women want? 'Posh' sandwiches and bottomless prosecco apparently. Glad that's sorted. She was at the new Gourmet Food Parlour in Skerries, where she describes the food as "broadly Mediterranean with something for everyone" - even the ladies. A toasted vegan wrap was "chunky" and "tasty", and a three-bean Thai curry was "light" and "aromatic". Her female dining companion doesn't like anything "too hot", presumably because of her sensitive female disposition. The pasta of the day (above) with chorizo, peppers and prawns was "delicious", as were the "legendary" patatas bravas. She advises looking out for the bottomless prosecco deal from 5pm, which is basically all women want in life, and suggests that even men might be tempted by it. We're not sure the men of Skerries are lining up for that one, but happy to stand corrected if anyone has pictures to the contrary. (Review not currently online) In The Irish Daily Mail, Tom Doorley uses All The Superlatives to describe his meal at Michelin-starred Campagne in Kilkenny. Cauliflower soup with lobster was "smooth as silk ... bliss", a terrine of ox tongue and foie gras was a "visual delight", and a preview of a new partridge dish was "quite simply perfect". Squab pigeon was "as tender as buttery fillet", free-range chicken with diced ham underneath cripsy skin with cep jus was "intensely savoury ... moist and chicken flavoured", and a shared dessert of frangipane tart with ginger ice-cream was "unbelievably light in texture". He calls it "more than just a faultless lunch, it was one with elements of surprise, reminders of the hidden complexities of food at this level," and calls Garret Byrne's cooking "impeccable". (Review not currently online) In the Sunday Business Post Gillian Nelis tries out Lil Portie 's Jamaican food in Rathmines, finding it "wonderfully laid back" and unlike anything else you'll find in Dublin (read that here ), and in the Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley is at The Mustard Seed in Limerick, where he finds the welcome, the ambiance and the cooking three very good reasons to visit. Read that here . More next week.

We’ve made it through the furnace that was summer, survived the storms that followed and now we're just cold again. Not that we mind, as it's an excuse to go on the lookout for bright flavours and warming comforting food to ward off winter, and these five fit the bill perfectly. 1. Sicilian Tomato Tartare, Durrus Custard, Horseradish, Basil and Charred Bread at Luna Chef Vish Sumputh took over the kitchen in Luna at the beginning of the summer, to much buzz as he was coming from Chapter One . He's recently created a new autumn menu, which includes this tomato tartare, but really he had us at durrus custard. lunarestaurant.ie 2. Pappardelle with butternut squash and Durrus cheese at Clanbrassil House ​ ​ It’s been an exciting week for Clanbrassil House . They've just been awarded a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide, the only new addition for Dublin this year, and this pappardelle looks like a perfect illustration of why. We're also welcoming this Durrus trend with open arms and forks at the ready. www.clanbrassilhouse.com 3. Roast Grouse from the New Game Menu at Suesey Street It's game season, and Suesey Street have created a special menu dedicated to guinea fowl, rabbit, venison and their friends, but it's this roast breast of grouse with crispy thigh, york cabbage, burnt onion, cauliflower puree, dauphinoise potatoes and game jus that's gone onto our "must-eat" list. www.sueseystreet.ie 4. Home Salted Anchovies, Heritage Irish Beetroot, Dill and Hung Yogurt at The Seafood Café Served with housemade cracker bread, this new addition to The Seafood Cafe 's small plates menu looks like it packs a lot of fresh flavour. Perfect for a dreary Autumn day. (And yes we had to google hung yoghurt . Turns out it's exactly what it sounds like.) www.facebook.com/klawcafe 5. Granola with Stewed Apple and Warm Cardamom Milk at Salt and Stove This just looks like autumn in a bowl and cardamom milk could quickly become our new breakfast go to. The weekend papers, a bowl of this and a coffee and our weekend would be complete. www.saltandstove.ie

For those who work in the hospitality industry (or any others that don't shut down at the weekend), Monday is essentially their weekend, and after an actual weekend of working day and night, a lot of restaurants close on Monday to give their staff a break. For those with that night off, it’s easy to be stuck for somewhere to eat, so here's our guide to where to eat on Mondays, whether you're in need of sustenance on your day off or are just looking for an early week excursion. 1. The Seafood Café Niall Sabongi’s Temple Bar restaurant is a welcome respite from trad music and pricey pints in the capital’s tourist trap. Reasonably priced with a menu suited for sharing, it’s a friendly, laid-back place to enjoy fresh seafood. www.facebook.com/klawcafe 2. Pi It’s no secret that we think Reggie White's Neapolitan style pizzas are the best in Dublin (see here ). The classic margarita and zuccha are our favourites, and the salty-sweet desserts are as perfect as the pizzas. www.pipizzas.ie 3. Fish Shop, Benburb Street Fish Shop 's Benburb location is an easy spot for a seafood dinner and a glass of wine. The menu is short, simple and changes frequently, but the fish and chips and fish burger are always on. Interesting, natural wine list with one of the city's best selection of sherries. fish-shop.ie 4. 777 If you’re looking for a more lively night out, 777 always comes with a buzz. The 2 margaritas for €14 on Mondays can be dangerous, but there are plenty of tacos, tostadas and tortilla chips to soak them up. 777.ie 5. Loose Canon Cheese and Wine The newly opened natural wine and cheese shop is the place of the moment, and Monday openings to cater to the trade were a part of the plan from the start. It's rare to find it not completely jammed, and being in the tiny shop feels like having wine at a friend's house. Perfect if you’re not looking for a full meal, they make charcuterie and cheese plates up from what's in the fridge that day, and also do daily changing small plates, like Toonsbridge mozzarella with fermented strawberry salt. www.loosecanon.ie 6. M & L Chinese One of the few places in Dublin to get authentic Sichuan food, the dumplings and fried green beans with chilli have been the start of many addictions over the years. Corkage is €5 but go easy on the chilli oil if you're taking something nice. Read our M & L once over here . mlchineserestaurant.com 7. Piglet Piglet’s supper menu is easy going, with pasta, fish and Cote de Boeuf for the very hungry. It's a cosy spot for a plate of food and some great wine, and if you find yourself in Temple Bar surrounded by camera bearing tourists and “The Auld Triangle” ringing in your ears, it's a good place to run for cover. Try the tapas with goat bacon or duck gizzards, with whatever wine pairings the staff recommend. pigletwinebar.ie 8. The Pig's Ear Classic Irish, contemporary dining on Nassau Street from Chef Stephen McAllister. Bright, airy dining room overlooking Trinity College, and nostalgia-inducing desserts like hobnob cheesecakes in jam jars and homemade walnut whips. www.thepigsear.ie 9. Terra Madre Rustic country Italian food with no frills, the basement level restaurant is hidden out of view but worth a trip downstairs. Charming service, seriously good pasta, and many of the wines and ingredients are brought over from Italy especially for the restaurant. www.terramadre.ie 10. Pichet The french style bistro has been a staple in Dublin for years. It’s always reliable for a good meal with a buzzy atmosphere, and has been awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand for the past nine years. pichet.ie 11. The Garden Room A peaceful setting to dine in, particularly when it's warm enough to have the doors open and you can look out onto the Merrion Hotel's manicured gardens. The all-day dining menu is pretty over-arching, with everything from snacks of crispy pigs ears and avocado cigars to seafood towers and burgers. thegardenroom.ie 12. L'Ecrivain The only Michelin starred restaurant in the city open on a Monday, if you’re in the mood for a blow out. Derry and Sallyanne Clarke have held onto their star since 2003 and the standard of food at L'Ecrivain is always reliably good. lecrivain.com 13. One Pico Classic cuisine from the same restaurant family as The Greenhouse , with head chef Ciaran McGill serving seasonal dishes like Wicklow venison with pear, beetroot and salsify, and grouse with blackberries. The pre-theatre menu is the more affordable option, with two courses for €30 or three for €38. www.onepico.com 14. Ananda The fine dining Indian restaurant in Dundrum serves incredible, innovative Indian food from varying regions. Head chef Karan Mittal has wowed everyone since taking over the kitchen earlier this year, and won 'Rising Star of the Year' at the 2018 Food & Wine Awards. The dining room is pleasant and service is always first rate. anandarestaurant.ie 15. Octopussy's Seafood Tapas One of the best places for fresh fish on the pier in Howth, particularly if it's a nice day and you can nab an outside table. Try the generous seafood platter with mussels, crab claws, Dublin Bay prawns and gambas. Read our once over here . octopussys.ie

Camerino , whose raspberry cheesecake brownies have been known to make people travel from across the city to their café and bakey on Capel Street, have opened a second site on Merrion Square, in the basement of the Goethe Institute . Opened by Canadian Caryna Camerino in 2014, Camerino started out as as Dublin market stall and cake delivery service, until Caryna used crowdfunding to open a bricks and mortar site. They specialise in cakes, cookies and very good coffee, and do a simple lunch menu of salads, sandwiches and soups, and the new location will do that and more. Camerino on Merrion Square will be open six days a week from 9am, until 8:30pm Monday - Thursday, 6pm on Friday, and will close early on Saturday at 2pm. Breakfast and lunch options are similar to the Capel Street branch, with the addition of toasties and charcuterie boards in the evening (which will be added in the next few weeks). Coffee is from Roasted Brown , Sourdough is from Le Levain , Olive Oil is from Caryna's friend Lino's family farm in Italy, and most of the veg is from McNally or Elmhurst Farms . This will however remain a booze free zone, which is something to do with the German Institute upstairs. The menu is small and will change frequently, and is currently being hand written on a clipboard each day. They've opened quietly to allow themselves to settle in and iron out any issues, but they seem to be on top of things so it's definitely safe to pay them a visit. They've also got reliable wifi so it's a good addition to the "places I can work from list", if you want to send a few emails over a very good latté and a raspberry and almond square. They also sell olive oil, balsamic vinegar and bread to take away, as well as what is affectionately referred to as 'crack sauce' - Katie Sanderson's peanut rayu. Merrion Square just got a whole lot more interesting. Camerino 37 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 Open daily from 9am, until 8:30pm Mon - Thu, 6pm Friday and 2pm Saturday www.camerino.ie

We've got the full gamut of food in this week's reviews, from Michelin-starred fine dining to noisy, tablecloth-less fried chicken joints, but almost everything gets the seal of approval from the critics, with just one "confused" exception. In The Irish Independent , Katy McGuinness paid a timely visit to The Greenhouse on Dawson St, just ahead of Michelin day. In case you're not aware, the 2019 Michelin stars are being announced tomorrow, and there's been a long-standing conversation between food writers from here and abroad, that The Greenhouse deserves a second star. Less than 24 hours and we'll know if Michelin agrees, but Katy certainly does. She gives the food and value a rare 10/10, despite the bill coming to just over €300 for two, and the only thing she didn't like was the "verging-on-frumpy" room - chef Mickael Vilijanen should "have a room that's as cool as he is". She floated through the six-course tasting menu, highlights of which included an amuse-bouche of chicken liver mousse sandwiched between crisp potato topped with quince and parmesan, foie gras topped with eel, walnuts and Granny Smith apple, and ceviche of hand-dived scallop with cucumber in an elderflower and jalapeño jus topped with caviar (below). Grouse was "meatier and more tender than one could dare to imagine", and came with salsify, artichoke, beetroot and blackcurrant - "the very quintessence of Autumn". A frozen liquorice meringue is "just beautiful", and they finished with a chocolate delice (above) which must be one of the prettiest, most instagrammed desserts in the city, with notes of coffee and yuzu, and a sea-salt milk sorbet. If The Greenhouse's one star turns to two tomorrow, that €300 is going to look like even better value. Read her review here . In The Irish Times , Catherine Cleary makes it a staggering 15 weeks in a row doling out good reviews, this time for the newly reopened Botanic House in Glasnevin. Is the city's cooking getting that good? Not since the evisceration of Five Guys have we seen even the chink of a knife. She calls the menu a "sensible tweed suit of a list", but the 70's prawn cocktail is made with "proper fluffy fresh prawns", and crab claws are "soft and thready" and some of the best she's eaten. Her main of hot native shellfish (the same one that Tom Doorley took to task a few months ago) had "fine" mussels, "divine" lobster meat, and "more of those wonderful crab claws", but the black bean sauce they were in was just "odd". Hake, steak and a burger ranged from "good" to "excellent", and a vanilla crème brûlée is "executed perfectly". The only disappointment was an apple crumble, whose crumble had been baked separately and placed on top - why? She said that eating classic dishes in a lovely pub with just-caught seafood made them very happy, which is good because it's their local. Read her review here . Another happy diner in the shape of Tom Doorley in the Irish Daily Mail, who was at free-range, fried-chicken spot Mad Egg . After an initial warning that there are no tablecloths, it's noisy, and you'll have to eat at communal tables, he tells us that it's "good enough to overcome these handicaps". Thank goodness. Both the fried chicken and the soft, Amish bun it came in were "excellent", the chicken moist with a crisp coating. He says it's "simple food but so hard to get right". The accompaniments for the 'Hot Chick' and 'Wild Thing' burgers were "massively assertive but worked", and he says it's rare to see such care and attention to sourcing in a casual restaurant. The DIY cheesecake was "tooth-achingly sweet", mostly because of the DIY elements that you get to decorate it with, and he says that two (non-tablecloth dependant) grown-ups and a teenager had a great time. (Review not currently online) In The Sunday Independent, it's a bit of a head in hands week for Crow Street , which recently opened in Temple Bar. After two lukewarm reviews last week from Ernie Whalley and Tom Doorley, Lucinda O'Sullivan in The Sunday Independent sticks the boot in proper. She admits to arriving on their first evening open, and there's a lot of consternation about critics doing this. Our feeling is if a restaurant is charging full price to diners they're game to be reviewed. If they want time to settle in they can do a soft launch with discounted prices, which is very common in other cities, but not in Dublin for some reason. She thought the "Irish soulfood" was confused - a seafood cobbler came with a crumble topping, Macroom buffalo mozzarella had no sign of the potato rosti advertised on the menu, and the crispy, fried buttermilk chicken was "as exciting as that featured on the political rubber chicken circuit". Monkfish scampi came on a pea guacamole "sludge" - ouch - and she had her doubts that the 'hand-cut chips' were cut by human hand. She says "the food needed a lot of sharpening", and tells us that the restaurant emailed her a week later to say the head chef had changed and menu changes would also follow. Last ditch effort to avoid the inevitable rough review? (Review not currently online) In The Irish Examiner, Joe McNamee was at Glebe Gardens in Skibbereen, in the former site of the much missed Carmel Somers' Good Things Café . Thankfully he finds them a worthy replacement. A swiss chard and chickpea soup is a "joy", a spiced beef flatbread is an "embrace of pure comfort", and Roaringwater Bay Mussels are "majestic" in "delicious stock" soaked up with "pillow-soft focaccia". A toastie with Hegarty’s cheese, charred scallion and tomato relish was "a triumph", and desserts of chocolate tart, lemon meringue and orange cake were "superb" and "well-judged". There were some service issues that need to be ironed out, but he praises the "exceptionally sympatico" chef Bob Cairns, "still in the early throes of his love affair with West Cork produce". Read his review here . In the Sunday Times , Ernie Whalley thinks Feast , who've recently moved from Dun Laoghaire to Golden Lane in Dublin 2, has the potential to become another Dax (read that here ), and in the Sunday Business Post , Gillian Nelis finds "something for everyone" at Asian eatery Koh on Millennium Walkway (read that here ). More next week.