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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.