Chef Niall Davidson's nomadic restaurant finally settled down in Grand Canal Dock in 2024, with an à la carte menu of the country's finest meat, fish, vegetables and more, cooked in surprising, inventive ways. Industrial space with seating at low tables, the kitchen table or the bar. Allta Website allta.ie Address allta, Three Locks Square, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Chef Niall Davidson's nomadic restaurant finally settled down in Grand Canal Dock in 2024, with an à la carte menu of the country's finest meat, fish, vegetables and more, cooked in surprising, inventive ways. Industrial space with seating at low tables, the kitchen table or the bar. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

The Seafood Bar The perfect little restaurant to gorge on the best of Irish seafood Posted: 25 Jul 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's should we know about The Seafood Bar? It's the second restaurant from the team behind neighbourhood favourite Wood Fire Café just off Dorset Street. Owner Joe Oualadi is half Italian, half Moroccan, and says he's "mad about seafood" and loves to cook it. He couldn't understand why an island surrounded by fish doesn't have more places to eat great seafood (Amen Joe), and with a loyal clientele already on Blessington Street, he decided to take the site left vacant by Veginity (and briefly vegan deli Pretend) and get to work. Despite Wood Fire Café 's many D7 fans, we've visited in the past and didn't leave with a need to return - maybe we caught them on a bad day - so we weren't expecting to be first in the queue for this one, but between strikingly good reviews on Google and the total lack of a website/social channels for information, we thought it needed a once over stat. Can I book? Nope, and this is the one real drawback. With only 10 indoor seats we get it, but it's not very conducive to travelling across town or booking a babysitter. If it's dry and/or sunny you might be able to pull up at a barrel outside with some olives and a glass of cold white wine while you wait, which wouldn't be the worst way to pass the time. Where should we sit? There are three low tables of two, which can be put together for a four or a six (but you'd be lucky to find all three free at the same time, especially once the good word travels about this place). There are also two high tables at the counter, seating two at each. This is where we'd pick if we had the choice, to see all that seafood being prepped and cooked in front of you. Outside has another four tables of two (which again could be made into a four, possibly a six with some pushing and pulling), and a couple of barrels you could stand at. It feels very Spanish, and if we ever get sunshine again we can see this having a cracking atmosphere on a summer evening, those waiting for a table standing around with some olives, almonds and a glass of Loxarel Cava. What should we order? The menu has a strong Spanish slant to it, but with other cuisines like Italian and even Hawaiian (poke) thrown in. There's a cold section to start featuring peel and eat gambas with cocktail sauce, oysters, tuna salad and more, but our hearts fractured a little to hear that Ensalada Rusa with Cantabrian anchovies wasn't available, and that they're taking it off the menu. The rest of the menu features 12 starters and six mains, and expect to agonise over what to order, because this is a hell of a menu, with Porupine langoustines, Irish native shrimps, and a whole lobster with fries for €34 among the dishes you might feel the need to try. Getting over our Ensalada Rusa disappointment, we started with crab on toast - three pieces of thick, chewy, very lightly toasted bread covered with a mildly curried, lemon-scented, sparklingly fresh white crab meat mixture, topped with finely sliced radish. Adding unadvertised curry in here is a (possibly risky) curveball, but we loved the fresh, mildy spiced flavours, the contrast between the sweet flaky crab and the chewy bread, and the generous hand in plating this up. You can't come to a Spanish seafood restaurant without ordering fried fish, so deep-fried calamari and Native Irish Shrimps with tartar sauce were up next. According to the Irish Times , only 200 tonnes of these prawns are landed each year, and all (until now) are shipped to top restaurants in Spain and Portugal where they're sold at very high prices. That might explain this dish's €18 price tag, and why you only get two of the shrimp, but we loved it all the same, and it's a novelty to try something so rarely seen here. The batter was perfectly light and crisp, the tartar clearly homemade, and while a couple of calamari rings were chewier than we would have liked, there was no debating the freshness yet again. If you order one thing in here, make it the clams with garlic and salsa verde (€14), which has dive-bombed onto our "best things we ate this year" list. A sizzling cast iron dish arrives with bubbling olive oil (the good stuff) filled with caramelised, chewy, sweet garlic slices, clams floating above dressed with a generous spoons of zesty salsa verde. If sharing, expect to lose the run of yourself trying to dig out each little piece of fish, dunking it in the garlicky oil and smearing some salsa on top for one of the most perfect mouthfuls you could imagine. We had to ask for bread to mop up the sauce, and you should do the same. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/79af6f_4bd025a6af6b48299535a4615a9082e7/720p/mp4/file.mp4 The paella (€26) was another knock me down dish, the saffron-scented rice with a perfect bite, seafood lavishly dispersed across it. Prawns, monkfish, mussels, and clams were not in short supply, and the roasted peppers and dollops of aioli pushing the perfection level even higher. It was missing the slightly crispy base, but from other reviews online we can see some people's did have this, and with or without it, it's as good a paella as we've tasted (here or in Spain). The portion is also huge - you could easily share one between two. Seafood linguine is yet another knockout, again with the generosity of seafood feeling almost shocking in comparison to other restaurants. Simplicity is often the hardest thing to get right, but this simple sauce of garlic, white wine and cherry tomatoes let the flavours of the gambas, clams, squid and mussels gleam, and it almost felt like more seafood than pasta. How often can you say that? At €26, you could not complain about value for your euro. Sides were a low point and we'd skip them next time and just focus on the fish. Hand-cut chips didn't look or taste like they were done in-house, and weren't crispy enough, while patatas bravas came with that delicious aioli and a roasted red pepper sauce, but the potatoes tasted more confited than deep-fried, and weren't remotely crispy. Desserts are a total mismatch with everything that's come before: 'Classic Tiramisu'; Crema Catalana; and a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream and caramel sauce - is there anyone in the country who wants a chocolate brownie after a seafood feast? Please raise your hand so we can see you. The only acceptable choice was the Crema Catalana, but our hearts broke once again to be told they didn't have it, but had a cheesecake with red berry sauce in its place. They told us all desserts were made in the Wood Fire Café, and it did taste homemade, but it was a dull, heavy ending to a dazzling meal. A silky-smooth, flan-like Basque cheesecake would have been a far better fit. What about drinks? Wines are a mixed bag, with some decent bottles on there like Zarate's Albariño, Domaine De La Pépière's Muscadet, and the brilliant co-op Les Vignerons d'Estezargues' Southern French red blend, 'Cuvee des Galets', for €32. It's a bit muddled though with no theme or thread running through it (e.g. Mediterranean), and they're in desperate need of some sherries/Vermouths/aperitivo offerings. By the glass options are very limited, but we tried the Jurtschitsch Grüner Veltliner which was a nice easy drinker served very chilled, and a perfect match for the seafood. There are also some beers on tap, and flavoured San Pellegrino as well as the usual soft drinks. How was the service? Lovely, friendly, and the food came out at a good pace. They didn't charge for the extra bread, or a juice they poured from their own staff stash - a nice touch. And the damage? €128 for a generous feast for three (who rolled out after lunch and could barely face dinner that night), with one glass of wine. We'd throw it at them every day of the week. What's the verdict? We love The Seafood Bar. We can't stop thinking about The Seafood Bar. We want to move into The Seafood Bar and have Joe feed us all day - crab on toast for breakfat, clams for lunch, that big dish of paella and a cold glass of wine for dinner. It's not an inexpensive place to eat, but there's a big difference between cheap and value for money, and we thought that what we got for our spend was remarkable. Sometimes places open with a serious generosity of spirit (and ingredients) and then reality (and bills) hit and everything gets pared back. We really hope that doesn't happen here, because right now it's the perfect little restaurant to gorge on the very best of Irish seafood. The Seafood Bar 1 Blessington Street, Dublin 7 seafoodbardublin.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Little Canton A smart switch to Cha Chaan Teng classics Posted: 14 Jul 2026 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What’s the deal with Little Canton? Spend five minutes in the front window of most restaurants and you’ll get a good sense of the distance they’ll go. We had that perch at Nan back in the winter, and wondered over an affordable dim sum deal to compliment their higher-end Huaiyang cuisine, if the passing crowds that barely seemed to see the place could be bad news for its long-term future. Two seasons and a canny refit later, Ryon Weng and Ian Keegan have pulled the plug and pivoted to Little Canton , a cha chaan teng. We’re settled in the same spot, the glass between us and a growing queue fogging up from gasps at our lunch bowls, and the whole roast duck from the chef’s counter behind. Safe to say they've made the right move. Cha chaan teng? In a nutshell, it’s a diner done Hong Kong-style, with the madcap mix that comprises the international city’s cuisine at the heart of a largely cheap and cheerful menu. Despite what you might have seen on social and at least one national review (sigh), it’s not a new concept to Dublin – or even to D2. Eva Pau’s Hong Kong Wonton , where Duck used to be, brought the idea and much of the same interest to the area in the dying days of 2024, but just fifteen seats and a chaotic order-and-collection setup put a ceiling on its success (though they’re not taking the new neighbourhood competition lying down ). Wen and Keegan lean into opportunity just as often as innovation, so scaling up a similar concept is small surprise – just look at Chongqing Hotpot . What’s on the menu? Steamy summer or no, don’t skip the soup (€3.50). A small bowl of the daily rotating special is as good an appetiser as it gets, light broth shot through with aromatic airs and golden fat from pork chunks plunked plentifully within. Rehydrated lily flowers bring crunch and complexity in every ladle. You’ll get no clearer taste of the East-West fusion emblematic of Hong Kong cuisine than in the curry fish balls (€6.50), whose neon yellow soup has the distinctive bang of a suburban Chinese circa 1994. You’re clutching the wrong kind of pearls if you reckon these squidgy specimens are an acquired taste – we popped them like the down and dirty candy they are. We still think back on the duck spring rolls we had at the late, lamented CN Duck (whose menu Little Canton brings to mind more than once) – we were nostalgic for their sub-€6 price point after chowing down these two (€9.50). Inflation, we know, but that’s a helluva leap the relative quality just can’t cushion. Save your spend for elsewhere. Like, for one, the weekday lunch deal, where from 12:00 - 16:00 any roast meat is heaped on top of a generous bowl of rice for €9.99, with a €3/5 supplement to add one or two meats (plus €1 to debone the poultry), and €2 to upgrade the base to egg fried rice or noodles. A final bowl of bone-in chicken and duck on fried rice (€14.99) is stellar value for the provenance of free-range chicken and Silverhill duck. The latter deserves all the window-side gawping it got, air-dried skin shattering to a treasure of melted fat beneath – we’d never dream of deboning and depriving ourselves of the joy of gnawing off every last ligament of marinated meat. But going again we’d skip the soy chicken, where neither skin nor meat are half as penetrated with flavour and feel flabby and lifeless by contrast. Char siu pork hovers on the verge of the same turf, for all the eye-catching colour shot through these slices. This leaner-looking cut lacked the marbling we’d want to really achieve the signature succulence of this Cantonese BBQ classic – we’ve had a lot better. Stick to the crisp pork belly, where skin and fat layers yield the same crack-to-chew ratio we relished in the duck. We had it over stirred lo ding instant noodles (€16, or €11.99 for weekday lunch), a HK classic whose nostalgic feels explains its popularity throughout the room. Who’d have guessed the vegetables section would throw up one of the top talking points – though Nan’s green beans did the same. They’re back here too but it’s the salt fish aubergine clay pot (€15) that called out to us – and us to it, with squeals of joy at each chunk of fermented fish we found in the bubbling cauldron. We only wished there were more hiding amidst the ginger-rich stir fry. It sums up the speed of service here that we were warned one dish might take up to fifteen minutes, as though it were an eternity, but twenty later there was still no sign. A complimentary portion of salt and pepper chicken wings (€6.50) was flown down to distract us – it did that and more. The great gush of meat juice that bursts forth from crisp skin is a lesson in why to never settle for less than free-range, and a vision of what the roast breast could be with the right rethink of the glaze. The delayed dish was roast pork chop with tomato and cheese (€16), another HK staple ordered by at least half the tables around us. Too low an oven heat was the reason for the delay, and our cracked crater of a plate versus their gushing volcanos the result – the dried-out crusty cheese had all the pull of Temple Bar at 2am. Underneath we got more of the intended taste, with fresh and full-flavoured cherry tomatoes bringing tang to the typically ketchup-spiked sauce, and chunks of fried rice crisped off the piping plate like a paella’s socarrat. However even done right this would be too dense for our tastes. Not worth the wait, or the weight. Hong Kong-style French toast whisked out to neighbouring diners didn’t look half as appetising as the Hong Kong Wonton take , not that we’d have had stomach space for something so soupy-sweet either way. A lighter option in the pineapple bun (€4) is where it’s at, stuffed with a fat pat of butter like the best jambon-beurre. This sweet, soft, salty confection will be a breakfast hit if they ever open earlier than 12. The name’s a nod to form rather than flavour, with the cross-hatched sugar coating a riff on Mexico’s concha. There's more migration routes in the egg tart (€5), a play on the Portuguese classic but one whose crisp visible layers slope to a soggy bottom – skip it. Anything to drink? A small, serviceable wine list and better-fitting beers by the bottle are there for anyone in for dinner, but it’s the assorted hot and iced teas that you should sample for the real cha chaan teng vibes. A bear-shaped ice mould might yield Weng and Keegan’s best ROI yet if its ubiquity on TikTok already is anything to go by – made with tea rather than just water, it melted into our lemon tea (€5) without dulling the fresh flavours that were very welcome of a sunny summer afternoon. Hot milk tea (€3.50) is less tannic than the one we had at Hong Kong Wonton, both silkier and sweeter too – it would wash down a pineapple bun wonderfully. How’s the service? Briskly efficient – the walk-in only setup makes for some craned-neck queues and a heavy demand for the metal-topped tables to be wiped down and turned over, stat. Food comes fast, with wide-rimmed bowls leaving little space alongside blocky wooden cutlery caddies, so order in stages if you’re out to try a lot. What’ll it cost? Come for weekday lunch and you’d struggle to spend more than €20 unless you’re really doing the dog on it. But even a by-night blow-out with a whole roast duck, beers and sides to share wouldn’t likely see you inch over €50 a head. So, should we go? The “grand opening” balloon columns still fluttering in the summer breeze almost a month on speak as much to the lessons learned from Nan’s slow decline as the duck draped in the window behind and the heavy branding – give ‘em something to stop and stare at. They might not find food as good when they get in, but at least they’ll find it. Even great restaurants can’t survive empty seats. Little Canton is a market spotted and served, sometimes very well, and almost always at a fair price. Between this, the branding and the outside optics, we'd wager a bet that this group are onto another winner. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Bastible A new reason to visit the Dublin 8 favourite Posted: 25 Feb 2020 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Bastible opened in 2015, the first restaurant from couple Barry Fitzgerald and Claremarie Thomas (who also own Clanbrassil House and Coffee Shop ), and after Catherine Cleary called it the best restaurant she'd been to that year, there was something of a stampe, with months of tables booked out in an instant. Since the initial pandemonium it's enjoyed steady success, and it's safe to say it would feature on most (if not all) food writers and critics' 'best restaurants in Ireland' lists, but in the middle of last year there was an interesting development when it was annouced that ex-Geranium (three-Michelin starred restaurant in Copenhagen) and Noma (two-stars, also in Copenhagen) chef and Dublin native Cúán Greene had come home and taken up the mantle of head chef. Cue mammoth excitement about having someone who's worked at that level of globally recognised dining home and cooking in Ireland. They kept it quiet to start, letting Greene find his feet and explore the local (and greater) Dublin area for what could be foraged, fermented and found in woodlands, fields and probably even gardens, but you can't keep a secret long in this town, and as soon as Catherine Cleary found out there was fresh blood in the kitchen she was straight in. Another rave review followed, with her saying "there's a new level of cooking in town", and Leslie Williams in the Irish Examiner following close behind saying that what's happening here "needs to be experienced". We don't need any more convincing than that. Where should we go for a drink first? If you're after bubbles or wine, recently opened The Wine Pair on Clanbrassil Street should be top of your list. The neighbourhood wine bar has a mostly European selection, with plenty of organic and natural options and €10 corkage on anything off the shelf. If it's a pint or a G+T you fancy head for 57 The Headline who specialise in craft beer and have an enormous range of gins. Where should we sit? The dining room is pared back and minimalist, with lots of wood and steel, and moss green on the walls - very Scandi-esque. There are tables against the wall and in the centre of the room, and a six seater at the window. We do prefer a window seat, but if there aren't that many of you we'd opt for the wall every time. There's also some counter seats with a good view of the kitchen, which we imagine are in demand on busy evenings. What's good to eat? We visited for Sunday lunch which is the best value meal of the week at Bastible. The 'set menu' (really a tasting menu) is €45, whereas on other days a similar spread costs €52 at lunch or €65 at dinner. Just think about the extra money you'll have to spend on wine. It opened with 'ox tongue shish, kelp and dried mushroom', and if the thoughts of eating that part of an animal has the potential to turn your stomach, this is the tongue to change your mind. We're talking "OMG what is happening in my mouth right now and how can I make it last longer" levels of deliciousness. It had been sliced wafer thin, threaded onto a branch made of beech (for the flavour), barbecued and glazed before serving. Imagine the softest, most melt in the mouth, deeply-flavoured brisket, which had finished over fire to make it extra 'extra', and given a sticky, slightly sweet coating. What an opener. Next up came doorstop sized slices of homemade sourdough bread with Greene's cultured butter, the bread soft and tangy, the butter creamy, sweet and almost fluffy. We're also not sure whether it was deliberate or not but we're really on board with the idea of serving the bread and butter as its own course, rather than as an accompaniment to more exciting dishes. What's more exciting than really excellent bread and butter? After that came what felt like a beautiful looking palette cleanser of very finely sliced kolhrabi, sorrel and orange blossom, served cold and eaten in one or two bites. It was an interesting, light bite, but it won't be consuming our minds like some of the other dishes. Then it was back into OMG territory with a dexter beef tartare topped with a Jerusalem artichoke cream and cep crumbs. If there's a better tartare in the country we need to know about it, because it's unimaginable to think of any tasting better than this. The cream was almost like a rich, earthy custard, with the slightest crunch from the crumbs contrasting with the velvet softness of the tiny cubes of meat. A perfect plate of food. After that life high came a dish we'd been lusting after on Instagram for weeks - the baked swede with pumpkin seed mole, pumpkin seeds and ginger oil. It's one of the prettiest plates of food you're likely to eat this year, with soft, delicate flavours, but it didn't have the oomph or impact of some of the other dishes so felt over-shadowed in the grand scheme of the meal. Although 10 points for making turnip not taste like turnip. Then it was onto the main course proper - quince lacquered sea trout with glazed potato flatbread, smoked yoghurt and fermented gooseberries. The fish was rich and sweet and flaking apart, the potato flatbread pillowy, chewy and slightly sticky, and the smoked yoghurt with sea lettuce on top jacked everything up to peak flavour. The only thing we didn't get was the fermented gooseberries, which were tangy and sour in a very funky way that we found marginally unpleasant. They also only brought one tiny bowl of each for three people which felt a bit mean. They brought more on request but there was a five minute wait while the chef prepared it. Nevertheless this is a spectacular combination of flavours and textures, and much moaning was uttered during its consumption. Dessert was a beautiful, unusual combination of sheep's milk yoghurt mousse, fermented plum, marigold leaf sugar and woodruff oil. After so many rich flavours it was nice to end on something so light and delicate, with the sugar giving a lovely crunch against the airy mousse, and each flavour defined yet melding together so well. Plates were scraped clean. Finally as a petit four we were brought a juniper caramel wrapped in blackcurrant leather, a sweet, sour, salty, satisfying end to a pretty spectacular meal. What about the drinks? The wine list here is impressive, with many of our favourite winemakers featured and loads from the natural canon, as well as sherries and grower Champagnes - notoriously hard to find on Dublin wine lists. We loved the Gaston Chiquet Champagne and the Emmerich Knoll Riesling, but you can't go far wrong with a list like this. And the service? Staff were all lovely and accommodating, and knew exactly what was in each dish and how it had been prepared - a rarity. We did have to flail around a few times trying to flag someone down to order more wine or request more of that immense smoked yoghurt, but once they got there they were very helpful. The verdict? Bastible has been one of Dublin's top restaurants since it opened in 2015, but the arrival of Cúán Greene has taken it to the next level, where foraging, pristine sourcing and defining Irish food takes centre stage, and stars undoubtedly await. It's no secret that Greene harbours ambitions of opening his own restaurant, and how far away that is we don't know, but we'd recommend trying his food here as soon you can, and you'll be guaranteed to follow him wherever he goes next. Bastible 111 South Circular Road, Dublin 8 bastible.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Izakaya Japas & Sake Class-act cocktails and diverse sharing plates, but not the sushi we're searching for Posted: 3 Oct 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What's the story with Izakaya Japas & Sake? Probably the most common query we receive via ATF Answers – our Insiders-only direct line to advice on eating out – is some variation on where's the best place to get great Japanese food in Dublin. Sadly, friends, we’re largely as bereft as you: despite its capital status, Dublin has lagged behind both Galway (with Wa Sushi ) and Cork (with Miyazaki and the Michelin-starred Ichigo Ichie ) for far too long, with only a handful of passable options studded around the city. The recent arrival of Matsukawa has thankfully (finally!) set a new Dublin bar, but between the €90 price tag and its being booked out clean through to the end of the year, it’s not much help to the casual diner looking for a sushi fix on short notice. So off we went to size up Yamamori Izakaya Japas & Sake after hearing increasingly positive grunts around town, and letting ATF Insiders pick our next review. It's one of the longstanding local chain mini-empire of outlets, open on George’s Street and in recent years pushing itself more and more as a traditional take on the casual Japanese sake and snacks bar. Where should we sit? The Victorian building’s high ceilings and a whole host of nooks and crannies give Izakaya a cavernous feeling that, even if the place is packed to bursting, lets its little corners feel nicely intimate. The sectioned bar seats are just a little too poky for our tastes but otherwise you can’t go far wrong from the main dining space spread with leather-backed booths and high tables and a window-side area with prime people-watching potential onto George’s Street. There’s also a downstairs dining room that was empty on our Friday night visit – it’s probably kept aside for brunch spillovers. What did you eat? Traditional izakayas are usually just as much, maybe more, about the drinking as the eating, so options here are broadly pretty simple, broken into sections of sashimi, nigiri, sushi platters, chef’s specials, and “Japas” – Japanese tapas. The vibe is very casual, with every opportunity to order a few dishes to start, and dip back in as and when it takes your fancy. We started with (complimentary – it’s the little things) edamame, fresh and firm beans in coarse-grain salted pods: the vigorous steam rising from the bowl is a good promise that things will be coming out fast and furious. We skipped past sashimi and went straight in with three nigiri, all served in prettily-plated pairs topped with edible flowers and paired, as per, with a ribbon of ginger and blob of wasabi – these are plates that look the part. The spiced hamachi was a solid start, the mild fatty fish given a gentle kick with duelling sauces of togarashi-based shichimi and citrusy-soy tataki: we might have preferred a more assertive spice, but it’s a matter of taste. Unagi foie gras was always going to need to be tried, roasted slivers of eel topped with a torched smear of liver paté. The slightly bitter brûlée treatment brings an interesting taste and texture to a bite that’s skirting excess richness with the butteriness of both meats – the combo makes for an off-beat interlude, if never quite the showstopper we might have hoped on first sight. The otoro – or bluefin tuna belly, among the most prized of sushi fish cuts – kept things suitably simple with a little smear of wasabi mayo, and while the marbled meat’s saltwater taste attested a freshness, we’ve had substantially better iterations of this elsewhere (not least just recently in Matsukawa). At €15.50 for the plate, this one’s a bit of a letdown. On the level of fundamentals across the three nigiri, there are a few tell-tale drawbacks that hold Izakaya back from being the answer we wish we could give to everyone’s Dublin sushi woes. We found the rice fine but less well seasoned than you should be getting in top-tier sushi rice, while the less said about the grainy, over-processed wasabi paste the better – steer clear. Happily the rest of the menu skewed to a slightly higher standard, with our venture into the chef’s specials a particular standout. These are all norimaki with presentation a major focus, and the ebi dragon we opted for definitely looks the part with plump, juicy katsu prawn wrapped in rice and overlain with thin-sliced avocado, wasabi mayo and capelin roe. You’ll be offered a choice of black or white rice; the black brings a delicate nuttiness that plays well with the sweetness of the prawn and saltiness of the roe. Onward to the Japas options, and we kicked off with takoyaki, the popular Osakan octopus ball snack. There’s good contrast here between the crisp fried exterior and the gooey pancake batter innards studded with chewy diced octopus, but the over-enthusiastic sprinkling of bonito flakes on top slightly dulled the flavour of the sour-sweet tonkatsu sauce. It’s not a bad dish, but there are others around town (hello Kakilang ) doing it better. Gyoza options hadn’t exactly gotten us excited – next to the nigiri, a lot of the Japas menu reads as pretty standard fare – but we gave the yasai option a go for good measure. They came out bearing the tell-tale burnt-bottom signs of a proper pan-frying, and while these crisp undersides give just the right crack as you bite in, the veggie filling is a dud of soggy spinach and soft squash. We’d pass on these. We were on firmer ground with the potato korokke, croquette-style breaded discs of creamy mash with a spot-on golden crust and just the right sprinkling of salt – this is the kind of side snack plate the whole table can agree on. Mileage may vary with the tonkatsu sauce on the side; while it’s flavourful in its own right, we felt these played better with a wasabi mayo. Agedahi nasu – or deep-fried aubergine – arrived in a still-searing pot with the wafting air of dashi broth making its way across the table. The traditional version of this dish uses a Japanese species of aubergine with thinner, more absorbent skins – here, with the more familiar, fatter form of the fruit, the skin still feels slightly rubbery. Thinner slices might have helped. We can’t fault the flavour though, with the scored flesh hiding rich pockets of dashi umami. The seared skin of the 'sea bass & kuro ninniku' is a sight to behold and has the flavour to match: the fish has been cooked in a black garlic butter that gives it a deep, rich, bitter-sweet intensity that’s a joy to savour. Beneath the charred skin, the flesh is soft and succulent with all the buttery goodness it’s known for. This is a standout. Sides of steamed rice are solid, with a varied texture from tempura flakes and sesame seeds keeping it interesting, but given how broadly sauce-free the dishes at Izakaya are, this is one you could easily go without – particularly if you’ve already gone down the norimaki route. With a deeper and nuttier flavour, the black is probably the way to go if you're just looking to get a fix of carbs. What about drinks? Sake is a specialty here with several varieties on the menu, but we’d had a tip that the cocktails are where it’s really at – we’re happy to report it was on the money. The complimentary notes of the Fashioned Brandy and Japanese Old Fashioned highlight the impact of little touches, with the former’s black walnut bitters bringing an earthiness against the apple overtones of the Nikka Days whiskey in the latter. The Toki sour was a knockout, a fresh and sour-sweet mix of Suntory whisky, plum sake, lemongrass syrup and plum bitters topped with a sprinkle of matcha – we loved it. How was the service? Staff are exceptionally friendly and all over the menu – give them your preferences and they’ll give you a very knowing helping hand. Dishes come quick but not overwhelmingly so, and there’s a clear rhythm to the way they'll roll out the next stages according to what you've ordered. The layout of the space can mean you’re waiting a little longer than you’d like to get some attention if you find yourself tucked away in a corner, but service is sharp once you have caught an eye. What was the damage? For a just-right share of food and those rock-solid cocktails, it came to just shy of €70 a head for three of us – that includes a 12.5% service charge added on automatically, something usually only seen in bigger groups. It’s not wildly out of step with expectations in Dublin these days, but it does put Izakaya on a price par with many better options out there. A recently-added brunch menu is much better value, with €35 four-serving cocktail pitchers and a choice of five Japas for €45 (albeit from a much slimmed-down menu) meaning you could eat and drink well for closer to €40 before service – it runs from 1pm to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. What's the verdict? A great place to get sushi it ain’t, but Yamamori Izakaya’s class-act cocktails and diverse selection of sharing plates, never mind its central location and surplus of space, make it a solid choice for group dining. There’s plenty here to suit most dietary needs, and a just-right blend of mainstream and more adventurous choices – if you’re struggling to keep a mixed crowd happy, this might just be the answer for you. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

La Gordita Exciting, original Spanish cooking, in a Bodega-style setting Posted: 4 Apr 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What do we need to know about La Gordita? It's the second, more "grown-up" opening from Las Tapas De Lola 's Anna Cabrera and Vanessa Murphy, just around the corner. It's been pitched as 'bodega-style', but they're not actually looking for people to pitch up at the bar sipping sherry and eating olives. Instead this is somewhere to settle in for a three-course meal with all the wine, and leave feeling spoilt. The head chef here is Maria Luisa Moraleda, who was cooking with Killian Walsh at Clanbrassil House before being nabbed by the Lola girls, and he's clearly a fan . She seems to have been a brilliant and perhaps lucky hire, being on the ground, ready to make a move, and fitting the restaurant's spec so perfectly, coming to Dublin by way of Sevilla and Donostia. We'd imagine the opening menu is a collaboration between Maria and the owners, but she seems like someone with a strong style and a lot of confidence, so we can see her fully taking the reins before long. Where should we sit? It's a long, narrow room, with a few tables for two, four or six, and the rest bar seating. You know the story. Solo diners will love the bar option, as will a lot of couples. Any more than two and you're probably better off at a table for conversational reasons. They're aren't many though, two in the front and three in the back, and the maximum booking they can take is for six people. When we booked the website said there was only bar seating available, even though there were empty tables when we got there, and a staff member told us they're trying to keep the tables for bigger groups. If you're a two and would prefer a table, it's worth giving them a call to ask. Two of the tables in the front offer a great people watching vantage point onto Montague Street, while the ones at the back will give you views right into the kitchen. Again if you have a preference it's worth calling and asking if your preferred area is available. What's the lowdown on the menu? Something that may or may not come as an unwelcome surprise is the stipulation that you must order a main course, as part of a minimum two courses per person. A minimum order is never an issue, but when faced with 18 snacks and small plates before the "main deals", each sounding better than the last, being forced to use up so much of your budget and stomach space on the bigger plates might not be what you want. Our server explained that "we're not a tapas bar, that's around the corner in Las Tapas de Lola", but as it's been pitched as 'bodega-style' we assumed there would be more flexibility around ordering, especially as we (and we know most of you) want to try as much on a menu as possible. We pleaded with our server that we'd already picked what we wanted online (three snacks, three small plates, the lobster main and two desserts), and after some back and forth he agreed to let us go forth and eat. We know that being forced with a minimum spend on a menu doesn't sound great either, and that they can't survive unless people order an adequate amount of food, but would that many people really rock up and sit over a plate of almonds for a couple of hours? We don't know what the answer is other than trusting that diners who come to a restaurant actually want to eat, and if they don't having them justifiably removed by the heavies. We started with a couple of gildas, which are the only way to start a meal in any respectable Spanish establishment. Pair with a Manzanilla sherry for the perfect opening to dinner. Before these came a little bowl of complimentary olives from Antequera in Spain, which were richly flavoured, salty and tangy. Then the La Gordita version of garlic bread, or really garlic on toast. So simple, so perfect, so hard to understand why no one else has done this here. This isn't your 49c garlic from the fruit and veg aisle. Staff told us it's coming from Spain each week, and after a low, slow roast is so sweet, so savoury, so perfectly salted, squeezed out and slathered all over the crunchy toast. Our love for vinegar-soaked boquerones runs deep, but the ones here weren't the best we've had. The best ones are bright white, with plump juicy flesh, tang and oil beautifully intertwined. These ones had clearly been doused in some quality olive oil, but were greying and on the tougher side. An 'Asadillo con melva' - salad of roasted red pepper, melva tuna from Barbate in Cádiz, and garlic - on the other hand was simple and perfect. This is the good tuna, the one that makes John West look and taste like cat food, sitting on a bed of sherry vinegar marinated roasted red peppers and slivers of white onion. It tastes like sitting on a Mediterranean beach sipping a cold glass of white wine, feeling the sand between your toes and the sun on your arms. We were advised to order the bombitas de morcilla, one of their most popular dishes, which are Spanish black pudding balls with goat's cheese, served with tomato marmalade. The excellent morcilla is silky soft, and while you might not spot the goat's cheese amongst all the black, every so often you'll get a pleasing whack of it. We can never resist some berenjenas fritas con miel de caña (f ried aubergine with sugar cane honey for the uninitiated), and these were very good but different to every other example we've tried. They're cut so finely they're more like crisps and you don't get any aubergine texture, but once you pop you won't be able to stop, and the sugar cane honey was the ideal consistency, not too thick and treacly as is sometimes the case. For the 'main deal' we couldn't see past the 'Bogavante de Formentera' - fried lobster with potatoes, padrón peppers and fried eggs. It's €37 so it's a splurge, and you only get half a lobster so it's a tricky one to share - we wouldn't advise even attempting if there are more than two of you. It's a beautiful dish, the fresh Irish lobster just cooked, the potatoes cut thin as crisps, padrons oily and salted, and the fried eggs crumpled with all the right crispy edges, and oozing yolks. It's pretty plush, but you're worth it. We'd ordered the patatas panaderas (because trying all and any form of potatoes as an Irish person is mandatory), but as the lobster already came with potatoes our server suggested we try the 'espinacas cremosa' - creamed spinach with pinenuts and raisins, and we scraped every last sliver from the dish. It's the type of side you might try to make at home for steak night, but yours never ends up as silky and creamy and utterly delicious as this one. There are four desserts on the menu and a cheeseplate, but we think they've missed a trick not using the latter as an opportunity to showcase some of the incredible Spanish cheeses available in Ireland, like Manchego, Monte-Enebro and Cabrales. When we visited it was Comté, Delice de Bourgogne and Cashel Blue, which jarred with the rest of the menu and feels like an attempt at appealing to the masses rather than committing to the bit. We were recommended the Tarta de Manzana, a Spanish apple tart not unlike a Tart Tatin, with richly flavoured rum & raisin ice-cream, and while enjoyable, it needed to have been cooked for longer to up the caramelisation - we saw another leaving the kitchen beforehand which was a lot darker and looked more like it. The other headline-grabbing dessert is the Torrijas - almond milk-soaked bread with almond cream. It's a heavy choice to end a meal with, and one you might regret while walking for a taxi/DART/bus, but you'll have no regrets while spooning the burnished, milky, marzipan-esque toast into your mouth. What about the drinks? There are seven sherries by the glass, which is admirable by any Dublin restaurant's standards, but they're all Lustau bar one. Lustau makes some really great sherry, and the three we tried (a dry Palo Cortado, a 25-year dry Oloroso, and a sweet 'Solera' with dessert) were choice examples, but in a city where superstars like Callejuela and De La Riva are readily available we would have liked to see more breath. There's plenty of interest on the main wine list too (more so by the bottle), but we would have loved to see them do a solo Spanish deep-dive like Grano or Apertivo have done for Italy, and left the people pleasing Picpouls and Pouilly Fuissés to the others. Our advice - stick to Spanish, like Raventós' cava-style (but better than most you've probably tried) 'I Blanc', Raul Perez's Godello 'Ultreia', or Comando G's cult Garnacha 'La Bruja De Las Rozas'. There's a classic cocktail list too, plenty of spirits, and beer from Estrella. How was the service? Delightful, charming, hospitality personified. You know immediately that they're going to build up a roster of regulars, whose likes and dislikes they'll get to know, who'll have their favourite spot at the bar, a comped drink before going home. It's just that kind of place, and was always going to be coming from the same team as Las Tapas de Lola, known for one of the warmest welcomes in Dublin. What was the damage? This amount of food which happily fed (stuffed) two with five drinks will cost you €163 before a tip. And the verdict? We always think the mark of a great restaurant is when we're walking out the door looking for reasons to return, and in a city of constant new openings that we're occupationally compelled to try, that's not often the case. We were thinking up excuses to go back to La Gordita before we'd even left, for the caviar and crisps, the anchovies with blue cheese butter, the lamb ribs, the octupus with romesco, the weekend arroz special. Head chef Maria's cooking is exciting, original, honest, and we want more of it., We'd love to see the must order main course stipulation changed to a minimum spend (or dropped altogether), but if this doesn't happen we'd suggest going as a four or six so you can try as many snacks and small plates as possible. Otherwise the sadness at leaving so much unordered may be unbearable. On the other hand it's an excuse for another visit, not that you'll have to try too hard to come up with one. La Gordita 6 Montague Street, Dublin 2 lagordita.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Eleven All the potential in this roadside restaurant with wood-fired food and great cocktails Posted: 18 Apr 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about Eleven? Named in tribute to its roadside position just off the N11, the latest addition to John Farrell’s portfolio of Dublin diners (Dillinger’s. The Butcher Grill, 777, Amy Austin, and the late Luna are among the others) opened above Whelehan’s Wines in Loughlinstown late last month. Farrell’s MO is well-established by now, offering up conceptual dining experiences fronted by his own painstaking attention to interior design detail. At Eleven , it’s a smart-casual neighbourhood vibe they’ve gone for, with two distinct relaxed spaces set either side of a zinc-topped wraparound bar with counter dining. The Butcher Grill ’s Atish Bhuruth has been drafted in to design the menu in an Executive Chef capacity, and the wood-fired grill as well as a couple of other menu items clearly bear his mark. Where should we sit? The bar’s 20-or-so seats make a good choice for solo diners or duos who delight in watching the magic of cocktails in the making - more on those later - while the main open dining space is saved for four-top tables. The combination of deep red walls, warm wood tones and geometric rugs make this main area an especially welcoming first sight as you walk through the door. Down the back, there’s another area with two high tables that seat ten each, and are tailor-made for bigger groups or those who don’t mind sharing. Both areas are bright, open spaces by day and more intimate lamplit affairs by night - in the evening, there’s an ambient slide guitar soundtrack provided by a house musician tucked away in the corner. What’s on the menu? It’s a simple and streamlined menu neatly divided into small plates and mains, with standalone sections for the wood-fired grill and sharing steaks and fish dishes. The small plates mostly skew cold and cured, with seafood a recurring theme. We started with a hamachi ceviche bathed in blood orange, red onion, ginger and tapioca pearls. While the firm-fleshed fish was flavourful and well-textured, the salsa was more mush than fresh, with overly assertive ginger spoiling the balance. Between that, the fridge cold temperature of the fish, and the sad puddle on the plate, we couldn’t help but wonder if this had been assembled earlier rather than being made to order. We were surprised to see a summery dish like heirloom tomato, peach and burrata salad on offer in April, blue as the skies outside may have been. Neither the multi-coloured tomatoes nor the peach - served in both lightly-salted slices and a concentrated gel - at their very best this time of year, but the more muted flavours still played well off the mild bitterness of black and pink radish and lightly pickled lengths of fennel. Amidst all that colour we almost missed the measly mound of burrata, less the centrepiece ball we expected than a subtle spoonful. We couldn’t fault the flavour, but the serving size did seem to take the idea of a small plate a little too far, especially at €14 a plate. There were no notes needed for the sourdough on the side, with its crispy-chewy balance, and irresistible whipped smoked honey butter - a smartly sweet match for all of the small plates’ acidic overtones - keep this one on hand to balance out all the citrusy sauces. Bhuruth’s a noted fan of the flavours wood-firing brings, so be sure to order at least one of those options for the table. We found the prawns the most tempting of the bunch (there's also tuna and steaks), and our expectations of "grilled prawns with lemon and herb oil" came true on the plate. The blackened antennae speak to the high and dry heat of the grill, caramelising the meat to emphasise the natural sweetness of the shellfish, and a zippy lemon and herb dressing complemented the smoky-sweet meat for a dish that really gets across what Eleven is trying to do. We thought the same about the wolffish, definitely one of the menu’s standout attractions for us. You don’t see this ugly bottom-dwelling monster on Dublin menus all too often - more’s the pity, as its imposing size and diet of scallops and crabs make for sizeable and delicately sweet fillets. They’re given excellent treatment here, grilled to a perfect crust and bathed in a bonito butter so tasty we ate it by the spoonful. It's a great pairing of quality ingredients cooked in a simple style that let's it all sing. On the side we went with the parsley-buttered heritage carrots and smokey beans. Your choice of the six options is served with the wood-fired grill plates, while the other mains come unaccompanied - a distinction that left the wolffish especially feeling a little short-changed, especially with the €30 price tag. Both sides satisfied but neither were overly exciting - most of the choices have been brought over from The Butcher Grill’s menu and there’s a sense that these are meant more as supporting players than standout dishes in their own right. Also imported over from that menu is the Sauternes crème caramel, the only dessert option on offer (an unspecified selection of cheese for €14 is also an option). It’s a pretty and unpretentious plate, with the sweet wine-soaked golden raisins bursting with beautiful, boozy flavour, and the simple custard flan offsetting the rich intensity of the caramel sauce. What about the drinks? Wine is supplied by Whelehan’s downstairs, with bottle prices starting out reasonable and heading sharply upward from there: if there’s an occasion to celebrate, you can definitely do it here. By-the-glass options are fairly middle-of-the-road, though the earthy and fruit-forward Château Beauchene Côtes du Rhône we tried worked well with the smoked sweetness of the prawns. If you're there for a long lunch from Wednesday - Friday and the wine list doesn’t take your fancy, they also allow you to bring in anything from downstairs for €10 corkage. That got our attention. What caught our eye more were the cocktails. The bartender who’s developed them has previously been in 777 and Dillinger’s and was enthusiastically training up colleagues on his creations while we were in. He’s just as keen to walk you through what’s in them and tailor them to your tastes, right up to very considered non-alcoholic twists - an essential skill in a location likely to play host to plenty of designated drivers. The concoction he crafted for our non-drinker was a well-balanced tart-sweet blend of yuzu juice and pineapple shrub, finished with a liberal misting of orange blossom water from a perfume bottle - as much a performance as a pour. From the alcoholic options we tried a brown butter-washed bourbon, sage and celery bitters short-serve, with a delicious depth of nutty flavour. It wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to skip dessert altogether and drink it instead. How was the service? Friendly and informal, nicely grounding the atmosphere - a room like this might easily feel stuffy if the staff weren’t as warmly welcoming and ready to chat. Bar seats are best to get the full experience if you want to explore the cocktail options, while the main area has a slightly more formal feel with suited servers mainly keeping a low profile. And the damage? Our bill came in at €138 before tip, a little on the steep side for a feast that didn’t quite fill and three drinks (one N/A) - but we feel like we're saying that about everywhere these days. You could easily go beyond €100 per person with a few more small plates and another round of drinks. There’s €2 oysters with €2 off cocktails from 17:00 - 19:00 Wednesday - Friday if you wanted to make it a little more budget friendly - or head in for the Sunday roasts, ranging from €23 to €27 and served with all the trimmings, to try it out for less. What’s the verdict on Eleven? There’s all the potential in this roadside restaurant, even if it might need a little more time to seek out and settle into its own niche. For a location like this to work, it’s going to need to become something of a destination - landing the Sunday roasts and making the most of the back terrace through the summer months might just make it that. We’d love to see the same attention and unique personality put into the small plates, but for now we're betting the cocktails, top-quality mains and those Sunday roasts will be enough of a draw for the curious to keep Eleven buzzing for the foreseeable. Eleven Bray Road, Loughlinstown elevendublin.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Vibrant, joy-inducing Middle Eastern food, whose flavours far surpass the very cheap prices. Shouk brought something to Drumcondra that it was desperately missing, and it's been packed every day since. The outdoor terrace at the back (covered in winter) is the place to be on a sunny day, and don't miss the arayes and the mezze. There's a wine list but you can also BYO. Shouk Website shouk.ie Address 40 Drumcondra Road Lower, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Vibrant, joy-inducing Middle Eastern food, whose flavours far surpass the very cheap prices. Shouk brought something to Drumcondra that it was desperately missing, and it's been packed every day since. The outdoor terrace at the back (covered in winter) is the place to be on a sunny day, and don't miss the arayes and the mezze. There's a wine list but you can also BYO. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Big Fan Big flavours, sake cocktails and hiphop tunes on Aungier Street Posted: 7 Jul 2021 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Big Fan was another one of 2020's mid-pandemic openings - not the way they envisioned their first year in business but plans were already in motion when the world as we knew it ended last March, so they made the best out of a bad situation. They started with take-away, then a brief spell of indoor dining in December, then some seriously delicious at home meal kits (one of the overall standout ones for us) and now they're back with outdoor dining. The owners have a background in burger restaurants and art galleries, but their head chef Tom is from Hong Kong and has been cooking Chinese food for over 30 years, and Big Fan was a chance for him to really unleash what he could do. They say they want to bring something different and genuine to the Dublin restaurant scene, the best Chinese food in town (set to a back drop of Hiphop tunes), and after what we sampled at home we were keen to try the full Big Fan experience. Where should we sit? They've done a really good job of maximising their space for outdoor dining, including taking out the window at the front and seating people technically inside the restaurant - some of you who are still unvaccinated and/or anxious about being around strangers might not be comfortable with this. If that's the case they have tables outside on the path too, which are well sheltered from the elements - on the night we were there it lashed but we didn't feel a drop. Just make sure you specify any preferences on booking. What's the food like? There's quite a large menu, with bao, jiaozi (dumplings), small plates, big plates, sides and sauces. Our eyes were popping at all the inventive dishes, each sounding more appealing than the last, and we were pretty pleased that so many were in the €6.50 - €10 bracket so we could justify ordering too much food. First up were crispy wontons filled with Toonsbridge scarmorza and squash, and a plum sauce for dipping. Often this kind of 'Asian fusion' is a complete car crash, but not at Big Fan. This kitchen has a a bit of magic when it comes to flavour and texture, and if they're not careful they might give Asian fusion a good name again. Next up were duck wings (which must have been legs unless there are mutant ducks walking around St. Stephen's Green that we don't know about), deep-fried and tossed in Big Fan seasoning. We'd initially asked for a sauce to come with them thinking they might be dry, but we were very wrong. These bad boys are so good you won't want to dilute the flavour with anything. The juiciness, the spice mix, the crispy bits - we haven't seen or eaten anything like this in the city before, and that goes for a lot of the menu here. We'd surprised ourselves by falling hard for the cheeseburger spring rolls at Hawker, so when we saw that Big Fan had put cheeseburger jiaozi on the menu it was only going to end one way - in our mouths. Once again a restaurant has managed to take a processed, corporate (albeit delicious) piece of fast food and morph it into something we feel much better about eating, complete with burger sauce and gherkins. It might sound easy but it's so hard to get right, and again here they've nailed it. A few more of these inventions and we'll be able to write a piece on "where to eat a cheeseburger when you don't want to eat a cheeseburger". Cheeseburger salad? Cheeseburger sushi? The options are endless. Last for the ones we loved was the 'Legend of the Ox' - a juicy beef shin ball wrapped in kataifi pastry on a bed of sweet soy mushrooms. The meat was juicy, the pastry crispy, and the soy mushrooms were the umami bed it was all wrapped up in. Another really excellent, different plate of food. We'd ordered the 'Black Dragon' bao - who could resist the promise of Irish lobster tail and Wagyu beef on a squid ink bun - but it wasn't what we were expecting, and we initially thought they'd brought the wrong dish. The bao came as a flat rectangle which had been deep-fried (leaving it greasy), as was the lobster tail, and everything combined just felt too rich and unbalanced. Big talk, unfortunately didn't deliver for us. Prawn toast was perfectly good but no better than most other good Chinese restaurants, and after the plates that had come before we were expecting something more exciting. The pineapple salsa was a bit underwhelming, and serving it on the plate with the toast caused them to get soggy bottoms - not a good look, or texture. The most disappointing was the Taiwanese fried chicken with Big Fan chilli sauce. The outside wasn't crunchy, the chicken tasted wooly (no mention of provenance or free-range, which was strange considering the other Irish producers name-checked), and the sauce was all heat and not much else. Our mouths were burning uncomfortably for about 5 minutes afterwards, at which point we realised we'd never been brought any water - that was a speedy run to the desk. There were so many more dishes we wanted to try (the pork kou rou, cucumber jelly fish salad, what will their chicken balls and rice be like!?), but we were defeated, except for the obligatory part of the stomach that saves itself for dessert. There are two non vegan options - deep-fried mantou (dough) with coconut condensed milk, and a coconut and mango parfait. We went for the latter, thinking that anything else deep-fried might push us over the edge, and the parfait was perfect. Light, cooling, creamy and fruity, it was like a delicious digestif in dessert form. What about the drinks? It's a simple list but well thought out. There's a small selection of wine on tap (we liked the Lo Pateret orange, also in Sprezzatura up the road), a sake, a few cocktails (some with sake, Sichuan pepper and pandan leaf) and a nice selection of beers. This isn't somewhere you're going to be drinking vintage champagne or top shelf cognac and it's all the better for it. There's also kefir and kombucha for the non-drinkers/drivers. What about the service? Staff were lovely and very welcoming, but service was quite loose. We had to get out of our seats several times to ask for water, napkins, drinks, and they're weren't at full capacity. They've clearly hired (successfully) for personality, but the ship could be run a bit tighter (which to be fair is a far easier fix than if you had unlovely, unwelcoming staff). And the damage? €104.08 for eight plates of food and four drinks, which felt like very good value. We would have been full with less. The verdict? When Big Fan hits its mark it's startlingly good. For a good portion of the meal we sat there shaking our heads at the creativity, flavour and sheer originality of what we were eating. There are bags of potential here, despite every dish not being a home run (yet). We'd like to go back and put another eight dishes through their paces, and the taste memories of the knockout ones ensures it's on the return list. There's nowhere in the city quite like Big Fan, it really does feel different and innovative, and you get the sense they're not going to be sitting back and phoning it in any time soon. We'd hedge our bets that there's a lot more to come from these guys. Big Fan 16 Aungier Street, Dublin 2 bigfan.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Greek Souvlaki Bar where gyros stuffed with flame grilled meats are the speciality. The pitas are fluffy, the dolmades are fresh, and the chips are crispy. A little slice of Greece in Glasnevin. Yeeros Website yeeros.ie Address 19 Prospect Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Greek Souvlaki Bar where gyros stuffed with flame grilled meats are the speciality. The pitas are fluffy, the dolmades are fresh, and the chips are crispy. A little slice of Greece in Glasnevin. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Walk through the door of this Lebanese restaurant in The Liberties and it feels like you could have walked in off a Beirut side street. Stone arches, a mosaic ceiling, and Arabic lighting set the Middle Eastern scene, while the three mixed ‘mezzas’ are the perfect way to get a taste of their hummus, arayes, falafel and more. Prices are in the bargain category and they offer free corkage (yes free), so meals out of this quality don’t get much cheaper. Don’t miss the fattoush salad with crispy bread and pomegranate molasses. Fayrouz Website fayrouzrestaurant.com Address 117 Cork Street, Dublin 8 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Walk through the door of this Lebanese restaurant in The Liberties and it feels like you could have walked in off a Beirut side street. Stone arches, a mosaic ceiling, and Arabic lighting set the Middle Eastern scene, while the three mixed ‘mezzas’ are the perfect way to get a taste of their hummus, arayes, falafel and more. Prices are in the bargain category and they offer free corkage (yes free), so meals out of this quality don’t get much cheaper. Don’t miss the fattoush salad with crispy bread and pomegranate molasses. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Where to eat and drink in Dublin, Ireland. Dublin restaurant reviews and reviews of Dublin pubs, cafes, wine bars, and bars. Where to Eat & Drink in Dublin Dublin Restaurant Reviews Once Overs Is a restaurant worth your time and money? Where should you go for a pre-dinner drink? When you get there, where are the best seats? What's good on the menu, and what should you drink with it? Our reviews give restaurants the full once over, from snacks to sides, seating areas to service, and all the cocktails, open kitchens and cheese selections inbetween. Looking for something specific? Filter by neighbourhood, cuisine or 'good for'. Neighborhoods Cuisine Good For Reset Filter Oh No! Looks like we don't have any results for that search. But don't worry - good food is out there! Search again to find something wonderful. Goat's Gruff 6th October '26 Sano Pasta 22nd September 2026 Fade Street Tavern 8th September 2026 Gaffe 25th August 2026 Mark Moriarty Studio 11th August '26 Bah 33 11th August 2026 Yibu by Janet 28th July 2026 Little Canton 14th July 2026 Banco 14th July 2026 Moenjo 30th June 2026 Tang (Cumberland) 16th June '26 Mongoose 2nd June '26 Dak @ Bar Anam 19th May 2026 Xi'an Street Food 5th May '26 Chongqing Hotpot 21st April 2026 Boco Clontarf 7th April '26 Note 24th March '26 Forest Avenue 10th March '26 Bell Pesto 24th February 2026 Bang 10th February 2026 Vada 27th Jan '26 Gloria Osteria 13th Jan '26 Díon 9th December '25 Cantina Valentina 25th November '25 Terra Madre 11th November 2025 Join ATF Insiders Make the Most of Every Meal. Join Us

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Steam Authentic northeastern chinese food in the back of a newsagents Posted: 29 Aug 2018 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? A couple of months ago, Chinese-American journalist Mei Chin (currently living in Dublin), wrote an article for the Dublin Inquirer about a discovery she had made while walking down Westmoreland Street. Her family comes from the Dongbei province in Northeast China, and at the back of an unassuming newsagents called Temple Express, wedged between a casino and a bookies, she found the food that her family cooks – Chinese burgers, jianbing (crepes), braised eggs, brine noodles. Colour us interested. Chinese food that gets the thumbs up from Chinese people is a rarity in Dublin, so this sounded like it was worth making a beeline for. For weeks we were having conversations about ‘the Chinese in the back of the newsagents’ but on our second visit we found out that it’s called ‘Steam’, and there’s another one in Moore Street Mall . Where should we go for a drink first? This is food that comes fast and it’s not really a place to linger (tables sit above the newsagents and beside a travel company desk), so a drink afterwards might be a better shout. Or this would be a great pre-cinema spot when you need to be in and out with minimal fuss. You’re practically in Temple Bar so if you’re in the mood for telling tales to tourists you could head for any of the overpriced pubs. For good pints in a cosy space it's hard to beat The Palace . For cocktails the Vintage Cocktail Club is few minutes walk away, and for wine you’re less than a ten minute walk to La Cave off Grafton Street or Piglet on Cow’s Lane. Where should we sit? After you order you can go upstairs to find a seat and they'll bring your food up to you. There are a few small tables and two counters – one facing the wall, the other facing out onto Westmoreland Street – they’re the seats we’d be trying to wangle. Too far away from the window and you may be subjected to the sounds of tourists booking sightseeing trips, which no one wants as an accompaniment to their noodles. They do take away too. What's good to eat? We followed Mei’s recommendations and everything was very good. The standouts for us were the Chinese pork burger – a crispy bun filled with shredded pork (lu rou) that’s been stewing for days, pickles and chilli sauce – and the Brine Noodles, the base of which is the ‘lu’ gravy made from stewing meat, along with braised pork, noodles, peanuts and green beans. The soup had a depth and breath of flavour unlike any other noodle soup we've had here, but eat it on a warm day and be prepared for a case of the soup sweats. We wanted to order ‘liang pi’, cold noodles made from mung-bean starch fettucine tossed in vinegar, but they had run out (apparently they’re struggling to source enough of these particular noodles in Dublin), so instead offered us cold noodles with chicken, which we enjoyed, but they paled in comparison to some of the other dishes. Jiang Bian, a kind of Chinese crepe filled with scrambled eggs, scallions, lettuce, hoisin sauce and bits of pastry cracking, was delicious, apart from the completely random hot dogs pieces in our classic version (ethnically accurate quirk we’re presuming), but those few unwelcome additions aside, this is something we would like to eat on a regular basis. Rice with stewed pork (meltingly tender and fatty like spare rib meat) with a side of pickled green beans and cucumber was simple, perfect comfort food. Mei also mentions the braised pork rib with rice in her piece which we’re eyeing up for our next visit. What about the drinks? Newsagent softs only, and it’s not the type of place you’d rock up to with a bottle of wine or a few cans of beer asking about the BYO policy. It’s not somewhere to loiter either, as there'll be plenty of people waiting to take your seats. And the service? Lovely, smiley and very helpful when it came to navigating the menu. The verdict? We’re increasingly hearing people talk about Dublin’s dining scene getting “boring”, “samey” and taken over by soulless restaurant groups or international chains, but paying a visit to a find like this will do a lot to convince the disillusioned of how much great food is right under our noses waiting to be discovered. Steam is quick, cheap and no frills, but it’s the real deal, and that always tastes good. Steam Temple Express, 4 Westmoreland Street, Dublin asainstreerfoodsteam/ New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Ranelagh's favourite neighbourhood restaurant serving sharing plates with a mostly Italian influence. Vibrant, modern food and a sleek, minimalist restaurant design. Book well in advance. Host Website hostrestaurant.ie Address 13 Ranelagh, Dublin 6 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Ranelagh's favourite neighbourhood restaurant serving sharing plates with a mostly Italian influence. Vibrant, modern food and a sleek, minimalist restaurant design. Book well in advance. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Oliveto at Haddington House, with its "Italian heart, Irish soul", has an extensive menu of small plates, pasta, pizza and mains of meat and fish. Enjoy handmade pasta, chargrilled octopus or Ossobuco Milanese, in their sleek atmospheric dining room with sea views. A cocktail before or after dinner in the adjoining Parlour bar is a must. Oliveto Website haddingtonhouse.ie/oliveto-22 Address Haddington House, 9-12 Haddington Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Oliveto at Haddington House, with its "Italian heart, Irish soul", has an extensive menu of small plates, pasta, pizza and mains of meat and fish. Enjoy handmade pasta, chargrilled octopus or Ossobuco Milanese, in their sleek atmospheric dining room with sea views. A cocktail before or after dinner in the adjoining Parlour bar is a must. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Another café-turns-evening wine bar from the team at Dublin 8's Two Pups, with a menu of spirited small plates that triumph on seasonality, colour and flavour. Irish produce is used to full affect with their treatment of vegetables a highlight, and the short but effective menu could be mostly covered between two. A colourful natural wine list, smiley staff and outdoor tables complete the perfect wine bar circle. Notions @ Two Pups Website instagram/twopupsgetsnotions Address Notions, Francis Street, The Liberties, Dublin, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Another café-turns-evening wine bar from the team at Dublin 8's Two Pups, with a menu of spirited small plates that triumph on seasonality, colour and flavour. Irish produce is used to full affect with their treatment of vegetables a highlight, and the short but effective menu could be mostly covered between two. A colourful natural wine list, smiley staff and outdoor tables complete the perfect wine bar circle. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

This ultra-charming Brazilian café in Temple Bar is like a chink of sunlight in a land of twee music and over-priced pints. Run by an Irish/Brazilian couple, you’ll find chewy tapioca wraps filled with Brazilian sausage and Irish cheese, bright and beautiful açaí bowls, and Brazilian snacks like pão de queijo and chicken coxinhas, all delivered by beaming staff who make you feel like you’re being welcomed into their home. The homemade cakes and multi-flavoured brigadeiros are a reason to visit on their own. Toca Tapioca Website tocatapioca.com Address 49 Fleet Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story This ultra-charming Brazilian café in Temple Bar is like a chink of sunlight in a land of twee music and over-priced pints. Run by an Irish/Brazilian couple, you’ll find chewy tapioca wraps filled with Brazilian sausage and Irish cheese, bright and beautiful açaí bowls, and Brazilian snacks like pão de queijo and chicken coxinhas, all delivered by beaming staff who make you feel like you’re being welcomed into their home. The homemade cakes and multi-flavoured brigadeiros are a reason to visit on their own. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Taste of Hong Kong Chinese roast meats are the main attraction at this new quick stop café Posted: 14 May 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What do we need to know about Taste of Hong Kong? Since the demise of CN Duck in Ranelagh (which still hurts, thank you for asking), and then the closure of Duck on Fade Street at the end of 2023 after a damning closure order from the HSE, Dublin has been lacking a Chinese roast meats specialist in a casual, quick eat setting. So when Taste Of Hong Kong opened a few weeks ago in one of The iLac's units on Moore Street, social media feeds started spreading the good word fast. The seven day a week, all day opening looked like it could be the Hong Kong café-style replacement to plug the roast meats gap, so pretty quickly we felt the pull of crispy duck skin and char siu pork to see how it measured up against its predecessors. Information on the background here is scant, with staff telling us they think it's the owner's first restaurant in Dublin but couldn't be sure, and that the chef previously cooked in Duck before it closed. That's all we could pry out of them. Where should we sit? Wherever you can get a seat along on the right-hand side of this narrow room. There are only 16 so you might have to wait if it's busy, but they'll take your name and give you a rough idea of when to come back. You can also stand inside the door but it's tight. What are we ordering? You're here for the roast meats, cooked in a specially imported bullet oven which allows hot air to circulate better than a regular one, but there are a couple of other things you can bulk up your order with. The very depressing thing is that everything comes in plastic containers, with the soup containers extra sturdy and branded, so it doesn't look like this is set to change. Ideal for collection and delivery orders, less so for all those dining in. Please God let them recycle. Duck spring rolls (€6 for two) were obviously made in house, having the sightly uneven feel of being made by hand, not machine. The vegetable, vermicelli and duck filling was pleasant, and the pastry crisp, but we've had better spring rolls in the city. Pork dumplings (€10 for eight) were also clearly made in house, the thick doughy wrappers hiding well-flavoured, steaming pork interiors. We planned on trying one and taking the rest home, but we couldn't stop going back for more - chilli oil drizzled (or drowned) on top is a must. Onto the main reason you're here, and the format is simple. You can either order a rice bowl or noodle soup, topped with one or two choices (two is a "double") from roast duck, char siu pork, crispy roast pork and soya chicken. You can also order extra portions of the meat as "sides". If you do like we did and get a double rice and a double soup you'll be able to try all four. The presentation won't be winning any awards, but that's okay, you're here for the taste. The skin on our roast duck was more slippery than crispy, and we got the leg so there was a lot of bone to work around to find the chunks of juicy meat - you'll need your napkins. The char siu was wrapped in that sweet, smoky flavour punch we love so much, but some of the meat was dried out and chewy. A rice bowl comes with four leaves of just cooked pak choi draped over the top, and small plastic tubs of soy sauce are brought to the table (why not a glass bottle?) so you can dress with that and chilli oil to your tastes. For the noodle bowl we ordered the remaining two meats of soya chicken and crispy roast pork. The chicken had the juicy texture of a bird braised in flavoursome liquid over a few hours, and the pork had thin crisp skin and tender meat, but felt a bit one note after a few pieces. Overcooked, basic wheat-flour noodles came in a rich chicken-flavoured broth, with more pak choi and spring onions on top. It's comforting, waming food, but more bite and less sogg in the noodles would have been appreciated. A soy marinated egg (€1) would have been so much better with a soft, fudgey yolk (this one was practically chalk). What about drinks? Softs and water only. Nothing to report. How was the service? Once you're ready to order you do so at the till, paying at the same time. Our friendly server brought the food when it was ready, and things were pretty nicely spaced for such a casual place - we thought it would all be fired out together. Anything leftover can be packed up in your boxes and taken away - you'll just need to ask for a lid. What was the damage? €47 for enough food for lunch for two, and enough leftovers for the same again for dinner. If you like the food this will be a very easy place to justify returning to again and again. And the verdict? Dublin once again has a quick-stop Chinese roast meats café, and while we're not sure the initial excitement around Taste of Hong Kong bears out in the execution, there are plenty of no frills places like it in Hong Kong, feeding the masses day in and day out. It's more Duck than CN Duck , but if you're missing the former you'll be glad to have found it. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Amy Austin More Michelin-star than city centre wine bar, with prices and portions to match Posted: 5 Mar 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story with Amy Austin? Amy Austin , or "the wine bar in the carpark" was a long time coming. Teasers started in April 2019, and it was a full 10 months before the door swung open in February 2020 ( excellent timing eh ?) with some eye-raising marketing and Note owner/head chef Essa Fakhry in the kitchen. As with all businesses in 2020 trading was stop start, so it took a while to build up an audience, but they soon got a name for wine on tap, interesting small plates and being a good place to drop into when you didn't have a booking. (Amy Austin) We tried it in summer 2022 and liked the vibe without finding the food overly memorable, but the buzz has been building ever since, with diners and critics seeming to think that head chef Victor Lara has come into his own when it comes to flavour on his plates. Michelin came, went, and agreed, as they awarded them a much coveted Bib Gourmand in the 2024 guide (joining restaurants like Uno Mas and Spitalfields). It felt like time for a revisit. Where should we sit? It's a compact space with the choice between a couple of tables in the middle of the room (for two + people, the set up can be changed depending on bookings) or counter seating around the outside. (Amy Austin) We love a good window street, staring out all the Drury Street passers by, but you could go closer to the open kitchen too for some live fire action. What's the menu like? This is a small plates only zone, and boy are those plates small. We wouldn't advise bringing anyone here who's looking for "a feed", but if you just want a few bites without feeling stuffed, are more interested in drinks, or are going with with people who don't like being rolled out after dinner, head on in. Bear in mind though that there's a minimum order. This is not currently on their website, but when we got there saw the red small print on the bottom of our menus: " we'd like to remind you that for dinner service there's a minimum order of one snack and two mains per person." That equates to a minimum of €40 a head on food. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/79af6f_b75016c250a54f578e7a70e128874bd9/720p/mp4/file.mp4 Snacks are priced from €8-9 (bread and black garlic butter is €6), and you get exactly two bites in each. A shimeji mushroom tartlet with mushroom mousse came in a crisp, buttery shell. with snipped chives to lift the rich, savory flavours. Shimeji is tying with enoki for our favourite mushroom right now, and if you feel the same you can walk one minute away to Asia Market and pick up some to try at home (shimeji fried in butter on the side of scrambled eggs is a game changer). We tried their black cod fritters on our last visit, but these ones were a different creature. While the last were unpleasantly gloopy and lacking in flavour, these had a crisp shell and a fish-filled interior, and a zippy pink pickled ginger dip that we've spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about ever since. The only issue was that there weren't enough of them, and €9 for two small bites may hurt, but black cod (or sablefish) is a lot more expensive than white cod (and no relation), so you can presume that's the reason why. Amy Austin's langoustine tail is the most beautiful thing we've eaten in 2024, and while €15 for a single prawn might have you feeling weak, we'll go out on a limb and say this one's worth it. It came barely charred, lying on a mignonette-meets XO base, with ikura (salmon caviar) on top. Our server poured a watery dressing over the plate, along with some saffron oil from a dropper, and while there's a lot going on, every flavour popped and danced together. Except the grapes. We didn't get the grapes. Torched scallops is another dish we're happy to get behind (€16). They come in a light but creamy chestnut velouté, with little cubes of apples throughout. It's topped with Champagne foam and lumpfish caviar, and tasted more like something from a (very good) Michelin-starred restaurant than a city centre wine bar. You get six pieces of scallop, but it felt like three sliced across the middle - more thin than chunky. You don't see the ultra complex, ultra time-consuming mole negro on menus here very often (take a deep dive here ), so we had to order it here with beef cheek. A small mound of beef no larger than the palm of a (small) hand came in a puddle of mole, with four unadvertised, homemade corn tortillas on the side. It's another great dish, the mole deep with flavour, the meat melting from a long, slow cook, but for €20 we expected more of it - there wasn't nearly enough meat and mole to even lightly fill all four tacos. Black bean tamales (€14) is another dish we reckon helped bag them that Bib Gourmand, and a magically different take on the Mexican corn-based dough, traditionally steamed in corn husks. Here three chewy little corn cakes come with chilli oil in their centre on top, scattered with coriander all around. Dig a spoon in and you'll uncover a cheesy corn and black bean filling underneath. Whoever came up with this one can deservedly gloat about it. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/79af6f_613dee8cb185456c946a9cc22adb3364/720p/mp4/file.mp4 For dessert we almost swayed away from the burnt cheesecake (€9), expecting a hulking big slice of the Basque variety, but not to worry. The usual portion size applies, and the little sliver we got would be difficult to share between more than two, even if you just wanted a bite. The good news is it's another kitchen victory, with a light blue cheese base (we couldn't taste the blue), a bright, intense guava sauce, and 'lera cream', which doesn't seem to exist outside Amy Austin, but is a smoked cream which tastes like it was done the proper way (there's no liquid smoke drops in this kitchen). What about drinks? When Amy Austin opened it was all about the wine on tap, with 16 options including a few aperitifs by the glass. That's been very scaled back now, and we were disappointed to find that half of the wines on their big yellow light box weren't available anymore. There were just three whites and three reds by the glass, none earth shattering, but the Casa Monte Pio Albariño and the Château Pesquié were pleasant and worked well with the majority of the food. There are a further 25 wines by the bottle, with some top producers like Suertes del Marques, Domaine Gramenon, and Steve Matthiasson. There are also seven signature cocktails, priced from €11-€13, which feels like decent value for Dublin right now. We tried the Amy Cherry Sgroppino, with morello cherry, Campari, saffron and sparkling wine, and it was tart and nicely sour, with a ball of cherry sorbet slowing melting within. An ideal first drink of the day and a nice appetite sharpener. How was the service? Pleasant but could have been more energetic. There was no major hospitality, and a few times we were left without cutlery and drinks, having to wave for service - is there anything to make you feel like more of a tool? We also could have done without a very loud food processor on high for several minutes in the middle of the open kitchen. There's a time and place to drown out room conversation and it's pre and post-service. What was the damage? €125 for two with three drinks, before tip, and you can't add a tip onto the bill if paying by card. You can either leave cash, or pay one via a QR code which takes you to a Stripe website, and you have to pay a small fee for the privilege. It's clunky, and will be a bit of a pain for anyone who's entertaining and expensing the bill, and just wants one receipt. What's the verdict? We're not sure many people entering the wine bar in the carpark (with the barely dressed model in a cowgirl hat on the bathroom wall) will be expecting the food to be at this high a level. The thought, execution and presentation of some of these dishes is more akin to Michelin-starred dining than wine bar sharing plates. That's why the prices and portion sizes might come as a shock, but if you can reframe your brain about what to expect before entering (and maybe bulk up your order with some cheese, charcuterie and bread), you'll probably leave thinking this is some of the most interesting food in the city right now. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Sano Pasta Charging for cheese on pasta is one flaw too many for us Posted: 22 Sept 2026 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope Where did Sano Pasta come from? Buoyed by success with their great value Neapolitan pizza chain, Sano have decided they'll have a crack at pasta too. They're obviously in the go hard or go home mindset, because this former Koh site on Millennium walkway is MASSIVE - we're guessing 100+ covers at a time is very possible (and desirable). With that amount of space, and the casual eat quick vibe, a tightly run operation is key. People need to be served, fed, watered and out in whip smart time, or everything falls apart, and keeping those seats permanently filled? The food needs to be so good that all you can think about is eating it again, and again. What's the space like? See above. Gigantic. Great as the chances of you needing a booking are slim to none. Less great if you like a bit of atmosphere and not having to get out of your seat to find a server. They could really do with some kind of QR code ordering and paying system to speed things up. Seating options in here are endless - booths, counters, round tables, long ones, a stool in front of the pasta making section if you want to see it being rolled, pinched and extruded (although this might feel like you're creeping on the pastaiolo if the restaurant's as quiet as it was when we visited). There's high chairs for mini diners, wheelchair access, and tonnes of space for buggies and bags, so accessibility is not an issue. The one place we'd avoid sitting is the back room looking out onto Abbey Street, which feels like an overflow space just too disconnected from the action. The other problem with this venue? If it's not busy it just feels cavernous, the lack of atmosphere hanging uncomfortably in the air like an over ripe Italian cheese. What's on the menu? You’ll be shocked to hear, pasta! As well as some well-priced small plates (piattini) and desserts. Pasta prices range from €9 for a basic garlic and chilli, to €14.90 for the big boys with beef ragu or prawns. In comparison to other fresh pasta places in Dublin, prices are on a par with Dall’ Italia takeaway pasta bar, marginally below Sprezzatura , and about 40-50% less than Bar Italia , Grano and Borgo . It’s hard to see how there wouldn’t be an appetite for this, if the execution is as pitch perfect as it needs to be for repeat custom. Here's the first hurdle. The cheap looking dinnerware. We’re not expecting €15 pasta to come served in gold-plated bowls, but it would be nice to feel like you’re eating off something more high quality than high volume catering plates (the same goes for the wine glasses). Four slices of 24-month prosciutto di parma (€10) came plopped onto one of said plates, and while it was sweet and tender and exactly what was expected, the presentation needs work. A tagliere dello chef, “ a monthly tasting of artisanal cured Italian meats ” (€10) came with three slices each of coppa, salami, and mortadella, and felt like very good value – however two slices of each and some pickles/bread/gnocco fritto could have brought it up to where it needs to be to pack this room out. Burrata e pomodori (€10) should have oozed out on cutting, but the fridge cold temperature kept the insides sadly solidified. There was no “torn basil”, the scantest amount of EVOO on the tomatoes, and look at that woeful presentation, as if an enthusiastic child was left in charge of creating a plate at a dinner party. See Padella in London for how to serve burrata , and how it should look when you slice into it . So what about the main attraction!? There are four pasta types here, three of which are long – spaghetti, tagliatelle, pappardelle, and rigatoni as the outlier. For the carbonara and cacio e pepe you can choose between spaghetti and rigatoni, the rest come as they are. Now listen up for something important you should know before ordering. They ask if you want cheese on your pasta. It’s such a strange question you’ll probably feel dis-armed, confused, “ did I hear that right? Shouldn’t YOU decide if there should be cheese on my pasta? Who says no to cheese on pasta?” They then ask if you’d like Parmigiano or Pecorino. “ Quick, panic, which of the five pastas I’ve ordered go with which cheese! Is the Pecorino meant for Cacio e pepe or Carbonara? Is this a test I'm about to fail!? ” At no point during ordering, nor is it stated on the menu that getting grated cheese on your pasta adds €1 to the price of the dish. Who, in what room, sat down and thought “ a-ha! We can reduce the price of the dish by not automatically adding cheese on top, and making people pay if they want it! Genius! ” Sure you may as well charge for the fork to eat it with, the glass holding the tap water you’ll be washing it down with. The light above shining down onto your plate so you can see what you're eating. Just price the dish properly and end this madness! Anyway… Fresh from a recent trip to Rome, cacio e pepe and carbonara were always going to be on the order sheet. The first with rigatoni (€11.50, €12.50 with cheese on top) was the best plate we had, al dente pasta, a nicely bound sauce with plenty of fresh black pepper. A carbonara (€13.50, €14.50 with cheese on top) was better than a lot of others we’ve had in our time, with properly crispy guanciale and nicely cooked spaghetti, but within a few fork twirls it had dried out so much that it became impossible to separate the strands anymore. A little more liquid would have solved the problem. A ragu with "8-hour braised beef shank and fall apart pork rib" in a San Marzano tomato sauce (€14.90) promised so much, yet delivered so little. Badly under-seasoned, we found ourselves twisting salt grinders trying to eek the flavour out. When we relayed the feedback to our server she said some guests don’t like their food too salty so they leave the salt on the table for them to add. No further comment your honour... A tagliatelle ai funghi (€11.90) came with over-cooked tagliatelle, bog standard mushrooms in “fresh sage butter” that looked and tasted like dried herbs, and little else. Like something you’d throw together at home on a Tuesday night for a spend of €2. Our last effort was the Amalfitana (€14.90) with surprisingly tender prawns (langoustine-esque) in a Datterini tomato sauce with chilli, garlic and lemon, and this one packed some heat. A little bit too much, to the point where it blocked out any garlic and lemon. One of their better efforts though. (Just don't ask for cheese on this one or you'll fail the test). Desserts aren't breaking the mould with panna cotta, tiramisu (with a Kinder version because that's what we've all been missing in our lives) and cannoli. A panna cotta in a glass is always a warning sign - if they were confident they'd let it wobble free. This one was lacking the required silky smooth yet gelatinous texture, and was drowning in a sickly sweet strawberry sauce. The tiramisu, also premade in that unattractive glass, was perfectly nice with layers well balanced. An Illy cortado was, well Illy. They're not going over and above on much of the sourcing in here. What are the drinks like? Dull. The supermarket quality wines are all from the Bulmers group , as are the limited beers and pub-style soft drinks, and a Limoncello spritz arrived completely flat - last night's Prosecco we assume. There was certainly no sommelier involved to match the carbonara with Chianti, and give us tumblers over those thick-stemmed wine glasses any day. How was the service? Friendly but not at the races. We had to flag someone down consistently, plates and cutlery were taken away and never reset, and our complete surprise at the unadvertised €1 cheese charge was apologised for, but there was no offer to remove it from the bill. We were told that our feedback would be passed on, but that they couldn't guarantee anything would be done about it, which stinks of an unmanned ship in need of a strong captain. What was the damage? Just under €130 for three appetisers, five pastas, two desserts and two drinks - easily enough for four although you might want to add a couple of drinks. €40 a head will get you three courses plus a drink. That €1 cheese charge stings the most. Sounds like decent value? We'd rather pay more and get better quality every day of the week. What's the verdict on Sano Pasta? The unequivocal, absolute worst thing about experiences like this, the thing that would make you want to throw in the towel on writing about restaurants forever, is the crushing disappointment of all of the potential here that just hasn't been achieved. People might say "but it's cheap! What do you want!" And again we will say, cheap and value are not the same thing. Sano Pasta could be HUGE if they did it right, queues down the street huge, even with that massive room. They could have literally copied (cough: taken inspiration from) places like Padella , Flour & Grape , Sugo in Paris , all with a similarly casual vibe serving fresh pasta at similar prices, but offering a hugely superior experience that just makes you want more. In Dublin we're lucky to have places like Borgo, Bar Italia, Grano and newly opened Fuoco leading the way with fresh pasta, but they're not hitting that fast casual/could (and want to) eat here several times a week/spontaneous walk in market. It's there for the taking, but unless Sano Pasta goes back to the drawing board, we can't see them being the ones to conquer it. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

A locals favourite that often flies under the radar, Zero Zero is a no frills option, offering a small but perfect formed menu of Neapolitan style pizza in a casual dining room. Zero Zero Pizza Website zerozeropizza.ie Address 21 Patrick St, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story A locals favourite that often flies under the radar, Zero Zero is a no frills option, offering a small but perfect formed menu of Neapolitan style pizza in a casual dining room. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Variety Jones Some of the most exciting cooking in the city right now Posted: 5 Feb 2019 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? We'd been hearing about Variety Jones for months before it opened, but all we knew was that it was going to be a boot-strapped operation (i.e. no money men) on Thomas Street from the ex-Luna and Locks head chef Keelan Higgs. Keelan himself was regularly seen walking to and from the site, power tools in hand, so we had a (good) feeling that this was going to someone doing things on his own terms. They were originally supposed to open in September, but after a raft of delays (an all too common story this year) we were edging towards Christmas and the doors were still shut. We were starting to get a bit anxious for them, but finally on the 20th of December, the doors swung open and the open fire at the back of the kitchen was burning. Where should we go for a drink first? The location feels a bit like you're near nothing, but there are actually loads of options around. Lucky's is just around the corner and has craft beer, wine on tap and great vibes. For more craft beer and cocktails you've got Drop Dead Twice on Francis Street, and if you want to step back in time head down the hill to The Brazen Head , officially Ireland's oldest pub, dating back to 1198. Where should we sit? The room is long and narrow with tables, bar seating, and a "chef's table" edged right up against the pass. We'd definitely try to get nearer the action, and the bar is great if you just want to stop in for a few plates. We would try to avoid the table closest to the door, especially on cold nights, as the wind from the door opening and closing can be a bit intrusive. Saying that, we'd take whatever table we could get to eat here. What's good to eat? The menu is small, with much of it cooked over burning embers in an open hearth at the back of the kitchen, and if that's the key to make everything taste this good, we're going to have to figure out a way to do it at home. It's divided into snacks, small plates, pasta and family style sharing mains, and when we were there, the snacks consisted of an oyster with Vietnamese dressing and an artichoke filled with comté custard. Both excellent, even for a non-oyster lover, and anything with comté custard is a winner in our book, particularly when it comes inside a chewy artichoke skin. From the small plates, the one we've really struggled to stop thinking about (like everyone else it seems) was the char-grilled cauliflower with burnt yeast, sea trout, brown butter and fish roe. We'd had a few messages from people before we went talking about 'undercooked' cauliflower, but the slight crunch of the florets just added another element of texture to frankly a masterpiece of a dish, and we loved every bit of it. The hearth grilled vegetables with barley and goat's curd was another dish we ended up fighting for the last spoons of (seriously, smoke and fire take everything to another level), and the chicken liver and foie gras parfait with crispy, sweet and sour onions and potato bread (made in a waffle iron) was super rich with loads of layers of interest from the different components. From the two pasta dishes, we went for the comté ravioli with hearth roasted mushrooms and mushroom broth, and very much regretted sharing one between four. Keelan perfected his pasta making at a two-star Michelin restaurant in Tuscany, and this really was special. We were advised to eat the ravioli whole so they burst in your mouth, and the deep, rich flavours from the cheese were a brilliant counterpoint to the smoked and pickled mushrooms. For mains, there were two choices of hearth grilled brill or venison loin, both sharing platters for two. There's been mixed feelings from diners and critics about only having shareable mains, as it is limiting if you're a table of two and want all the food, but we were a four so got to try everything, and at this stage were running out of superlatives to describe how incredible everything tasted. Both the fish and the meat are cooked over burning embers in the open hearth, and it felt like we were being fed by Francis Mallman . Take us back to the time before electricity and gas when everything was cooked with flames and smoke. The brill had tender flesh and blackened skin in a herby cockle and mussel sauce, with kale unlike any we have ever tasted (also cooked over the embers), and officially the best potato salad in the world, which came with smoked eel through it and reminded us in the best possible way of smoky bacon crisps. The other main of venison loin came with a generous amount of perfect meat, hearth roasted celeriac (once again, the best version of celeriac we've ever tasted), blackened cabbage (ditto), wild mushrooms, and peppercorn gravy. We're very much on board with eating less meat of a higher quality, and we'd cut it back to once a month if all of it tasted like this. There wasn't so much as a scrap of food left on any plate. There was no cheese on the menu but they brought us a selection of what they had in the kitchen, along with homemade bread and seedy crackers, and two large spoons of honeycomb and acacia honey, which was a lovely addition and something we haven't seen here before. There was only one dessert on the menu both times we visited, and the two incarnations we've had have been much in the same vein (and made from the same cake mould). Between the apple cake with caramelised apple and brown butter custard, and the Jamaica cake with caramelised pineapple, and vanilla and coconut cream with sarawak pepper, we'd have to give it to the Jamaica cake for nostalgia if nothing else, but both were very good. What about the drinks? Sommelier Vanda Ivancic has worked hard to put together a wine list full of interesting bottles that you won't find in every other cool spot in town. It was immediately obvious how invested she was in her list, so we left it up to her to bring us wine matches for various dishes, and loved the whole experience. We tried so many new and unusual wines, all of which we enjoyed (probably in part because of her obvious love for all of them and ability to sell us the stories behind the bottles). The wine list is well priced for Dublin, with everything under €60, and everything is poured by the glass which is brilliant and so rare to see, but there were no glass prices on the menu when we were there so it's easy to get carried away and not know how much you're spending. If you're in groups of 4 or more it would make more sense to drink by the bottle, but either way we'd advise putting yourself in her hands. And the service? Faultless, these are pros at work. Keelan's brother Aaron is front of house along with Vanda, and they make a polished pair. Often the chefs bring the dishes to the tables themselves and explain what they are, which is great as you can ask any questions you might have about what you're eating. The verdict? We try to avoid hyperbole, but this is undoubtedly some of the most exciting cooking in Dublin right now. Higgs is taking it back to basics, and reminding us why humans have cooked with fire for the past 1.5 million years. Electricity might be convenient, but it doesn't turn out food like this. If you eat all the food and drink all the wine you could end up with a hefty enough bill, but in terms of value for what you're getting, we'd pay it every week. We're hearing that a weekend table at Variety Jones is difficult to come by at the moment, which isn't surprising after the raft of great reviews they've had, so we recommend taking any booking you can get as soon as possible, because you deserve to try this food. Variety Jones 78 Thomas Street, Dublin 8 varietyjones.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Coppinger The boys are back and better than ever Posted: 6 Aug 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story with Coppinger? You remember Coppinger Row right? Opened mid-recession in 2009; became a central player in Dublin dining for the next 12 years; was engulfed in a social media meltdown after Beyoncé and Jay Z were papped having dinner there; closed abruptly at the end of 2021 after their pesky landlord decided to put their lease on the open market. Name-checked everywhere from Vogue to Goop , Coppinger Row had a fanatically nostalgic fanbase, who despaired at the news it was pulling down the shutters for the last time, but lo and behold, those clever Bereen brothers managed to get the lease back into their hands after two and a half years of refusing to give up the fight - what an entirely exhausting palaver. The result is Coppinger Row 2.0. They've dropped the 'Row' to become ' Coppinger ', completely reinvented and redesigned the restaurant space, and unveiled a far sexier menu from Executive Chef Daniel Hannigan and team - the days of black pudding salads and open meatball sandwiches have been parked. Where should we sit? There are quite a few different areas so this is somewhere you might want to specify a seating preference when you book. There's bar seating (ideal for solo dining or if you like to watch things from up high), outdoor seating, two circular tables perfect for group catch ups, and a long line of tables for two/four/six along the left wall in the front room looking out onto Coppinger Row. There's also two sections towards the back of the restaurant which feel a bit more private and removed from the buzz of the main floor. The section at the very back has private dining written all over it. What should we order? Good luck making choices here because everything sounds better than the thing before it. Order a couple of snacks while you read it from top to bottom 18 times. On being handed the menus we were told to order what and how we want - refreshing in a world where we're increasingly told to order three courses or get out. You might be wondering what tarama is. Stop wondering and ask them to bring it. The silky cod's roe based dip (€6.50) comes with a puddle of sweet fennel jam (why is this not more of a thing) and a generous sprinkling of furikake over the top. It's one of the nicest things we've eaten this year - sweet, salty, savoury joy in each scoop. The kitchen also sent up some muhamarra with marinated red pepper and candied walnut (€6.50) which we hadn't ordered. It's smoky and piquant with contrasting textures and you'll need an order of foccaia (€4) to mop both of them up. If you stop in for one plate at the bar, make it the tuna crudo with peach, oregano and fennel (€19). It could so easily be a case of the Coco Chanels - just take one thing off. It's not. It's an incredible flavour combo, with sweetness, spice and herbal notes offsetting the fatty fish - we've never tasted anything like it. Those garlic and chilli gambas a la plancha are back, and still as monstrous as ever. They come in small (€16) or large (€30), and four of them as a starter swimming in that spoonable garlic, chilli and lemon butter sauce with half a slice of sourdough felt like good value. A round flatbead, piled with sticky, savoury lamb belly, comes with a Belvedere pineapple mint chimichurri (€16) - clearly dreamt up by someone with a flair for flavour. Every bite brings savoury, sweet, sharp, fruity, creamy - consider this an order to order it. Octopus rice, evidently cooked in squid ink, came with nicely cooked BBQ octopus and dollops of sunny saffron aioli (€17) - an enjoyable dish which the under-seasoned rice and under-flavoured aioli somewhat took away from. Long, fluffy, crisp pan-fried gnocchi (€26) comes tossed with peas, meaty maitake mushrooms and Hegarty's cheddar, and it's a killer vegetarian dish, easily enough to make you pass on meat or fish, but a little too oily for our delicate taste buds - we couldn't quite finish it which doesn't happen too regularly. A lighter hand with the fats is all that's needed. Crisp Ballymakenny spuds (€6.50) are hash browns for the 2024 diner, sitting in a pool of Parmesan custard with more of the good stuff on top. This is another dish you'd regret skipping if you saw it pass by on the way to another table, but try to share or you'll struggle to entertain dessert. The dessert menu is more on the simple side with ice-creams, sorbets and a couple of plates proper - a panna cotta; and a strawberry and elderflower cruller with ice-cream (the menu said strawberry but we think we got vanilla - €12). The well made pastry is partly soaked in syrup by the time it arrives, spilling over with summer strawberries, and the lime zest keeps everything from feeling too sweet. What about drinks? The wine list isn't going to get oenophiles' pulses racing, but it's a good one for covering all the bases, and having bottles to satisfy all tastes. There are three sparkling wines for sub €60 (fizz fans will be delighted), and having whites and reds between €35 and €40 will make a lot of squeezed diners very happy. We really liked the Valle des Aigles Cazot Orange, which stood up well to those big flavours. There's a decent by the glass selection too with bubbles, white, orange, rosé, reds and fortified, and mark ups are not as painful as some of the other restaurants around town. It's clear they want people to see Coppinger as a regular dinner spot, rather than a once a year treat, and we get the feeling they've worked hard to keep prices on the more accessible side. How was the service? For the second week in a row it felt like we'd been busted on arrival. Service was very friendly, and twice extras arrived from the kitchen that we "just need to try". Despite this, there were long lulls in service at times, and we spent an hour more there than necessary waiting for various courses to arrive. A lot of the staff are back from the original Coppinger Row, and all seem very upbeat and happy to be home, but things could do with a bit of tightening up - whether that's on the floor or in the kitchen we couldn't tell. It's early days though. What's the verdict on Coppinger? The lads behind Coppinger must have thought the world was falling down around them when that lease got pulled from under their feet, but from our vantage point it's the best thing that could have happened to them. We've heard the Bereen Brothers say that Coppinger Row was never really about the food - well Coppinger is, and this update, 15 years after the original opened its doors, couldn't feel any more of the moment. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

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Pala Pizza and Trattoria A Foxrock trattoria better than plenty in Rome Posted: 4 Oct 2022 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story? Back in early 2020, just a couple of weeks before Covid entered our lives, we told you about chef Rory Shannon, who had returned home from cooking in London and taken over the stoves at his family restaurant Bistro One in Foxrock, shaking things up in the process. We knew he was plotting his own restaurant, but a pandemic has a way of ruining best laid plans. The family has a long connection with Italy and a house out there (they even make their own olive oil), and during one of the many lockdowns, Shannon Jnr started Pala Pizza, as a way to make clever use of a few parking spaces outside the upstairs restaurant. He is shamelessly obsessed with Roman-style, crispy, topped pizza slices, and wanted to bring something new and different to the pizza scene here. The result was one that we and plenty of others became shamelessly obsessed with. Despite Pala's success, we still thought Shannon would hold out for a city centre site of his own, but in June the family announced that after 30 years Bistro One would close, and the next in line to the throne would open Pala Pizza & Trattoria in its place. A trattoria? In South County Dublin? It's the kind of word mediocre suburban restaurants insultingly throw around, like 'tapas', and 'fresh fish', but this wasn't any two-bit chef with a dream and an ill-advised investor. We were quietly confident that this was going to be one of the most needed, wanted and affirmative openings of 2022. Not to mention something genuinely fresh for the city. Where should we sit? The dining room has been transformed from its Bistro One days (see here for a throwback), and is all muted greens, soft lighting and dark wood. It's bright and inviting without being cold, and there's plenty of space - something parents of children who can't sit still will be appreciative of. There are two main rooms, the main one and a small one at the back, which would be ideal to take over as a group or for a family gathering and have what feels like your own private space. What's the menu like? Trattoria by name, trattoria by nature, Shannon Jnr's ticking all the right boxes with this one. Antipasti, pasta, pizza, secondi, deep-fried parcels of deliciousness (otherwise known as suppli and macaroni rimasto) - it all feels so simple, yet bizarrely rarely seen here at this inviting a level. What did you eat? Shannon's been curing his own meat for months and it's clearly a huge passion project, so that's a no brainer/while you wait must-order. They range from €4 - €6 a plate and both the Finocchiona and Mortadella tasted straight outta Bologna. Do not pass on the pickled vegetables and olives - they're electric with tang and heat. Of the deep-fried options we went with the lesser spotted Macaroni Rimasto (which means 'remaining') - deep fried macaroni in a cheesy bechamel with odds and ends of salumi, fried in panko and sitting on top of a vivid, herby, lemony salsa verde,. As deep-fried pasta goes, it's unexpectedly balanced, and expectedly delicious. Filled focaccia is another menu anchor, and we'd seen (and wanted) the Dexter beef ragu one when it was paraded on the gram . At first we thought they must have had trouble with the dough rising as it was missing the bready bubbles we associate with focaccia, but thinner and crispier seems to be the style here, and it works. The sound of the bread snapping against the rich ragu now sits among our favourite dinner soundtracks of 2022. Pastas are priced between €12 and €15 and they are not big portions., so you will likely need to order a few different ones to share, or just a load of antipasti/pizza to go alongside it. We tried the Tordelli Lucchesi (meat filled ravioli) which has the unmistakeable taste and texture of freshly made, but needed a touch more salt in the sauce. We also had the Carbonara which was silky and rich and heavy on the black pepper, with perfectly crisp guanciale dotted throughout. The pizza slices Pala initially became known for are of course on the menu here, ranging from €2.50 for a basic slice up to €6 for more expensive toppings, like burrata, smoked bacon and Cais na Tire Sheeps' cheese. Our 'Finocchiona' with fennel and black pepper salami and marinated artichokes, and our Anchovy & Whipped Ricotta with Kalamata olives were such perfect pieces of crisp, flavour-laden food that we've spent a disproportionate amount of time thinking about them since. How far in advance is the dough cooked? Is it reheated before toppings are put on? In the oven? For how long? How, how, how? There are four 'Secondi' type dishes too - bone-in prime rib, organic chicken with potatoes, whole sea bream on the bone and osso bucco, and we would have loved to try every one of them, but every stomach has its limits. Pala keeps it simple when it comes to dessert with tiramisu, and a deep-fried apple and cinnamon calzone. The Tiramisu is thinner than most we've encountered, but in no way suffers on flavour, and it's easily one of the best we've had. The deep-fried apple calzone with caramel sauce is the show-stopper (like a McDonalds apple pie if it was worth eating), and while you may think "€14 for flour and apples?", this is a dessert to share with a minimum of two, if not more. If you can tackle the whole thing yourself you're made of stronger stuff than we are. It's so rich and so OTT and yes, so very good. What about the drinks? A clear level up from your average trattoria, with plenty of bottles on the walls we would be very happy drinking. There's a nice selection of natural if you're a fan (we are) and everything's Italian, as it should be. There's also an aperitivo/digestif menu that's practically winking at you, and we can vouch for the Negroni Sbagliato. And the service? Servers were all young, friendly and perfectly proficient, and despite it being opening weekend and packed from one side to the other, things seemed (from outside anyway) to be running very smoothly. It's a casual place so they won't be hanging around your table and you may have to wave to get someone's attention, but when they come over smiling and upbeat you really don't mind. Anything else we should know? At 18:00 on Sunday it was packed with families, everything from newborns on the floor in car seats to teenagers fresh from the sportsfield. There was breast-feeding, there were toddlers shouting for food, there was laughter and animated chat and parents so happy to be dining out as a family eating food this good - it was all so Italian. Apparently they had a complaint over the weekend about the amount of children eating there. If you don't want children to be part of your dining experience you can eat out after 8pm when they're all in bed. Pala has Italian sensibilities running through every ounce of it, and that clearly includes catering for all ages. What was the damage? We spent around €40 a head before tip (including a drink and a half), and for the food and drinks we had there were zero complaints. What's the Pala Pizza & Trattoria verdict? If you haven't already gathered, we loved it. We wish every Dublin post code came with a Roman Trattoria so good you'll eat better here than in many places in Rome, but that's unlikely to happen outside of our food fantasy land, so this is somewhere we see ourselves travelling to regularly. And we're bringing the whole family with us. Pala Pizza & Trattoria 3 Brighton Road, Foxrock, Co. Dublin palapizza18.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Chef Dylan McGrath's Fade Street Tavern is the pizza place Dublin didn't need, yet somehow desperately did. A reinvention that put the mainstay of Dublin dining back on the map, the Chicago born Tavern-style pies, Grandma and NY-style options were an overnight success, but the regular restaurant and rooftop remain too in their usual crowd-pleasing forms. Fade Street Social/Tavern Website fadestreetsocial.com Address 6 Fade Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Chef Dylan McGrath's Fade Street Tavern is the pizza place Dublin didn't need, yet somehow desperately did. A reinvention that put the mainstay of Dublin dining back on the map, the Chicago born Tavern-style pies, Grandma and NY-style options were an overnight success, but the regular restaurant and rooftop remain too in their usual crowd-pleasing forms. Where It's At Nearby Locales Goat's Gruff Banco Bah 33 Mark Moriarty Studio Gaffe at Leonard's Corner Sano Pasta Yibu by Janet Little Canton Dak @ Bar Anam Mongoose Chongqing Hot Pot Boco Clontarf Bell Pesto Bang Gloria Osteria Cantina Valentina D'Lepak Pera Borgo Amai by Viktor Kaizen Chubbys Badam Table 45 Comet

Host The neighbourhood restaurant every neighbourhood wants Posted: 5 Mar 2019 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Host was opened in September 2017 by partners Chloe Kearney (front of house) and Niall McDermott (head chef) after 10 years working in London, and the residents of Ranelagh rejoiced to have another quality looking restaurant on their door step, with a definite London feel. Initial reviews were mostly very positive, with Catherine Cleary calling it "a shiny new star", and Katy McGuinness calling the pumpkin capellacci "a magnificent dish", and pretty soon it was difficult to get a table. Fast forward 18 months and Host is as popular as ever. You'd still want to give plenty of notice to get a weekend table, and every time we ask our followers what their favourite restaurants are, Host is mentioned again and again. It's not often we see somewhere with such a loud, loyal following, so that alone rocketed it to the top of our 'must-eat-in' list (it's a long one). Where should we go for a drink first? Ranelagh has loads of good drinking options. The Exchequer Wine Bar is a few doors down for wine or good cocktails, The Taphouse is a two minute walk away and has an enormous selection of beers on draught and in bottle, and there's always McSorley 's for a bit of nostalgia if you had a tendency to hang out in Ranelagh in your twenties because it was so much posher than town (just us?). Where should we sit? Once again you have quite the array of options. For twos we'd advise sitting at the counter, having the chats with the lovely staff and getting a proper look at the open kitchen. If you're after a bit more intimacy and/or hand-holding, the standard tables will do the job. Otherwise there are high tables, or seats in the window if you'd rather look outside than into your dinner companion's eyes. What's good to eat? Short menus where everything appeals are fast becoming our firm favourites. Host has that, but goes one better by offering a chef's menu for two with what seems like most of the main menu (except the mains where you just choose one) on there. They also tell you exactly what you'll be getting so you can make an informed decision. No messing around. It's also better value than if you ordered everything separately. Job done. Homemade focaccia to start comes with bright green, grassy olive oil, and oozing, creamy burrata on a bed of smokey aubergine with fresh mint leaves on top and more excellent olive oil at the bottom. Save some bread for moppage. The other starter of tuna, black radish and sesame came with pickled onions, barely seared tuna and thinly sliced radish in a really delicious dressing. Also, black radish - new favourite radish. The portion also felt generous for what's normally a pricey fish. Both homemade pastas we tried were standout, and if we lived around here, dropping in regularly for a plate of pasta and a glass of wine after work would be way too tempting. Duck papardelle came with the richest ragu, the type that tasted like it had started cooking 36 hours earlier. Pumpkin Cappellacci with sage and walnuts was so naturally sweet it was almost caramel like, the bite from the walnuts and the scent of the sage taking things to another level. It hasn't become their signature dish for nothing. For the main event there was a choice between Piri Piri chicken, Hake or Rib Eye, and after hearing so many people talk about the steak it had to be that, even with the €21 supplement, and it was an excellent piece of meat from Peter Hannan , perfectly seasoned. Bonus points for not asking us how we wanted it cooked - there's only one way with a steak like this. Our only complaint is that we would have liked some kind of sauce with it - maybe we're too married to the bearnaise at Etto. A side of charred broccoli with pistachio yoghurt and hazelnuts was good enough to order as a veggie main, and another of roasted peppers, onions and chorizo was also good with a nice tang, but we could have done without more meat on the side of meat. Could definitely see the appeal with the hake. Dessert was burnt ricotta cheesecake and it was a simple, seasonal, not too sweet end to a meal full of colour and interest. The only major thing we felt was lacking is more provenance information on the menus, as apart from the steak we didn't know where any of the meat, fish or vegetables were coming from, and as nice as the staff were, it's always uncomfortable giving someone the third degree about their food sourcing. What about the drinks? The wine list is exactly the type of esoteric, natural focused list we love. There's a really nice selection of bottles, but we would have liked to see more than four whites and four reds by the glass (although we enjoyed everything we had), and anything other than prosecco for sparkling - it just feels jarring in a place where everything else is so slick and sophisticated. To be fair they said they've tried them and they haven't sold, so please people, whenever you see crémant, cava or Champagne by the glass, order it. You're doing the wine lovers of the city a public service. And the service? Everyone was super charming and helpful and the food came at a really nice pace. They also asked us a couple of times if we were ready for the next dishes, which is a really nice touch that we don't see enough of, ensuring guests are having the experience they want. They also seemed really laid back yet in control - the best combination. The verdict? It's really clear to see why Host has so many devoted fans - it's the neighbourhood restaurant every neighbourhood wants. They have all of the boxes ticked when it comes to food, wine, service and general vibe, and it really does feel like it's been lifted out of London and placed on the main street in Ranelagh. Now if only we could convince them to bring Host number two to the Northside. Host 13 Ranelagh, Dublin 6 www.hostrestaurant.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

The Pig's Ear The Nassau Street stalwart looks to the past for its future Posted: 1 Apr 2025 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about The Pig’s Ear? James Joyce once claimed an aim of Ulysses was to offer a portrait of Dublin so complete that the city could be reconstructed out of the book, if ever it disappeared. Well here comes a reimagined Pig’s Ear to give it a shot, in culinary terms at least, with a menu of dishes inspired by Joyce’s works and a handful of other literary and local food sources. Stephen McAllister and Andrea Hussey’s Nassau Street stalwart dished up classical Irish fare for 16 years before reinventing itself last summer as Lotus Eaters . We were all-in on the wagyu beef burgers and Asian-feeling menu, but didn’t get the sense the owners themselves were, with unchanged décor and glasses still etched with the previous brand giving the potential for a swift reverse should things not work out. Lotus Eaters And reverse they did, so back we went for The Pig’s Ear 2.0 . This time they're looking to the past to imagine their future - head chef McAllister has plumbed his own family recipe repertoire and worked with academics from TU Dublin to recreate Dublin dishes of yore and give the restaurant a high concept kick and fresh relevance in the crowded scene of 2025. Where should we sit? Save a few tweaks in the wall art, it’s once again as-you-were in this dining room, which maybe makes more sense in a back-to-the-well revival than the previous concept’s clean break. Warm wood tones and leather upholstery under soft lighting have always made this a welcoming space, and surveying the city from the sash windows is always our preferred option. On our visit, as Joyce might have put it, drizzle was general all over Dublin, and settling into our snug seats out of the rain had us all set for a feast. What’s on the menu? Ghastly type to start with - we’re no font snobs, but the choice of lettering to lay out the concept on the menu’s intro page had us wincing. Especially in a place that invokes Dublin’s literary heritage as a core inspiration - the early internet era “fun” style sticks out like a sore thumb. Okay, maybe we’re slight font snobs. We soon ceased clutching our pearls and picked up our oysters instead – much safer territory. The former Friendly Brothers’ Club on Stephen’s Green (now home to Cellar 22 and Floritz ) is the muse for these meaty morsels, with a punchy beef tartare packed under chive-scattered specimens. We can’t fault either element but they play more competitive than complimentary in practice, as though each were trying to outshine the other – at €8 a pop, we’d welcome more harmony. Boxty is among the reimagined old dishes that punctuate the menu, and it’s an inspired overhaul, with thick Cáis na Tíre custard layered over the potato pancake, liberally sprinkled with grated cheese and black truffle. This could easily make for an over-indulgent starting plate, but the smart pairing of a lighter batter with a sweeter, fruitier cheese cut through the earthy depth of the truffle for a snack you'd easily eat more than one of. It's the same story for the farl, whose plainer presentation gets dressed up with an accompanying cup of bone marrow gravy ripe for pouring. The softer dough here soaks up the thick sauce with almost as much relish as we did ourselves, while the fat-browned crust delivers a crisp texture. Smearing the soft nuggets of marrow across that golden skin is a sensual experience – do remember you are still in public. In a menu not short on creative curios, nothing caught our eye more than “Famine soup” – were we to be treated to an empty bowl? Actually the dish takes its cues, and at least partly its recipe, from Alexis Soyer, the OG celebrity chef whose soup kitchen in Croppy’s Acre out Kilmainham way funded its food by charging the rich an entry fee to see the starving masses. That ugly footnote is something we wish we’d learned on our visit rather than online afterward - neither the menu’s brief note nor the staff’s answers to enquiries dug into the story with anything like the detail that might bring the concept to life. Absent that, it’s a serviceable oxtail-adjacent soup studded with still-firm diced veg and served with (admittedly delicious) bone marrow toast – biting into that it’s hard not to feel more like morbid toffs looking out on soup-slurping peasants. In Joyce’s “Two Gallants”, the thirty-something Lenehan wonders over a plate of peas whether he’ll ever afford a home of his own – in Dublin, some things never change. Peas are pretty consistent too, and the "peas and vinegar" here might be our pick of the lot. Pickled pearl onions and tart redcurrants pierce through the sweetness of the freshly-shelled peas and the puree beneath, all fresh flavours and well-balanced textures in every forkful. Lenehan pays three halfpence for his peas, which we make about 78c in today’s money, to this plate’s €11.50. In Dublin, some things change a lot – this one's worth every penny regardless. Ulysses usefully gives us the then-cost of a kidney (the perils of picking from such a detail-rich oeuvre) at threepence, or just north of €1.50, which makes the "tongue and cheek kidney pudding"'s near-€30 price point seem all the more stark. To savour this dish you will want, like Leopold Bloom, to eat “ with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls ”. As it happens we do, and did. The well-packed pudding oozes chunks of tongue and cheek alongside its kidney contents, a flood of “ toothsome pliant meat ” as Bloom would have it. We’d have relished it all the more were it not for a pre-poured gravy with a too-salty tang that told us it’d been reduced just a little too long – this is a very good pud that deserved better. “The earth garlic” is the most baffling inclusion on the menu – cracking our copy of Ulysses we can see where the name comes from, but not why: “ after all there’s a lot in that vegetarian fine flavour of things from the earth garlic of course it stinks after Italian organgrinders crisp of onions mushrooms truffles ”. Happily it’s a vastly better dish than name, three types of mushroom studded with slivers of truffle, all readily accepting the burst egg yolk in a mess of umami excess. It’s less Joyce’s Dublin that it conjures than San Sebastian, but having a taste of the iconic hongos plancha from Ganbara in Ireland isn’t something we’re opposed to. Smoked potatoes would have fared far better were we into the pudding’s gravy – these shrivelled baby spuds pay for their superb smoky flavour with a desiccated internal texture that demands to be drenched in something – sadly they come alone. The last sad streaks of egg yolk were all we had to offer, but we'd we’d expect the Mulligatawny chicken pie (a smart effort to repeat the rightly iconic reputation of sister restaurant Spitalfields ’ cock-a-leekie) to be a better pairing. Ulysses features a “ rhubarb tart with liberal fillings ” and given ‘it's the season you can imagine our faces when we realised the menu doesn’t – next time, perhaps. A violet and rose jelly-topped blancmange made do instead, far though it be from the “blocks” dished out in “The Dead”. This is a lovely light finale, buttermilk-rich but beautifully soft, spiked by the satisfying crunch of honeycomb and spiced kick of candied ginger. We couldn’t contemplate not trying gur cake ice cream, a nostalgic nod to memories of Manning’s Bakery in the Liberties - its simple, smooth, sweet pleasures scooped atop a base of chocolate mousse and corn flakes would send the hardest of hearts harkening back to simpler childhood days. What are the drinks like? The wine list is effectively unchanged from Lotus Eaters. Though the available BTG options have narrowed, the same punchy markups now commonly found all over the city remain (a glass at €16 when you can pick up a bottle for €23 right round the corner) - we weren’t surprised to see several diners sticking to water. The quality is solid if you can take the price point, with a Louis Moreau Bourgogne complimenting the peas perfectly and a Borgogno Nebbiolo great with the offal. The star of the show was the Pedro Ximinez with dessert – ‘tis a long way from that with gur cake we were reared. How was the service? Very friendly but less invested in the concept than we were expecting. We had to actively invite more detail on dishes at every stage, and thought between the novel development they’ve undergone here and the dish naming that doesn’t exactly sum up what you’re getting, those kind of explanations would be front and centre. And the damage? Just in below the €200 mark before a (pre-added but discretionary) 12.5% service charge, which ably but not excessively fed two. You could easily outdo our bill with fancier starters like the salmon gravlax and lobster omelette, or by veering into the steak and chops section, never mind going in on a full bottle. Keeping the belt tighter (in all senses) with bitterballen and coddle could see you fed for bang-on €30 before service, without anything to sip on. What’s the verdict on The Pig’s Ear? You could read the start-stop fate of Lotus Eaters (stated plans are for the concept to reappear in another venue but there's nothing more solid than that as of yet) as either a sign of the difficulty of landing a new idea in an ever-harder market, or as a cautionary tale about how you really need to commit to the bit if you’re to have any hope your public will too. Something like Suertudo shows how a bold reinvention of a restaurant with many successful years behind it can pay off in spades, but big gambles carry big risks. The Pig’s Ear has always done well in taking Irish food seriously, even through the periods where that was unfashionable. If this new iteration marks a safer bet than what came immediately before, it’s still one that it needs to go all-in. There is in this marriage of literary and culinary history a novel conceit that could work wonders in a UNESCO city of literature to which tourists flock to retrace the steps of Joyce and his characters, and excepting a few easily-overcome hiccups, everything about the food here has what it takes. The idea and atmosphere need to row-in behind it - not in the diddly-eye mode of Davy Byne’s boaters or Sweny’s Chemists serenading, but in the Bar 1661 sense of a menu that takes pride in telling a story. We’d love to see them lean in hard, and see the new Pig’s Ear go the whole hog. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Neighborhood restaurant guides for Dublin, Ireland. Find the best restaurants, pubs, cafes, and fine dining in every area of Dublin. Dublin Restaurant Guides & Reviews Neighbourhoods Where to Eat Dublin doesn't have the same easy-to-navigate neighborhoods as say, New York - but we've tried to split the city up into easily manageable chunks so wherever you're headed you can find the best places around for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and dessert. From Argentinean in Portobello, to Calabrian in Stoneybatter, to a raw seafood bar in Terenure, restaurants and cafés here have the ATF seal of approval, so wherever you find yourself in the city you can search for the best eating experiences around. North City Centre Parnell Street Capel Street Pearse St - Merrion Square Grand Canal Dock Temple Bar Dame Street / Wicklow Street Grafton Street - Kildare Street Creative Quarter St Stephen's Green Aungier Street - Wexford Street - Camden Street Portobello Dublin 8 Smithfield Stoneybatter Dublin 4 Rathmines Ranelagh Harolds Cross - Terenure Blackrock - Monkstown - Mount Merrion Dún Laoghaire - Sandycove - Glasthule - Dalkey Dundrum - Sandyford - Stillorgan - Foxrock - Stepaside Drumcondra - Phibsboro - Glasnevin Clontarf - Fairview - Killester - Artane Howth Join ATF Insiders Make the Most of Every Meal. Join Us