The country's best example of Xian food from China's Shanxi region, with hand-pulled 'biang biang' noodles, rou jia mo (also called Chinese hamburgers), and 'Liang Pi' cold skin noodles - your must order. The space is small and you might have to share a table, but once the food arrives you won't care. Feel free to customise your noodles to your preferred thickness, and ask about specials and new menu additions - they always seem to be working on something. Biang Biang Website instagram.com/biangbiang_dublin Address 21 Mary Street Little, Smithfield, Dublin 7, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story The country's best example of Xian food from China's Shanxi region, with hand-pulled 'biang biang' noodles, rou jia mo (also called Chinese hamburgers), and 'Liang Pi' cold skin noodles - your must order. The space is small and you might have to share a table, but once the food arrives you won't care. Feel free to customise your noodles to your preferred thickness, and ask about specials and new menu additions - they always seem to be working on something. 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

Sophisticated French-Irish dining in the beautiful basement of an old Georgian house on Pembroke street. French owner Olivier Meisonnave started feeding the masses in 2004 and Dax has been consistently good ever since, but it got a new lease of life since Chef Graham Neville (formerly of Thornton's and Restaurant Forty One) took over the kitchen in 2017. Dax Website dax.ie Address 23 Pembroke Street Upper, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Sophisticated French-Irish dining in the beautiful basement of an old Georgian house on Pembroke street. French owner Olivier Meisonnave started feeding the masses in 2004 and Dax has been consistently good ever since, but it got a new lease of life since Chef Graham Neville (formerly of Thornton's and Restaurant Forty One) took over the kitchen in 2017. 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

Vegan and vegetarian fine dining in the centre of the city. Forget about stews, soups and sloppy lasagnes, Glas are making vegetables sexy again, with kohlrabi rillettes, butterbean ceviche, and roast onion with flamed halloumi. Plant-filled, stylish space, and a great drinks list. Glas Website glasrestaurant.ie Address 16 Chatham Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Vegan and vegetarian fine dining in the centre of the city. Forget about stews, soups and sloppy lasagnes, Glas are making vegetables sexy again, with kohlrabi rillettes, butterbean ceviche, and roast onion with flamed halloumi. Plant-filled, stylish space, and a great drinks list. 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

Daytime restaurant on Bath Avenue, open for breakfast, brunch and lunch, inspired by New York and Italian cafés. Their buttermilk chicken and waffles are an Insta-fav, with the 'Biggie Mac' their riff on the world's most famous burger. Junior's Website juniors.ie Address 2 Bath Avenue, Beggar's Bush, Dublin 4 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Daytime restaurant on Bath Avenue, open for breakfast, brunch and lunch, inspired by New York and Italian cafés. Their buttermilk chicken and waffles are an Insta-fav, with the 'Biggie Mac' their riff on the world's most famous burger. 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

Portobello favourite Bibi's could exist solely on sales of their Turkish eggs, but their brownies are almost as famous. Breakfast, brunch and lunch are what they're known for, but recently you'll find natural wines and sharing plates there several evenings a week. Bibi's Website bibis.ie Address 14b Emorville Avenue, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Portobello favourite Bibi's could exist solely on sales of their Turkish eggs, but their brownies are almost as famous. Breakfast, brunch and lunch are what they're known for, but recently you'll find natural wines and sharing plates there several evenings a week. 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

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Restaurant Manager < Back Restaurant Manager Reggie's Apply Now Location Rathmines, Dublin 6 Employment Full-time Date Posted 14 September 2026 Website reggies.ie Reggie's is a neighbourhood pizzeria on Rathmines Road Lower. We opened in December 2024, making pizza and everything else from scratch every day, serving it alongside a wine list we're proud of, in a room we care a great deal about. We're looking for an experienced Restaurant Manager to lead our front of house and help us build something that stands the test of time. Four words sit behind everything we do here: delicious, approachable, affordable, hospitable. They're a better guide to this job than any list of responsibilities, but here they are. The role: You'll lead the front-of-house team, which runs to six people on a normal service and eight or ten at the weekend. Recruitment, rosters, training and standards are yours, and so is the floor itself: the service, the regulars, and making sure guests leave having had a good time. You'll also own the front-of-house numbers. Labour hours, bar and beverage stock, ordering and waste. We'll sit down together once a week and go through them. Overall P&L stays with the owner, but the front-of-house side of it is yours to run, and you'll have the authority to run it. You'll look after the compliance that sits with the floor: HACCP and the day-to-day paperwork. You'll work alongside our head chef, who owns back-of-house, the kitchen team and everything to do with the food. On the floor, the team and front-of-house spending, the decisions are yours. You'll both report to the owner, who is typically on-site and heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. Who we’re looking for: Somebody with real restaurant management experience who is ready to take full ownership of a room and it’s team. The thing we're looking for most is initiative: seeing what needs doing and getting on with it rather than waiting to be asked. You'll need to be comfortable holding a standard. The best managers we've worked with are people their team likes and takes seriously. You'll be dealing with guests, your team, suppliers and a reasonable amount of laptop work every day, so a high standard of spoken and written English is essential. A real interest in food and wine. We hold a wine and beer licence only, so the list is a significant part of what we offer, and we'd want you selling it well and teaching it to your team. Organised. Rosters must be published two weeks ahead, stock maintained, deliveries checked. A lot of what makes a service run well is really just the right admin done on time. You'll need the right to work in Ireland. We're not in a position to sponsor a work permit or to help with relocation for this role, and all interviews are in person here in Rathmines. The hours: Five days a week We serve dinner Monday to Thursday and open all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so most of your shifts are evenings and your weekends are typically working ones Rosters go up at least a fortnight in advance, and when you're off, you're off We're open seven days though, not nine to five, so the odd question will land on a day you're not working (did the wine order go in, did anyone hand in a coat). Nothing that turns your day off into a working one What we offer: €45,000–€55,000 depending on experience An equal share of the tip pool, divided across the team by hours worked. For a full-time manager that's recently been working out at around €10,000 a year, though it moves with trade A start date in October, with some flexibility for the right person There's a great team in place already, several of them with us since we opened. This is a job about leading them well, not rebuilding from scratch. To apply: Send us your CV along with a few lines on why Reggie's in particular. That's the part we'll read first. If you're half as excited about this as we are, we'll make a great team. Job Type: Full-time Benefits: Bike to work scheme Employee discount Food allowance Sick pay Experience: Management: 2 years (preferred) Language: English (required) Work authorisation: Ireland (required) Work Location: In person

Library Street Grab your friends for a night in the PDR Posted: 8 Mar 2022 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? We're always keeping a close eye on Irish chefs abroad, hoping that one day they'll make a triumphant return home, blessing us with skills learned from kitchens around the world, and filling our hearts and stomachs with joy and dishes never to have graced a Dublin menu before. Kevin Burke, who was head chef at Michelin-starred The Ninth in London was firmly on the watchlist, so when we saw that he was back in Dublin mid-pandemic there was a frisson of excitement at ATF HQ. Very soon he popped up at Niall Davidson's Allta, who at the time were keeping us very well fed at home with Allta Box, and he soon became known (to us anyway) as the namelaka man , for causing a major obsession with the creamy ganache-like addition to their desserts. We figured he had sights on his own place, but weren't expecting it to happen quite so fast. At the end of Summer 2021, Allta announced that they wouldn't be returning to their South Frederick Street site, and instead were opening Allta Winter House on the top of Trinity Street carpark (read our review here ). And in the old Allta site? Kevin Burke was opening Library Street . Excitement was high, and we were delighted to be able to offer ATF Insiders first access to the soft launch in November. We were taken aback at the quality of food, wine and service on night one, but we were looking forward to a return visit once they settled into it. Where should we sit? The main dining room is modern and buzzy, with a high table down the centre and regular tables at the wall and window, but we were here for the private dining room (PDR), which can be booked for six to ten people. We feel like most Irish people don't understand the joy of the PDR because there aren't that many of them, but let us tell you, they are special places. It's like a restaurant within a restaurant, with your own waiters, your own music, your own menu, and total privacy for intimate / clandestine / potentially defamatory conversations with no fellow diners' ears to worry about. If you're going to pop your PDR cherry, this is the place to do it. The room is atmospheric and comfortable, with retro furniture, low lighting, your own personal sound system, and plenty of space for whatever else you dragged in with you - presents, props, outerwear. We were six, but the table extends to seat up to ten. It feel really special to be in your own cavernous space away from the throng upstairs, and if you don't have a special occasion coming up as an excuse, you can totally make one up. Returned your library books on time? PDR. Back into your fitness routine? PDR. Finally managed to clear out the freezer? Definitely deserves a trip to the PDR. What's the food like? The team will send a suggested menu in advance, which is basically a bit of everything, and you can make changes as needed. They're also happy to cater for vegetarians as part of the group. You pay per dish as opposed to a set price per person, which we really liked as it means there's no hidden surcharge for taking over the room. There is a minimum spend of €100 per head for food and wine, but that's not hard to get to. We started with all the snacks, and the legendary first mouthful that is choux pastry filled with horseradish cream, with a Cantabrian anchovy, pickled radish and lemon zest on top. This is the stuff of mouth explosions, the tiny bites you'll be thinking about for months afterwards. Then the most Instagrammed dish on the menu - crispy chicken wing with chanterelles and tarragon mayo. The wing has been deboned, with the meat turned into a chanterelle stuffed mousse, placed back inside the skin, breadcrumbed, fried and served with tarragon mayo. It's a lot of work, and it pays off. Next up, Dooncastle oysters from Galway, whose sweetness is cut through with Bourgoin verjus (a kind of lemon juice substitute made from early harvested grapes) and a sliver of chilli. Then some pickled candy and golden beetroot, which you'll pop like sweets. Perfectly chewy sourdough baguettes and Abernethy butter came with the small plates, the first of which was a pile of pear, radicchio, walnut and sheep's cheese, sitting on top of a sheep's yoghurt dressing, both from Velvet Cloud in Mayo. Make sure to mix it up with the spoons provided before diving into the sweet, salty, creamy, nutty, bitter goodness. Make sure the chargrilled Porcupine Bank langoustines are on your menu. These sweet, chunky prawns (similar to Dublin Bay) are caught off the west of Ireland, halved and barely grilled in the shell, before being topped with shellfish bisque and lemon, and you will want a spoon for the juices left behind (or to have shown restraint with the bread). Onto the bigger plates, and with two veggies and four carnivores we got to try a bit of everything. You might think you're risotto-ed out, but you haven't had the delica pumpkin version at Library Street, with sage, toasted pumpkin seeds and more sheep's cheese - parmesan who? It's so easy to overcook risotto, or have it sitting there a bit meh, like the forgotten sibling on the menu, but this had oomph from every angle, and we couldn't spoon it into us quick enough. On special that night was a whole wild brill, chargrilled and served with Killary Fjord mussels, a herb emulsion, and a textured topping including onions and puffed rice. It's always a treat to order a whole fish like this, but if there was only a small number of you it could quickly derail your plans to eat everything else on the menu. It generously fed four, but could have easily stretched to six - we struggled to finish the meat on the flipside. Our other main was a barely cooked roast saddle of lamb, with a kalamata crust and silky soft Jerusalem artichoke purée, and if you were only going to eat one piece of meat a week (even a month), this is it. It's so pink it's basically raw (think of it like sheep steak), and the flavour almost knocked us down. A perfect trifecta of ingredients, and a dish we want to taste again. Sides were also plentiful and generous, providing an even backbone for the superstars up front. Winter leaves came again in sheep's yoghurt dressing, and red cabbage was nicely sweetened with apricots, apple and orange. The other side you're going to try is the roast Carolus potatoes Lyonnaise, which came topped with truffle. They're chewy, fudgy, savoury little carb bombs, but if pushed would prefer our potatoes crispier rather than chewy. For dessert we started with a gossamer light sheep's yoghurt mousse with blood orange, before attacking a couple of Paris Brests with stout namelaka, yuzu and espresso cream. Dessert in Library Street is in no way a downgrade on the savoury courses that came before, and that Paris Brest in particular is one of the most original desserts we've had in Dublin. We sincerely hope it never, ever leaves the menu. What about the drinks? The wine list has been a work in progress since opening, but on the night we visited the manager told us she had finally gotten it to a place where she was really happy with it. Margins are high and there aren't any bargains to be found here, so it's probably best to just close your eyes and go for it (but if you are on a budget there are wines on tap which will add considerably less to the bottom line). We drank the cheapest sparkling wine, a Spanish blend made from the same grapes as cava (€68, we know, ouch), a white blend from Sokol Blosser in Oregon (€59), and a natural Cheverny from Clos du Tue-Boeuf (we didn't keep a record of the price but in the same region) which was our highlight. We enjoyed all of them, but there's barely anything under €40 a bottle so factor that into your budget. And the service? You might worry that in a PDR you'll be flailing around trying to get a server when you need them, but this didn't happen once. It was like they knew what we needed before we did. The whole thing was effortless and easy, and supremely relaxing. We spent about four hours there in the end and couldn't believe the time when we looked at our watches/fitbits/phones. We also thought they got the food quantities perfect. It would have been easy to chuck a few more plates onto the table (and bill), bring down six desserts rather than four, but it was on the mark, and we didn't leave feeling sick or like we'd done ourselves damage through food (which we often do when left to our own ordering devices). And the damage? Around €140 a head once 12.5% service charge was added on (their website states this goes directly to staff). Definitely on the pricier side for a meal out, but we felt it was money well spent and a really memorable evening. The verdict? Library Street is a brilliant addition to the Dublin dining scene, and instantly tables there became some of the most sought after in the city (just try to get a Saturday night table booking before summer). This food feels fresh, original, they're not copying anyone else on the scene, they're just doing their own thing, and doing it so well. We love the main room with its floral installations, open kitchen and long table running down the middle of the room, but the next time you're going out to eat with a likeminded group, try with all your might to get the PDR, and settle in for something special. Library Street 101 Setanta Place, Dublin 2 www.librarystreet.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Southside suburbs Harold's Cross and Terenure have suddenly gotten interesting over the past few years, with several neighbourhood restaurants worth leaving your neighbourhood for. Harolds Cross - Terenure Our Take Southside suburbs Harold's Cross and Terenure have suddenly gotten interesting over the past few years, with several neighbourhood restaurants worth leaving your neighbourhood for. Where to Eat 3fe Five Points Bujo Terenure Craft Green Man Wines Orwell Road Southbank Spice Village Terenure

Crudo A neighbourhood Italian getting it all right Posted: 20 Mar 2024 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What should we know about Crudo? In what was formerly Dunne & Crescenzi in Sandymount, the next generation of the family, Sean Crescenzi, opened Crudo with friend Jamie McCarthy in mid-2019. They were finding their feet and figuring things out when Covid shut them down in early 2020, so it's been a stop-start few years, but they've now settled nicely into their groove. Feedback seems to have been getting progressively better about their neighbourhood Italian offering, aimed at locals, without cutting corners to satisfy blander taste buds, and they've been quietly going about their business with a limited social media presence - clearly it's not needed to drum up customers. Where should we sit? It's a homely room with simple furniture and someone's much loved (and long held) cookery book collection dotted around the walls. We do love a bit of people watching and you never know who you'll see in Sandymount so we'd go for the window if it's free. Andrew Scott was who we saw in Sandymount - he walked right past the window on his phone - and we're told Andy Farrell (the Irish Rugby Head Coach) is a regular. Those tables at the front are also perfect for familes. They seat six so there's plenty of space, and are right near the door in case anyone using their outdoor voice needs to be swiftly removed. Otherwise there's four tops along the wall and twos in the middle, but there's the ability for maneuvering depending on bookings. What's on the menu? They open for lunch and dinner with a lot of the same dishes, but lunch has a slightly reduced menu, and the addition of paninis which come with soup or parmesan fries. A lovely suppliers list (including first names) is up front so it can't be missed, and there's a €10 (frozen food free) kids menu that will excite parents used to paying €4 for just a juice. There were a lot of specials on the day we visited, but we try to stick to the dishes you'll be able to order too. Bear in mind though that even if you've picked your food in advance based on what's online, expect a whole new realm of greedy confusion to reign down when you're presented with chalkboards of new options, each one sounding better than the last. One of the best tests of any Italian is bruschetta, especially in a country where tomatoes are more often mealy, insipid balls of disappointment, than juicy, round pops of sunshine. Here a fluffy wedge of Oaksmoke sourdough comes just grilled, rubbed in garlic, and topped with marinated datterini tomatoes, basil and EVOO (€13) and you can add half a creamy, springy burrata ball for an extra €5.50. €18.50 might be on the pricier side for a starter, but it's big enough to share, and it's worth it when the Italian-imported ingredients are this superior. Arancini (€15) are always on the menu, and ours came with 'crispy fried risotto', crayfish and lobster bisque, and a preserved lemon and basil crema underneath. These were as big as baseballs, and another starter easily shared between two. The risotto itself was a bit dry (maybe because of the crispy frying), but had proper chunks of crayfish, and the crema was one of the best things we've tasted this year. So vividly lemony, there wasn't a creamy basil-streaked smear left on the plate - it made the whole dish (and possibly our whole day). We feel like we've been hearing about Crudo's scampi risotto since day one. Just cooked arborio rice comes with a lavish amount of fresh prawns, Dublin Bay prawn and sambuca bisque, prawn oil and crème fraiche (€24). It's one of those dishes you won't be able to make much conversation while eating, other than ummmms and errrmmaagaawwddss, and the elevation of all the flavours here shows up so many other risottos around town. Even the most committed meat eater should try the hand-rolled ravioli filled with cavolo nero and brie, served with deep-fried wild mushrooms, hazelnuts, and black truffle and parmesan fonduta (€25). It's one flavour bomb after another, the chewy mushrooms and and crunchy hazelnuts the perfect foil to those big pasta pillows and all that cheese. The pasta was a little underdone in the centre, but we couldn't dream of parting with the plate, and there was so much to love here that we didn't really care. Desserts contain your traditionalist options like tiramisu, affogato and cantucci biscuits with Vin Santo wine, and as you might expect by now are no slow coaches in the taste stakes. Tiramisu (€9) comes in individual portions with hazelnuts and Frangelico, and a chocolate biscuit on top. We loved the crunch of the whole nuts in there and all the flavours in the glass jar, but it was a little heavy on the cream and a little light on the sponge. A doorstop of a dark chocolate tart (€9) came with a bitter chocolate base, an unrestrained chocolate filling, sprinkle of sea salt and the genius addition of mandarin oil. Staff told us people regularly take some of the monster portion home and offered to wrap up any we didn't finish - what a lovely takeaway. Excellent espresso sent us on our way. What about drinks? The wine list is 90% Italian (as it should be) with the odd bottle from Spain, France or Portugal. There's a noble 13 wines by the glass, and it's the kind of place where they'll be happy to give you a taste of anything open before you commit. We went on their recommendations and had a fleshy, structured Sicilian Grillo, and a light, bright Marzemino (all herbal notes and sour cherries) from Alto-Adige. Both felt like something you'd be poured in that local trattoria on your holidays - wines made to work with the food you're eating. How was the service? Danny Meyer talks in his brilliant book Setting the Table about gatekeepers and agents, and we think about this walking into every single restaurant. A gatekeeper sets up barriers to keep people out - the staff member who blocked your path asking if you had a booking, the server who didn't acknowledge you and eventually shrugs saying there's an hour wait for a table. An agent on the other hand facilitates, makes things happen. When we walked into Crudo, we had a heroes welcome, an owner offering to seat us before knowing if we even had a booking. There were bright smiles, genuine chats, inquiries as to whether the table was okay - we think it would be just the place to be on a day when you're feeling fragile and need to be cosseted. There were only two servers for a half-full lunch service but no missteps or delays, and regular glances and check-ins to see if we needed anything. It feels like a very smooth operation. And the damage? €120 for a three course meal for two with a glass of wine each and one espresso. It felt like fantastic value considering the quality of the produce, the quality of the dishes, and the portion sizes. We could have shared a starter and dessert and left very happy. What's the verdict on Crudo? Crudo is that little Italian you find on your holidays and can't understand why food doesn't taste like this back home. None of it is over-complicated, there's nothing to scare anyone away (paging your parents), but it's all done with carefully gathered ingredients and some very skillful, generous hands in the kitchen. We could pick the most minor of holes in it, but none of them would matter, because as casual neighbourhood restaurants go, Crudo ticks every one of our boxes, and if Sandymount isn't your neighourhood, it's only a 10-minute walk from the Dart. New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Bone fide Italian wedged between a car garage and a pet shop in Deansgrange. Homemade pasta, pizza and antipasti draw a steady stream of Italians, which is all you need to know. Fellini's Website fellinisdublin.com Address 35 Deansgrange Road, Deansgrange, Co Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Bone fide Italian wedged between a car garage and a pet shop in Deansgrange. Homemade pasta, pizza and antipasti draw a steady stream of Italians, which is all you need to know. 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

Vietnom Street food that's reason alone to got to Stoneybatter Posted: 30 Oct 2018 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? We're really quite into this whole "dingy pub gets great pop up in the back" thing. Between Vurgerface in The Belfry and Dice Bar, Grálinn in MVP and Coke Lane Pizza in Frank Ryans and Lucky's, pub food has never been better. Another one that we've been hearing loads about over the past few months is Vietnom in the back of The Glimmerman pub in Stoneybatter, and while the idea of Vietnamese/Mexican fusion wouldn't have had us running for the Luas, after two excellent reviews in The Irish Times and the Irish Independent we had to check it out for ourselves. Set up by chef Milly Murphy and Alex Gurnee earlier this year, the menu at Vietnom changes every week, and most things on the menu are vegetarian, with at least one vegan option. They work with what's local and seasonal, growing some vegetables themselves, buying others from organic farms, and sourcing only free-range meat and eggs. So far so good. Where should we go for a drink first? The Glimmerman is atmospheric to say the least, with Charlie Haughey and Margaret Thatcher in a bed hanging from the ceiling, beer mats all over the walls and more nooks and crannies than we thought was possible to fit in a single pub, so a drink here is a good shout. Otherwise you've got L. Mulligan Grocer for an immense craft beer selection, The Cobblestone for traditional Irish music, or Walsh's, which was named best pub in Dublin at this year's Irish restaurant awards. Where should we sit? There's loads of seating out the back, ranging from quirky to "I'm sitting on a plastic-covered leather sofa in the middle of a tip", but with the weather turning colder you'll want a good winter coat to eat outside. Luckily the pub are cool about bringing the food inside, so just sit wherever you can find some mismatched furniture. What's good to eat? The menu is short with three main options both times we visited - tostadas, banh mi and fried rice. Ingredient and flavour combinations change each week and we tried everything twice, loving all of it. We marginally preferred the tostada with cauliflower, peanut sauce, chilli and pickled onions to the one with squash, tomatillo salsa and toasted sesame, but there wasn't a lot in it. We much preferred the banh mi with caramelised ginger and apple roast pork to the one with paneer, finding it lacking in flavour - the same could not be levied at the pork, and the lovely crunchy vegetables jammed in alongside it. Our only complaint is that we like a crisper bread for banh mi, Vietnom's being a soft sourdough, but they've had it designed especially for them and it's exactly what they're going for so we might be alone on that one. Both courgette and broccoli fried rice came topped with an assortment of nuts, chillis, pickled onions, herbs and flower petals, and might have been our favourite thing here. To make something as plain as rice taste this vibrant takes skill, and the courgette in particular was verging on "food crack". There was so much food we took some home and there were fork fights over the last of it the following day. What about the drinks? Those clever Vietnom people, knowing the type of customer they were likely to attract with their food, convinced The Glimmerman to stock a couple of very nice, inexpensive wines to go with it. Ciú Ciú are an organic producer from the Marche region of Italy and both the white and red blends are excellent, particularly for €6 a glass. We'd go so far as to say these could be the best value wines in any pub in the city right now (accounting for the quality). If you're going to drink wine here, this is what you want. Forget the rest. And the service? Alex and Milly do everything themselves, with a smile on their faces, and are happy to answer questions about the food or make recommendations. We also found The Glimmerman staff lovely, particularly the younger members of the team who were just super friendly. The verdict? Vietnom alone is worth a trip to Stoneybatter. They can do as much 'fusion' as they want if it tastes this good, and with their focus on local produce, organic vegetables and free-range meat and dairy, it's fast food to make you feel good. Go soon, go often, and order everything. Vietnom The Glimmerman, 14 Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 @vietnom New Openings & Discoveries More >>

The Grayson Go for the chips, the margaritas and the marble bathrooms Posted: 18 Sept 2018 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Up until January of this year, the four-storey building at 41 St. Stephen's Green was home to former private member's club Residence and the upmarket (and suitably priced) Restaurant Forty One . When it was announced late one Friday evening that Press Up Entertainment had bought the building and it would close it immediately for refurbishment, there was a collective groan amongst much of the food and drink industry. Press Up (owned by Paddy McKillen Jnr, son of multi-million/billionaire developer Paddy McKillen) are commonly accused of being "all fur coat and no knickers" (based on their beautiful fit outs but generally average food), and independent restaurants say they can't compete with their deep pockets when vacant sites come available. Press Up disputes this, saying they rarely bid on properties, and on it rumbles. You can read more about that situation in this very good Irish Times article by Catherine Cleary and Una Mullally. Whether you like them or not, it's hard to argue with the fact that when it comes to fit outs and design few people do it better, and they have undoubtedly brought something new to the Dublin dining and drinking scene - rooftop bars with panoramic views of the city, the ability to use a swing on a night out, and the plushest cinema in the country to name a few. We were very interested to see what they would do with 41 Stephen's Green, and the initial publicity photos were as impressive as always, but where Press Up sites tend to fall down is the food. With Roberta's in particular receiving less than glowing reviews from the critics last year after it opened, we were hoping this one might be the exception to the rule, but we are also acutely aware that we are in the middle of a major chef shortage , and we can't figure out how they're managing to staff so many sites. Where should we go for a drink first? If you're going here you should have the full experience, which means a pre-dinner drink in the atrium cocktail bar. It's a stunning space with seating at the bar and at high tables, and up the stairs at the end leads to a very plush smoking area with a retractable roof. The cocktails are well priced by city centre standards at €10 - €12.50, and of the ones we tried, our favourites were the excellent Second Floor Margarita with tequila, blood orange liquor, blood orange syrup and lemon, and the Prickly Honey, with pisco, pineapple liqueur, honey, lemon, egg white and soda water. We were less keen on the Angi, with lemon infused gin, white chocolate, lemon and egg whites, which was a bit too sweet for an aperitif. Staff couldn't have been nicer, and offered to make us any cocktail we could think of. Where should we sit? As well as main dining rooms on the ground, first and second floors, there are a few little private rooms off the stairways, which would be great for a small private event or if you're really trying to impress a date. Try to nab a table near the window on either floor for the great views out onto St Stephen's Green. We also thought the light on the first floor was slightly better if being able to read the menu/post pictures of your dinner on Instagram is something that's important to you. What's good to eat? Frustratingly we didn't find any knockout dishes, but we did hear people talking about how much they enjoyed their meal, so if you're easier to please than us you might love it. Of the starters, the best were the roast pork belly with pulled pork croquette, puy lentils, orange and watercress salad (although it was very filling), and the whole king prawn with tempura prawn and baby prawn salad, bloody mary jelly and baby gem leaves. The most disappointing dish was the sesame seared tuna with avocado and wasabi purée, watermelon and pink ginger, which couldn't have looked more different to the publicity shot, and which was really just a hot mess (without the hot part). The four tiny pieces of tuna tasted of nothing, and the wasabi purée improved things but there wasn't enough of it. When it came to the mains, at first taste, both fish dishes we tried were good. Pan fried halibut was well cooked and came with crispy okra (which tasted of nothing but oiliness), nduja ratte potatoes, toasted sweetcorn and samphire sea herb (which we're pretty sure is just samphire), and at the start it felt like a flavour-packed combination, but once the initial punch wore off, we found the salt and fat overpowering. By the time we were halfway through our palates were jaded, and a good chunk of it went uneaten. It was a similar situation with the seabream with roasted artichokes (which tasted like the jarred variety), crab salad and vierge sauce. Too much salt. Not enough flavour. Not all eaten. We found the oversized, branded salt containers on each table (which seem to be in all of their venues) quite ironic. Duck breast with confit leg meat, crushed sweet potato, charred broccoli and duck jus was another of the better choices and had good flavour (despite being slightly overcooked), but once again, after a few bites the salt became overpowering. Maybe the kitchen's on commission for how much of those branded salt containers they can get through. Of the sides, a salad of bumble bee leaves, mixed beetroot, heirloom tomatoes, feta whip and smoked almonds tasted once again overpoweringly of salt - this time from the first bite. We have no idea how it's possible to over-salt salad leaves to this extent, unless you did it for a dare. Tempura courgettes were okay if needing work when it comes to the batter, but the crispy hand-cut skinny fries topped with nduja, chilli mayonnaise and parmesan were very good. Definitely one of the highlights of the meal. Another highlight was dessert. Vanilla ice-cream with chocolate soil (groan), chocolate shards, chocolate and caramel sauce and house made honeycomb, came in the form of an ice-cream sundae and was a deliciously nostalgic way to end a meal, although it was extremely rich. The same goes for the chocolate delice, with hazelnut crunch, salted caramel sauce, milk chocolate chantilly and salted caramel ice cream. A skillfully made, beautifully presented dessert, but half would have been enough. Blueberry cheesecake was also very good, but apple tart tatin had unpleasant pastry and was completely solidified to the plate - not what we generally look for in food. What about the drinks? The cocktail list is great and most of what we tried was a cut above the average you'll find around town. Wines by the glass are limited and not particularly interesting, and Paddy McKillen's Château La Coste (from his vineyard in Provence) takes centre stage as the house wine, as it does in all of Press Up's sites. There are some nice options on the bottle list, but mark ups are high and you're looking at €40-45 a bottle for anything decent. If you have cash to splash there are some serious bottles on there but we're talking €60/70 plus. The staff who served us were not well-versed in the wine list so if you want to spend that much and you don't know what to go for ask for a sommelier. And the service? The initial welcome and the atrium bar staff couldn't be faulted. The restaurant staff were very pleasant but felt inexperienced. We were asked if we were ready to order three times before we actually were, staff reprimanded each other in front of us, and acknowledged that they didn't know anything about the wines. They were all very nice, but it wasn't quite a tightly-run ship. Teething problems we would hope. The verdict? If food is your first priority in life this probably isn't going to knock your socks off, but if you want an injection of gold-plated glam, good cocktails and marbled-decked bathrooms you will probably love it. We heard the table next to us, and another in the adjoining room saying how much they'd enjoyed their food, so maybe we need to go and join Marina O'Loughlin in Snobland , or maybe those other people are just more easily pleased. The Grayson 41 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2 thegrayson.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Casual ramen shop on Dun Laoghaire's main street that opened in summer 2018 and quickly gained a loyal fanbase. One of our top picks for ramen in Dublin, with everything including the noodles made in house. Don't miss the deep-fried kimchi and creative cocktails. Soup DL Website soupramen.ie Address 28 Lower Georges Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Casual ramen shop on Dun Laoghaire's main street that opened in summer 2018 and quickly gained a loyal fanbase. One of our top picks for ramen in Dublin, with everything including the noodles made in house. Don't miss the deep-fried kimchi and creative cocktails. 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

Mani’s Roman-style pizza styles have been responsible for a permanent queue down Drury Street since they opened at the end of 2023. Hiring ex-Pala Pizza’s Rory Shannon as head chef was a great move from fellow pizza nerd and owner Ciaran McGonagle, and the power of these two seems to multiply by being in close proximity to each other. Crispy, twice-baked slices featuring the most moreish of toppings, and some deep-fried naughtiness for good measure. Basic but quality drinks, and loads of outside seating, as well as a few stools inside. Mani Website instagram.com/mani.pizza.panini Address Mani, Drury Street, Dublin, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Mani’s Roman-style pizza styles have been responsible for a permanent queue down Drury Street since they opened at the end of 2023. Hiring ex-Pala Pizza’s Rory Shannon as head chef was a great move from fellow pizza nerd and owner Ciaran McGonagle, and the power of these two seems to multiply by being in close proximity to each other. Crispy, twice-baked slices featuring the most moreish of toppings, and some deep-fried naughtiness for good measure. Basic but quality drinks, and loads of outside seating, as well as a few stools inside. 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

All The Food x Devour walking food tour of Dublin Explore ATF X Devour Food Tour All The Food and Devour have created a food tour to show the best of Dublin eating right now We've been devout fans of Devour 's European and US food tours for years, pointing our readers towards them on their travels, and being constantly impressed at how they won't settle for second best. When they asked us to help create their first Dublin food tour, we couldn't turn down the chance to show visitors (and locals) the best cooking, baking and ice-cream making in the city right now. We've come up with a morning of sausage rolls, seasonal pastries, Irish cheese, icon-status toasties and the freshest seafood at some of our favourite city centre spots . You'll get an injection of history and culture too as you walk through St Stephen's Green, Trinity College, Central Plaza, past Molly Malone and through Dublin's Victorian Architecture. Find out more and book the Ultimate Dublin Food Tour here . What's New News and recommendations. More >>

Natural wine bar Frank's (a sibling to Delahunt down the street) brought back food post-covid, with the one-man kitchen staffed by David Bradshaw (ex-Clanbrassil House and Potager). A single long table runs the length of the room, while diners enjoy seasonal small plates with some cheffy flair, and well-priced wines. They don't take bookings so it's ideal for a last minute rock up. Frank's Website franksdublin.com Address 22 Camden Street, Dublin 2 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Natural wine bar Frank's (a sibling to Delahunt down the street) brought back food post-covid, with the one-man kitchen staffed by David Bradshaw (ex-Clanbrassil House and Potager). A single long table runs the length of the room, while diners enjoy seasonal small plates with some cheffy flair, and well-priced wines. They don't take bookings so it's ideal for a last minute rock up. 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 southside city branch of Middle Eastern leaning café Brother Hubbard. Breakfast, brunch and lunch range from vegan wraps to meaty mezze, and the treats like babka, cinnamon scrolls and cookie shots are very hard to pass on. Brother Hubbard South Website brotherhubbard.ie Address 46 Harrington Street, Dublin 8 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story The southside city branch of Middle Eastern leaning café Brother Hubbard. Breakfast, brunch and lunch range from vegan wraps to meaty mezze, and the treats like babka, cinnamon scrolls and cookie shots are very hard to pass on. 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

All day brunch and all the feel good dishes at this bright, airy café just past Portobello. Most dishes are vegetarian by nature with options to add on meat, and very good use is made of some of the city's best food suppliers, like Bretzel Bakery and Lilliput, and drinks suppliers like Wall & Keogh Tea nearby. Southbank Website southbankcafe.ie Address Southbank cafe, Grove Road, Harold's Cross, Dublin 6, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story All day brunch and all the feel good dishes at this bright, airy café just past Portobello. Most dishes are vegetarian by nature with options to add on meat, and very good use is made of some of the city's best food suppliers, like Bretzel Bakery and Lilliput, and drinks suppliers like Wall & Keogh Tea nearby. 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

D'Olier Street A New York-style addition to Dublin's elite dining crew Posted: 24 Jan 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story with D'Olier Street? It's a partnership between Mr Fox owner/chef Anthony Smith, and couple Jane Frye and James Moore, who were based in New York up until a year ago. Smith and Moore are old chef buddies, having cooked together in One Pico 16 years ago, before Moore (who's Australian) moved to NYC. Smith then followed, and the two lived together, meeting Frye (who's American) in the interim. Smith returned home to Dublin to open Mr Fox in 2016. You caught up? When Moore, who was head chef at two Michelin-starred Atera in New York at the time, told Smith he wanted to open his own restaurant, he somehow managed to convinced him to do it in Dublin, and New York's loss is most definitely our gain. Frye and Moore are married, and while Frye's background was in food media and not service, she's spent the last year learning the ropes at Mr Fox, while the couple's first restaurant together took shape. In October they announced a star signing in pastry chef Mina Pizarro , who's worked at some of the best restaurants in New York, including Le Cirque, Per Se and Veritas. If people weren't paying attention before, that made them sit up straight. D'Olier Street opened at the start of December, and we could barely restrain ourselves from running in, but thought we'd let them get over silly season before seeing what they're all about. Where should we sit? This room has been home to mediocre bistros and busily-decorated tourist traps over the years, but it's never been allowed to shine like this. The high ceilings, modern design and muted colours feel more than a little New York, and everything about it feels grand and special occasion worthy, in the most of the moment way. The seats most in demand will be the eight around the chefs counter, but it's actually at table level. This may be a negative as you don't get quite the bird's eye view into the kitchen that you can higher up, or a positive as your legs aren't dangling off a stool for two hours. If you're not bothered about seeing chefs plate dishes, the other tables dotted around the room offer a bit more privacy for romantic redezvous or clandestine chats. What's the menu like? It's billed as a ten course tasting menu for €82, but be aware that each of the snacks is considered a single course, as is the bread, a teeny bite of pre-desert and the petit fours to finish. We think the optics would have been better to describe it as a five-course menu with added extras - under-promise and over-deliver. Those first two snacks were a plump Connemara oyster with bracing yuzu and herbacous thyme, and a perfectly crisp nori tartlet with bluefin tuna, ginger, roe and sesame oil. Two for two - a great start. After that came silky foie gras custard with a thin layer of quince jelly, a quenelle of quince chutney, toasted walnuts, and the most perfect, golden, mini English muffins. Light as air inside, crispy and rubbly from the cornmeal they were fried on top of outside, this is a killer dish that's already the talk of town. Next came hamachi (also called yellowtail or amberjack) crudo, with apple aguachile, basil oil and unbilled Jalapeño and toasted almonds. We love dishes like this, the kind that act like an electric jolt to your palate, all acid and heat, curing and then cutting through the hamachi's oily texture. Next came salmon with miso buttermilk, trout roe and baby leek, and confession: we haven't eaten farmed salmon since watching Seaspiracy and getting a major ick about it. The creamy, umami-laded sauce is lick the plate clean material, little balls of roe popping as you slurp, and the baby leek was just cooked to retain the slightest bite. Salmon feels like an odd (maybe safe) choice, and while it's cooked beautifully in a sous vide before being blowtorched to finish, we'd much prefer to see a local and/or wild fish here instead. Then the bread course, which to be fair, deserves its own course. It deserves its own restaurant. The seeded pretzel restaurant. 10 courses of this pretzel in slightly varying forms. Where do we queue. This particular one with cultured buttermilk had us ooohing and aaahing, smelling and chewing, grabbing staff to tell us what magic lay within. Savour every bite. Ask for a second if you're brave. The last of the savoury courses, and the main proper, is billed as "Ribeye. Carrot. Pistachio." We don't usually grumble about a bit of steak when eating out ( except when served on a wooden chopping board that's been set alight ), but this felt flat, and like another safe choice. The meat (from superstar butcher Peter Hannan ) was very tender (we presume the sous vide had been used again) but lacked flavour, and the pistactio crumbed, meltingly tender carrots and the jus were perfectly nice, but it was missing the magic. With the steak they serve slices from the fat cap (which was predominantly fat), and perfect rectangles of confit potato, a crispy shell encasing a butter soft interior. Before dessert comes a tiny bite of coconut and passionfruit mochi as a palate cleanser - unrelated to the freezer mochi on Asian restaurant dessert menus across the city. Then the dish of the night, the one that we'll still be thinking about years from now, the one that might be our dessert of the year and we're only one month into 2023. A perfect, firm circle of riz au lait (French rice pudding), comes topped with elegantly pipped pastry cream, crystalised mango and mango sorbet, before a cardamom caramel is poured into the centre. The ooohs and aaahs returned, and we found ourselves gazing into the kitchen at Pizarro, wondering how we could make her fall in love with Dublin and never leave. Petit fours to finish of black sesame shortbread and chocolate fudge brownie were pleasant but unmemorable - that mango rice pudding is a hard act to follow though. What about drinks? You're in very safe hands when it comes to wine. Scott White (formerly in Aimsir, Mr Fox and Patrick Guilbaud) is the sommelier, and the list is full of interesting bottles you'll want to drink and pour over on the list, all with an indie producer lean. We started with a glass of grower Champagne from Antoine Bouvet (€22), and if you like high end fizz you should too - it's the best possible start to your dining experience, here or anywhere else. The wine pairing is €65 for five glasses and we thought it really delivered. It started with cava with the snacks, two whites, a red, and an incredible Jurançon from South West France with that mango rice pudding - and we thought it couldn't possibly get better. A (lovely) Albariño with the hamachi crudo was the only match that didn't gel as well as the others, but it's a hard dish to pair with its acid and heat, so we're not sure what would have worked better. We did one pairing and tried a couple of different glasses from the list, including an Austrian Pinot Blanc and a Mallorcan red blend, and wasn't one that let things down. We finished with a glass of Taylor's 10 year old tawny port, which is never a bad way to end an evening. How was the service? Frye is a warm and welcoming host, looking genuinely happy to be there greeting and looking after her guests, without anything being forced. Everyone we encountered was smiling and lovely and it felt like there was a ripple of excitement at being involved in a new opening like this. The kitchen was one of the calmest we've ever seen, with barely a conversation to be heard, everyone gently going about their work, looking completely confident in the role they were playing. They haven't changed the menu since opening and we think this is a smart move to let the staff bed in and get into a well-oiled rhythm. What was the damage? You're looking at €147 a head with the wine pairing (and our single glasses added up to around the same), so don't expect to come out with much change under €300 for two if you're doing it properly. It's a big spend and comparable to prices being charged at the best restaurants in the city (including Michelin stars). You could just get a bottle of wine to share between two, but you'll still be looking at circa €250 with a tip, so it won't be a meal to enter into lightly for a lot of people. We also flinched at their tip guide at the bottom showing what 15%, 18% and 20% tip amounts to. These are astronomical tips for most Irish people, especially at this spend, and it's likely to cause embarrassment when someone asks to put "just" 10 or 12% on the bill. The verdict? We're dizzy with delight for Dublin that D'Olier Street has joined the limited crew of restaurants operating at this level, in the most modern of dining rooms, with this kind of skill in the kitchen. An experience that might have been ten a penny in New York is standout here, and while we think some parts of the menu need adjusting and pushing outside of tried and tested formulas, we'd be surprised if they don't take the feedback they've had so far and keep driving forward. We would wager the next few months are going to bring more settling in, more ideas down, more dishes rising up, and with a Michelin visit undoubtedly in their near future, we're marking this as one to watch for a future star. D'Olier Street D'Olier Chambers, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 dolierstreetrestaurant.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Bahay Website @bahay_dub Address TBC Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story 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

Portobello native Bibi’s opened a little outpost right on the seafront in Dún Laoghaire in 2021, with tables outside and inside. It's the perfect place to grab a bite to eat and take a stroll down to the 40 Foot for a dip, or sit in for breakfast, brunch or lunch, including their famous 'squash eggs'. Bibi's Dún Laoghaire Website bibis.ie Address 2 Windsor Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Portobello native Bibi’s opened a little outpost right on the seafront in Dún Laoghaire in 2021, with tables outside and inside. It's the perfect place to grab a bite to eat and take a stroll down to the 40 Foot for a dip, or sit in for breakfast, brunch or lunch, including their famous 'squash eggs'. 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

Aobaba Obsession-worthy banh cuon on Capel Street Posted: 12 Dec 2018 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? A few weeks ago we asked on Instagram what people's favourite cheap eats in Dublin were, and Vietnamese Aobaba on Capel Street came up quite a few times, with much enthusiasm from the recommenders. More than once we heard "this is my favourite place to eat in Dublin", and we were given various tips on what to order when we went. After a bit of investigation we found out that it opened in 2012, and is connected to four other Aobaba's in London. It's had nothing but positive reviews since then on various Dublin-based websites and blogs, but funnily enough, it doesn't seem to have come to the attention of any of the national restaurant critics, something we'd like to see rectified. Where should we go for a drink first? We're big fans of McNeill's pub, just down the road, with their consistently warm welcome and nightly trad music. It feels a bit like stepping back in time, and we've heard the Guinness is very good (the gin is too). There are plenty of other pubs on Capel Street like Slattery's and The Boar's Head, and Panti Bar is a bit of fun if you fancy a 90's style, super-sweet cocktail served by flamboyant bartenders. Where should we sit? It's pretty cosy in here. There a few four top tables, which you will definitely be sharing if there aren't four of you, a counter at the wall to the right and another facing out onto Capel Street. That would be our preference for the people watching, but it was so packed when we visited that we just had to take whatever we could find. What's good to eat? Since eating here we developed a complete obsession with Banh Cuon - Vietnamese steamed rice rolls filled with pork, mushrooms and shallots, with a fish sauce based dip. They have the strangest, gelatinous texture, but are one of the best things we've eaten this year. What we could have done without was the sheets of plasticy, ultra-processed pork that came with them, but next time we'd ask them to leave them off and save the food waste. If that's your thing, go nuts. We're big fans of Bun Cha, the cold noodle dish, with vegetables, herbs and peanuts, topped with meat, prawns or spring rolls, and served with a sauce to either dip in or pour over (we prefer the latter). Aobaba's is the best we've had in Dublin. Perfectly crispy spring rolls packed with flavour, on a really well balanced base of noodles, vegetables and herbs, and the accompanying sauce brought it all together incredibly well. A 'happy pancake', or Banh Xeo was also good, but we think Pho Viet 's on Parnell Street is better. The rice flour and coconut milk batter pancake was crispy with good flavour, but was a bit lacking in the filling of pork, prawns, beansprouts and other vegetables. It was also missing the traditional lettuce leaves and mass of herbs are usually used to wrap up pieces of pancake before dipping it into sauce. We asked for herbs, and at first they said no, then they brought some. That was the only surprising (and disappointing) thing about Aobaba. The norm in Vietnamese restaurants is to provide an abundance of fresh herbs to mix into or eat with your food. We were recommended to try the special Pho with beef, pork, chicken, tofu and prawn, and it was huge with a really flavoursome broth. It was a great example of Pho, but as always happens in these situations we find ourselves wondering about the provenance of the meat. Some of the beef was quite fatty, and we didn't see any descriptions denoting free-range anything, so it's probably safe to assume that it's not. Aobaba is very cheap, the bill for an enormous amount of food for two people came to €29, with a tonne of leftovers to bring home, and obviously with more ethically sourced meat the prices would rise, so unfortunately this is often the trade off for cheap food. We would have happily paid a few more euro per dish for free-range anything, but they obviously feel that cheaper prices are more important to their customers. What about the drinks? There are a tonne of drinks to choose from, like iced teas, milk teas, bubble teas and Vietnamese cofee, but no alcohol, and they don't do BYO. They probably don't want people hanging around as space is so limited. And the service? Ranged from sweet and smiling to brusque and barking with a side of eye-rolling, depending on who you got. You order and pay at the counter and then they bring the food to you when it's ready. The wait was only around 5 minutes, and they're clearly operating a tightly run ship. Take away boxes to bring home leftovers are 30c each - or save plastic and bring your own if you have a habit of over-ordering like we do. The verdict? This is currently in the lead for our favourite Vietnamese in the city. Despite a few flaws, the food is of a seriously high quality, and it's great value. Prepare to wait for a seat as it always seems to be jammed, and don't leave without trying those addictive Banh Cuon. Aobaba 46A Capel Street, Dublin 1 aobaba.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Farm-to-fork café on Airfield Estate in Dundrum, with most of their milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and eggs produced on the 38-acre estate. The ethos here is seasonal, local and sustainable, with breakfast and lunch every day and occasional evening events. Overends Kitchen Website airfield.ie/overends Address Airfield Estate, Overend Avenue, Dublin 14 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Farm-to-fork café on Airfield Estate in Dundrum, with most of their milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and eggs produced on the 38-acre estate. The ethos here is seasonal, local and sustainable, with breakfast and lunch every day and occasional evening events. 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

Featherblade Juicy steaks and béarnaise covered burgers Posted: 28 Feb 2018 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? Dublin has long been lacking in casual dining restaurants, where the food is excellent but uncomplicated, and where you can justify eating at any point in the week, lunch or dinner, rather than saving up for that Friday/Saturday night splurge (we still think there's a bit of Catholic guilt going on about eating out midweek in this city). Thankfully that's changing thanks to restaurateurs like Joe Macken ( Jo'Burger , Skinflint , Hey Donna ) and John Farrell ( 777 , Dillinger's ) who've been turning out reliable, inexpensive restaurant concepts over the last few years. Featherblade is another one to add to the list. It opened in September 2015, with the aim of turning out quality, affordable steaks and sides. Similar restaurants have people queuing down the street in London ( Flat Iron ) and Paris ( Le Relais de l’Entrecôte ), so someone clearly saw a business opportunity. The featherblade is a relatively cheap cut of meat that comes from the shoulder of the cow, and can be tough if cooked incorrectly but has lots of flavour when done right. The menu is simple. Two starters, featherblade steak or burger for main, sides and sauces. There are a couple of desserts too, and maybe a special. They've had a bit of flack for cooking the steaks sous vide, which involves putting the meat into a vacuum-sealed bag, and cooking it in a water bath until it reaches the required temperature, then finishing it off briefly on the grill. Critics would say this is a lazy way of cooking and doesn't involve any skill. Advocates would say it produces the juiciest meat and ensures each steak is perfectly cooked every time. If you want to read more about it check out the brilliant Serious Eats website. Where’s good for a drink beforehand? You're bang in the centre of town so there are loads of options. If you want a glass of wine we'd suggest Le Cave or La Ruelle . For pints you've got Café en Seine a few doors down (good for groups or if you want a seat), Kehoe's around the corner on South Anne-Street for that proper Irish pub feel, or on the very off-chance the sun is shining, the terrace outside The Bailey is where everyone wants to be. If it's cocktails you're after and you're organised enough to make a reservation in advance, The Blind Pig or Peruke & Periwig would be a lovely start to the night. What’s the room like? Very Scandinavian. Sleek and modern, but not cold or overly-minimalist. Lots of black and wood. There are two levels - ground floor, and upstairs where you can see the kitchen. Seating is much the same on both levels, but we found downstairs slightly cosier and more peaceful. What's good to eat? This is easy. Because the menu's so small, if you go with just one other person you can pretty much order it all (bar maybe the specials). On the day we visited the two starters were lamb croquettes with parsnip purée and salsa verde, and ricotta gnocchi with squash, hazelnuts, wild mushroom and sage butter. We loved both, but there was a recurring theme of some vegetables tasting of nothing. Both the parsnip and squash purées were either made from inferior veg or badly under-seasoned. It didn't ruin the dish, but getting that part right would have taken them to a different level. We were very pleasantly surprised with the burger, having not expected too much, this being a steak restaurant. It was cooked perfectly medium and was super juicy, in a good quality brioche bun, with the béarnaise sauce a genius (if belly-busting) addition. We really enjoyed it, but were glad we were sharing one between two. We had ordered the steak medium but when it arrived it looked closer to well-done. The wait staff apologised and went to retrieve another one, but this looked not far off the first one. We then realised this was due to the style of cooking. Despite this throwing us slightly, the meat was incredibly juicy, tender and full of flavour, and the chimichurri salt on the outside was the perfect enhancer to the sweet meat. It was a generous portion for €13 and we can't think of anywhere else that does steak this good for this price. They took both steaks off the bill by way of apology and although we insisted on paying for one they were having none of it. There were two options for dessert, and we went for the chocolate and peanut tart with salted caramel after seeing people rave about it online. It tasted like the poshest possible incarnation of a snickers bar and we're still thinking about it. Be warned, it is incredibly rich so half was more than enough. What about the drinks? Cocktails are really well priced at €7.50 each, so much so that it would be madness not to start with one. We tried the Raspberry Fizz with prosecco, limoncello, raspberry purée and mint, and the Old Fashioned with Teelings whiskey, orange thyme and chilli syrup, which were both excellent. We thought the fizz might be too sweet but it was perfectly balanced and refreshing, and we loved the twist on the more grown up (read: more booze heavy) Old Fashioned. They have a nice list of bottled beer and cider, and wine comes both in bottle and on tap, which you can order by the glass, carafe (500ml) or litre. From tap we tried the Spanish Tempranillo from Bodegas Abanico (€7 a glass), and the Portugese Touriga Nacional from Alex Relvas (€7.50 a glass). Both were really solid wines for red meat, but the Touriga Nacional was particularly fragrant and interesting, and great with the steak. And the service? Our waitress was very friendly and accommodating, and they dealt with the steak issue like pros. The verdict? Featherblade is the type of restaurant that Dublin needs more of, and we think they're offering real value for money, especially considering the eye-watering rents in Dublin city centre right now. There's nothing fussy or 'special occasion' about it, which is the draw, and overall the food delivers, making it perfect for a midweek outing, or when you don't have hours to languish over dinner. Despite a few minor complaints we really enjoyed our meal and are planning a return the next time we want steak and don't want to cook it. Long live quality casual dining. Featherblade 51 Dawson Street, Dublin 2 featherblade.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Space Jaru Casual Korean food that's spicing up The Liberties Posted: 7 Mar 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Ronan Doyle What should we know about Space Jaru? Korean street food vendors Jaru have spent a long seven years building their brand on the food market and festival scenes, together with a growing retail presence. As well as stockists like Supervalu and Fresh carrying their kimchi and rayu, they operate their Jaru Mart direct delivery service online, sending Korean storecupboard essentials, meal kits and ready to hit dinners across the capital. Founder Gunmoo Kim was just about to sign the lease on the business’s first sit-in space elsewhere in March 2020 when, well, we all know what happened next. Three years, a few pandemic pivots and plenty of recipe experimentation later, Space Jaru has finally settled down in Dublin 8, in the Meath Street site that was formerly home to Tasty8 café. Where should we sit? Both wide, floor-to-ceiling shopfront windows have benches running the full length of them, so they're ideal for solo diners or those who want to watch the world go by - and few Dublin streets are as good for entertaining outside watching as Meath Street. Otherwise, the left side of the space has a smattering of two and four-top setups spaced throughout, while the right plays host to a bigger ten-seater table, calling out for a group outing. It’s also got by far the best view of the open kitchen. What's on the menu? They’ve kept things clear and concise with four sections representing a good spread of Korean cuisine: small plates, banchan and sides, BBQ bowls and KFC (Korean fried chicken) burgers. The chicken is free-range too which we love to see. If you’re just in for a bowl it’s worth getting the full spread of banchan for maximum mix-and-matching pleasure - they're perfect for adding into rice. For our part we got stuck straight in to the small plates. First out was the Yangnyum chicken, an impressive mini-mound of twice-fried thighs drizzled in a spicy gochujang-based sauce. That intense, fermented chili paste is a staple of Korean cooking - the country’s mountainous terrain made preserved foods a requirement for more inland regions - and here it brings real flavour complexity to the tender chicken strips, nicely offset by cubes of pickled daikon. Crispy, flaky batter is delicately seasoned and a light scattering of seeds brings added crunch to the plate. This is a good one for sharing among those with different palates - spice lovers will lap up the Yangnyum sauce, while the more mild-mouthed can grab an uncoated strip if their chopsticks are quick enough. A plate of mandu came next - Korean dumplings not too far removed from the more familiar gyoza. These beef galbi (rib) ones arrived deep-fried with a cracklingly crisp finish, scattered with pickled onions. The duelling textures of skins and filling is really effective, a satisfying crunch yielding to the soft meat, but the flavour can feel a little one-note beyond the first bite and there’s only so much the little side bowl of soy sauce can do. Worth trying shared with a larger crowd, but this isn’t a plate we’d want all to ourselves. Our server cheerily called out the tteokbokki as her favourite plate as she set it down, and it’s one we'd been keen to try. In Korea you’ll find endless variations on this popular street food dish, centred on log-shaped rice cakes usually tossed in a spicy sauce and topped with sliced spring onions, sesame seeds and a soft-boiled egg. Space Jaru ’s interpretation centres on gochujang pork and it’s a resounding success in our book, rendered fat and fiery sauce happily lapped up by the squidgy cylinders and lightly tempered by the unset egg. There’s hearty, heavy eating in this, but we couldn’t keep our chopsticks from flying back for more. Edamame felt like coming up for air after all that, and we salute the unfussy treatment here that gets out of the way and lets the light, fresh, firm soybeans speak for themselves. A tell-tale blistered skin on the pods speaks to a short pan-fry finish before the sprinkling of cashews, sesame seeds and coarse salt that adds a very pleasant crunch. BBQ bowls are one of the centrepieces of the Space Jaru menu, and a mainstay of their market trade. After much wrangling we went for pork jeyuk - thin cuts of fatty meat marinated in apple and gochujang and stir-fried into submission. The bowls come with a choice of purple or kimchi rice and one of six sauces served on the side for drizzling or dipping - choose your own adventure. We usually like our kimchi with a little more tang than this but it plays well against the sweeter notes of the meat. Tired-looking limp leaves of rocket took away from an otherwise bright bowl, well-balanced with textures and flavours, though after trying the bulk of the small plates before it there wasn’t much new to note here. If you’re going in for a bowl alone, you’ll likely come out satisfied. The only reason we didn’t go for the beef bulgogi bowl was wanting to try the appa burger instead, which comes with two generous layers of the soy-marinated meat, slopped over two slices of cheese, sandwiching a fried free-range chicken breast. 'Appa' is an affectionate term for 'Father' in Korean, and this does feel like something yer Da might mangle together over a summer barbecue - and we mean that in the best way possible. The bulgogi is beautiful - the cheaper cuts of meat usually used mostly reflect a history of commoner cooking, but it also yields muscly mounds of meat with maximum surface area to soak up the intensely-flavoured sauce. The chicken is just as good as in the yangnyum to start, and doesn't skimp on size. If there’s a drawback it’s the cheddar which dissolves into a largely flavour-free ooze. The bun itself doesn’t stand out much either, but there’s no pretence here to being anything other than a vessel for everything in between. What are the drinks like? The wine list stands out as seriously considered - a lot more thought has gone into these picks than most comparable casual eateries around town. We went with the Judith Beck Ink - always a nice natural one to see by the glass— and the fresh red fruits and minimal tannins make for a perfect pairing with the lightly-spiced pork and bulgogi. For spicier dishes you might want to stick with white - we can vouch for the Von Winning Deidesheimmer Riesling as a good way to balance out the bolder dishes. For a traditional Korean flavour there’s sool and soju going - fermented rice beer and spirits, respectively - while non-alcoholic options include Irish-produced kefir and kombucha. How was the service? Fast and friendly - we had our first plates inside 15 minutes of arrival and the whole lot came in quick succession from there. It’s worth asking for dishes to be divided out into starters and mains if you don’t want to be overwhelmed. Staff were very happy to help with recommendations and couldn’t have been more apologetic when one side we were really keen to try (padron peppers with baby anchovy) wasn’t available that day. The place got busy quickly when we visited on a Sunday evening, and while servers largely left us alone once everything was on the table, it was easy to catch an attentive eye if there was anything else we needed. And the damage? €80 before tip for two, with wine and kombucha and frankly far too much food. You could easily fill up for under €25 a head before factoring in drinks. At lunch, it’s a very reasonable €13 across the board for a slimmed-down menu of BBQ bowls and KFC burgers with chips. What's the verdict on Space Jaru? A welcome new space for casual catchups, Korean style, in the heart of the Liberties. With its well-honed menu, excellent drink options and fair pricing, we can see Space Jaru becoming a popular spot for quick bites on the go, kicking off a night out (it's right around the corner from Vicar Street), or just somewhere to spend a few hours in good company over unfussy food. Grab a group, order a bit of everything, and share a bottle of soju - you’re in safe hands here. Space Jaru 67-68 Meath Street, The Liberties, Dublin 8 jaru.ie/spacejaru New Openings & Discoveries More >>

The man, the myth, the legend, celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has graced Dublin with his (minimal) presence, in this rooftop restaurant baring his name in new boutique hotel The Leinster. His famed egg toast and hash browns with caviar have also landed, at suitably hefty price tags, with the rest of the menu treading a line between big Asian and Mediterranean flavours, with catch-all ingredients that should please anyone who crosses the threshold. As Dublin prices go it's on the higher end, but those rooftop views don't come cheap. Jean Georges @ The Leinster Website theleinster.ie/jean-georges Address Jean-Georges at The Leinster, Mount Street Lower, Dublin 2, Ireland Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story The man, the myth, the legend, celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has graced Dublin with his (minimal) presence, in this rooftop restaurant baring his name in new boutique hotel The Leinster. His famed egg toast and hash browns with caviar have also landed, at suitably hefty price tags, with the rest of the menu treading a line between big Asian and Mediterranean flavours, with catch-all ingredients that should please anyone who crosses the threshold. As Dublin prices go it's on the higher end, but those rooftop views don't come cheap. 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

Clanbrassil House 2018 Dynamic, charcoal cooking in Dublin 8 Posted: 15 Mar 2018 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What’s the story? The second, more-casual opening from Bastible chef-owner Barry Fitzgerald and his partner Claremarie Thomas, with rapidly rising chef Gráinne O’Keeffe in the kitchen. Part of a contingent of young restaurateurs behind some of the most dynamic food in Dublin right now, Bastible's been showing up on every ‘best places to eat in Dublin’ list since opening, and along with their contemporaries like Etto and Forest & Marcy , have injected a new streak of energy into the Dublin dining scene. Clanbrassil House opened in Autumn 2017 and was supposed to be a more casual wine and small plates type of place, but we reckon most people are coming here for a full, multi-course meal. Where’s good for a drink beforehand? We liked 57 The Headline which has a brilliant Gin & Tonic menu, huge beer selection and comfy seats. If you want a more traditional pub you’ve got Leonard’s Corner , and if you’re after wine you’d probably be best to go straight to Clanbrassil House and see if they can seat you early for an aperitif. What’s the room like? Narrow and cosy. Very much ‘Parisian wine bar’, as opposed to ‘inner-city Dublin’. There are high tables and stools at the front, which is a lovely space with bare brick and deep blue walls, wine bottles lined up along one side and fairy lights in the window. It feels very grown up, and like you could be in any number of cool European cities. In the back are the normal tables where you can look into the kitchen, but we could see it from our high table too. What's good to eat? If you’re like us you’ll want it all, and the menu is small enough that if there were four of you (or two who were very hungry) you could just tell them to bring everything. They do a family style sharing menu for €40 a head where the chefs pick food from every section once the order goes in, and it works out as good value, but they’re not keen on telling you what’s going to come out in advance so it feels a bit like Russian roulette. We did tell our server there was one dish we weren’t keen on, and she managed to get it changed to the one we really wanted, but we would have liked full disclosure before deciding whether to go family style (which we did) or á la carte. From the snacks, Verdial olives were exceptional - the type you find in most good bars in Spain but rarely here. Iberico ham croquettes were good, but the knockout dish was grilled sourdough and hot smoked trout. The flavours of smoke from the grill were vivid, and it's come up in conversations a lot since. From the smaller plates, roast leeks, chopped egg and chicken skin was enjoyable whilst not particularly memorable (and maybe a touch under seasoned), but the chicken liver parfait with caramelised apple and brioche was rich, luxurious and perfect. When it came to the charcoal grill (larger plates) our expectations were completely flipped on their heads. We’d been eager to try the Picana steak with roasted bone marrow, parmesan and anchovy, and while it looked great and the flavours were good, the meat was tough and sinewy, and we didn’t enjoy it. The BBQ cauliflower however, with vadouvan butter, lentils and yoghurt (which we probably wouldn’t have picked) turned out to be one of the most memorable dishes of the night (and the year), culminating in a tussle over the last few scrapes of the plate. The cauliflower was almost meat-like, and the flavours were an another level. It takes a skilful kitchen to make a relatively flavourless vegetable taste this good (although the fact it was swimming in butter helped). The infamous hash brown fries were in fact just hash browns in the shape of chips (we're not sure what we were expecting after the mass hysteria on Instagram), and we couldn’t ascertain much pickled onion from the mayo, which it really could have done with to cut through the fat in the fries. Desserts were chocolate mousse, honeycomb and marmalade ice-cream - all very nicely done - and blood orange doughnuts with buttermilk custard, which had a nice texture but only the teeniest splodge of blood orange. The buttermilk custard was beautiful and delicately flavoured. What about the drinks? The wine list is very short. One sparkling, five whites and five reds – three of each are available by the glass). Personally we don’t think this is enough, and although we did have some lovely wines, if you’re only going to have a list this short, every wine has to knock it out of the park. The Mas Candi Cava is a a brilliant example of Spanish sparkling wine, and it’s refreshing to see something other than prosecco by the glass. For whites we had a Riesling from German producer Geil , which is perfectly good but not going to change your life, and the Spanish Louro from Rafael Palacios , which is stunning. For reds we had a natural Côtes du Rhône from Eric Texier , and an Austrian Blaufrankisch from Murh van der Niepoort . The Blaufrankisch had more to it. We had tasters of a few others but none were hitting the spot. If we were going for a single bottle it would have been Australian producer Jamsheed ’s Syrah, which is a brilliant, vibrant example of new-wave natural wine. And the service? Lovely – informative and accommodating. There when you needed them and not there when you didn’t. Our only issue was the speed the food came out at the start (although this isn’t the fault of the front of house staff). We had two snacks and three starters on the table within 15 minutes of the order going in and had to ask them to slow down. If the courses had been more well-paced and we we were told what was on the family style menu (again probably coming from the kitchen) it would have been a perfect 10. The verdict? This is exciting, innovative cooking from a kitchen that’s not standing still, and whilst it might not have been 100% perfect we love what they’re doing. When they get it right, they really take the food to a different level, and we're planning a return soon. On the night we were there Darina Allen flew in for a few plates before an early morning flight to San Francisco. Clearly the woman has her priorities right. Clanbrassil House 6 Clanbrassil Street Upper, Dublin 8 clanbrassilhouse.com New Openings & Discoveries More >>

Neighbourhood café in the heart of Dublin 8, with all food made on site using seasonal, mostly organic ingredients, and a yoga studio on site. Their menu is all vegetarian with plenty of vegan options, so you can enjoy a plant-filled feast after you’ve worked through your sun salutations. Little Bird Website little-bird.ie Address 82 South Circular Road, Portobello, Dublin 8 Good For Tag 1 Cuisine Tag 1 Once Over Read our Review >> The Story Neighbourhood café in the heart of Dublin 8, with all food made on site using seasonal, mostly organic ingredients, and a yoga studio on site. Their menu is all vegetarian with plenty of vegan options, so you can enjoy a plant-filled feast after you’ve worked through your sun salutations. 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

Lottie's So much to love about Lottie's, so it was a shame about the ending Posted: 27 Jun 2023 Neighbourhood Neighborhood Name Address Restaurant Address Website Website Name Restaurant Info View the Listing >> Written by: Lisa Cope What's the story with Lottie's? Lottie's opened in Rathmines at the start of March in the former site of the ill-fated Lenehan's , which went big on style but lacked the all important substance. When we heard that the site was going to be reopened by Domini Kemp (known for Itsa Bagel, museum cafés and the restaurant in BTs) and Brian Montague (of The Winding Stair group) we were expecting a another attempt at a please-all exercise, but then we heard they'd nabbed Tudorel Ostache, formerly head chef at Mister S to lead the food. Now they had our attention. Better known as Ted, we've had Ostache's food several times (most recently at our Mister S takeover ), and knew there was no way this was going to be a beef, chicken or salmon situation. Early reviews, both from critics and our readers were coming in very positive, and when we gave ATF Insiders the chance last week to pick where our next review would be, Lottie's was the runaway favourite. Where should we sit? It's a big space with loads of seating options. We always veer towards natural light so the front at the windows appeals most, but we found it strange that the blinds were fully down and shut, with mere chinks of light straining to get through - we actually panicked outside thinking it was closed and that we'd gotten the wrong night. Maybe the sun was too bright, but we'd have thought a partial closure would have done the job. Seating is either via mustard banquettes or on sleek black and rattan set ups in the middle of the room, with a longer high table set up for groups. Head for the kitchen and there's counter seating to get a good view of your dinner being cooked, or some of the cutest two-tops in town, that loudly scream date night. Head to the back and there's a smaller room, which would be perfect for a small gathering, or if you just feel like hiding away. The courtyard outside is currently (sadly) only being used for drinks, but we're told that work is in the pipeline to get a space ready for outdoor dining (either here or on the rooftop terrace which isn't open right now). How was the food? This is our favourite type of menu - no filler, all killer - and choosing is so tough that we also let ATF Insiders pick in advance what they wanted us to eat. Unfortunately the menu we were handed had quite a few changes to the one online, so we couldn't follow our orders to the letter, but we stuck within the realms of what the people wanted. The people wanted Hegarty's cheddar croquettes with fermented chilli sauce, and we've rarely met a croquette we didn't like, but we can't say the sharp, earthy flavour from the cheddar came through as much as we would have liked. It was likely muffled by the very hot chilli sauce - the tiniest drop is enough, A second snack of foie gras parfait (like meat flavoured butter) came on chargrilled sourdough with fermented walnuts (the best type of walnuts) and a sweet, fruity Port jus. A great pre-dinner bite or lighter starter. Charred prawn saganaki with Ardsallagh feta cheese and toasted sourdough came without the regulation saganaki mini frying pan, but we didn't care because the Mediterranean flavours were bright and brilliant. Four juicy, charred, plump prawns sat on a vivid looking and tasting cherry tomato sauce with basil oil and a crumbling of salty feta, all waiting to be scooped up onto the crispy bread and devoured. There's been quite a bit of chatter about the octopus at Lottie's probably because so much of it comes out resembling a rubber tyre thread, but the soft, barely charred tentacles here were meaty and tender, with a knife slipping through with little resistance. We loved the pairing of gochujang, samphire and crispy potato for some necessary crunch amongst all the softness, and the only gripe was with the cornflour-like, slightly gloopy consistency of the sauce. There were no gripes with the flavours. A third starter (one of two vegetarian options) was tagliatelle with courgette, St Tola goat's curd and pickled chilli, and we picked over this for quite a while trying to figure out how courgette and pasta could possibly be so delicious (lemon is one part of the puzzle). The generous mound of goat's curd on top made every spoonful rich and lactic, and the only misstep was that the pickled chillis weren't very pickled (but were very hot). If they'd seen a vinegar solution it was the briefest of introductions. For mains the one everyone wanted to hear about was the bavette, which came with mojo rojo (a Canarian sauce made from red peppers, chilli and garlic) and charred broccoli. They didn't ask us how we wanted it cooked which is a dicey tactic, but it came medium/rare, which was perfect, however this won't be done enough for some people so if in doubt ask for more time on the grill. The sauce had the lip-smacking acidity of red wine vinegar, heat from the chilli, and sweet smoothness from the roasted peppers, and it's as good an example as we've had. The charred broccoli makes it hard to go back to eating broccoli any other way. Something we were surprised so many of you wanted the lowdown on was the jerk chicken thigh, with charred corn, nduja and herb yoghurt (chicken usually being seen as a safe/boring bet). The chicken was nicely seasoned but we weren't getting much jerk flavour. The meat had also lost a lot of moistness and was tougher than we'd like. The other components saved the day though, the just spiced nduja wrapped up in the corn, the herb yoghurt bringing everything to life, and the pickled onions on top adding another level of freshness. A note on chicken: We usually don't order chicken somewhere like this unless it's free-range, and the menu didn't state if it was, so we asked a server about its provenance. He went to check with the kitchen before coming back and telling us it was free-range, but when pressed didn't know where it was from. He returned to the kitchen to ask again, but then went from there to the general manager to have a whispered conversation. He came back telling us it was from JJ Young (listed on the menu) and that it was free-range, but we found it odd that the kitchen, who accept food deliveries each day, didn't appear to be able to answer a basic question. A side of beef-dripping chips (which we were told are cut in house) were a mixed bag, some nicely crisp, some more akin to cardboard, but the smoked onion aioli was reminiscent of Mister S in all the right ways. Another of fennel, kumquat and pecan in an apple cider vinaigrette was glistening and crisp, but the combination felt more apt for winter than a sunny June evening. A sharp, creamy lemon posset came beautifully topped with bright pink, just cooked rhubarb, and a crunchy oat and nut crumble topping, although we thought the presentation could have been improved. If you only have one dessert, make it the îles flottantes (floating islands), the rarely seen (and ever more rarely done right) French dessert of floating soft meringue in a light, creamy custard. The one at Lottie's ups the ante with almonds and Clementine zest, and this was better than the last few we've had in France. What should we drink? The signature cocktail menu might tempt you on arrival, and a Bakewell Sour had all the tart, cherry, almondy flavours we wanted. The mocktails, featuring Lyres N/A spirits were all €9, which is more than we wanted to pay for a driver's special, so asked a member of staff if there were any other N/A options other than juice or fizzy drinks. She said she could do something with elderflower and cucumer for the same price as a juice, so we gave her the green light. It was refreshing but very sweet, and later led to the unravelling of what had been a lovely meal - more on that to come. The wine list has a lot more of interest by the bottle than by the glass, with the latter feeling perfunctory and quite safe. Things get considerably more interesting by the bottle, with some star picks including Luis Seabra's Xisto Ilimitado Branco, Viña Gravonia from Lopez de Heredia, and Giulia Negri's Langhe Nebbiolo. How was the service? Service throughout was pleasant if not overly attentive. Courses were perfectly spaced and delivered with a smile, but we were never asked how the food was when clearing plates, and had to wave down a manager several times when we needed something, like more water. Things then unravelled with the bill. The previously mentioned elderflower and cucumber soft had been put through as €7, not the €4 juice price we were told on ordering. We told the server who brought the bill, who brought it to the general manager, who then came over. We explained the previous conversation multiple times, while he continued to insist that it was the correct price, while we continued to (exasperatedly) explain the previous conversation multiple times (that staff member had now left). It felt like being on a dizzying waltzer that we couldn't get off, and only on pointing out our disbelief that he would argue this strongly with a customer over €3 did he whip back angrily to the till and correct the price. It was such an inhospitable ending to what had been a really lovely meal, and we went from "we'll definitely be back here" to "there's no way we're stepping foot in there again", in the space of five minutes and a very draining argument. In a world where Google reviews can make or break a restaurant, to send someone off into the night after an altercation like that would be unthinkable for most hospitality professionals, and it left us reeling our way through Rathmines. And the damage? €138 for a mishmash of food to feed three, but only one cocktail and two softs. It felt like very good value for what we had in comparison to average prices around town right now. What's the verdict? We were mega impressed with Lottie's. How many places can balance food that's genuinely exciting, with prices that don't hurt your heart, and the type of room and menu that makes it ideal for so many occasions - even those family and friends getogethers with so many varying palates and wallets that inevitably end in booking somewhere that ticks all the boring boxes. The big glitch in service at the end was so unfortunate (and could just as easily not have happened), and while some other things signified issues in that department, most of the staff were warm and welcoming and the timing of the food was faultless, with everything arriving just as we wanted it. There's no argument that the kitchen here is the strong point, along with the spacious, modern room, and its ability to please a wide group of diners without being a "please-all" restaurant. Just don't question the bill and you should be fine. Lotties's 7-9, Rathgar Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6 lotties.ie New Openings & Discoveries More >>