When you work in a kitchen you come across a huge range of characters. I started my days cooking many moons ago in Peacock Alley the Michelin stared restaurant belonging to the infamous Conrad Gallagher. Say what you want about Gallagher these days but he changed the face of cooking in Ireland taking us all form meat and two veg and introducing us to exotic foreign tastes that we all take for granted now like risotto and chorizo. There were a team of about 25 staff all of whom have gone on to influence Irish food including Nick Menuier(Hells Kithcen, Masterchef, Marco Pierre White and Pichet) and Dylan McGrath the chef behind Rustic Stone and TV personality. It was a kitchen full of big personalities and massive egos and the biggest by a long stretch belonged to Dylan. To put it in to context I always tell people who think he is arrogant on TV that he actually comes across as much better than normal when on the box. I clashed with him daily and thought he was the biggest wanker that had ever walked the earth but one thing I could never doubt was his talent. He was intense, rude, offensive and ignorant but he was 10 times the chef I would ever be. His only ever goal at work was perfection and it clashed with my own goal at the time which was partying.
So when I walked in to Rustic Stone 12 years after working with him (the last time I ate his food was a shared meal between shifts) I was expecting to be wowed and blown away. The menus are absolutely huge with about 30 choices and as often happens with a menu that large I could barely find anything I wanted. Distraction everywhere. I always prefer 6 or 7 amazing choices rather than the kitchen sink thrown at the menu. I was eating with my mate Sean and we ordered chicken wings to start. 6 wings came out for a tenner and they were good. Simple chicken wings with a sticky sauce, nothing more. We polished those off and ignored the poor value because the main course was on it’s way and we had both ordered steaks on the stone. The stone which our waitress helpfully explained was brought out at 300c with nearly raw meat that you could cook to your liking and is the signature way of cooking for the restaurant. The steaks were brought out with great fanfare. I went for a Sirloin and Sean had a ribeye. To say they were a disappointment would be an understatement. We’d ordered them medium rare but there was barely a sign of blood left in either steak. We took them off the stone which then essentially rendered the stone useless as cooking the meat further would have sapped any remaining juice out of it. The sauces were average and truffle fries that we ordered as side orders were decent but no more than that.
I hated the whole experience and I was starting to think to myself “maybe I just still hate the fucker” and that was why I wasn’t enjoying it. Then Sean piped up with the classic line that forms the title of this post. He is no foodie but he knows a good steak and he said his was average as well. It was one of those times where you just want the bill as quickly as you can to get out of the place and take the financial hit and forget all about it.
The place was packed though at 6 o’clock. People were fighting for tables when we were leaving and there were ooh’s coming from all over the place as the hot stones were brought to the table. It’s all a big gimmick though. Some of you might remember Mint which was Dylan’s old restaurant in Ranelagh. It was tiny, unprofitable but lauded by the critics and customers alike. It was well on the path to getting 2 Michelin stars and I’ve heard several people describe it as the best meal of their lives. Dylan has clearly taken stock (getting 2 Michelin stars requires constant 18 hour days) and decided to go down the TV and profitability route instead. Who could blame him. It is clearly working brilliantly for him and his bank balance and lifestyle will be much better off. As much as I hated the guy I could always see his talent and the world was starting to see it at Mint. It’s our loss that he has gone for middle of the road cook your own steaks concept when he could be the greatest Irish chef of his generation.
Balanced Opinion
I’m only one person eating there one day of the week. Here are some other reviews so as you can get a good balanced opinion…
Lucinda OSullivan
Stitch and bear
Pol
The Early Birds
Independent
Dublin Reviewer
The Dublin restaurant scene has changed dramatically over the last couple of years. Gone is starched lined, inflated prices and snooty waiters replaced with a new wave of New York style hipster joints with causal menus, staff dressed like scruffs and no ability to book tables. Crackbird is the big daddy of the hipster joints but new kid on the block is 777 a Mexican spot in an area called the Hipster Triangle (made that up but a mixture of Dame Street, George’s Street and South William Street). This place is so cool that nobody even goes there yet. When most places these days are screaming about 15 Euro 3 course menus on huge chalk boards and trying everything to get punters in the door 777 have gone for the complete opposite and basically tried to hide their premises. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book and clearly all aimed at building a rep as a secretive spot for the “in crowd”.
When I visited on a Sunday lunch time the place had more staff than customers. At least 7 versus 3. The place had only been open for 2 days though and it was early enough. When you are basically hiding your restaurant from the general public you rely on word of mouth and even in an age of social media that will take a week to kick in. Expect the place to be packed from next weekend onwards.
After Italian, Mexican is my favorite type of food and it pissed me off no end that it took Ireland so long to cop on to the whole burrito trend. We were probably 3 years late on that one. When you think Mexican you think…melted cheddar cheese, ground beef, guacamole and sour cream all piled on to some sort of starch. Funnily enough when you spend time in Mexico like I have the food is nothing like that. The cheddar cheese slant is just the western world bastardizing their food to fit our own tastes. You won’t find anything like that here in 777 because this is the real deal. It doesn’t get more Mexican than this.
Not only was I testing them on one of my favorite cuisines but I also added in Oysters (a huge favorite) and fresh orange juice (something I’ll slate people for getting wrong). The place passed on all 3 fronts with flying colors. One of the freshest juices I’ve tasted and huge big plump and fresh oysters with 3 types of chili sauces for a nice alternative to tabasco.
Main course (which you can see at the top of the post) was a mixture of chicken, eggs, beans and was on the brunch menu. I’d love to tell you what it was called but I was reading the paper and forgot to write it down and I can’t find their brunch menu online. Safe to say it was delicious. Everything I ever wanted from a brunch menu and more.
This place is going to explode in popularity once people actually find it. You won’t be able to get in the door because they’ve nailed the concept, menu and execution (as you would expect form people who also own Dillingers and The Butchers Grill in Ranelagh). The only negative for me were being asked 7 times if I was enjoying my lunch (which I was) but that is normal when staff and owners are eager to please on opening weekend. This is a restaurant that needs to be visited at night. There are cocktails, tequila and all sorts of beers in abundance and the food needs the buzz to go along with it. Even the bar setup and decor are made for slamming shots down with friends and kicking your night off in style.
My advice is to get down there pronto and get in early on the next hipster spot in Dublin because this place is gonna be the real deal. It has all the ingredients to become one of Dublin’s top 5 restaurants. Good luck finding it though.
I’ve had frozen yogurt all over the world but nowhere ever does it as well as they do in New York, The West coast in the USA or Australia. The rest of the world produces sub standard watery shite. The real stuff should taste as good as ice cream while offering you all those delicious toppings and less of a guilt trip than when eating ice cream. I’m glad to report that standard has finally arrived in Ireland in the George’s street arcade in a placed called Yogism. You serve yourself in the shop which is all funky colors including bright pinks that brought the place to life in dreary Irish winter. I talked to the owner and he said he had picked the worst time of the year to open and that hopefully the summer months would bring big business. There were a good few people braving the cold for a treat when I visited though and people seemed to be enjoying the experience. I so want this place to succeed because opening something this different in Ireland during a recession in the depths of winter is a brave move and one that deserves to work.
You get to choose from about 30 toppings which include all sorts of fresh fruit and berries, smarties, nuts, crunchy stuff and even natural gummy bears. The one problem here is that you want absolutely everything. As an added little bonus you get your order free if you can guess the exact weight in grams. I went with 200 grams and was only 3 grams out but given that it is a start up business I think I would have had to insist on paying even if I did get it right. This place is just so cool, fresh, innovative and it absolutely belongs on the Dublin food scene. Lets hope it is rammed when the good weather comes along.
Here is the yogurt I had which cost me €3 and was a great little pick me up while walking around the city center. The best part is because it isn’t ice cream you can walk away feeling good about yourself as well. I urge you to check this place out and support a cool new Irish business as it really is that good.
Alternate Views
I’m only one person eating in the venue on one day so here are some alternative reviews of the place…
Le Cool
Dublin Events
Yelp
I started this blog to help me discover great food right on my own door step and that is what happened when I stumbled in to the Camden Kitchen on a cold late January evening. I always feel sorry for restaurants at this time of year because everybody is broke and eating out is the last thing most people can afford after the excess of Christmas but despite all that the place was packed and it was easy to see why. The menu was packed full of stuff that I wanted but the value of the €23 set menu with delicious dishes could not be ignored. I started with soup which as you can see above came beautifully presented and with absolutely delicious home made bread. The only complaint and it’s not a bad thing is because of the way the soup was served it stayed hot forever but that is not the worst thing in the depth of winter. Another starter was the beautifully presented haddock croquettes which were tasty without living up to their presentation.
Next up I went for a belly of pork with black pudding and mustard mash and smoked bacon. Any dish that has three types of pork is always going to be a winner with me and this was winter fare at it’s best.The tiny sprig of broccoli on top seemed a little lost with it’s big bad unhealthy bedfellows but all in all a super dish.
By this stage the place was buzzing, the food amazing, well priced and the service swift and friendly. And then it all went wrong…I went for a dessert of Madeline biscuits with brandy ice cream and caramel sauce. The biscuits are well known as one of the hardest things to cook well and these ones fell flat on their face. Stodgy. Fatty. Heavy and quick frankly disgusting. The ice cream and sauce were delicious though.
The half empty plates sat on the table for 25 minutes without any next step and we ended up just having to grab somebody for the bill. Most people wouldn’t have noticed as they supped the last of their wine and the place buzzed around them but I was drinking a coke and wanting to get some work done so it just annoyed me. It’s such a shame that one out of six dishes was a bit of miss and the service took a little long at the end because this was a wonderful food experience in a quite unexpected location. It just goes to show that the margins between brilliant dining experiences and 7.5/10 experiences can be a few heavy biscuits at the end of the meal. I’d strongly suggest you try this place though because the food is outstanding and it has a great non poncy buzz about it. Great value too but just avoid the Madeline biscuits.
Don’t Just Take My Word For It
I only eat in the place once and they could just be playing a blinder or having an off night. Here are some more reviews to give you a balanced opinion…
Lucinda OSullivan
Spotted by Locals
Fork and Cork
When opening a new restaurant there is one factor that determines it’s success more than anything…location location location. It’s the reason that McDonalds can be found on High Streets and in airports..because of the footfall. A tiny minority of restaurants are so good that people will travel to them anywhere and the definition of a 2 star according to Michelin is “excellent cuisine, worth a detour,” and their view of a 3 star (the ultimate accolade for a restaurant) is “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey”. That system was designed with French Chateaus in mind but if you plan on visiting the Whitefriar Grill you too will have to make a detour as it is on Aungier Street which doesn’t happen to be a restaurant hot spot in Dublin. It is however only a 1 minute walk from St Stephens Green and a similar distance to the trendy restaurant packed George’s Street. This is the same venue that Conrad Gallagher had his latest restaurant but they have totally revamped the place and it looks lovely on the inside but is surrounded by an off license, some run down pubs, a hostel and a college none of which are traditional neighbours for a restaurant. The only reason I went here is that I live around the corner on Camden Street but I can’t see many other punters stumbling upon it.
So the location is rubbish but what about the food. Luckily the food was very good and the service was even better. The place is warm and had some pumping tunes when I was there. Hip hop doesn’t normally work in a restaurant like this but the atmosphere is spot on when you walk in and the staff were super welcoming.
The starter of Puy Lentil and marinated artichoke salad with roasted red peppers and feta cheese was tasty and decent for €7 but I’d have paid more to get high quality feta cheese and some fire roasted pepper instead of the cheapish salty cheese and fairly tasteless peppers. As salads go though it worked well and the lentils were tasty which is never an easy feat to achieve.
If a restaurant like this is to survive though it needs a signature dish that will get people talking and the good news is they have that with their wonderful “surf and turf” 28 day aged rib of beef with garlicky gambas and thick cut chips. I’m a huge fan of this dish and have had it all over the world but it is rarely done right but the guys in Whitefriar have nailed this one and it makes for incredible eating. The steak was beautifully rare and tender and the Gambas were massive and juicy and both were covered in lovely garlic butter that the chips could be dunked in to perfectly. The rocket and the perfect portion size mean that I finished this just full and relishing every last mouthful wishing it would never end.
The dessert was a simple Eton Mess that was decent without being mind blowing. Too much fruit and not enough meringue but that is only me being picky and others would have loved the fresh fruit.
Half the experience in a restaurant is the service and it was absolutely flawless here. The 4 staff were busy and unusually they all looked after the entire place rather than having their own tables or areas. That is normally a recipe for disaster but it worked perfectly as the young enthusiastic staff all had huge smiles and massive attention to detail. It’s a big call but this was some of the best service I’ve had in Dublin and it turned the meal from a 7 to an 8.5 for me and will bring me back again. As usual though something that needs fixed is the annoying website with stupid PDFs on there making it cumbersome to get the info. Note to restaurants…nobody wants to download PDFs!!! Just put them on the site!
I went for some of the more expensive items on the menu but there is great value to be had here. It’s well off the beaten track which makes me worry about them in the long run as a business but with service like that and a signature dish as mouthwatering as the surf and turf hopefully this place will work. It really really deserves to because you can tell from everything they do the staff are giving it their best shot.
Don’t Just Take My Opinion
I’m only one person eating there on one night so here are some other reviews to add a little balance…
Lucina Osullivan
Cheap Eats
Caitrionaw
