Ducking into Le Perroquet on a drizzly Wednesday afternoon in September was a bit like stepping into the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris where protagonist Owen Wilson stumbles back and forth in time between present day Paris and the roaring Paris of the 1920s. The dining room of Le Perroquet provides both time travel […]

7 years ago

Fish Shop is not a new opening, but I’ve spent the best part of two years “meaning to try it” and hearing about how fantastic it is. Finally, the day came when the stars aligned and I got myself up to this compact little eatery just past Smithfield tucked away on Benburb Street. The concept […]

7 years ago

Sandymount has a chequered past when it comes to a solid neighbourhood eatery. It’s perhaps suffered for proximity to the city centre – when planning a meal out it’s as easy to pop into town, meaning the restaurant scene hasn’t felt as buzzing as it could’ve. The last couple of years have changed that and […]

7 years ago

Prado was full of promise. We arrived on a Tuesday night to a packed dining room in Clontarf’s newest haunt. Formerly the beloved Moloughney’s, the space is barely recognisable with a smart, very attractive fit out. Tables to the front look out on the bustle of Clontarf’s hub, Vernon Avenue. A bar presides over the […]

7 years ago

Recently, I left Dublin 4’s newest gastropub, The Donnybrook, after a somewhat meh experience and was undecided as to whether or not I should review at all. Do we even need gastro pubs anymore, I wondered? Have we moved away from this kind of dining? We initially fell hard for the idea when it first […]

7 years ago

My first restaurant job was in a very hip Thai restaurant bang in the middle of the Roaring Tiger years. It was a brilliant time to work in the hospitality scene, every Sunday night with literally hundreds in tips in our back pockets, we’d close the restaurant and head into the night ready for the […]

7 years ago

Grey, the man and Liath (Grey), the restaurant are initially, to my mind, at odds. Chef, Damian Grey is all swagger and bombast, while his tiny, sleek dining room and tiny, quiet, concentrated kitchen feel like meditative spaces. I came by a table in the former greasy spoon that holds court after-hours in Blackrock Market, […]

7 years ago

Dun Laoghaire has all the luck. The south Dublin seaside town boasts the best everything: the Best Ice Cream (Teddy’s); the Best Views (the harbour); the best Scandi Interiors store (Sostrene Grene); the hands-down Best Public Library. A fairly recent addition, the Lexicon is an awesome (in the true sense of the word) monument of […]

7 years ago

Demanding booking systems are the biggest thing in Dublin restaurants these days as far as I can see. I’ve been waging war with several online ones of late which I have to admit has seen me get very cranky along with my usual hangry. Admittedly most of the systems are in place for quite sensible […]

7 years ago

The Southside still has more choice but samey-ness abounds, while across the river, games are being seriously upped. We popped into the bustling One Society on a busy Wednesday lunchtime. From the moment we stepped over the threshold, it was clear we were going to be those people. I had about a million faffy extra […]

7 years ago

“These enterprising kitchens are reshaping just what we think of when we picture the vegan diet.” The recent influx of vegan cafes in the capital means that I have decided we need a proper name for these trailblazing plant-based purveyors. I’m currently workshopping Vegaterias vs Veganeries but they both, unfortunately, sound oddly like medical terminology. […]

7 years ago

The latest Avoca to burst forth – fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus – is a neighbour of the Aviva stadium and will presumably be enthusiastically welcomed by nine-fivers in the vicinity. I’ll be honest, I’ve never got the Avoca thing. On the clothes and interiors side of things, I find their […]

7 years ago

Shelbourne Social: A slick, moneyed operation so eminently hateable and unfashionable in these post-Tiger times. This behemoth of an eatery in Dublin 4 has been mainly referred to as the new ‘Dylan McGrath place’ since opening its doors a couple of months ago. That is the position McGrath has graduated to in his decades-spanning career […]

7 years ago

The night I was heading to Veginity, a vegan restaurant and café on Dorset St, was an absolute sh*tshow. The sideways rain ensured that by the time I’d arrived on my bike I was soaked and seething. Dublin rain will do that to you. It’s not just annoyance at being wet, it’s the practically gymnastic-style […]

8 years ago

When we arrive at Shouk on a Sunday night, I’m angsting that the dining room will be empty. This is a permanent concern when I’m out to dinner with my husband. You hit a point with a partner when you no longer find each other interesting enough to sustain conversation for an entire meal and […]

8 years ago

Some may remember the opening of Etto – sister restaurant to the new kid on the block, Uno Mas – was lore in the Dublin restaurant scene. For months, no one could get a table in the small, apparently unassuming dining room on Merrion Row. I still worked in kitchens at the time and I […]

8 years ago

Pasta for me always calls to mind the phrase, “This is why we can’t have nice things.” Pasta in the hands of an Irish person is not a delicate purveyor of flavour, with creamy sauces and speckles of truffle clung to delicate silky strands of Italian alchemy. We mangle it at every hands turn with […]

8 years ago