CptMackey wrote: » Going to the opera house next week and looking for some light bites and some wine before the show. Any recommendations?
what the hell! wrote: » Went to the Old Bank Cafe in Mayfield at the weekend for breakfast. O'Connors butchers run it. Really really nice spot. I had the fry which was very tasty. They use proper sausages, rashers, black and white pudding from the butchers. Great feed with tea or coffee for €10. Seem to have nice other options too -Benedict etc. Nice lunch options too and lots of cakes.
Kerry25x wrote: » Thanks for the review! What's it like price wise for pizzas and mains?
pwurple wrote: » Docklands Popped in last night with a group. Very nice revamp. Place is so bright and airy now.
Markcheese wrote: » Bastion in kinsale last night... And it gets the thumbs up... Really cool place and top end food, we hummed and hawwed but went a la carte rather than the tasting menu, small menu ( which I like). We had pumpkin soup, and a ballatine starter, a fillet of beef and a duck main, (the star for me was the duck wing croquet and the barley risotto...) and dessert- a strawberry "cheese cake" and a chocolate fondant with a chocolately/ liquoricey aniseedy ice-cream...
snotboogie wrote: » Din Tai Fung is in almost every major mainland city, I know of at least 3 in Beijing alone, all with queues out the door every day. It's medium high end so they were never going to be on every street corner. It's Taiwanese but they cook Shanghaienese food, it started with Shanghai chefs cooking in a Taiwanese factory and the factory gave up producing and became a restaurant, they cook Chinese cuisine, not Taiwanese. They have opened in Australia and the Wst Coast recently. Haidilao in Dublin doesn't even make an effort to rip off the Chinese Haidilao in anything other than name. I'm a huge fan of the original Haidilao and I think they have started to go international recently too. The Dublin one is appalling. Lee Kee is not my thing at all so can't really comment.
blackdog2 wrote: » Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese chain that hasn't really taken off in the mainland, I wouldn't be surprised if most Chinese restaurateurs in Ireland have never been. A more likely mainland chain would be Gou Bu Li, which as far as I remember has a clone on Parnell Street. In terms of Hotpot, there is a clone of the most famous mainland chain, Hai Di Lao, again on Parnell Street, and has been there for about 5 years. There is a another restaurant there called Lee Kee, which has food as fragrant and exciting as anything I have tried here in China. M&L seems to get good reviews but to me seems pretty average, except for the Kou Shui Ji which is by far the best in Dublin. The Dim Sum restaurant on Georges Street (New Good World I think?) gets good reviews from my ethnic Chinese friends (of Hong Kongese extraction, know far more about Dim Sum than I do), wasn't my cup of tea but my knowledge of Dim Sum is limited thanks to not being able to eat seafood!
snotboogie wrote: » The Thai lad and his wife who cook in Kubo know what they're doing, they don't have the quality of ingredients of Golden Elephant but they know how to cook good South East Asian food. Yuan Ming Yuan isnt great, no matter what menu you pick from, I've been in there with Chinese friends. You can't really do Dim Sum on a secret menu or as one dish out of 40 odd on a menu, it can be a tough dish to do right and you really need chefs who are purely focused on dim sum, I think a DinTai Fung or a direct rip off of it could do really well in Ireland but the Chinese who open restaurants here are incredibly unimaginative. Chinese food in Ireland is all round appalling, even in Dublin. There is a huge gap in the market here to open a good authentic Chinese restaurant, there are plenty of simple Chinese dishes that are not that exotic to our pallet which you either can't get at all or are universally terrible in Ireland; for instance hot pot is taking off in London, there are plenty of simple Sichuan dishes and genuinely good Sichuan restaurants almost everywhere in Europe, Chinese BBQ, Xingjiang noodles, dry hot pot, even xiaolongbao isn't that hard. Yet here we get gloopy flavorless blandness or half assed attempts at ridiculously complicated Cantonese dishes. It's a pity that one of the great culinary nations of the world is rightfully viewed as a cheap fast food joke here especially given their population in Ireland. Sorry rant over.
JackieChang wrote: » If you have a car the only other "authentic" asian place I know of is Golden Elephant Thai restaurant in Douglas. I've heard good things about Yuang Ming Jang or whatever it's called. Apparently you're supposed to ask in a shifty way for the "real Chinese" menu.
JackieChang wrote: » I've heard good things about Yuang Ming Jang or whatever it's called. Apparently you're supposed to ask in a shifty way for the "real Chinese" menu.
Markcheese wrote: » But Shur, what if it's written in Chinese? . . I wouldn't have a clue... :-)
JackieChang wrote: I've heard good things about Yuang Ming Jang or whatever it's called. Apparently you're supposed to ask in a shifty way for the "real Chinese" menu.
CR 7 wrote: » Where's the recommended takeaway place to go to cope with the withdrawal symptoms of Miyazaki being closed for a few days? I'd planned to go this evening and forgot about it.
dudara wrote: » Docklands is from the team behind the former Club Brasserie. I think it's open now
flangemeistro wrote: » On the topic of burgers, a gang of us went to The Silly Goose last Saturday for the rugby. Three of us had burgers which were absolutely exceptional, Two of the guys are regulars at SOB and both thought their burgers Saturday were far superior to anything they've ever had at SOB. I could only compare to Coqbull which I think is mediocre anyway so it was streets ahead of this and all in all one of the nicest burgers I've had in recent times. The burgers come with a choice a fries including sloppy, spicy and curly. The other guys had eaten so they only had wings and a selection of the fries which they all raved about. They are very reasonable aswel and have some nice booths with TVs where you can watch a match and where some families were sitting. We all agreed we'll definitely go back sooner rather than later.
