Restaurant Recommendation Thread - Anyone for seconds?

airy fairy · 20-08-2023 09:57AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121002817#Comment_121002817

Daughter goes to UCC and loves it. No frills and cheap. Hasn't been since May and hoping it's still as good as it's hard to find decent cheap food in the area.

They opened in Carrigaline recently and she took a drive there, wasn't impressed at all.

what the hell! · 20-08-2023 10:04AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121002972#Comment_121002972

They’re after opening in Fermoy too. Hope they don’t start losing the quality.

sporina · 20-08-2023 08:58PM

had lunch in De Calf yday - fabbbbb as always - bread from Pana Bakery.. and all great quality ingredients.... hmmm divine...

igCorcaigh · 20-08-2023 11:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121005070#Comment_121005070

Had never even thought of trying there, but might do now. I love Pana bread too!

igCorcaigh · 20-08-2023 11:54PM

Indian Spice Kitchen, takeaway only, Douglas.

Where do I start...

We (two of us) ordered a chicken curry with pilau rice and dosa (€20ish)

We heard the microwave go on, and it was all served within 4 minutes, way too quick I thought.

The cold dosa was a soggy car crash that congealed to the container; you could only scoop it up, and tasted awful. The accompanying coconut chutney tasted strongly of something like mould.

I can only assume that the container of sweet orange stuff was supposed to be rasam? Tasted a bit OKish at first, but quickly seemed very strange...

The chicken curry... cold. (All of the food was cold.) Chicken on bone, OK, but when I sliced in, the chicken was a strange grey. This was literally rotten (although the spicing in the curry was actually quite good!). I was eating rotten chicken, like something from a bin.

The pilau rice was soggy bad rice (again, cold) which seemed to contain rancid tasting butter.

Now, I'm not a particularly fussy eater and have had my share of mediocre Indian food. But this was way beyond that. It all tasted foul, and I could feel my body rejecting it. We binned the lot.

I don't think a negative TripAdvisor review will do this justice; we will be contacting the food safety authorities, no exaggeration.

airy fairy · 21-08-2023 07:17AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121005526#Comment_121005526

Thanks for this. Sounds awful.

I attempted to ring in an order a few months ago and the gentleman on the phone had very little English, couldn't understand my order, I can only assume he was standing in for someone. I left it be as I reckoned the order would be wrong.

the beer revolu · 21-08-2023 08:42AM

Oh dear. I'd been meaning to try Indian Spice Kitchen for a while now. Perhaps I'll give it a skip 😜

Myx Tiq is open on Pope's Quay. No reports yet.

Menu in window is different (and more expensive) than what's knocking around online.

igCorcaigh · 21-08-2023 02:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121005976#Comment_121005976

That pricing is hilarious! 😅

the beer revolu · 21-08-2023 08:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121007819#Comment_121007819

Isn't it!

Might run into problems if they want to increase prices a little. A coffee would have to go from, €2.22 to €3.33 in one jump!

whatever76 · 22-08-2023 01:55PM

Cork Venue Takes Crown At The Bar Of The Year Awards (evoke.ie)

Iguarantee · 22-08-2023 04:32PM

Cork had that (The Fish Wife on Grand Parade) and it closed down.

Quinlans have a chipper/restaurant in Tralee and it’s excellent. The one in cork is more formal but I wasn’t overly impressed (3 or 4 years ago).

The Leaping Salmon pub in Blackrock has the best fish & chips I’ve ever had, superb fish. Whartons in Bantry is the 2nd best, Quinlans Tralee are third.

You’ll get monkfish in Ballycotton or O’Connells in the English Market. Haven’t bought it in a while but you can expect to pay €25/kg or more I’d wager. Monkfish is great for curries because it holds together (and tastes good). I prefer hake 😊

the beer revolu · 22-08-2023 05:10PM

Yeah, forgot the fish wife was basically that.

airy fairy · 22-08-2023 05:25PM

Stopped off at the Anglers rest today, it's been a while

Music hopping from all sides, and despite lots of cars outside, very few people inside.

No menu displayed on the way in, which irked me and then we sat in, in the middle of the disco. Menu was outrageously priced imo. €20 approx for lunch main is just too much, so between that, and the noise, we left. Don't care how nice the food is, it's ott for lunch on a Tuesday!

igCorcaigh · 22-08-2023 05:51PM

I see that Dumlings-Pierogarnia is open again on Douglas Street.

Has anyone visited? Not sure if it's takeaway only or dine in...

SteelyDanJalapeno · 22-08-2023 06:23PM

Catch of the day fish is great, but I can't understand why they use those awful frozen chips

Iguarantee · 27-08-2023 11:51AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121013422#Comment_121013422

Cost, unfortunately.

airy fairy · 27-08-2023 02:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121033265#Comment_121033265

You think? They've had frozen chips for as long as I can remember. Their batter is imported from Netherlands, which is surely more costly than getting near to home.

Iguarantee · 27-08-2023 10:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121033899#Comment_121033899

I’m guessing here as I’ve no insight into how they run their business, but using my intuition I’d take a guess that the following may be a factor:

I’d say the ingredients for the imported, pre-prepared batter is more expensive than the ingredients for making it themselves, purely on a batch-for-batch basis.

However, I’d say that the pre-prepared batter cuts down on labour costs (just open a tub instead of making it from scratch). Labour costs are surely one of their highest overheads (if not THE highest)?

I’d say that storing homemade batter may be more expensive (less or no preservatives?).

I’d also say that importing pre-prepared batter it is cheaper than buying pre-prepared batter here.

I’d also say that the consistent results the imported, pre-prepared batter gives them is another advantage: predictability is a bonus, they know what they’ll be serving weeks or months ahead of time, the only thing that might change is the type of fish and the volume of food they’ll ultimately sell.

Interesting topic nonetheless.

the beer revolu · 28-08-2023 08:40AM

Batter is probably gluten free. Might have something to do with why they aren't making their own.

It never occurred to me that you could buy pre-made batter!

airy fairy · 28-08-2023 09:49AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121036916#Comment_121036916

No, it's not, well it wasn't a few months ago. We've a coeliac in family and couldn't even get the chips when they were with us.

the beer revolu · 28-08-2023 11:29AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121037190#Comment_121037190

Well, there goes that theory!

Kiely's advertise their batter as gf.

siblers · 28-08-2023 11:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121037620#Comment_121037620

Ooh, must go there. Don't know of any other places which do GF batter

beer enigma · 29-08-2023 11:16AM

Any recommendations for a good family type restaurant, nothing fancy but with a decent vegetarian choice and preferably city centre

Kids are 20ish so pizza burgers etc etc but one is vegetarian and often a poor choice for her. Was in Luigi's yesterday, hugely ! expensive and the veg pizza came with a mountain of cheeses on it - she's not great on cheese either :)

Thanks

Be right back · 29-08-2023 11:38AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121041981#Comment_121041981

Scoozis?

Duvet Day · 29-08-2023 08:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121041981#Comment_121041981

Market Lane?

whatever76 · 29-08-2023 09:11PM

+ 1 to Market lane

beer enigma · 30-08-2023 08:50AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121042078#Comment_121042078

Hadn't thought of them, couple of decent options including a quiche which might fit the bill

beer enigma · 30-08-2023 08:53AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121044545#Comment_121044545

I adore Market lane, slightly more complicated veggie menu that she would normally go for, but again worth another look. It would probably work out cheaper than Luigi's 😲

the beer revolu · 01-09-2023 12:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121005976#Comment_121005976

Tried one of the chicken biryanis and thought it was very tasty. Whole spices, good flavours, decent portion.

JP Liz V1 · 02-09-2023 01:40AM

Any recommendations for pork belly or pork ribs, as starter or main, reasonably priced?

Restaurant Recommendation Thread - Anyone for seconds?

Comments