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The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

Faith

There's been a crazy number of threads recently looking for restaurant recommendations, so I'd like to start a specific thread for it. Please post below about your favourite restaurants - why you like them, what price range they are, what type of food they serve, if they have an early bird, opening hours if you know them, where they're located. If you could include a link to the website, that would be great. The more details, the better. This is not a thread to post negative reviews - there's a thread in the main Food & Drink forum for that if you like. Basically, I want this thread to be full of recommendations, not positive and negative reviews. That being said, you can disagree with a recommendation briefly if you really feel the need to, but you must have a really valid reason such as an awful experience, rather than "I don't really like the food" or "It's too expensive".

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Corholio

the beer revolu wrote: »

Everywhere has bad food.
I never said otherwise.
My point is, that I had no trouble finding good food to eat in any of the above countries.
Sadly, I can't say the same for Ireland, much of the time, depending on where I am.

Just my opinion based on my tastes and my experience.
I suspect the problem with Irish standard fare is that Irish people like it. No incentive to improve.

Ireland has amazing food produce.
Some of the best meat, dairy and seafood available anywhere. We have some fantastic food producers, some fantastic restaurants. I love buying and cooking Irish ingredients. I love to eat out on occasion.
But having to feed myself on a moderate budget from hotels, cafés and restaurants in random places in Ireland is a depressing task.

What essentially more is there to having food than liking it? What's the point in having a steak that's cooked for an hour in an expensive restaurant if you end up not liking it? There's plenty of good and bad restaurants here, but surely actually liking the food is the ultimate judgement.

If I really like food, whether someone else think it's good or bad, what can be possibly, logically or otherwise, wrong with that?

ABajaninCork

Balmed Out wrote: »

Im sorry but go outside of southern England and the standard fare in the UK is way poorer then ours. Id certainly remove Finland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal and Mexico too.

What on earth are you talking about? Clearly, you've never eaten in Devon, Cornwall, Yorkshire and Lancashire where some terrific restaurants are to be found...

northgirl

ABajaninCork wrote: »

What on earth are you talking about? Clearly, you've never eaten in Devon, Cornwall, Yorkshire and Lancashire where some terrific restaurants are to be found...

I can't speak for other countries but some of the best food I've ever eaten has been in Spain & Portugal...

Balmed Out

ABajaninCork wrote: »

What on earth are you talking about? Clearly, you've never eaten in Devon, Cornwall, Yorkshire and Lancashire where some terrific restaurants are to be found...

outside of southern England ... the standard fare

Clearly you haven't read what I wrote...

Devon and Cornwall are in the south of England....

Ive been all over the north, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham and found all to be fairly poor.

I was also talking about the standard fare - your average cafe, hotel breakfast etc. As I stated I was not taking about terrific restaurants nor was I talking about the South of England. Not spent much time in London but have been to Cornwall, Dorset and Devon and all were much better then elsewhere ive been in the UK.

Balmed Out

northgirl wrote: »

I can't speak for other countries but some of the best food I've ever eaten has been in Spain & Portugal...

Me too, Spanish is probably my favourite cuisine but also some of the worst. Always find places in either country (Mexico too) to be either excellent or really really poor microwave reheated kind of stuff. Some of the fancier looking and more expensive can be amongst the worse.

leahyl

Ok guys we're moving off topic here - please stick to restaurant recommendations

ABajaninCork

Balmed Out wrote: »

outside of southern England ... the standard fare

Clearly you haven't read what I wrote...

Devon and Cornwall are in the south of England....

Ive been all over the north, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham and found all to be fairly poor.

I was also talking about the standard fare - your average cafe, hotel breakfast etc. As I stated I was not taking about terrific restaurants nor was I talking about the South of England. Not spent much time in London but have been to Cornwall, Dorset and Devon and all were much better then elsewhere ive been in the UK.

Deleted my post. Got bored...

TeletextPear

I ate in the new Italian in Douglas at the weekend, Marcello's. It was really, really good. All of us had either pasta or meat dishes and empty plates all round. Looking forward to going back and trying their pizzas. Only complaint was that the garlic bread served on the side of the pasta dishes was as hard as a rock.

SusieBlue

Had a gorgeous lunch in the South County in Douglas yesterday. It wasn't michelin star fare by any means, but it was delicious home comforts type food and it really hit the spot. Excellent value for money and possibly one of the friendliest waitresses I've ever encountered. I'll definitely be returning.

gimmick

The pizza in The Brog is decent. Got it on a grabone last week. Nothing spectacular, but very edible.

pwurple

WhiteRoses wrote: »

Had a gorgeous lunch in the South County in Douglas yesterday. It wasn't michelin star fare by any means, but it was delicious home comforts type food and it really hit the spot. Excellent value for money and possibly one of the friendliest waitresses I've ever encountered. I'll definitely be returning.

What did you get? Have a lunch coming up there soon, wouldn't mind a recommendation.

evilivor

WhiteRoses wrote: »

Had a gorgeous lunch in the South County in Douglas yesterday. It wasn't michelin star fare by any means.

I see today that all of the Irish restaurants managed to keep their Michelin Stars.

pwurple

Have been in the city a few evenings this week. Ate in coqbull. Not for me, but it was jammed full of 20's people. Food was alright only. Calamari were rubber-band-like, the salad was good enough. Plenty of anchovies (which i love) and the chicken on it was warm. Very big portions and I found everything oddly sweet? The coleslaw was very sweet in particular. Blackened cod had a sugary glaze too. American style food really. Very loud pop chart music on a loop. Would suit maybe groups from work or a bunch of hungry visitors. Not first date material anyway! Price-wise, it seemed like a lot for a burger joint. the sides are mental money. 4.50 for corn on the cob side dish.

Swang by huegenots as well. Just for a drink. It's split in half. Bottom half is a wine bar, top half is the bistro. Didn't eat. Looks lovely though. Older crowd than the other place. 30+ at least. 40's and 50's in there too.

Strasbourg goose was busy in that area as well. That part of town has come on a good bit.

ABajaninCork

pwurple wrote: »

Have been in the city a few evenings this week. Ate in coqbull. Not for me, but it was jammed full of 20's people. Food was alright only. Calamari were rubber-band-like, the salad was good enough. Plenty of anchovies (which i love) and the chicken on it was warm. Very big portions and I found everything oddly sweet? The coleslaw was very sweet in particular. Blackened cod had a sugary glaze too. American style food really. Very loud pop chart music on a loop. Would suit maybe groups from work or a bunch of hungry visitors. Not first date material anyway! Price-wise, it seemed like a lot for a burger joint. the sides are mental money. 4.50 for corn on the cob side dish.

Swang by huegenots as well. Just for a drink. It's split in half. Bottom half is a wine bar, top half is the bistro. Didn't eat. Looks lovely though. Older crowd than the other place. 30+ at least. 40's and 50's in there too.

Strasbourg goose was busy in that area as well. That part of town has come on a good bit.

I mentioned earlier my neighbour's son got a job in Huguenot's. Seems it might not be doing as well as we hoped. The boy didn't even get to start! The owners called and told him he wasn't required as the business hasn't picked up as much as they hoped.

Pity

. It's early days yet, so I hope it picks up. Passed it today and it looks really nice. Very elegant.

Milly33

Finally going to try the Ivory Tower at the weekend cant wait

the beer revolu

Milly33 wrote: »

Finally going to try the Ivory Tower at the weekend cant wait

Please let us know how you get on.

ABajaninCork

Oh yes please, Milly!! I'd love to try the Ivory Tower, but can't eat there alone and my husband absolutely will not try anything on the menus....

I'll have to wait for my mate to visit before I can go in there...

Milly33

I will do!! Yeah the menus look a little adventurous but some are fine. From the booking all is going well anywho heard stories about them being rude on the phone and that but he seemed loverly!! will update ye on Sunday.. Cant wait it is defo one of the bucket list places

.red.

We ate at the plaza in ballincollig the other night with a €25 for €50 voucher from the discount sites.
It wasnt great. I had hot and spicy wings to start with and my wife had garlic bread with cheese and sausage. Hers was lovely but the wings tasted of chicken, no hot and spicy anything and had 6 winglets on the plate with a bit of salad for €6.95.
Mains were pizza and a burger. Both nice but the chips with the burger were covered in salt. I threw a few onto my plate and i could see the salt falling off them.
The cokes also tasted like cheap super market cola but could have been from a gun with a bad ratio.
The meal only cost us €27 for 2 startes, 2 mains and 2 "cokes" which wasnt bad but if i hadnt had the voucher it would hage been €52 and i would have felt badly ripped off.
i need to complain more instead of telling staff everything is ok

Milly33

Thank god for the vouchers, defo should have said something.. I think they have been taken over by new people. We used to love going there and called in recently for lunch and well it wasn't very nice at all.. Even the place looked dirty or something a bit tatty

.red.

Milly33 wrote: »

Thank god for the vouchers, defo should have said something.. I think they have been taken over by new people. We used to love going there and called in recently for lunch and well it wasn't very nice at all.. Even the place looked dirty or something a bit tatty

We ate outside as it was nice and sunny so didnt even see the inside. The food was ok, nothing that wasnt nice except the salt on the chips and the cokes.
The staff were nice and friendly and maybe we should have said something. If i had bought 2 vouchers id have no problems going back to use the 2nd but at full price id rather go across the square to banna thai. We really like it there and the food is much nicer. Their early bird would only be a few €€ more than what we paid in the plaza with the voucher.

sporina

anyone tried Aroi yet where gambenies use to be?

mimihops

I tried Aroi this evening and really enjoyed it, I got the seafood curry and for 10 euros it was amazing value, lots of fish and perfectly cooked squid and there was lots of fresh herbs etc in it so it was really flavoursome. I'd definitely go back, for 10 euros it really was great value. Oh and the staff were lovely as well!

nerwen

Went to Huguenot tonight with some friends, had a really good meal. Started off with 2 good slices of morteau sausage on a puy lentil salad. Had a steak for mains, came perfectly medium rare (as ordered) with a tower of proper thick cut fries, a small pot of bernaise sauce and what they advertised as "salad of smoked bacon" which unsurprisingly just was a small salad with some smoked bacon on it. I also had garlic beans on the side. Finished off with a creme brulee. Also shared a bottle of pretty nice white. For myself it came out just over €50 which I don't find unreasonable for the quality.

The starter was really nice and earthy without being too much, the steak was gorgeous though I'd prefer a slightly thicker cut. I also thought there could have been more bernaise (sauce fiend anyone?) and I wish the beans had come with as standard rather than a €3.50 side. The creme brulee was simply great - didn't even have that slightly burnt flavour you sometimes get from the blowtorch.

The service was really good and prompt, had some banter with most of them too. Some of the servers are French, some are not, all of the ones we had were nice. Food came out relatively quickly (we were there early-ish though) and they had not just a soup of the day but 2 starter and 2 main specials of the day.

Overall, would definitely go again. And when I do I am having the duck confit as I saw one on the neighbouring table and it looked and smelled amazing.

Just as a note, probably a fair few spelling errors here as my French skills are non-existent.

ABajaninCork

Good to hear. We'd like to try Huguenot's next...

pwurple

Steak frites and duck confit! Sounds like my nirvana. Thanks for the review!

Now to persuade some people i eat with that french food isn't scary.

ABajaninCork

pwurple wrote: »

Steak frites and duck confit! Sounds like my nirvana. Thanks for the review!

Now to persuade some people i eat with that french food isn't scary.

WHAAATT? Are you kidding???

I LOVE French food - so many different regional cuisines to try and all delicious...

the beer revolu

sporina wrote: »

anyone tried Aroi yet where gambenies use to be?

Went there for lunch.
I really liked it. We had three sides and two portions of sticky rice. The bill came to €18. It should have been €21 as they only charged for one rice but despite me pointing this out, we were still charged €18 and got a scoop of ice cream for free.
I thought the food was really fresh tasting and bursting with flavour. I'm definitely going back to try some of the mains. Staff are mad friendly and they seem to be getting the food out fast.
With nothing over €10 on the menu, nice setting and proper flavoursome Asian food, it gives some of the other Asian Street Food outlets a serious run for their money.

At last another purveyor of decent Asian food in Cork besides Yuan Ming Yuan.

BTW had anyone hear ever been to Gambini's?
It was there for years but I've never known anyone who's been.

bee06

Gambieni's on careys lane? I think I was there years ago so googled to refresh my memory. It says on their Facebook page they closed on the 7th Sept.

Malari

bee06 wrote: »

Gambieni's on careys lane? I think I was there years ago so googled to refresh my memory. It says on their Facebook page they closed on the 7th Sept.

Yup, that's the point! :P Arai is there now.

I know my aunt used to like Gambieni's years ago, but it always struck me as a garlic mushrooms and lasagne place. Very basic.