Vals Kitchen

Talbot 101

If anyone is going up to da big schmoke for da  bit of Christmas shopping and you're around Arnotts and Henry Street, I strongly recommend this restaurant for a great meal. Read on and see why...

Talbot 101

101-102 Talbot Street

Dublin

1

Phone: (01) 874 5011

Open: Tue – Sat 5-11pm

All major credit cards accepted

 

When I called the 101 to make a booking I told Pascal, who took the call, that I had a choice between his restaurant and my friend’s choice of

Eden

in Temple Bar. He chirpily told me that

Eden

was a fancier restaurant and that his wife Margaret goes there when she’s off work. He also added that the food in 101 was “Good and reasonable and that the place had a great atmosphere”. He went on to lament the fact that they hadn’t spent any money doing it up since they opened seventeen years ago and that it could do with a bit of an update. I was in and intrigued.

 

When this place was opened back in the darkness of the early 90s

Dublin

was not the shining economic light that it is now. Surely they had no idea their place would be situated right beside the controversial “Spike” on

O’Connell   St

, but it makes it easier to find as all you can see from the street is a little sign. You go up a simple staircase and open the door on what seems like the best party in town. The place is packed with diners chatting loudly and passionately and, it seems, enjoying their food heartily. Yes the décor is basic; it’s a throwback to the 90’s when there was no style at all. The amphitheatre or disco layout of a drop in the middle of the floor breaks up the busy crowd. An exhibition of busy oil paintings of

Dublin street

scenes is crammed onto the walls; they even hang over the mirrors. It’s feels like a proper city place, full of life. The tables and chairs are chosen for functionality and even the glasses are those small wine glasses you had in your college flat. The staff are young and funky with nothing but enthusiasm for the food. If they don’t know something they will quickly find it out from someone who does.

 

The menu is generous with the staples of sirloin steak with garlic butter or whiskey cream sauce, slow roast shoulder of lamb, goat’s cheese salad and more adventurous-than-usual sounding veggie options. I had pathetic intentions of having a light meal but chose the Crispy Pork Belly wrapped in Savoy Cabbage served with a plum and ginger sauce as my starter. It was a joy to behold on the plate. A perfect round mould was created from the bright green cabbage leaf, the pig was inside, and it sat contentedly in a bright pink pool of its sauce, like a pig in, sauce. When I cut into it the cabbage still had plenty of bite, it and the pork were warm, and the pork was a little crispy and shredded into chunks. The cold sauce contrasted well with the meat and the vegetable to give a great contrast of flavours and textures, with a fruity almost oriental twist. My date’s choice (rather my second choice) of starter was the Warm duck liver salad with roast pine-nut and balsamic dressing. The livers were very rare and deliciously tender, almost runny in the middle; I ate most of them as Date was a bit squeamish. The accompanying salad was a bit unimaginative but everything in it was fine and it worked with the livers, which don’t need much dressing up anyway.

 

For mains I chose the Char grilled Swordfish with smoked garlic and chilli butter. I was asked how I’d like it cooked, I went for medium. It came served simply on a bed of roasted baby new potatoes with its butter running down its sides. It was juicy and delicious, falling apart at the touch of my fork. The smoked garlic butter had none of the usual tang of garlic butter and didn’t murder the fish’s delicate flavours. My bowl of side salad was pretty standard with cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. The star of the show was the date’s main of Pan Roast venison served with sautéed bacon and cabbage and redcurrant jus. The venison, cooked to medium was melt in the mouth and so rich. It’s dark red colour with pink centre oozed sexiness on the plate, enhanced by the fruity, heady jus. The bed of bacon and cabbage sounded strange but the cabbage was finely shredded and barely sweated with the smoked bacon to make an unusual but uplifting marriage to the meat.

 

The wine list was very reasonably priced from €22 to €32 for the most expensive. I don’t drink white but often choose the fish and the server suggested the Sardinian Bombarde which was light enough for the dish but still held up well to the rich meaty ones.

 

Though the Date insisted he couldn’t manage desert after all the rich food I told him he had to, it was part of the brief. He chose the dark chocolate cheesecake with strawberries while I had the fool of blueberries over black-berry compote. The cheesecake was one of those ones that make you cry, it was so rich and dense it almost crumbled. Strawberries peeked out from its insides and oohs and aahs could be heard from other diners in the same state of bliss who had ordered it. My fool was light and fluffy and came in one of the little wine glasses; it looked like something from a Marguerite Patten cookery card. It was good to eat something a bit lighter than the rest of what we’d indulged in, though I must admit that I had most of the cheesecake too. We were so full we had to have brandies and coffees. Lots of diners were lingering over pints of Guinness and drinks. It seems you can have your whole night out here and never get flung out.

 

The meal for us both came to €124.00 including beer, wine and brandies (well it was Saturday…..)

 

Valerie O'Connor

Market Square Brasserie Limerick

Chef Diarmuid O’Callaghan has been running the kitchen at the Market Square Brassiere in

Limerick

City

since they first opened their doors for business four years ago. Previously of the busy Green Onion O’Callaghan is one of the most inventive chefs working right now in the city. The menu of the

Market Square

reads quite, well, run of the mill. Listings of Caesar Salad and wrapped goats cheese don’t inspire. Once you are in the door however, it’s the specials, that change daily, that really are inspired.

 

This restaurant has an old world feeling of class. Hidden in a vaulted cellar it’s easy to miss from the street. Plush red velvet curtains hang over walls of exposed brick, wine bottles are stacked on shelves and the waiters all wear suits. The main area is made up of smaller rooms so it’s cosy and intimate without being on top of one another. A private room, under the road, can cater for another twenty guests. For a Tuesday night in

Limerick

this place was full of life. We were sat close to a table of ten Italians, all tucking into specials of Roast rack of Lamb.

 

Specials aside I am always drawn to Foie Gras, in any form so I chose the Terrine, served with red onion marmalade and toasted brioche. The Terrine was silky smooth with that unmistakable muskiness of the goose liver, god bless them. The brioche was soft and lightly toasted and still warm when it reached me, two pieces were just enough to smother inch with the pate and top with the sweet onion jam. Mum chose the Liscannor Crab Cakes which came in the form of two golf sized balls on the plate (ahem). An oil of basil & mint was dredged down the side of the plate. The cakes were light and crispy on the outside and the crab meat in the centre fell apart when the fork touched it. So far, so very good.

 

As always I seem to go for the fish main as any dinner guest I bring chooses the red meat. So the wine I was offered was a Sicilian Red called Concilio, it was light with a cherry finish but full bodied enough to hold up Mum’s Fillet steak main. The steak was perfectly cooked, seared darkly on its outside and tapering to a deep red in the middle, served with a béarnaise sauce and compote of red onions it was a rich plate of food but the tanginess of the onions helped to cut through a little.

 

I was immediately drawn to the special of Fillet of John Dory, served on a curry cauliflower puree with a vanilla cream sauce with blueberries. Who wouldn’t be intrigued? The plate of food was a knockout, the white fish, atop its bed of velvet mash, sat stark against the flood of deepest purple sauce. The fish, a rich fella on his own, was so enhanced by this rich almost chocolaty sauce. It had a tiny touch of sweetness and no sharpness from the blueberries at all. The curried cauliflower was more subtle than I expected, it don’t sound pretty, but it provided a warm underbelly of earthiness for this tremendous dish. We smiled inanely at each other throughout.

 

All the deserts that flew past us on the deft hands of those waiters looked wonderful. The raspberry & white chocolate tiramisu was already sold out. I chose the Sticky Toffee Pudding, also not what you might expect on a menu of fine dining, but I’d been told it was great. It arrived in a huge dish, a little mould turned upside-down and wallowing in its own pool of the lightest toffee sauce and a life raft of vanilla ice cream. The sponge was light, much lighter than it’s common cousin, and the sauce with the ice cream was, well, warm and rich and sweet and amazing and it one of those moments where you’d be happy to just go to God and say “ Ok I’m done, it’s was great, take me now”. Mum had the special of steamed apple cake, a dense and dainty thing with more of their lovely vanilla ice cream and berries. We were happy piglets.

 

Because I cleaned my plate, again, I needed a brandy. It arrived warm and wafting in the glass. Diners chatted, laughter flowed, and this is a romantic place to go, with or without a lover. The bill, with coffees came to €129.00

Market Square Brassiere

   

74 O'Connell     Street Limerick City

Phone: +353 61 316311

Open: Tue – Sat Dinner only

Two sittings on weekends 7pm & 9pm

All major credit cards accepted

   

 

 

 

They know their onions

 

The Wild Onion Cafe, Limerick (061) 440055

The Wild Onion on High Street, in the Milk market area of Limerick City is so popular on Saturday mornings that it's name is uttered in hushed tones. "The Wild Onion, you'll never get a table in there", people mutter. The owners have a bit of a Michael Caine like reputation for getting loud and boisterous with the staff and customers. It all sounded too good for words, I had to try it. Attempt No.1 was last week when I made plans with Maz, from Style Treaty, to meet for late brekkie. I made this plan just before I was invited to a party near my house which ended up rather, ahem, late. I'm a stickler for sticking to a plan, espescially when I'm the one who does the inviting. So I hauled my bleary head out of bed and down to this bustling eatery. Really, I was still asleep and though the food was being enjoyed by so many hungry heads, I could barely get through half of my French Toast, Sausage Patty and Hash Browns. I made conversation like a baboon, apologies, and left.

This morning I thought I'd try again and I had the sense to stick my head in and book a table with Ruth for 1pm, with the kids and friends. If you reserve, don't be late, it's rude to Ruth and you'll lose your slot. This time I'd had a good 11 hours kip so I started the day off like a happy baby. The sun was shining as we made our way round the market, meeting people and soaking up the great atmosphere. Son No.1 was busy tasting cheese and lamenting that all the white anchovies were sold out from the olive stand. Must go earlier next time.

Ruth squeezed us to our table in this small, and so unassuming cafe. The menu is American style breakfasts, Reubens and burgers. I chose the Eggs with hash browns and sausage patty, the small fella had a plain grilled chicken open sandwich and Son No. 1 had the same as me but with ham instead of sausage. A flask of coffee is put on the table and Ruth quickly brought us a jug of ice water with glasses, where was this so-called cranky owner, I wondered. The grub is all cooked by Bob in the diner style kitchen that's right there in front of you and is on your table before the kids get crochetty. I told them that if they misbehaved, they would have to do the dishes, Ruth backed me up on this. The old methods of parenting can sometimes be the best. The eggs were so good, how can there be such a difference in a fried egg? The patties are delicious and the fried potatoes are yummy but do need a little extra seasoning. The small fella loved his chicken but left the bread. My pal Laura is veggie so her meal had a veggie patty which she liked, a rare achievement for a cafe. Most don't even bother with a veggie option for a fry up. Given that this is hard-core brekkie there was none of that greasy after taste or yukky feeling you often get after a cook up like this. They say the cookies are great, I'll try them next time. For three of us the bill was Euro22.

I'm on a search for the best restaurant in Limerick. Best for food, service, atmosphere and overall eating experience. Please send me your suggestions.

A Gruelling Day

On a freezing May Saturday in

Dublin

I once again comforted myself from the maniacal weather at the food market in Temple Bar. I scoffed sushi with New Yorkers while we bemoaned, Irish-style, all that was bad and good about

Dublin

one day after our re-election of the same old same old government. I chose sushi instead of Ed Hick’s giant sausages, or instead of Princess Cake as I was wearing white drainpipes and wanted to stay fitting in them for the rest of the day. As I left the market the sun turned, like a hormonal man (or woman, ahem), to rain. I looked for the nearest hide out from the now angry hailstones and ran in the door to Gruel on

Dame St

. I’d been to Gruel before for food and argued with the owner that my brownies were better than his. The place was heaving with hungry brunchers tucking into all manner of hearty brekkie stuff. Granola and yogurt, the staple roast-in-a-roll and the day’s special of frittata were flying off the counter faster than a stag party to

Leeson St

.

 

As soon as I perched on a high stool I realised that sushi, while yummy and light and all, was not a treat and I still needed my sweet tummy filled with some kind of sticky desert goo. All I could see was the brownies I’d once argued over, couldn’t have that. I eyeballed a tray of purple crumble and asked for a bowl of that, with vanilla ice cream. The waitress was insanely rushed but I wasn’t so I waited and watched the crowd. This is a normal level of business for the Gruel boys it seems. My coffee came, and then an enormous steaming bowl was plonked in front of me containing a mountain of steaming plums and melting creamy ice all over it. There’s nothing as winterly comforting as the contrast between hot crumbly baked deserts and melting cold ice cream to round off a sweet pud. They were very generous. The plums were deepest, boozy purple, the crumble was juicy and soaked full of fruity sauce. I was in heaven. When asked if I liked it I just nodded, off guard with a mouth full of yum, grinning like the cat full of the cream. The ice cream, not made by themselves, was a Vanilla Malt, a lot like the one they sell in Avoca. There was no way I could have finished such a whopping portion and for €4.50 it was a generous price too. Had Oliver Twist’s gruel tasted like this he would have had no problem at all asking for more.

Everybody Han Yung Tonight

New Han Yung BBQ Restaurant

103 Parnell Street

Dublin

1

(01) 873 3849

Open: 7 days 11am – late

One of the biggest shockers about having kids is the curtailment of your social life. Lets be honest, we would never send the little darlings back from whence they came, a scientific impossibility anyway, so why do parents always say that? In my early days as a young Mammy living in

Hamburg

I would push the (albeit trendy) pram home on summer evenings past hip cafes thronged with groovy young things. While they nibbled on plates of bread and cheese and slurped on their fine German beer, I returned to my duties of Mammy and cook. It’s not that German cafes are child-unfriendly, in

Germany

babies and children are welcomed with much more gusto than in DeValeras family friendly

Ireland

. They are treated as what they are, people. But my little people were not of the docile, blurbing, cute community. My two boys, one a toddler and the other a baby believed they were Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras competing with each other for the Olympic Gold medal in screaming. They mostly liked to do their howling in public places. After a brief attempt at being a hip Mum who could carry on life as normal I gave up, averting the judgemental eyes of the Germans, or anyone. So restaurants, like bars and most social opportunities went on the back burner for a while, like years.

Recently I’ve noticed that the years of staying in has somehow produced two fine boys with table manners, the older one can even read a menu now. He was always the food-curious one and, as a toddler, I would buy chats with girlfriends by sitting a tub of stoned black olives in front of his grubby hands. Sides of salmon became his choice treat in the supermarket and I often found him sitting at the fridge, sucking on a pound of butter. Recently his curiosity turned to sushi. What was it and when could he have some?. The only place I know of in town is Aya, whose hip-ness would be too pricey for kid grubs.

It was back to

Parnell Street

again to a place where they have wonderful waxworks of the food in the window. New Han Yung BBQ Restaurant is Korean and serves Korean sushi and a kaleidoscope of other-worldly treats. It’s impossible not to look around at the tables laden down with plates of thinly-sliced meat, piles of lettuce, speciality salads of bimibap ( lots of shredded vegetables, egg, lettuce and spicy sauce) and their speciality table-top barbeque. A gas burner built into the table is lit and a metal plate placed on top, meat and vegetables are cooked bit by bit and dipped into various pungent and spicy sauces. Girls in great outfits flirt with dudes in white leather suits, but lots of families with cute babies also squeeze into this friendly, buzzy place.

The menu is a full-colour catalogue of photos. They don’t all flatter the food but give a good idea of what you’re going to get. The big fella chose a safe nori sushi with salmon for starters, I had the ebi (prawn) with fish eggs. The sushi was room temperature, unlike its Japanese cousin. The child hoovered it up with a face like he’d just found God. For mains we chose the beef bulgogi. This came in a big, flat pan and was popped onto the burner on our table. Thinly sliced beef was topped with glass noodles, mushrooms and onions and cooked in about ten minutes in it’s light but slightly sweet sauce. The small fella had his usual of battered chicken (sigh). The rice was perfect jasmine and came in small metal bowls with lids, very cute. The bulgogoi was fine and quite light. Groups at tables took plenty of time grilling little pieces of fish and meat, rolling bites in lettuce and knocking back shots of Korean vodka in between. I stayed off the vodka, given that the kids can’t drive yet. With fizzy drinks and green tea the bill for three was €51.00. And we joined the human race for a little while too.

Creme da la Brulee

Brulee’s Restaurant

Corner of

Mallow St

and

Henry Street

Limerick

Phone: (061)319931

Email: brulees@eircom.net

Open: Tue – Sat 5-10pm

Early Bird: 5-6.60pm €30.00

Lunch: Thursday & Friday €30.00

Teresa and Donal Cooper have been lovingly in the charge of Brulee’s in

Limerick

for 9 years. Teresa is head chef while Donal looks after front of house. His soft spoken patient manner is well suited to his vocation; he explains everything fully, slowly and carefully.

Brulee’s is an intimate place with just 9 tables divided between three spilt levels, perfect for a romantic meal or a night out with any close friend, or, as in my case, my Mum. The décor is very nineties, bottle green and wine painted walls with matching pelmets over the windows; it could do with a little update. But the freshly pressed lined and napkins on your table exude the class that this little place is all about.

A bread basket arrived with our starters. Mushroom and walnut bread was soft and full of flavour and served with black olive tapenade, tasty if a bit out of character with the rest of the food.  For starters Mum had the special of goats cheese wrapped in pancetta which was quickly fried to crisp up the bacon. It was served with a sweet dressing and salad leaves. Though goat’s cheese is everywhere some people love it and this one was tangy and oozy through the crispy bacon coat. I had the glazed chilli quail with rocket and (more) goats cheese and chilli sauce. The quail was meltingly tender with a good roasted flavour from the skin. It was delicious starter and I sucked the poor bones of the tiny bird.

Given the gamey theme of the food I chose a Zinfandel which was big and full of the punchy flavours needed for such robust dishes. For mains Mum chose the Pan Seared Irish Fillet Steak with spinach, roast polenta cake, caramelised red onions and red wine jus. The steak, which was a deep colour, had all the flavour of meat that had been hung for a long time. It was soft and melt-in the mouth, and perfectly matched by it’s medley of sides. The polenta cake was crispy and the jus perfectly concentrated. The onions were nice to pep up any mouthful. I chose the breast of

Barbary

duck on cassoulet of chick peas. The cassoulet was robustly scented with rosemary and bacon and the chick peas were unusual but fine. Small bowls of baby new potatoes and vegetables were unnecessary but clean and fresh. The duck was pinky rare, juicy and delicious. As Donal Cooper noted when he collected our empty dishes: “The clean plates say it all”.

Deserts are not listed on the menu. Mum chose the walnut brownie cake with vanilla ice cream. I had the restaurant’s namesake desert, crème brulee. Both deserts were served with a crispy toffee wafer. Mums brownie cake was rich yet not too fudgey and laden with walnuts, it was the kind of desert that makes grown men crumble. My brulee was suitably crisp on top and perfectly, cusrtardly smooth on the bottom. We ate in silence. Brulee’s is an excellent spot and very relaxed. Coffees and one brandy brought the bill to €132.00.

Rock and Rolls

The Sage Café

67-68 Catherine Street

Limerick

061 409458

www.thesagecafe.com

info@thesagecafe.com

Whoever said blogging is catching wasn’t lying. I’ve been in

Limerick

in the Mammy’s kitchen all week as my son had entered an animation film into the Fresh Film Festival and his film was selected for screening. Not only that but he won third prize, I was the proud mammy in the aisles, choking back the tears. Short of getting up on the stage and making an acceptance speech myself, I feel the award was all mine, just kidding. Should I not be using my blog for family bragging???

Back to food then. I’ve cooked nothing since Monday so I went today to the new food phenomenon that is the Sage Café in

Limerick

. Owned by singing Cranberry Mike Hogan and family, the new place on the block has been “out the door” since it opened in 2006. When I asked could I book a table for lunch I was happily told “Sure there would be war if we let people book”. That’s good for them, I was curious to see if the food fitted the hype. Five of us, two humans and three androids, I mean children, trooped in today and had no trouble getting our table, at 12.40. We were advised not to turn up any later. My veggie friend and her adventurous daughter ordered the broccoli, leek and feta cheese samosas with red pepper and mango chutney. They were light and crispy and I ended up stealing lots of them. Served atop fresh green leaves, this was an excellent, zingy dish and substantial for a veggie meal. Foodie son  Number 1 ordered the Brochette of Tiger Prawns, vanilla scented rice with light curry cream. The prawns were flanked by char-grilled courgettes and red onions, tasty but poo-poohed by the carnivorous boy. The rice was creamy and delicately spiced. I ate lots of that too in lieu of the spuds that came with my Indian rubbed chicken and dressed potatoes with coriander flavoured raita. The chicken was soft and tender, the spices subtle but distinct and the salad was varied and crunchy. The small fella had bangers and chips, enough said.

The décor in the Sage café can be best described as modern French rustic. Lots of cream coloured painted walls and banquettes make a bright airy and clean-feeling space. The food which ranges from an amazing-looking fish pie, braised lamb shanks to refreshing salads is excellent. Breads and deserts are all made on the premises and feature some fine looking coeliac-friendly scones. For afters we tried the baked orange cheesecake and it was dense, yet light with a warm hint of orange. It was the best baked cheesecake I’ve eaten. The sprogs amused themselves with hot chocolates and marshmallows. Filled with lunching ladies, families, friends and even some men, the Sage Café deserves it’s early and roaring success, just like the Cranberries.

Zen Winners Dinners

Zen Win House

100 Parnell St

Dublin

1

01 8782888

A full weekend of work and socialising was punctuated by another trip down

Chinatown

to try out another of the new eateries on the block. My friend, a hungry German who loves her grub joined me on my search for a really good, really cheap Chinese restaurant. Our criteria was simple, if it was busy, we were going in. The fullest place on the street was Zen Win House and when we squeezed in the door the clientele, who were all of Chinese or Korean origin stared at us as if we just fell out of a spaceship. That’s a good sign I thought, and we had to wait for a table so they were fully booked. That gave me a chance to see what everyone was eating. Most were slurping at big bowls and dipping in huge sticks of deep-fried dough, the kind I’d only ever had in soup kitchens in

Vietnam

. I was excited, this was the real thing. Diners made trips to a little buffet table where they stocked up on salads and garnishes. The tubs on the table had a lovely crunchy celery salad with peanuts, Tofu noodles in chilli, horseradish salad and others I couldn’t identify.

We were given the standard European menu but I asked for what everyone else was having. They were having Chinese breakfast, so that’s what we were having too.I ordered Rice Gruel soup, (no prizes for writing snappy menus here), the German went for tofu soup. We asked for dough sticks and some dumplings and the waitress told us to stop ordering, that we had enough. We were immediately given knives and forks but of course I wanted chopsticks. We piled our side plates with the goodies from the buffet table. The salads were excellent and fresh and crunchy. Chinese food, as we know it can be laden with salt, sugar and corn-flour and leave you feeling less that lively. The Mandarin tea eggs, that’s eggs hard boiled in  tea, were tasty and their marbled terracotta colour looks so good when you peel them.

The banquet arrived. My soup was exactly what it said on the tin, rice gruel with pork and egg. I couldn’t eat it, it was like baby food. There was nothing wrong with it, I’m just not used to those textures. The German’s tofu soup was fine and great for dipping the delicious dough sticks into. The dumplings were plentiful, 20 on the plate. We had bowls of soy and chilli to dip things into. With 4 cups of Green tea and endless salads the bill came to €21.00. I am going back to Zen Win for dinner to get a better idea of the food, if the duck is good I’m hooked.

On another note congratulations to Kieran Murphy from Ice Cream Ireland for bagging two awards at the Irish Blog Awards at the

Alexander

Hotel

on Saturday night. I met Kieran and his lovely Mum out in the cold, watching the eclipse. Hats off to the lovely girls from Beaut.ie who also won two awards. It was great to meet all the mysterious bloggers from around the country. We ended the night on the tiny dance-floor at the Howl at the Moon on

Mount Street

,and as much as I asked the teccy bloggers, I still don’t know what a feed is……

Yuan me baby

I’ve heard from the mouth of a prominent Chinese business-man that

Dublin

may soon have it’s very own

Chinatown

, red arch et al. If you take a walk down

Parnell Street

, mostly around the bottom of South Great George’s Street, the choice of authentic Chinese eateries is too much to choose from. On one side of the street are Chinese supermarkets, call shops and restaurants The other side has more restaurants, plus a very conspicuous looking pet shop called Paddy’s. Businessman and owner of Yuan Restaurant at

106 Parnell St

has just opened the first Chinese butchers/fish shop in town, maybe in

Ireland

. It’s at the bottom (too much bottom here) of

Hill St

. and owner Dawei Gu is delighted to be supplying the glut of eating-out spots on the street. “It’s also very easy to do business as I can speak the language”, he laughed. His shop sells the usual stuff plus the oddities of chicken’s feet and chicken’s hearts, hmmm. Huge bulbous pink blobs were described as salmon roe but my lunch date insisted it was cod. Cod knows.

Naturally Dawei suggested that his restaurant was the best place to eat so we hot-footed it for a hotpot (sorry again). The place was typically plainly decorated with Chinese news blasting via satellite on a giant plasma screen and not a red lantern in sight. The menu was cheap and amusing to my inexperienced Chinese palate; Pork ear with cucumber or the house special of Harlet with Sweet and Sour sauce. Though I have been to

China

I remember eating as being something of a grin-and-bear-it experience. I’m not that adventurous when it comes to whelks for breakfast. We ordered the beef and vegetable hot-pot which was huge and full of tender, if a little fatty, beef chunks and lots and lots of cabbage. It was like a Chinese Irish stew and pretty good. The home-made spicy duck was more European in style with tender duck coated in corn flour and dash fried then coated in a sweet, spicy sauce and served with green peppers, yum. I was asking for it when I ordered cabbage in vinegar and I got a plate of pale veg swimming in sesame oil. But I ordered something odd on purpose. At lunch-time the place filled up with Chinese and Koreans (I think, but I can’t be sure) and lots of them were ordering bowls of broth with huge pieces of tofu floating in them. This is typical Chinese breakfast I’m told.. I still have a long way to go before I tuck in to this stuff. But Yuan Restaurant was full up and I wish Dawei Gu good luck. At €28.00 for lunch for two with huge bowls of rice and green tea it makes me wonder if the Chinese can serve up good cheap grub in

Dublin

, why can’t everybody else follow?

Dunne and out

The first time a friend of mine gushed about the Italian café/bistro Dunne and Crescenzi on

South Frederick St

in

Dublin

City

, all praise was due. Hearty bowls of borlotti beans and sausage and a great range of generous plates of cold meats and cheese made this an excellent find. Rustic and unpretentious and always packed, it soon became a favourite spot of mine, especially to bring friends who were in

Dublin

for visits.

The chain has now extended to bar Italia on Essex Quay, Ormond Quay and many more locations. Serving platters of meat with bottles of Italian wine has made the Ormond Quay outlet very hip.

Feeling confident I brought two close relatives to the Dundrum outlet of the Dunne and Cresenzi Empire. They both fancied something substantial and so ordered the day’s special of beef stew. At €18.00 I was very hoping that it would be decent portion. When the plates arrived the tiny bird’s helping made me cringe;

Dublin

has enough of a rip-off reputation without hammering the nail in even further. My linguine with olives, tomatoes and capers was fine and salty enough to ignore the parmesan. My visitors, however, chewed their way through their tiny scoop of meat, which had hardly any sauce surrounding it and was as tough as old boots. After ten minutes I strongly suggested we tell the manager it just wasn’t up to scratch. In fairness we were charged for only one portion on the bill, but the €18.00 price tag for one plate was even too much. A beef stew should be warming and tender with meat falling apart, not like going ten rounds in the ring with Rocky Balboa. I didn’t feel like ordering desert as a tiny piece of Tiramisu to top it would have finished me off. I noticed a plate of my old favourite, the borlottis; go by at a shadow of its former size.

I’ve heard that restaurant reviews should be fair so here is as fair as I can be; if Dunne and Cresenzi have gotten so confident that they don’t mind losing regular customers it’s not hard to see where their Dundrum branch will be in a year’s time. I hope the standard hasn’t fallen so far in their older, more established branches.

L’Officina – Dunne & Cresenzi,

Dundrum

Town

Centre,

Dublin

(01) 2166 764