The Restaurant Review Thread

[careca]

101 talbot

Thanks for the recommendation Tar, ate there last night, very enjoyable. Food was very good and the price was exceptional at €29 for 3 courses. Wine was a bit dear (maybe its just me?) at €38 for a standard Malbec but overall very good value. I'll be back.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

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[rounders123]

Maharaja of India
19A Charing Cross Rd, That London

Went to Gordons wine bar Villiers St for a pre meal drink which featured on Conor Woodmans Sin Cities the pickpocketing London Episode. Nice spot if empty with the victorian cellars below in the basement but absolutely packed inside so sat outside area amongst barrels and seats railing a park. Went to Leicester Square to in search of food but despite the hunger getting the better of us shunned most of the touristy restaurants around the main section, they were either packed or sold a cheap eat 2-course with no choice type thing. Settled on an Indian place around the corner where the lads were after the quick order at a high paced level, just a bit pushy but nothing a couple of blokes cant handle.

We were seated and quickly asked how many popadoms we wanted when we ordered a drink first. The service was a bit pushy if you let it and I had already spied they are 1 pound each but in Ireland you get the initial amount complimentary so took this as a bit of an afront without letting him see my displeasure. So when he pre empted 2 i said none which took him aback like he couldnt quite believe this. We were then asked were we ready to order too soon by someone else as they seemed to take it in turns and from different angles to ask this and that but stood them down further for more time to choose. I changed my mind about the popadom when the drinks arrived and ordered 1 initially then then 2 more just to let them know i was controlling the popadom pace and not them. So we established an order that was understood and they settled down a bit more after that. You dont go to Indian restaurants for the service and i think there is a big cultural difference which i account for and usually by nites end everyone is usually getting along fine.

They put us in the middle of a row of empty 2 seaters when about 12 French/Arabic collegiate looking fellows of mixed gender came in for a booking before we overheard a hubub of misunderstanding as the staff didnt realise there was 12 of them booked in but the group spokesman was adamant the number was stated during the booking. This put us in the picture as we were in the middle of the only area that could seat 12 together. Typical Irish we see and hear everything and say nothing but we were ready.

One of the more robust senior staff tried splitting them but they werent having it. Soon enough after a bit of a confab amongst staff i get the tap on the shoulder by a young lower order batsman who stood with a grovelling gait(just the perfect type to appeal to a customers better nature) as he tried to explain in a long winded apologetic way hed like to move us up to the next level without quite putting the words together. The top of the order were looking on from behind their silver salvers at their young fledgling sent to bat. They sent him after losing the initiative during the poppadom episode. I stood and put my hand on his shoulder and repeated what I think he was trying to ask us that hed like for us to move to other seats but before letting him answer quickly adding ''Were here to help!'' as im not sure he had much left in him and with that there was merriment as the silver salvers moved in briskly to help with the plates and fresh linen and several more popadoms and chutney were produced as if like magic as we were whisked through the guard of honour of French fellows none of which made eye contact but were doubtless greatfull of the concession.

The brother got the butter chicken and i got the worst of it going for the Achari Murgh which was lovely but just way hotter than i had anticipated so didnt go down as easy of course but both were top notch. Lovely pink and yellows from the rice too and despite passing on a starter struggled to finish mine. Ive kind of gone away from starters recently because i hate the feeling of having eaten too much and rolling out of a restaurant stuffed whereas having just the mains your nicely full and ready to meet and greet the staff at the next place your ready to inflict yourself upon.

SPOILER

[Tar.Aldarion]

Too late but for future reference, Thai Spice just off the Connolly end of Talbot St is superb if you're into Thai food.

Needed somewhere fast last night before going to see my brother in a play, for the first time. This was excellent! Went there with my sister at 5:30 and they were nearly booked up. They wanted the table back for 7, told them they would have it back by 6. Place was starting to fill up, they even had to kick out the homeless person who seemed to be shouting at people as they came in.

We ordered 2x noodles, massaman and green curries. They were delicious, really great. They charged the same for tofu as for meat which is unusual. Usually we get the pleasure of paying less. They were served to us in 5 minutes and we were out the door at 5:55. Came to €32. Will definitely be back.

[Denny Crane]

Getting some good recommendations there Lazare but one more for the mix is Keshk on the canal at Mespil road. Set menus are around 25-30 and it's byob. Get a big table downstairs for 20+ no problem. Great food and fun.

FXB Pembroke will give you an area upstairs but service can be hit and miss unless you go early in the evening.

Just the tonight by coincidence, yeah decent and BYOB would help with the budget. Think Brookwood only seats 12 upstairs.

[Lao Lao]

Marcels on Merrion Row has a tucked away area that would sit 20 nicely. Price point may be a little on the high side but I'm basing that on Christmas prices which generally tend to be inflated. Defo worth checking out

[V for Vendetta]

Getting some good recommendations there Lazare but one more for the mix is Keshk on the canal at Mespil road. Set menus are around 25-30 and it's byob. Get a big table downstairs for 20+ no problem. Great food and fun.

FXB Pembroke will give you an area upstairs but service can be hit and miss unless you go early in the evening.

[Dice75]

Brookwood on Merrion Row have a private room upstairs which holds about 20 i think. Have a gander at their website. Nice grub there anyway.

[ghostface]

> If he wants steak then FXB Pembroke might be ideal and will fall into that price point depending on wine choices. Id suspect they can give you one section of the upstairs to fit your needs.

Started off a stag here with bout 20 people and were upstairs, split it into a table of 12 and 8 I think and was just over 50 a head. Was very good

[Lazare]

Some recommendations please.

My friend's wife is 40 in July, he wants to organise dinner for 20 people as a surprise party.

Budget is in and around €75 pp max, but ideally he'd like to be spending c€50.

He's enquired with Shanahans so far but looking for other options.

[Lao Lao]

Location: One Pico

website: http://www.onepico.com/home.php

Price Range: (from 1 to 5 €€€€€) €€€€

Last week was myself and Mrs Lao Lao's 3rd anniversary. For the last two years, I've managed to surprise her with dinner through some mischievous plotting. This year, the antics were increased and involved getting my best mate set up a fake poker night in his house and her best mate from work organise a work night out for all the girls in work as they didn't manage to get out before Christmas. These two events just happened to be taking place on the same night, last Saturday I even went to the effort of going out to the off license and buying beer to bring to the poker night.

She headed of to a Pilates class and I headed off to the poker night, when in reality I went and watched the second half of the Spurs/Man City game before heading around to the Library Bar in the Central Hotel and waited for her to arrive to "meet the girls"

For the third year in a row, she fell for it - Hook, line and sinker. I'm probably not painting her in a great light. I mean, how do you fall for the same thing, three years in a row at the same time of the year each year, albeit, the ruse has been different each time. She's actually very intelligent and it is 100% down to my ability to be totally devious.

Her initial reaction was a predictable and common one - She repeatedly called me a dickhead, over and over again. Thankfully, I had a G&T waiting for her on her arrival which meant, she couldn't call me a dickhead while she was sipping it but she did call me a dickhead several times in between each sip! We had the pleasure of having Mary Lou McDonald sit across from us in a lovely green guna and while I was tempted to grill her on a few political issues, I thought winding up one woman a night was enough to handle

When we finished our drinks, we headed towards the restaurant with me being the only person out of the two of us who knew where we were going. I led her on a merry dance (as I have in previous years) around a few different restaurants but once we turned onto Molesworth St, the game was up, she knew we were headed to One Pico.

When we arrived, we opted to have a glass of Pressco each while waiting for our table which was ready within a few minutes. The setting of the restaurant is very nice, tables are nicely spaced out and it's a very calm/relaxed atmosphere, it's a very pleasant space

After having some home made bread, we ordered wine (Pouilly Fume de Ladoucette 2006 @ €86) I've said it before and I'll say it again but this is the best white wine there is.

For starters, I had St Tola Goats Cheese, Burnt & Pickled Apple, Walnuts, Apple Meringue while herself had the Chicken Liver & Foie Gras Parfait, Rhubarb, Vanilla, Warm Brioche. The goats cheese was nice and light and I really like the contrast between the texture of the cheese and the meringue and the walnuts really added to it. I had a small bit of the parfait and it tasted good.

For mains, I opted for Thornhill Duck, Foie Gras, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Truffle while she had Hake, Young Leeks, Pumpkin Risotto, Mussels. We also ordered a side portion of baby potatoes with 36 month aged parmesan & tender stem broccoli with warm bacon mayonnaise. The duck was rarer than I would ever cook it but it was excellent. I had a sliver of the hake and the risotto and it was really, really good. I almost had some food envy.

For desert, herself decided to go with the Caramelised Passion Fruit Tart, Mango Sorbet, Coconut Meringue while I had Valrhona Chocolate Namelaka, Salted Caramel, Hazelnuts. The fruit tart was very refreshing and I enjoyed the bit I got to taste but I was very happy with my choice and scoffed it down in no time.

The staff were very friendly throughout and help maintained the relaxed vibe of the restaurant.

Total bill inc tip was €269. Was a very good night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

From there, we headed over to VCC in Temple Bar where we had a table booked but as we were over an hour late, they had given it away so we had a drink at the bar and managed to get a table after about 20 minutes and sat contently sipping cocktails into the early hours of the morning. In the back of my head, I was thinking, there is no way I can trick her 4 years in a row, is there???...

[Silver-Tiger]

Stayed in MacNean House last night.

Thought it was nice experience. Super meal, nice drinks after and lovely breakfast this morning.

Noticed this place advertising in The Phoenix Mag

Fire & Salt - http://www.thejohnstownestate.com/Fi...estaurant.html

Location is very bloody isolated but accessible all the same. Opens in the next week or so. Il put it on the list as i tend to use that hotel a bit for meetings.

"Himalayan Rock Salt"

* IMO and all but
1) Salt is salt, rock salt has a texture but salt is salt!
2) For all their speel about Irish products, they should be using Irish Sea Salt (or the likes) as part of their patter, Himalayan Rock stands out whereas Irish salt would fit their USP

[NewApproach]

Must have passed by there a thousand times and always assumed it was crap due to location. Must remember that for next time.

Couldn't blame you for making that assumption, especially given the name also! It's top notch though.

[Raoul Duke III]

Not worth a full review as it's been done several times before but was in Chapter One at the weekend.

We had opted for the Pre Theatre menu as we were meeting friends afterwards. Food was fantastic, no complaints there but the whole dinner was ridiculously rushed. Now I know that you are on a time limit with pre theatre but this was way over board. Thought the service overall was a bit iffy, was quite surprised.

If you are actually doing it pre-theatre, you have starter and main - then come back in after the show for dessert and drinks.

#ProTip.

[Lao Lao]

Not worth a full review as it's been done several times before but was in Chapter One at the weekend.

We had opted for the Pre Theatre menu as we were meeting friends afterwards. Food was fantastic, no complaints there but the whole dinner was ridiculously rushed. Now I know that you are on a time limit with pre theatre but this was way over board. Thought the service overall was a bit iffy, was quite surprised.

[Hitchhiker's Guide To...]

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[Jibzzzz]

Too late but for future reference, Thai Spice just off the Connolly end of Talbot St is superb if you're into Thai food.

+1 to this for future reference.

[NewApproach]

Too late but for future reference, Thai Spice just off the Connolly end of Talbot St is superb if you're into Thai food.

[careca]

Thanks all. 101 looks nice so I booked that.

[Tar.Aldarion]

101 talbot

[pokerhand]

Bon Crubeen is close and OK without being great. Decent value.

Huh, I was just about to say the same. Friday is not great then. Usually would find somewhere off Capel st, but it has been a while.

Bon Crubeen is close and OK without being great. Decent value.

[careca]

Any recommendations for dinner (6/7pm) close to Connolly Station? Nothing too fancy.

Cheers

[Keane]

Funny enough I just discovered this morning that I would have been double booked for Thursday night anyway as we have a work night celebrating a chip we finished before Xmas.

I'll make it one of these years, have a good night folks!

[Raoul Duke III]

Oh no by all means if Eoin is in he is in.

Grand so. Consider yourself reinstated Switch.

[oleras]

[Keane]

Oh no by all means if Eoin is in he is in.

[Raoul Duke III]

I'm in. Nothing like 16 hour shifts. Had a couple f breaks where I tipped around in here but didn't notice the thread

FFS. Sent you a PM well over 2 days ago and no response to that or in thread plus Dice said you were working a game.

I've given your seat to Keane so you are now on the reserve list.

[The Aul Switcharoo]

I'm in. Nothing like 16 hour shifts. Had a couple f breaks where I tipped around in here but didn't notice the thread

[Raoul Duke III]

The Hateful Eight now looks like:

Lao Lao in reserve!

[Raoul Duke III]

No word from TAS so Keane has the option.

[Raoul Duke III]

New Approach in.

I'll see if TAS reverts in the next 24 hours and will then offer his seat to Keane.

[Dice75]

Confirmed:
RD3
HJ
GAB
Strewel
Denny
ionapaul

LL out and seat offered to New Approach.

Awaiting word from The Auld Switcheroo who is suspiciously quiet. If I don't hear from him by tomorrow afternooon, I'll offer his seat to the next reserve. i.e. Keane

Think Switchy is working at Larrys game since Thursday. Normally does lot of hours

[Raoul Duke III]

Confirmed:
RD3
HJ
GAB
Strewel
Denny
ionapaul

LL out and seat offered to New Approach.

Awaiting word from The Auld Switcheroo who is suspiciously quiet. If I don't hear from him by tomorrow afternooon, I'll offer his seat to the next reserve. i.e. Keane

[LuckyLloyd]

Lads, unfortunately I'm out, much to my disappointment. I'm in the UK for work Wed to Fri. Fuck it, really wanted to try the Vintage Kitchen

[Tar.Aldarion]

In Pierre Gagnaire's on Paris, the mains were between €250-€360 each

In Paris near the Eiffel tower I looked at a menu outside an establishment and soup was fifty something euro. This was like 10 years ago. No thanks!

[Lao Lao]

might as well put a London review here as was absolutely delighted to find it.

Location: London East End

website: tayyabs

Price Range: (from 1 to 5 €€€€€) €

I first went to Brick lane about 12 years ago and found it bizarre. The amount of people on the street trying to get you into the restaurant with offers - free glass of wine, free starter, free bottle of wine between 4, etc. It was like each one would try outdo the other.

Food was pretty savage though!!

[newbie2]

Is Mulberry Garden where Ernie's used to be? Not sure if I've got the right place in my head. Only ever dined in Ernie's twice but it was a class place.

Yeah exactly the place

[newbie2]

Where charges 100+ for a main?

In Pierre Gagnaire's on Paris, the mains were between €250-€360 each

[shrapnel]

might as well put a London review here as was absolutely delighted to find it.

Location: London East End

website: tayyabs

Price Range: (from 1 to 5 €€€€€) €

Had a very good friend come over from Dublin, and although he's been here a good few times, he's never experienced a good curry house in the east end. I'd booked somewhere but by the time we got there, there was no way we were eating in said establishment so we headed off in search of a good curry house in brick lane. Now if you want a good curry in brick lane, then book! there are a couple of very good ones and all the others are the same basic boring curry houses and as a rule to be avoided.

We walked and walked and walked and arrived at the gunpowder but unfortunately were told there was a 3 hour waiting list. it looked awesome so one for another day.

my Irish friend was getting more than cranky at that stage. He's a very big man built like a shit brick house who enjoys rag dolling people and lifting the equivalent of small cars on a daily basis. He'd mentioned he hadn't eaten since 6am and I'd already poured 3 pints down him so he was now in dire need of food. At that stage we had walked from Moorgate to Shoreditch and then zig zagged down to whitechapel, so definitely time for food!

We walked some more and finally found what we’d been looking for. A Punjabi curry house, just off whitechapel road in a side street just by the east London mosque by the name of Tayyabs. It easily seats about 350 people and there’s always a massive queue, but we got a little lucky, finally, and found a table within 5 minutes. The place is heaving, bustling, overcrowded, tables for 2 were too tight, but to be fair we were happy to be sitting down for our meal. I quickly ask if we can order a couple of beers only to be told they don’t serve alcohol, and the fact they had booze on every table was pretty clear it was BYOB. Not a fucking chance I wasn’t having a drink so once we’d gone over the menu and decided to order most of it, I decided to leg it to the local tescos, 200 metres away and buy a few bottles of tiger beer.

Now the menu is quite small 6 or 7 starters and 5 or 6 curries. We ordered most of them only to be told we’d likely ordered too much. We backed down to about 5 starters and 3 curries plus rice and naans.

I won’t go through every dish. Everything was good to great. Starters were nothing fancy but delicious, and the curries were incredible, with phenomenal spice, and every single one was completely different to the next which made for a really incredible meal. there was no mention of heat anywhere, just curries with incredible balance. We should’ve stuck to our original plan and ordered two more tbh. We were by no means hungry, but would’ve found the room!

This is by no means a beautiful restaurant, there were loud assholes, overflowing toilets, tight tables, big queues, but I tell you want I can’t wait to go back there. The food was awesome! So if you’re in the City and looking for a curry house jump in to an Uber and get yourselves to Tayyabs.

Oh and forgot to mention the bill, well for all that the total bill came to £35.

[Lao Lao]

Restaurant Name: La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise

Location: Hastalska 18, Prague

Website: http://www.ladegustation.cz

Price Range: (from 1 to 5 €€€€€) €€€€

Earlier this month, I was in Prague for Mrs Lao Lao's birthday. Anytime we travel, we will always do an element of the touristy malarky but we really like to do a bit of research and eat / drink in nice places. On the Friday we managed to get a table in Red Pif and the food was very good so I was expecting good things from the Saturday night as we had booked this Michelin star restaurant several weeks ago. We were not disappointed.

The restaurant is a good size and is an L shape. The tables are nicely spread out, not too far away but not too close either. We were seated in the corner of the L which meant we had a perfect view into the kitchen. The kitchen itself was an oasis of calm. The chefs (think I counted 7 in total) glided around the kitchen with ease and everything looked to be minimal effort to them. They all seemed genuinely happy, smiling as they worked. The decor in the restaurant was modern and almost minimalist but it had a very cool feel to it, I really like it. The staff were very friendly and made you feel very welcome from the minute you entered. All good signs of what was to come

We had two options, a 6 or 11 course tasting menu. As tempting as the 11 course was, we opted for the 6 course with wine pairings, all of which were Czech except the desert Riesling (There is nothing worse imo than leaving a restaurant overly full and needing a sleep, that kind of carry on should be reserved for Christmas Day!)

Before the courses started, we were treated to several hors d'oeuvres which included a tartar burger (sublime), a quail's egg (served in an egg holder, could have eaten a half dozen of them), Artichoke shell (very good) & fermented celery served with finish toast (I have no idea how they made celery taste as good as they did) - Each of the hors d'oeuvres were brought over individually by one of the chefs which I thought was a nice touch.

Onto the courses.

1st Course - Pumpkin, Prague ham, whipped cream served with Hibernal 2014 (Petr Kocarik)

2nd Course - Beetroot, Goat Kefir, blueberries served with Creme de Rose 2015 (Dobra Vinice)

3rd Course - Catfish, radish, almonde served with Sauvignon Blanc 2014 (Jaromir Gala)

4th Course - Pork Belly, cabbage, caraway seeds served with Ryzlink Vlassky 2000 (Mikrosvin Mikulov)

5th Course - Beef Heart, Mustard, horseradish served with Cuvee Skale 2008 (Pavel Springer)

6th Course - Choice between Sheep cheese arnika, pasta, smoked stock served with a Matuska craft beer or Yogurt, apple, griotka served with Riesling Goldtropfchen auslese 2003 (Reinhold Haart) - We opted for one of each

4 out of the 6 courses were out of this world. Had I been at home, I would have picked up the plate and licked it spotlessly clean. I would then have licked it again, just to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time round. The other two courses, while not bad in any way, just didn't quite match the heights of the other four.

The beetroot dish was a tad too sweet for me, especially when accompanied with a sweet Rose - It could have been served for desert and I probably wouldn't known the difference.

The other course that failed to fully wow me was the cheese course. Maybe it is a Czech thing but I was expecting more of a cheese board type thing but this was finely grated cheese served in a bowl which the texture just didn't work for me, it tasted fine but just seemed a bit odd.

Afterwards, we had petit fours of Shortbread biscuit, a mouse and a traditional Czech apple doughnut (each one better than the next) washed down with a single malt for myself and some herbal aperitif for herself.

The staff through out were impeccable. The sommelier was a perfect mix of charm, knowledge & chat without being annoying or intrusive. Each course was brought to the table by one of the two maitre d's with a chef in tow who always finished the dish at the table, adding a sauce, some cheffy dust or the like. There was one waitress whose sole job seemed to be to replace your cutlery / napkin / top up water -She was stealth like in her efficiency and very impressive.

My only real gripe was the sizing of the wines, yes, you are having six glasses of wine with your dinner but they were just too small, they could have easily been 50% - 75% larger and I then I would have been happy

The total bill including a 20% tip came to €380 and I felt it was more than a fair price for what we got.

9/10

[V for Vendetta]

I could have fixed this but decided to play it by the book.

Peeps ordered alphabetically:

we got a random draw as follows (so blame Trippie )



Giving us a table of:

and reserves of:

I would suggest usual deal of meeting in Mulligans for a pre-dinner drink from 7.30 on.

I expect at least one of the reserves will get a run.

HJ, LL, Denny and Strewel - the political discussion will be pretty entertaining! Sorry I couldn't throw my hat in the ring on this occasion.

[shrapnel]

Bunch of philistines [emoji1]

i'll drink it with ya if you like

€: 3 courses for max 20
€€: 3 courses for max 35
€€€: 3 courses for max 60
€€€€: 3 courses for max 90
€€€€€: 3 courses for 90+

imo

[Lao Lao]

i think they didn't like your wine selection

Bunch of philistines [emoji1]

[mocata]

Where charges 100+ for a main?

[shrapnel]

Boo urns. I'll be standing outside repeatedly mooning the rest of ye through the window whilst necking a bottle of vino...

SPOILER

Draw is the only fair way to do it really, I blame Trippie from being crap at being random

i think they didn't like your wine selection

[Lao Lao]

Is Mulberry Garden where Ernie's used to be? Not sure if I've got the right place in my head. Only ever dined in Ernie's twice but it was a class place.

[Lao Lao]

Boo urns. I'll be standing outside repeatedly mooning the rest of ye through the window whilst necking a bottle of vino...

SPOILER

Draw is the only fair way to do it really, I blame Trippie from being crap at being random

[newbie2]

Restaurant Name: Fera at Claridge’s

Location: Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4HR

Website: http://feraatclaridges.co.uk

Price Range: (from 1 to 5 €€€€€) €€€€


Myself and two friends visited here on a brief trip to London in October.

We were really looking forward to the meal but were somewhat disappointed. The idea that menus were created on the day using whatever was foraged appealed to us greatly, however the dishes were a tad bland.

The room itself is large and quite noisy. Out table was originally booked well in advance for 9.00pm, but this was moved on request of the restaurant a few days before arrival to 9.30pm. By the time we arrived, the atmosphere was in full swing.

Because it was a Saturday, we had to have the tasting menu - which was fine - we would have anyway. we elected to go for the matching wines also as we do like a tipple.

Without going through the whole menu and critiquing each thing, I think it will suffice to say that we weren't blown away by them. The rabbit starter was very nice. The biggest disappointment was the wines. Firstly, they weren't particularly interesting, and secondly the glasses were very small. Yes it was interesting to hear the history etc of each of them, but when they are finished after a couple of sips, you feel a little gouged.

The selection of cheeses at the end was a triumph. It's just a pity when that's the best part of the meal.

4/10

[Raoul Duke III]

I could have fixed this but decided to play it by the book.

Peeps ordered alphabetically:

we got a random draw as follows (so blame Trippie )

3,7,1,9,2,4,10,8,5,6

Giving us a table of:

and reserves of:

I would suggest usual deal of meeting in Mulligans for a pre-dinner drink from 7.30 on.

I expect at least one of the reserves will get a run.

[newbie2]

I would consider it to be the food price range more so than the spend of a particular visit.

Okay,

€ = €10 pp for a main course
€€ = €25 pp for a main course
€€€ = €50 pp for a main course
€€€€ = €75 pp for a main course
€€€€€ = €100+ pp for a main course

[Raoul Duke III]

OK, so to date we have the following:

RD111
GAB
Lao Lao
Denny Crane
New Approach
ionapaul
The Auld Switch
Strewel
Hectorious
Keane
Lucky Lloyd

i.e. 10 applications for 7 places (obviously I am going)

I will do a random draw, will put the unsuccessful on a reserve list as people always drop out for one reason or another.

[Tar.Aldarion]

I would consider it to be the food price range more so than the spend of a particular visit.

[newbie2]

Depends on how much wine you drink also

[V for Vendetta]

Talk to me about how we figure the price range $ to $$$$$ thing?

It's very subjective!

50 a head for food is 3 but 250 total for a couple feels more like a 4!

[newbie2]

€ - McDonalds
€€€€€ - Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud

I suppose it's relative to where you are eating ( ie city ) A €€€ meal in Prague might be a €€€€€ in London. maybe we could include/change it to trip advisor rating or someting.

[LuckyLloyd]

Talk to me about how we figure the price range $ to $$$$$ thing?

[newbie2]

Restaurant Name: Mulberry Garden

Location: Mulberry Lane, Donnybrook, D4

Website: http://newmulberry.restaurantboomerang.com/

Price Range: (from 1 to 5 €€€€€) €€€


Had wanted to visit this place for quite some time, but it's proximity to work prevented it. It is getting rave reviews both online and from colleagues.

Took the wife out as it was our anniversary hoping it would blow us away - alas it didn't. the place itself is tucked away down a lane beside Kiely's. It's very nice - if a little small. there's a nice garden that I suppose would be nice during the summer months. A small bar which has a limited number of gins. We waited here until our table was ready.

One of the issues about going out for dinner near Xmas, is you're nearly always treated to a 'festive' dinner. Not so with Mulberry. The offering was a menu of 3 courses for €49 each. Not bad value we thought.

To start I had the Terrine: Pheasant, Ham Hock, Black Pudding, Quince, Celeriac, Juniper Mayo, Brussel Sprouts - quite nice - I didn't think you could make Brussel sprout taste any worse, but burning it does the trick.

The wife had: Coolattin Cheese Gnocchi, Kale, Green Sauce - she was very impressed.

One thing to note is that they were small portion served on HUGE plates, which was a little arsey.

For mains we both had: Venison, Caramelised Cauliflower, Black Currant Gel, Cavolo Nero, Coffee Mayo

Pretty disappointed with this. the cut was VERY small. We had venison in Chapter 1 last xmas and the cut was substantial - almost like a 8oz steak. this portion was a tiny slice of that. Also there was no caramelised cauliflower. Again served on a HUGE plate.

For dessert, I had a very nice Bailys cheesecake. I didn't bother with the cheese plate as I was sure i would be disappointed. The wife had that and sure enough, she was disappointed. Tiny slices of 3 cheeses (normal fair - nothing unusual) and a few crackers.

All washed down with a couple of bottles of 2015 Domaine Daniel Chotard Sancerre. (€52)

Total bill (incl tip, pre dinner drinks, water etc) came to €250. A bit over the top really because we left the place hankering for a bag of chips.

6/10