review: bang restaurant, dublin 2

I have a list of restaurants I want to visit in Dublin, and also all across Ireland! Further afield too actually: Barcelona, London, Paris, Cape Town, Bruges, Amsterdam, New York, Copenhagen, Singapore, Bangkok...

Some are clearly more achievable than others, so I've taken the (sensible) decision to tackle the home-grown ones first.

One on my list is Bang, located close to St Stephen's Green on Merrion Row, and a recent voucher offer from MenuPages Deals meant that it was a step closer. Happy days!


Ms C and I nabbed a deal for the renowned 5-course tasting menu for 2 people at €69 - half the usual price of €69 each, and so we headed down with empty bellies one Friday evening recently.

We arrived in good time, were shown to our table straight away, and were offered drinks. We went for the recommended accompanying wines for the tasting menu (€29.95 per person), and I'm really glad we did, they turned out to be perfect matches. I've never been one for the whole 'drink this with this, eat that with that' thing, but I have to say I may be starting to convert. These were spot on so maybe there's something in that after all...

Ok so I'm just going to reel off the courses given to us, with a comment on each. Suffice to say this was one of the nicest meals I've eaten in a pretty long time. Apart from my own fantastic cooking of course ahem...

We started with an amuse bouche of soft goat's cheese, topped with beetroot and a few other bits & bobs. Really creamy, not too strong or salty, and a lovely way to get the appetite going. This was served with a glass of prosecco from Valdobbiadene in the Treviso province of Italy.

Next up was the fish course, which was house cured Clare Island salmon, served with avocado, radish, cucumber and a ponzu gel which was just tart enough to cut through the sweetness of the other components. Not a huge serving, very delicate and perfectly balanced. As a cheffy type cook, this played as much to my eyes as my palate, and I was left feeling inspired yet again as to how simple presentation is often the best; a feeling I'm getting a lot when dining out lately, such is the standard of Dublin restaurants these days. The wine here was a crisp Sauvignon Blanc (Blanc/Gros Manseng) from the Cotes de Gascogne region.

Meat was next, and time to start getting full! The menu described the dish as Hereford Beef with local celeriac, crispy onion, watercress and horseradish potato. Sounds nice enough, sure, but what Bang fail to mention on the menu is that the beef is slow cooked for around 14 hours. A small detail? I think not. Jeepers creepers, what a piece of meat; I couldn't stop smiling when I tried to cut into it and it just fell apart, and then actually tasting it... I'm drooling just thinking about it! So moist and full of flavour, and coupled with the creamy horseradish mash, a real delight. This was just a fantastic plate of food. Wine with the meat was a lovely full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux.

Cheeses followed, a hard and a soft (these can vary depending on when you're in), and they were served simply with biscuits, grapes and a fantastic truffled honey. The honey was amazing; I don't know what they did to it but I've never tasted anything so, erm, honey-ey! Absolutely ridiculous. The cheese course came with a lighter red, a Malbec from Argentina.

Finally it was dessert time, and although we'd already eaten four indulgent courses, we were eager to finish off with something just as nice as the previous dishes; expectations were high! Pud came in the form of a chocolate bar, accompanied by mango gel and a mango sorbet. Rich dark chocolate - not too bitter - and the sharpness of the fresh mango, this is a dessert to go on anyone's bucket list I reckon. The final wine was a sweet fruity red dessert wine, almost another part of the dish itself, so yet again a great match.

Service was impeccable throughout, with each dish and wine described in detail to us by the attentive staff. In short this was a great foody night out. Perfect food expertly presented and very well thought out, with each course complimenting the overall menu as a whole.

Now look, I realise €100 a head is a bit on the steep side for most pockets (mine included), but I feel it's worth it, and definitely a place to be recommended for a very special occasion. Or do as I did and keep your eyes peeled for the voucher offer - if you're into your food you won't regret it.

Bang Restaurant
11 Merrion Row
Dublin 2, Ireland
www.bangrestaurant.com
www.facebook.com/BangRestaurant
https://twitter.com/bangrestaurant1
info@bangrestaurant.com
+353 (1) 400 4229

review: jamie's italian, dundrum

Opened just over a year ago in September 2012, Jamie's Italian is clearly doing something right. Serving great food cooked to order from fresh ingredients in a really cool restaurant might have something to do with it! Jamie Oliver was my first 'food hero', so I was really looking forward to this!

I was lucky enough to be invited to sample the goods one lunchtime after responding to a post on the restaurant's Twitter page; talk about an added bonus! To be honest, the quality of the food is such that I've have gladly paid for it - maybe I should have mentioned that to Andrew, our host, and Jamie's Italian General Manager.


The menu offers a huge range of authentic-sounding dishes, and every one of them sounds fantastic - a real problem when you're hungry and like to eat everything! This was our first time here, and not being so sure about portion sizes we opted to share a starter. We went for the crispy squid; that was down to us both reminiscing about our trip to Barcelona last year and wishing we were still there...

The squid was perfectly cooked and not chewy at all, and came served with a lovely garlic mayonnaise and some fried garlic and red chilli, and really hit the spot. At first we thought the portion size may have been a little small, but then reminded ourselves that this was an antipasti dish, not a starter, so all good. Definitely a dish to be recommended and great to whet the appetite. Maybe best to have it to yourself though; too tasty to share!

We ordered a couple of glasses of vino too, a lovely pinot grigio, Delle Venezie. Nice & crisp, and perfect for Italian cuisine. Lovely.

Mains were next. Ms Chefilepsy opted for the Honeycomb Cannelloni Three Ways, a lovely dish with freshly made pasta covered with tomato sauce and filled with a combination of aubergine & sun-dried tomato, pumpkin, and ricotta & spinach. I went for one of the daily specials, which was a whole roasted sea bream, served with garlic, Heritage tomatoes, olives and a lovely light sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly and was really tasty; both mains really delivered.

Being guests of the house we thought it rude to not indulge in a couple of desserts; well you would wouldn't you?! Ms C chose three scoops of ice cream, topped with crushed nuts and seasonal berries - delicious. I went for the panna cotta, which was served with a seasonal fruit compote. Lovely and packed with fresh vanilla, it had the flavour (and the wobble) I love. So, more ticks in more boxes!

All-in-all this was a well balanced lunch, and could have just as easily been enjoyed in the evening for dinner. The food is just great and comes highly recommended as one of the few places I've found in the Dublin area to offer genuine-tasting Italian food (and without the menu just being limited to the standard pizza and pasta options). The atmosphere and buzz of the place is great too; the sound of loads of people chatting, along with the clatter of cutlery, is really infectious, and is spot on for this type of setting.

Getting to the restaurant is easy too. We took the Luas from the city centre (green line) and the journey only took around 15 minutes. If you're driving that's just as simple, with loads of parking available within the Dundrum Town Centre complex.

Well done and thanks again to Andrew & the whole team; we were left wanting for nothing and I for one can't wait to head back.

Jamie's Italian
Unit 1
Pembroke District
Dundrum Town Centre
Dublin 16, Ireland
www.jamieoliver.com/italian/ireland/
https://twitter.com/JamiesItalianIE
+353 (1) 298 0600

review: camden kitchen, dublin 8

One year. One whole year. That's how long it is since I first met my lovely lady. Thankfully I was allowed to give the knife a rest for one evening and head out for dinner to celebrate the occasion. I live in a great part of town, just south of the centre, surrounded by pubs, cafés, and of course restaurants. And so off we went to our favourite: Camden Kitchen.

The restaurant itself is a perfect mix of cool bistro and fine dining, with a comfortable atmosphere; not one of those places where you feel you shouldn't cut your food too loudly. The staff are friendly and attentive, but not overbearing, and are knowledgeable about the lovely food they professionally deliver to the hungry.

The wine list offers a good variety of reds, whites & sparkly stuff, with prices to suit all pockets too: for example, whites range from €23 to €49 a bottle, with most also served by the glass. If you can't choose, just speak to someone for a suggestion based on what you're going to be eating.

And that leads us to the food...

Head chef & owner Padraic Hayden and his small team offer up a veritable feast of what he describes as "Modern European" dishes, locally sourced where possible (including a bit of foraging, fair play), and always seasonal. Big flavours, perfect balances, and presented oh-so-prettily, this is serious food that just won't allow you to stop eating it!

We started off in true celebratory style with a couple of champagne cocktails whilst we mulled over the menu. A Kir Royal for me and a Bellini for her majesty. A bit of fizz is always good for getting the appetite going I reckon - not that we needed any encouragement! They went down veeery well...

We ordered food and water and started trying (unsuccessfully) not to eat all of the lovely bread. Wine was on its way too; a bottle of 2009 Sancerre, Domaine des Brosses, at €39.

Starters arrived and whilst I resisted the temptation to take photos (a personal first), I did resist the temptation to dive in all guns blazing. For around 2 seconds...

Miss Chefilepsy went for the natural smoked haddock croquette, which came served with smoked salmon & spring leaves. Pretty as a picture, and tasty as a very tasty thing indeed. Good job.

I opted for the special: gambas & chorizo with lemon, garlic, croutons & salad leaves. The smell was just amazing, and transported me back to my years living in Spain. And when I say gambas, we're not talking piddling little prawns here. These were serious monsters, served grilled in their shells, and came with a finger bowl for the clean up operation afterwards - good thinking guys! This was a huge portion (I think I counted 10 of these dudes, maybe more); a couple more and it would have made a substantial lunch dish! These beasts are light though so no complaints here. Moreish, full of flavour, and fresh as the proverbial daisy.

Smile planted firmly on my face, onto the main event. Organic salmon fillet, wild garlic gnocchi, clams & cauliflower tempura for me; dry-aged Maurice Kettyle beef rib eye served with ox cheek, potatoes & roasted shallot for the ladyfriend. We'll start with my salmon...

Beautifully just-cooked flesh, crispy skin; just wonderful. The wild garlic gnocchi was a revelation; bright green in colour and piped out like puréed potato with everything sitting atop, the taste was subtle with just enough garlic flavour so as to compliment - not dominate - the rest of the food. The cauliflower was crispy on the outside and cooked perfectly, with a delicate crunch to the vegetable. Overall a lovely, lovely plate of food.

Miss C's rib eye was a more robust looking dish, yet still with the refinement I've come to expect of these top eating joints. Wonderfully juicy and perfectly seasoned, the phrase 'hot knife though butter' comes to mind when it came to cutting a piece off. For those that have yet to try ox cheek, I'd definitely recommend it. It just tastes so... beefy! And tender as you like; this must have been cooked for hours! The dish went down well I think, or so says the lack of, well, anything left on the plate, once the course was over. Another success then.

Spotting our creaking and slight groans, it was suggested that we might want to take a little break before ordering desserts. Good call my man! More wine was sipped and eventually we bit the bullet and ordered.

The puds arrived within a few minutes and as soon as we smelled them, any thoughts of not being able to finish were quickly shown the door.

I often go for the dark chocolate fondant with homemade coconut ice cream & coffee froth, but bowed out this time, opting for the citrus crème brûlée with passion fruit sorbet. Mine turned out to be a great choice; rich yet light, and full of flavour, with the tart sorbet acting as the perfect palate cleanser.

Miss C did go for the fondant, having stared at mine jealously the last couple of times we've been here, and she wasn't disappointed. SO chocolately, this was a textbook fondant, with plenty of rich chocolate oozing out onto the plate. Clean plates all round for a third time.

Time to try and relax; coffee with a cheeky brandy for me, and the remainder of the wine for my better half. We must have still looked peckish somehow, as our server thought it necessary to drop a couple of complimentary lavender & honey Madeleines onto our table. These are one of the standard desserts on offer here so I'm guessing rather than throw them away, it was decided to give them a good home i.e. in our bellies! A nice touch nonetheless.

The bill came, we paid, tipped, and attempted to execute dignified waddling as we shuffled sideways out the door.

All in all this was, as always, a great gastronomical evening of dining. I can't urge you enough to try Camden Kitchen when trying to decide where to go for something just a little bit special; trust me, you'll never be disappointed. With a total spend of €132, this clearly isn't the cheapest bites you'll ever get, but when you think that covered six dishes (SIX!), champagne cocktails, wine (€39 alone, don't forget), coffee, brandy and water, I have to say, that price is a long way off being offensive.

And remember, if you pay Camden Kitchen anything at all, then you'll have just finished one of the best meals you'll have eaten all year. Worth every penny says I.

I'll be back before long I hope; I'm sure my lady & I can think of a good enough excuse, even if it's just that we're hungry...

Camden Kitchen
3A Camden Market
Grantham Street
Dublin 8, Ireland
www.camdenkitchen.ie
https://www.facebook.com/CamdenKitchen
+353 (1) 476 0125
info@camdenkitchen.ie

dine in dublin 2013

It's that time of the year again when everyone can be a foody! Yep, Dine In Dublin is back, and this year it's bigger than ever!

Dine In Dublin happens twice a year and is designed to promote the fantastic range of food from some of the best restaurants in Dublin city centre. The event lasts a week (25 Feb - 3 Mar) and everyone can take advantage of sampling some of the lovely food on offer at a fraction of the price. The average price of a 3 course menu works out at around €25, which represents at least 20% off standard a la carte prices.

There are also a load of other special events during the Dine In Dublin week, including wine tasting, live music and great activities aimed at families.

So what are you waiting for?! Head over to the Dine In Dublin website for full details and plan your foody indulgences now! And don't forget to check out the Dine In Dublin Facebook page for regular free meal prize draws!

Now I'm hungry...

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Dine In Dublin 2013
25 February 2013 - 3 March 2013

Website: http://www.dineindublin.ie/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DineInDublin

trip to bratislava!

Last Friday my lovely lady & I jetted off  for a nice weekend break in Eastern Europe. Well, ish - it was Ryanair we booked with & we sat in the plane for over an hour before moving an inch. Which was fun, as you can imagine. Thankfully we managed to nab a couple of emergency exit seats so at least my long legs could actually stretch out whilst we waited...

Anyway, as I was saying, we travelled to Eastern Europe for a couple of nights, just to get out of the city & take advantage of some cheap flights. The destination was Slovakia, and to be more precise Bratislava, its tiny capital.

If you've never been to Bratislava, I'd highly recommend it. It's a small city as I said, so a couple of nights is plenty of time to decide whether you like the place or not, as it's easily possible to get around to most places without any hassle, and everywhere is within walking distance too!

We were staying right in the heart of Bratislava old town (Staré Mesto), which is just so pretty and full of big old buildings. Bars, cafe, bistros & restaurants are dotted all over the place, along with the obligatory souvenir shops, and the welcome we received in each one we visited was the same - warm, friendly and accommodating. A really great advert for Bratislava and its people.

But enough of my waffle; this is a food blog, so let's get on to the food & drink!

Sladovňa beer

Actually the drink side of things is pretty simple to cover off: it's beer. Lots of beer, from dark, to light, to blonde, and from alcohol-free, to strong, to stronger. Beer is often matched with food on the menus in a lot of restaurants, which is a great concept; wine with some of these big meals just wouldn't cut it somehow...

Slovak food is hearty fare, and with the colder climate, food like this is much needed to provide some essential internal heating! The food reminded me (unsurprisingly) of the kind of meals I've had in the Czech Republic, as well as around Bavaria, and consists of staples such as duck, goose, lots of pork, cabbage, and some lovely sauces. Hungry you may be when you enter a Slovak restaurant, but hungry you certainly won't be when you leave; the portions are huge!

Take a look at some of the things we munched, slurped and struggled through during our 2 days in the Slovakian capital:

Liptauer cheese, pork dripping with bacon & red onion,
pickled veg, handmade brawn & homemade bread

Bryndzove Halusky (gnocchi with Bryndza cheese & bacon)

Grilled Slovak sausage with mustard & horseradish

Breakfast! French toast, scrambled egg, bacon,
sausage & grilled vegetables

Beef tongue with horseradish & cranberry

Moravský Vrabec (stewed pork cubes served with
braised cabbage and steamed dumplings)

Grilované Pikantné kuracie krídelká - Deer goulash with
red wine & cranberry sauce and bread dumplings

We visited a fair few places to have a drink and a bite to eat (still full!), but our favourite place of all? Well it has to be Sladovňa, a very cool bar & restaurant set in a restored malthouse. A small selection of local & European beers are joined by some fantastic traditional Slovak cuisine, all cooked perfectly, which you can enjoy sat at oak tables whilst being waited on by the attentive, friendly staff. A definite recommendation for any trip to Bratislava!

Bratislava is easily accessible these days, with Ryanair flying out from many destinations every day (including Dublin - with the exception of Saturdays), and flight times are under 3 hours. So what are you waiting for? Bratislava comes highly recommended to those of you who want to sample a beautiful small capital city in a couple of days, accompanied by great food, great drinks and faultless customer service.

A quick final note to my fellow blogger French Foodie In Dublin: Moods was only 20m from our hotel, but was closed! We might be heading there again in the summer, so hopefully that will give us a better result!

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Useful Links:

World Travel Guide

Official Tourism & Travel Guide

Wikipedia

Lonely Planet

Trip Advisor
Skaritz Hotel & Residence
Sladovňa Malthouse

review: green 19, dublin 2

Friday nights on Camden Street, just south of Dublin city centre, can be busy affairs, and stressful ones too. With so many eating & drinking holes to choose form in this buzzing part of town it's often a case of which pub to go to? And in which order? And where to eat?

Thankfully that last question doesn't take too much thinking about, thanks to the guys & gals at the uber-trendy Green 19. So popular is this cafe-cum-restaurant-cum-bistro-cum-gallery, that tables are always at a premium, whether it's funky Friday or mundane Monday.

Reservations can't be made after 6pm, so it tends to be a case of first-come first-served. No worries if you can't get in immediately though; service is fast & efficient (and friendly!), and turnover of covers is quick as a result.

We visited around 9pm, which I know from experience is one of the busiest times here. Not a bother though; an approximate waiting time of half an hour was given, names & numbers were taken, and we popped next door to Anseo for a glass of something suitably fizzy/dry/on the rocks whilst we waited. 15 minutes later the call came in, and we're told to "take your time - the table's yours whenever you need it". How great is it to hear that on a Friday night in Dublin when you haven't even booked a place?!

Specials Board - Green 19, Camden Street, Dublin

Having been here before, I know the portions are a good size, and will satisfy the hungriest of appetites, so we tried to play it safe with our starter. We went for the excellent sharing plate of cured meats at €8. A larger portion is available for €12 for those who haven't eaten for a couple of days.

The meats were tasty and reminded us of our recent trip to Barcelona - always a good thing! We had a good few slices of salami, chorizo, pastrami and Serrano ham; great with some bread, and a forkful of the accompanying dressed leaf salad. Incidentally, this all arrived (expertly draped across a wooden board), within around 3 minutes of ordering - fast as this may seem, it's a perfect example of the typical level of service you receive at Green 19, and always comes with a smile and an undoubted feeling of nothing being too much trouble.

Next up was the Mains event (see what I did there?)...

I opted for one of the specials of the night, the other being fish & chips, which had sadly sold out - not surprising; I've had it it the past and it seriously rocks. Instead I went for the round steak, which comes with chips and a Béarnaise sauce. I asked for it to be cooked rare, and rare it was - perfectly seared on the outside, perfectly red on the inside, and tender as you like, with my accompanying dagger sliding through it like the proverbial hot knife through butter; not easy to achieve with this particular cut of cow.

Her Majesty went for the veggie option, thinking it to be a safe bet for "not much". How wrong she was, and I could see her face recognise that fact when her Mexican Chilli Bean Burrito arrived. Falling off the edges of the plate, this also came with a more-than-generous serving of those marvellous hand cut chips. Fair play, she almost finished the lot, however had trouble speaking for a while afterwards, which isn't always a bad thing. After such a tasty meal I mean of course...

The wines we chose (white for the burrito, red for the cow) were brought towards the end of the starter as requested, with the white being crisp, dry, and cold as you like, and my Rioja at room temperature as is the standard these days. All very acceptable, and both very downed without a hint of a grimace.

Desserts were beckoning but sadly belts were busting so I settled for a small coffee whilst HRH stuck with the complimentary water. Shortly after that the bill came (with free mints woop!), we paid up, stood up (slowly), and waddled our way to the door.

All-in-all, a great meal in very cool and super-friendly surroundings. Head for Green 19 soon (and as often as you can), for perfect food, outstanding service and ridiculously low prices. What are you waiting for?

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Our Starters

Selection of Cured Meats & Sausages (to share)

€8

Our Mains

Mexican Chilli Bean Burrito

€10

Round Steak, chips & Béarnaise sauce

€19

Our Plonk

Viña Bujanda, Rioja

€6

Bianco di Toscana Trebiano

€4.50

Our Afters

Espresso macchiato

€1.50

Our Bill

€49.00 + tip

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Green 19
19 Camden Street Lower
Dublin 2, Ireland
www.green19.ie
+353 (1) 478 9626