The Brazen Head

The Brazen Head
20 Bridge Street, Dublin 8



Testers: Anne, Diane, Elena, F, J, U, R


Rating

• Food: 3.7/6
• Drinks: 5.5/6
• Atmosphere: 5.4/6
• Toilet: 4,5/6

Food

• "Fries, nothing else. Sorry, had too much cake in the afternoon to test anything else... Not enough taste, a bit mushy."
• "Decent food. My Beef and Guinness Stew was great, although it did not taste much of Guinness..."
• "Seafood pasta good, but somewhat 'soupy'. There were only 3 mussles!"
• "The food was good, for pub standards. Had stuffed chicken breat with mushrooms, and vegetables without salt..."

Drinks

• "Best Guinness in Dublin."
• "Good (but not very cold) Guinness. Good cider."
• "Lots of delicious soft drinks for drivers..."
  

Atmosphere

• "Good craic!"
• "Really nice! The pub looks old and original, dark and cosy. When we went in, there were some guys making music."
• "Very cosy for a known tourist trap. Spacious, comfy outside area, friendly service. Possible to sit outside even in winter."
• "Nice beer garden, but pretty loud."
• "Regular live music, too."
• "Very nice beer garden, good atmosphere."
• "Wonderful crowd, doing drinking games, funny laughter."
  

Toilet

• "Wait a moment - I have to drink more before I go there..."
• "Classic with chain! Flattering lighting and mirror. ;-) "
  

Layla

Layla website
31/32 Lower Pembroke Street
Dublin 2

telephone +353 (1) 662 2566
email info@layla.ie




Participants: Kathrin, Philip, U, F, R

Rating

• Food: 5/6
  
• Drinks: 4.9/6
  
• Atmo: 5.5/6
  
• Toilet: 3.5/6
  

Food

• "We shared _lots_ of starters, the waiter chose for us - excellent!"
• "I had 'Sultan's pleasure' - for men only! Excellent lamb, slowly roasted."
• "Layla vegetarian platter: A very nicely prepared dish."
• "Absolutely loved the starters! The wine leaves were so juicy you almost had to drink them."
  
• "All a bit centered on lamb and aubergine."
• "Everything seemed to be fresh and well-prepared"

Drinks

• "Ayran with mint: was OK, would like more flavour/spices, though."
• "All-you-can-drink Turkish tea, but never got a refill. Didn't ask for it either, though. Strong and sweet."
  

Atmo

• "Great roof terrace for summer!"
• "Very nice interior and decoration."
• "Service friendly and personal." "Warm welcome."
  
• "We missed the belly dancing... And the desserts! We'll have to come back!"

Toilet

• "Flushing! The Irish toilet problem! It was one of those toilets that allow flushing only every 15 minutes or so..."
  

Monsoon, Lwr Rathmines Road

Monsoon Website
306-308 Lwr Rathmines Road,
Dublin 6, Ireland

email info@monsoon.ie
tel 01 4911666

Participants: J, U, F, R

Rating

• Food: 5/6
• Drink: 4/6
• Toilet: 5/6
• Ambience: 5.5/6

Price: 16€-18€ for main course (chicken, lamb, seafood; vegetarian cheaper)

Food

• "spicyness was good", "could have had more zing and spices"
• "tasty, great flavours, excellent chicken", "jucy and tender meat"
• "good nan bread, too!"
• "sauce was more on the sweet side"

Drink

• "Normal wine selection"
• "Mango Lasse: taste was OK, but: 5 thick ice cubes - so hard to drink"
• "black tea: was - well - black tea!"

Atmo

• "great view, great ambience"
• "very nice, since it is a quiet place. Difficult to reach, though."

Toilet

• "- point, because the tap was designs to open on the opposite direction ;-) "
• "nice - and working flush system! ;-) "

The Hungry Monk, Greystones

The Hungry Monk
Church Road, Greystones, Co Wicklow
Telephone 01 2875759


Participants: U, F, R

Rating

• Food: 5/6
• Drink: 4.7/6
• Toilet: 4/6
  
• Ambience: 5.3/6

Price: Menu for 30€, including coffee

Food

• Terrine of Chicken
• Black pudding
• Smoke salmon platter
• Leg of Lamb, with mint sauce
• Stuffed chicken breat with mashed potatoes
• Tarte Tatin
• Plum crumble with Greek yoghurt
• Strawberry white cheesecake with amaretto

"Also good selection of bread - the first soda bread I liked in Ireland!"
"Salmon was average good."
"Mash was exceptional, with garlic."
"Lamb: tasy meat, excellent flavour. Very strong mint sauce, but I think that's the way it should be."
"_Lots_ of vegetables, potatoes, mash, ..."
Tarte: "Desert was a bit so-so-ish."

Drink: Faustino 1, Rioja

"Very distinctive bottle"
"Huge, ambitious wine list. Whiskey choice was less exciting. Good prices. Ask waiter to recommend a wine."
"Extensive wine list, but finding a nice one under 30€ can be a challenge. Some wines in the triple digits."

Toilet

"Gregorian Chant excellent fit for the theme."

Ambience

"consequently appled monk theme, cozy place."
"Great, very comfy! Open fire, monk pictures throughout and atmospheric chant on the toilet. Great place for a day out."

The Winding Stair Café

40 Lower Ormond Quay,
Dublin 1,
Ireland
Phone:+353 (0)1 873-3292



Participants: U, D, F, R

Rating

• Food: 5/6
• Drink: 5,3/6
• Ambience: 5/6

Price: Main courses from 17- 25€.

Food: Turnip soup. Charcuterie. Boxty topped with a bed of spinach and mushrooms and blue cheese on top of it. Roast Pork Belly. Fish & chips. White chocolate mousse.

"Simplistic with high quality ingredients. Vegetarians should be cheese lovers, though. Otherwise they might leave hungry..."
"Really good charcuterie plate."
"Ooey-gooey chcolate brownie. Yummy!"
"Very good, very simple, but delicious."
"Roast Pork Belly was nice and juicy, although the cider sauce was maybe a bit far-fetched."

Drink: Montepulciano (22€). Castro Martin, Albarino

"Red wine very pleasant"
"White wine was more on the sweet side, but with interesting flavours."

Ambience

"Too loud, but probably caused by this loud French group singing and chatting." (Remark: on that day, France won against Ireland in 6 Nations Rugby - so these guys had a reason to celebreate...)
"Some more curtain and carpets would help."
"Great selection of antique books, e. g. "The Evolution of Marriage": "(...) Men like to symbolise in the ceremonial the rapes of former days, which they cannot and dare not any longer to commit." NO COMMENT?!?
"Loved the leather hippo on the coffee table!"
"Extra point for the cute mini-hippo."

Afternoon Time at Merrion Hotel

Merrion Hotel
Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
Telephone 353 1 603 0600

Participants: J, U, F, R


Rating

• Food: 5/6
• Drink: 5/6
• Toilet: 5.5/6
  
• Ambience: 5.5/6

Price: 30€ per person


Food: Sandwiches, scones, cakes, ...

"Wow - what a tower of sweets!"
"Ration savoury/sweet could be more balanced."
"Scones were not warm, which would have been even nicer."

Drink: Tea, Jasmin tea

"Served periodically without request."
"Wonderful flavour."

Toilet

"Good but far away."
"Very clean."
"Perfect! Soap, tissues, hand lotion - even flushing was possible (with hint of irony...)!"

Ambience

"Upper-class interior, exquisite paintings (e.g. Y. B. Yeats), real fireplace."
"Awful knee-torturing tables."
"Quiet, relaxing athmosphere, live harp music. Professional Service."
"There were only 4 tables in a room, where there would be 15 in other Dublin restaurants."

Overall

"Good idea to make a reservation, if you want a sofa on a Sunday afternoon."
"Plenty of food - price not too bad at all for Dublin..."
"Ideal place for a cold afternoon."

Chez Max

Chez Max
1 Palace Street, next to Dublin Castle





Participants: J, U, F, R


Rating

• Food: 4.9/6
• Drink: 4.5/6
• Toilet: 4/6
  
• Ambience: 5/6

Food

Tartar of salmon: "Gorgeous!" "OK, but would have expected taw salmon, and to be served with toast. Nice dressing on salad."
Quiche with leek and salad: "Good, but nothing absolutely special."
Crème brûlée: "Really good, but I had better ones, because I'm hopelessly spoiled."
French onion soup: "Broth came separately, making sure the croutons were crisp."
Porc Agilet, with garlic mashed potatoes: "For my taste - the porc was too fatty."
Ray with tomato and capers: "Fish tasty and interesting, but not enough vegetables. Very much butter on the fish -> very rich."

"Excellent value for the money." (19€ for 2 courses)
"Nice company as well!" ;-)

Drink

"Red wine - blabla St Eulalie, sounds funny, but tasted good."

Ambience

"Cozy, small restaurant with old European feel and Spanish music."

Toilet

"Yes, flushing is possible. All necessary equipment available."
"Downstairs, if you go straight, you enter the kitchen..."

Dunne and Crescenzi

Dunne and Crescenzi
Sandymount
Also another one: close to Grafton Street, parallel to Dawson Street





Participants: U, R, F, L

Rating

• Food: 4.9/6
• Drink: 5.3/6
• Ambience: 5/6

Food

Bresaola with parmesan, rocket, olive oil and lemon: "perfect dish."
Wild boar with tomato sauce and polenta: "The boar was spicy and full of flavor, the meat soft."
Salmon: "very juicy, just done"
Ravioli "Good food based on excellent ingredients."
Panna cotta: "maybe a little bit artificial?"
Mozzarella with vegetables: "Great moz., not like the rubber m. at some places."
Chicken, mortadella, cheese: "very fine meat, but the flavor of the M. and cheese 'overshadowed' everything."
Tart, pear & almonds: "very tasty, perfect!"

Drink

Ripasso: "yummy"

Toilet

"nothing special, but flushing worked just fine (what a surprise... !)"

Ambience

"No Eros Ramazotti! Good."
"I like the place a lot - wine bottles all over the wall, crowded but not busy - professional team."

Dowlings Wine Bar

11 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 2

Participants: U, R, K


Rating

• Food: 3.5/6
• Drink: 4.7/6
• Toilet: 5/6
• Ambience: 3.3/6

Food

"Mixed platter with prosciutto, cheese, salad, crackers, bread. Quite nice, but you don't go to a wine bar for its food, anyway."

Drink

"We had a bottle of Chinon Charles Joguet. It tasted a bit unusual at the beginning, but got better with every sip. Not the usual stuff."
"Wine tasted of red grapes - I'm pretty sure that's what is was. Maybe a hint of apple. Definitely oak casks. Smokey?!"
"I would like to have better bread, not the ordinary sode one from the supermarket."

Ambience

"Great music, at appropriate volume. Changing temperate with door opened and closed, fireplace up and down. Woman with loud and frequent laugh really spoiled the whole experience."
"But a bit stinky, the fireplace doesn't work properly, but hey! A fireplace!"
"Another guy got himself drunk with Orange lemonade..."

Toilet

"Soap, dryer, paper - all there, even lotion. Fresh flowers."

Burger King

Many locations in Dublin - the one tested: Baggot Street

Participants: Keith, João


Food

"Food was served in a timely manner with a satisfactory service"
"Burger and fries were hot, but did not look like thos shown on the 'menu' - disappointment!"

Drink

"Delightful orange sparkling sensation. I'm positive that only the finest organic oranges were used."

Ambience

"Contemporary, minimalistic design. Grateful and eclectic group of cliental from all creeds of life. Rushed affair."

Pravda

Pravda
Lower Liffey Street


Rating

• Drink: 3/6
• Toilet: 4/6
• Ambience: 5/6

Drinks

Hot Whiskey: "Nothing 2 write home about. No Irish Coffee available, because "coffee is not served" after eight!?!"
Fruit Cocktail: "like liquid marshmallows - yuck!"

Ambience

"Good music!"
"I really like the Pravda - just stay away from their cocktails and stick to their extensive range of vodkas. Good place for people watching - oh my gosh, so many women in wild-animal-patterned miniskirts!"
"The various mirrors on the walls were definitely _not_ designed for wall-mounting, but were found? after the cold war? in former soviet-annexed country bedrooms? Well, sort of..."
"Unorthodox and pathetic as the Berlin Wall..."
"Girls in grotesque costumes, and you can still hear what people say at 11pm. How great is that?"

101 Talbot

101 Talbot
Upstairs
100-102 Talbot Street
Dublin 1

Participants: F, R, U, J


Rating

• Food: 4.4/6
• Drink: 3.8/6
• Toilet: 4.8/6
• Ambience: 3.7/6

Food

"I had the homemade Pork and Apple sausage (apple was a bit lost), skillfully combined with red onions. (...) Really good food, amazing value (2 courses, 21,50€)."
"Unusually sophisticated vegetarian food, most restaurants lack the necessary inspiration, when it comes to vegetarian food; here they really put some effort into it."
"Chef doesn't seem to use salt."
Risotto pumpkin and goat cheese: "Again, tasty, but no salt. NOT HOT ENOUGH. Interesting flavour combination (pumpkin, spring onion, subtle goat cheese)."
Pear poached in red wine, with home made cookies: "incredibly delicious, wonderful!"

Drink

"Beer too warm, coffee non-descript."

Toilet

"Three stalls, soap dispenser working - and even flushing was possible!"

Ambience

"Very friendly + lively place, nice service. A bit noisy and crowded, but for our group of 4 it's great."
"Nice warm light, but really noisy."
"The greasy, dirty fan at the ceiling was a bit disgusting."

The Cedar Tree Lebanese Restaurant

11a St Andrew St
Dublin 2




Participants: A, M, U, R


Rating

• Food: 4/6
• Drink: 5/6
• Toilet: 4/6
• Ambience: 5/6

Food

Hummus & meat + Lebanese bread: "We really enjoyed this kind of hummus!"
Spicy feta pieces (Shanklish): "Very interesting, not very spicy, and I missed a kind of sauce like tomato sauce."
"Overall all dishes could have done with more spices."
"The charbroiled chicken was kind of _black_ at some places. The meat was very soft and tasty, though."

Drink

Almaza Lager Beer: "nice and refreshing - but not a difference from any other lager."
"Had a cup of tea and Lebanese coffee that came in a little metal pot with a long handle and was more interestingly spiced that much of the food. Delicious!"

Toilet

"What is it with Dublin restaurants and non-flush toilets?!"

Ambience

"Especially nice chairs and tables - I need to get one of these!"

Fallon & Byrne, Ice Cream

Fallon & Byrne
Exchequer Building 11-17
Exchequer Street
Dublin 2

The upscale super market Fallon & Byrne (website pretty outdated) is also serving ice cream for take-away. Upstairs restaurant and downstairs wine cellar available.


Rating

• Overall: 4.3/6

Raspberry Sorbet + Vanilla: "Vanilla was quite sweet, could have had more vanilla stuff in it. Raspberry really fruity and refreshing."
Stracciatella: "This time, unfortunately, the Str. had a lot of frozen water crystals in it."
"Good for Dublin standards, but I prefer San Crispino." in Rome... ;-)

Humphrey's Pub

Ranelagh Road


Rating

• Overall: 3.8/6

"Chairs not as comfy as they look, a bit disgusting"
"Nice old school pub with locals watching football."
"Chairs looked like generations of fried-eating patrons had cleaned their greasy fingers by wiping them over the chairs' surface - yuck!"
"They close the curtains at 11pm, and deprived us of entertainment - but followed legal requirements, I suppose."

Furama Chinese Restaurant

Furama Chinese Restaurant
Ground Floor, Eirpage House
Donnybrook Main Road 88
Dublin 4

Participants: Ellen, Floria, Roland, Uli, Julia


Rating

• Food: 3.9/6
• Drink: 4.3/6
• Toilet: n/a
• Ambience: 4.8/6

Ambience

"Pleasant distance between tables (...) strange but okay music."
"Nice decor, quiet, French music! A bit dark."
"Not noisy, so you can have good conversations. You have to ring on the door to be let in. One extra point for that."
"Low-key Asian atmosphere, nice, honest, and not exaggerating."
"Twist is diverse music ... a little jarring to hear French songs in a traditional Chinese restaurant."

Food

Sweet corn + crab chowder: "Standard soup, tasty but not special. Over-priced"
King prawns (sizzling) with green peppers and black beans: "Tasty, nice prawns, nice ginger flavour. Not enough vegetables."
Chicken with ginger and scallions: "Very tasteful, lots of ginger. Ordered a vegetable stir fry as a side order that never came..."
"Pretty nice Satay Skewer (are these really Chinese?). Impression is that they are very authentic for Ireland, but could be better."
Crab tofu soup: "A little salty, but that went away with the white pepper."

Drink

"Nice wine list with OK prices. Waiters keep pouring water/tea - good service."

Toilet

"Very spacious, flush tricky."

Remarks

"Restaurant easy to overlook!"
"Not as nice as had expected, still, cozy.

Queen of Tarts

Dame Street, Dublin 2, Tel:01 6707499
Also at City Hall, Tel: 01 6722925



Participants: Ana, Marta, Roland, Uli, Margarida, Florian, Julia

Rating

• Food: 4.8/6
• Drink: 3.9/6
• Toilet: 3/6
• Ambience: 4.4/6
  

"The Queen of hearts, she made some tarts
all on a summer's day.
The knave of hearts, he ate those tarts
and took them quite away"

Preface by Florian - although I think the original author was another guy ;-)

Food: All in all quite good!

Apple Strawberry Crumble: "really fruity, sour, juicy - good for fruit lovers."
Carrot cake "could be better, too much cinnamonpowder in the glaze. Big nuts in the cake are tasteful."

Queen of Chocolate Gateau was "very sumptuous, but would be even better with a little bit more chocolate".

Drink: medium

Café au Lait: "milk was too hot, which spoils the taste of the coffee. Tapwater was good though (with mint and lime)."

Atmosphere: very cozy

"Has old-world feel to it, quiet, but too cramped, would have needed more elbow space to lift my fork."
"Maybe too small place, nice if you're 2 people. A little bit more complicated if you're 7 people, but we managed to do it - we did it :-)"

Remarks

Takeaway available!
We would like to come back, for another lazy Sunday afternoon.

John M. Keating - Gallery Restaurant

John M. Keating
The former St. Mary's Church, Mary Street, Dublin 1



Participants: J, F, M, A, M, R, U

Rating

• Food: 3.2/6
• Drink: 4.3/6
• Toilet: 5.5/6
• Ambience: 5/6

Food

Warm Cajun Chicken Salad: "Lots of chicken, but nothing really cajun about them".
Stuffed Aubergines: "Not really stuffed, very little actual aubergine for a main course. Tasty cheese, but too much Ricotta".
Baked Fish Pie: "Nice, but nothing especially flavoured... Just a food mixture of potatoes/fish".

Drinks

Heartland Stickleback 2004, Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz/Grenache: "drinkable, but did't go well with the mustard dressing of my salad" - "the wine list is quite good - different countries, good prices. Our wine was tasteful."

Toilet

"Well - the toilet ... Very impressive! I have never seen a toilet with the washing basins in the middle of the room. Looks more like a styled, upper-class kitchen shop!"

Atmosphere

"Located in a former church (...), but it sounds like sitting in a train station. Comfortable chairs, though."
"The music could be better and our table was not the best. But I would come back for a romantic dinner or a drink downstairs."
"Love it! Love the place, the concept, and the atmosphere."

Introduction

In this blog, we are sharing our thoughts about Dublin (Ireland, not Ohio). We have the following in common: we are interested in good food, and like to enjoy it in good company!

The testing will not be limited to food only. For example, we are also planning to see a Gaelic Football game together.

So this is what we have learned in Dublin!

Remark: The ratings are from 1 (bad) to 6 (excellent).