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Dublin, Cork, and Killarney


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Hey EGulleters...

I'm travelling to Dublin, Cork, and possibly Killarney this week. Need quick advice/references to great Irish culinary finds without hurting my wallet too too much (I'm planning to splurge in Paris later next week).

So far, I have reservations at Patrick Guillbaud in Dublin and am considering also a visit to either the Mermaid Cafe or Les Freres Jacques (I know, it's not Irish). I haven't a clue as to Cork (I'll be in the city, but keen on venturing outside)... or Killarney - if I go.

Any suggestions? Reviews of the restaurants I've listed?

Also, does anyone have any insight on either L'Ecrivain or Thornton's - as I may be persuaded to sub one of those in for P.Guillbaud.

Cheers

U.E.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

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Hi UE. If you want to do two foodie restaurants in Dublin, I would give the Mermaid and Les Freres Jacques a miss (just noticed where you were eating in Barcelona). They are good but not outstanding. As I suggested on the Help Ireland thread http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=Se...sult_type=posts it is possible to eat relatively inexpensively in the top places:RPG, Thorntons and Chapter One if you go with one of their fixed price menus. I think L'Ecrivain also does a lunch menu, but can't remember the details.

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Hi,

You'll be bankrupt after Guilbaud's!

In Cork, we have a ton of great restaurants. Les Gourmandises is mid-priced and does excellent French food. It would make an interesting comparison to Guilbaud's which I found obsequious, overly-formal and not sufficiently better than other places to deserve it's stars.

Jacob's On The Mall is a bit pricey but really excellent.

The Ivory Tower is nuts but some love it.

Isaac's gets good mentions and Cafe Paradiso is thought by many to be the best veggie restaurant in the British Isles.

Are you limiting yourself to Cork city? There are some fabulous restaurants about 40 minutes out. I've done a few reviews of them over at Conor's Bandon Blog

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Hi,

You'll be bankrupt after Guilbaud's!

In Cork, we have a ton of great restaurants. Les Gourmandises is mid-priced and does excellent French food. It would make an interesting comparison to Guilbaud's which I found obsequious, overly-formal and not sufficiently better than other places to deserve it's stars.

Jacob's On The Mall is a bit pricey but really excellent.

The Ivory Tower is nuts but some love it.

Isaac's gets good mentions and Cafe Paradiso is thought by many to be the best veggie restaurant in the British Isles.

Are you limiting yourself to Cork city? There are some fabulous restaurants about 40 minutes out. I've done a few reviews of them over at Conor's Bandon Blog

I'd also be interested in hearing about recommendations in Killarney. We are going to a wedding there on Saturday and need somewhere to eat on Sunday. Most of the good places there which are listed in Georgina Campbell's guide are closed on Sundays. I was a bit shocked by how short the list of good restaurants in Killarney was. I had assumed the volume of visitors would result in more. The rest must be targetting the bus-load of tourist end of the market.

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This may be a bit late but in Killarney, Gaby's on High Street is a dependable fish restaurant. It's run by a Belgian family who have been there for 25 years or more. You go there for seafood platters and lobster - the raw ingredients are sourced locally and are handled intelligently. Wine list is not bad.

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Corinna & Irish Friends...

Update... just returned from my trip to Ireland.

Well, Corinna, I wished I had heeded your advice about Les Freres Jacques - it was good (and good value at 18E for 2-course lunch), but not outstanding...

On the other hand - I had a spectacular, but simple 7E salad at Gruel - next door to and owned by the same people who run Mermaid Cafe.

Lunch at Patrick Guilbaud's was outstanding, but expensive. At 33E for 2-course lunch, I was definitely full and satisfied. The service was superb, and very courteous (especially given my poor treatment in Paris, subsequently).

Will hopefully post full reports and pictures on my blog soon.

Ciao.

U.E.

Hi UE.  If you want to do two foodie restaurants in Dublin, I would give the Mermaid and Les Freres Jacques a miss (just noticed where you were eating in Barcelona).  They are good but not outstanding.  As I suggested on the Help Ireland thread  http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=Se...sult_type=posts it is possible to eat relatively inexpensively in the top places:RPG, Thorntons and Chapter One if you go with one of their fixed price menus.  I think L'Ecrivain also does a lunch menu, but can't remember the details.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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C. O'Neill.

Thanks for the advice - see my update under Corrina's posting.

Ciao.

U.E.

Hi,

You'll be bankrupt after Guilbaud's!

In Cork, we have a ton of great restaurants. Les Gourmandises is mid-priced and does excellent French food. It would make an interesting comparison to Guilbaud's which I found obsequious, overly-formal and not sufficiently better than other places to deserve it's stars.

Jacob's On The Mall is a bit pricey but really excellent.

The Ivory Tower is nuts but some love it.

Isaac's gets good mentions and Cafe Paradiso is thought by many to be the best veggie restaurant in the British Isles.

Are you limiting yourself to Cork city? There are some fabulous restaurants about 40 minutes out. I've done a few reviews of them over at Conor's Bandon Blog

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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Well, Corinna, I wished I had heeded your advice about Les Freres Jacques - it was good (and good value at 18E for 2-course lunch), but not outstanding...

On the other hand - I had a spectacular, but simple 7E salad at Gruel - next door to and owned by the same people who run Mermaid Cafe.

Lunch at Patrick Guilbaud's was outstanding, but expensive.  At 33E for 2-course lunch, I was definitely full and satisfied.  The service was superb, and very courteous (especially given my poor treatment in Paris, subsequently).

 

Glad you enjoyed RPG. €33 is actually a real steal for lunch at a 2* in Ireland. I'm sure you noticed that things are pretty expensive over here. I didn't realise that Les Freres Jacques did a 2 course lunch for €18. No, I wouldn't expect it to be outstanding, but I still have a really soft spot for this place, and that sounds like a brilliant price for a good lunch in Dublin. It's cheaper than nearby Mermaid or Eden.

As it happens, I had dinner in Eden last week and it was very good, nice and seasonal with native oysters, woodland mushrooms and venison. Excellent service too. The desserts aren't up to the standard of the savoury dishes though.

Edited by Corinna Dunne (log)
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corinna.

yeah, no kidding about the step-up in prices in the british/irish isles! why the soft spot for the brothers jacques?

have you tried gruel? next door to mermaid (owned by the same couple)? not great on atmosphere, or service, the food is extraordinary for the price.

i also had a good affordable meal at beweley's... although slightly regret not having visited mackeral upstairs (on grafton street).

cheers!

u.e.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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why the soft spot for the brothers jacques?

have you tried gruel?  next door to mermaid (owned by the same couple)?  not great on atmosphere, or service, the food is extraordinary for the price.

I like Les Freres Jacques because there is something very French and authentic about it, in a terroir way, right down to the room(s) and the service. I've never had a bad meal there (well, actually I did once, not long after it opened, about 18 years ago!). The cheese board at €18 is wonderful (great selection, great condition), and they are particularly generous with their portions. The fixed price menu can be extremely good value, (although not coming up to Christmas when they invariably include turkey as one of the options) and the wine list is very comprehensive (from a French perspective) with a great selection of entry level wines. There is nowhere else quite like it in Dublin, so it's nice for the repertoire.

I've been to Gruel. Yes, it's excellent value and the food is great, but a very casual spot, so a completely different type of dining experience. In terms of comparisons and market sectors, you could categorise Gruel as 'casual dining', Les Freres Jacques, Eden and Mermaid as good mid priced restaurants (there are plenty of others), and Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Thorntons and L'Ecrivain as top end. Chapter One is pretty much in the top end category, but its prices are more competitive, so it's great value. One Pico, Mint, The Tea Room, Halo and a few others are also in this aspirational category, but Chapter One is possibly the best.

Edited by Corinna Dunne (log)
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well, darn! i wish i had bothered to check out chapter one... it looked and sounded very good - and as you noted, the prices were competitive... i guess i was turned off by its pre-theatre menu... i usually hesitate when restaurants are servicing mass quantity of people. i fear cookie-cutter food. perhaps on my next visit!

cheers.

u.e.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

Corinna: after going onto the website suggestion you had, nothing comes up. Is it just me or eGullet?

Hi UE.  If you want to do two foodie restaurants in Dublin, I would give the Mermaid and Les Freres Jacques a miss (just noticed where you were eating in Barcelona).  They are good but not outstanding.  As I suggested on the Help Ireland thread  http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=Se...sult_type=posts it is possible to eat relatively inexpensively in the top places:RPG, Thorntons and Chapter One if you go with one of their fixed price menus.  I think L'Ecrivain also does a lunch menu, but can't remember the details.

Edited by TGullet (log)
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Oops, sorry. Here's a link that works (and there are plenty more links on this thread):

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=46353&hl=

And also the "Eating in Ireland" thread which has some recent posts:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=70448&hl=

And a few pubs in Dublin:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=75553&hl=

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  • 2 months later...

I'm just back from 2 days in Dublin and I thought I'd report on what I ate!

Coffee and pastries at the Chapter House, this is the cafe of the Writer's Museum (and right next door to restaurant Chapter One). One of the few nice places I saw in this area (Parnell Square, I was staying in a hotel nearby), even if you're not visiting the museum, a nice place for coffee and a snack.

Coffee and pastries at Maison des Gourmets: this is a lovely place.. great coffee, lovely sweets, and a very nice calm atmosphere in the tiny cafe upstairs. I also bought some cookies etc. for later in the day and they were excellent as well.

Oysters & Guinness at Davy Byrnes pub, very good stuff and it made us feel very 'Dublin' :biggrin:

Dinner at Odessa. This very disappointing. Starter (salmon tartare) was ok but boring, main course was plain weird and unattractive: an overcooked red onion/blue cheese tart served on top of a stew of potatoes, beetroot and spinach, this stew was swimming in an extremely sour sauce so the tart was soaked in this sauce as well. I would not really recommend this place.

Lunch at Avoca, this was wonderful, a really nice place to relax after shopping, busy yet relaxed. My food was good and all the food I saw other people eat looked great as well!

I also had dinner at Wagamama which was chosen mainly for convenience and location, food was ok as usual, I would even say it was better than at Wagamama in Amsterdam (I always eat the same dish there and this one had decidedly more prawns, chicken and vegetables than I usually get!)

oh yes.. and pints and pints of Guinness at Whelan's, where we saw the lovely Patty Griffin give the most amazing concert. A very nice pub that I would recommend even if you're not going to a show, friendly people and nice atmosphere.

I had a great time and hope to come back some day!

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Hey Chufi – So glad you had a good time and thanks for the post. I agree with you on Odessa not being particularly great for dinner. It’s a bit trendy and on the radar, so the food plays second fiddle to the vibe. I was there for brunch a few weeks ago and it was fine. Nothing special, but a good brunch atmosphere. As it happens I had brunch in the Mermaid the following week which was much better but not extraordinary.

My extraordinary experience was in Mint this weekend which I tried for the first time. Great food at the right price. More about it on this thread.

Edited by Corinna Dunne (log)
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oh yes.. and pints and pints of Guinness at Whelan's, where we saw the lovely Patty Griffin give the most amazing concert.

I had a great time and hope to come back some day!

You saw Patty Griffin in Dublin? That was a stroke of good luck. I saw Steve Earle there a couple of times when I was living in Meath (apparently he was living in the West for a while) and the Irish country music fans were always as good as the show.

Seriously missing a decent pint right now. If I were there, it would be just about that time. That's a "Useless Desire" I suppose as I won't be there anytime soon.

Thanks for the report.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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You saw Patty Griffin in Dublin? That was a stroke of good luck.

not exactly, as I travelled to Dublin especially to see her :biggrin:

I'm a really big fan, also travelled to London last year to see her.

Anyway, it seems she likes Ireland, so I really hope she'll be playing in Dublin somewhere in the near future again .. so I can hop on a plane, see the show and have some oysters & Guinness as well! and dinner at Mint! (phew, I did manage to get back to food.. :biggrin: )

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