Archive for December, 2013

Gabhan O’Tighearnaigh (athlete, debater, school student, decent bloke) writes:

Unlike all of the other posts on eatforafiver, a different person will be reviewing a place this week.

As a student, I felt it was important to avail of the opportunities I had and in fact go to a place that only students could eat in for a fiver.

Yum Thai on Duke Street was the place I chose. Any time I’ve passed this place before it was packed and, although you can sit down, the space is quite cramped and it is mainly seen as a place to get food to eat on the go. Fortunately, when I was there, it wasn’t too crowded so there was no trouble getting a seat.

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The food is laid out in a buffet style and all looked very appetising. One thing which particularly intrigued me about the place was that any dish available was for a fiver (if you’re a student) so I didn’t feel the urge to venture out of the price range. There were a good few options on the menu with a choice of rice or noodles with what you chose.

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To be honest, I just asked for what appealed to be the most from looking at it as I could clearly see what the contents were. It was called (on the menu) Peaw Wan (I think they mean Preaw Wan: they left out an ‘r’), and it was a sweet and sour dish with chicken and noodles. You get a choice of a plastic fork or chopsticks to eat it with. The picture does the food no justice because you really do get a humongous serving.

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I can see why this place is the canteen for the hoards of Trinity students everyday. There was a huge range of flavours in the carton (no plates are used in the restaurant). They crammed as much food as possible into it which I was happy about because I was starving. The price bears no reflection on the quantity of the food.

Another bonus was that you get a free piece of fruit with the meal with can never be any harm.

I would conclude that, although this is the only place I’ve eaten in for a fiver, it could become a benchmark for the standard of food that can be served for a fiver. I do hope more open up around the place. There is another one on Baggot Street.

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Havana Paella forafiver

So who would have guessed? Paella for a fiver at the bottom of South Great George’s Street.

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Havana Tapas Bar sent me a tweet recently which is just as well because I doubt that I would have noticed that they did anything for a fiver at all. Their offer is available on Mondays only, which is fair enough, and it’s a decent portion of either chicken and chorizo or seafood paella, and it costs €5.

Havana a pleasant restaurant: spacious, busy, comfortable, with newspapers available and free good quality wifi.

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Service is efficient but not rushed: what one would expect in a busy city centre place at lunchtime. The clientele was mixed: some office workers, at least one family, a few couples, several solo lunchers and maybe a few tourists.

Havana serves a regular lunchtime menu with items ranging from about €6 – €9, including soups, wraps, sandwiches, omelettes, meat dishes and paella. It also has take-away offers …

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… and a student deal for €6.50. I thought I took a photo of that to remind me what it comprised, but I didn’t.

My paella arrived soon enough and I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the portion.

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It’s very nicely presented, as you can see, in a small metal paella bowl, lined with parchment. I was a little apprehensive that, as it was a cheap deal, there wouldn’t be much seafood in it. My apprehension was misplaced. There was an abundance of prawns, mussels and calamari, together with green and yellow peppers, fresh parsley (as you can see), peas and, of course, rice. I’m not that familiar with Spanish food. I’ve eaten paella several times in the Balearics but not enough to be able to cast judgement on this one. So, I’m just going to say this: it tasted good (flavoursome stock), it was filling and seeing as how the usual menu price for a regular sized portion of paella in Havana is €9.95, it’s good value.

A Monday fiver deal is an excellent idea: Mondays are slow in restaurants and anything that draws attention to ones that are open seems like a sensible initiative.

You’ll find Havana on Facebook and Twitter also, if you need to. You’ll get a closer look at those small pieces of art if you click on the photo section of their Facebook page. I covet many of them.

 

 

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