Archive for the ‘ Mixed ’ Category

Honest to Goodness 2.0

Author: David

Sep 30

2011! Good grief. That was when I last visited Honest to Goodness. Then it was in the George’s Street Arcade where a load of other things have been since, none as stunningly successful as H to G.

It’s now in Dame Court, very close (too close: see below) to the Stag’s Head.

It’s bigger. It’s brighter. And to be honest, it’s still excellent value.

You may remember Tim. You know, ex-hyperactive adolescent, now retired, lives in Bangkok. No? Well, here.

He’s over here for a holiday and a bit of relief from the relentless sloth of retirement. He’s good company and deserving of my munificence. A fiver’s worth of it anyway.

We met in H to G at 12.30. The place was already humming, with most tables occupied and a queue forming for take-aways. Attentive staff members poured water, told us about the specials (hot pot, crayfish salad, something else, and the fiver special: lamb kofte burrito) and returned at frequent intervals to see if we wanted to order. They weren’t rushing us, you understand, but it is a bit of an in-and-out sort of place, with a pretty rapid turnover of customers, so they were facilitating that … I suppose.

Apart from the specials, the menu is salad and sandwich based, with a selection of lurid juices on offer to accompany your food. Here’s a pic of the lunch menu (click x 1 = bigger, click x 2 = massive) …

… on which one writes with a water-based marker to convey one’s choice.

Looking back at the 2011 posting, I see that the speed of service was a bit of an issue in other people’s reviews back then. If it ever was really an issue, it’s not now. There was plenty of staff both behind and in front of the counter, buzzing around furiously, and productively.

We ordered our lamb kofte burritos and barely had time to draw breath before they arrived …

My dining companion reacted variously …

Don’t ask me why they call them lamb kofte burritos. Although, what else might you call them? Essentially they were tortilla wraps, inside which was a generous quantity of spiced minced lamb, with a pinky mayonnaise type sauce, and a minty something in the background. They were served with a small heap of couscous.

OK. So we were chatting and I really wasn’t paying that much attention to what I was shovelling into my mouth. I tell you what though. It was tasty. And it was filling. And although kofte usually come formed into some sort of round or cylindrical shape, who cares, as long as it hits the spot. And who ever heard of a kofte burrito anyway? Job done. The spot was hit.

I like Honest to Goodness. It’s one of a reducing number of places that has kept a fiver option on its menu. The portions were decent and the food was good and I recommend you give it a try. Dame Court.

Post-lunch, the proximity of the Stag’s Head proved difficult to resist, so we spent the rest of the afternoon sculling back these lads …

Good times.

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Filed under: Café style, Mixed, Salad, Sandwich, Various

Pig & Heifer: a celebratory feast

Author: David

Oct 25

To celebrate the older lad’s engagement*, I thought I’d treat myself to a ~~slap-up meal~~ lunchforafiver.

I have Seán McElroy to thank for the venue. He emailed me a few weeks back and suggested that I try the Pig & Heifer, and another place down the road in Montague Street, which I now have on my list.

The Pig & Heifer has four branches in Dublin according to their website. The one I went to is in Charlotte Way, the street that links Camden Street to Harcourt Street. To be honest, I’d never thought of looking at the menu here. Not sure why. It just didn’t seem like an eatforafiver place.

From the outside it looks quite dull with a grubby stripy awning and really, unless you looked closely, you wouldn’t really notice the name.

Inside, it’s dimly lit, with dull ochre walls and dark green trimmings. I couldn’t work out whether this was a style statement or whether it just needed a bit of brightening up.

The colour and variety in the place is provided by the counter that runs along the right hand wall, the chalked menu behind it and the bustling activity of the pleasant staff.

Behind the glass there’s a veritable cornucopia of fillings, salads, meats and so on, and on top of the counter there’s is an impressive variety of breads. Please excuse my, by now customary, crappy photos.

The menu is huge, offering a variety of breakfasts (P&H opens at 8 on weekdays, 10 on Saturday, and closes at 4), salads, beverages, and then a massive range of meat, salad, cheese combinations to be placed between slices of bread, toast, bagel or wrap, or between two halves of a roll.

Click = big

The vast majority of the items are priced between €4.50 and €6.50 and there are quite a few items in the €4.50 to €5 range, more if you want to take your purchase into the Autumn sunshine, or back to your place of work.

Seán (see above) told me that he had had a Chicken Paddy, that it had come with a portion of pasta and that it was tasty and good value. I thought I’d try something different, so I went for a Hot Pesto.

I was offered a choice of breads and rolls. I went for something orangey. This was halved and toasted and filled with a spread of pesto, some mayonnaise, leaves, tomato and some warm and melted mozzarella. I received it on a plate with a spoonful of couscous and raisins, onto which was applied some sweet chilli sauce.

I handed over my fiver and took a seat.There’s plenty of seating, by the way (I didn’t count but, from memory, I’d say the place seats about 25 or so). Most customers took their orders away so there was plenty of space.

I found the couscous very sweet, especially with the addition of the sweet chilli sauce. I’m personally not a huge fan of sweet things with savoury things. But, hey, I’m not going to blame the P&H people for that. If I was paying more attention, I’m sure I could have asked them for some other accompaniment.

The filled roll was VERY good. The toasting gave the roll itself some texture, the garlic and basil of the pesto came through clearly, the leaves and tomato gave it a bit of coolness and the mozzarella gave it substance.

Very tasty and, unsurprisingly, very filling.

I lingered for a while, watching customers come and go. Most seemed to come in knowing what they wanted so I’m guessing the Pig & Heifer has a loyal local customer base. Which makes sense because I’m not sure that it’s a passing trade sort of place.

Despite its relatively anonymous exterior and its dullish interior, The Pig & Heifer serves a massive variety of food, prepared by pleasant helpful staff. The food is tasty, filling and good value.

If you’re within an asses roar of Charlotte Way, give it a try. Thanks again Seán for the tip.

* The affianced …

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Filed under: American, American-style, Café style, Mixed, Salad, Sandwich, Vegetarian

Lagoona Feast

Author: David

Aug 6

That man Garwin Liu has a good nose for cheap, filling food. This is the guy who recommended Star Pizza and the Oriental Emporium, where I’ve had two great feeds. He told me about the Lagoona Bar, just opposite the National College of Ireland on Mayor Street in the IFSC area ages ago. I was a little reluctant to go because the last time I was in that area I got stuck in an almighty traffic jam that lasted for ever.

Anyway, Garwin was in touch again recently through the eatforafiver Facebook page and mentioned Lagoona again. Guilt and curiosity combined today with a little flexibility in the middle of the day and the availability of a feeding partner: the young lad, on interminable school holidays, and perpetually peckish.

I think part of the problem the last time I was in Mayor Street was that the Luas tracks were being laid and the place was a mess. It’s all settled down now and today the area, even out of term time, was hopping. I have a pal who used to work in NCI some years ago when it first moved from Ranelagh. Back then, NCI was a bit lonely among cranes, not yet occupied office blocks, remnants of old dockland buildings and a lot of hoardings. Then, it was difficult enough to find somewhere to eat. Now you can’t move for bagel bars, pubs, pizza parlours, sandwich shops and pricy pasta purveyors.

The Lagoona is a big place, situated in a corner of Custom House Square which is home to several other bars and restaurants.

It was a pleasant day and most other establishments had several tables and chairs outside to facilitate al fresco dining. The Lagoona had two quite high tables, one of which we nabbed when we’d got our food.

Garwin told me that Wednesday’s special was roast meat in a roll with chips. And he was right. The choice of meats was beef or pork. The young lad opted for beef and I went for the pork. You can opt for different breads if you want and also have a few salad items to accompany the meat: lettuce and mayo for the young lad and coleslaw for me.

The portions of roast meat were generous and the meat was nicely cooked, moist and tasty.

The rolls were pretty standard but fresh. The chips were a little hard, probably from being kept warm for a little bit too long. Still, hey, this was a pretty decent feed for a fiver. I think in the amount of meat stakes, the young lad was the winner.

There’s a carvery special each day (click to big up) …

… and there’s lots of other food on offer too …

… including this whopper sausage.

We took a little wander around after our lunch to see what else was on offer. The odd thing was that the Lagoona seemed to be the least busy place in the area. Maybe it’s because it’s principally a bar. Maybe it’s because it’s a bit dark inside. Maybe it has too few tables outside and maybe they are the wrong sort of tables. They’re high, man-type tables. Maybe it’s mainly a student place and it’s not term time. I don’t really know.

Anyway, thumbs up for Lagoona. Meat, bread, chips. Cheap and filling. Nice one.

Lagoona is on Facebook and Twitter, btw (thanks @MsFrugalone for the latter link).

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Filed under: Café style, Mixed, Pub Food, Sandwich, Various

Mmmm … Buttery

Author: David

Apr 16

I used to spend a fair amount of time in the Buttery. In fact, in my final year in college, I used to spend most Tuesday afternoons there, between lunchtime and after the tutorial I used to miss on a regular basis. In those days it was mainly a pub, with an added haze of marijuana smoke. It was also the place where I had my first legal pint of stout. Angela worked there. She wore socks, sandals and too much make-up. I remember the Buttery being pretty basic, a little dingy, with not great coffee but quite outstanding chocolate biscuity things.

It’s now HUGE … and bright. And it does food, and probably better coffee than it used to.

For those who don’t know, this is the Buttery in Trinity College Dublin (shortly to become Trinity College, the University of Dublin). The entrance is located to the right of the steps leading up to the Dining Hall, the Buttery being in its basement.

It’s actually quite a good space, with several (maybe 4 … ish) distinct areas and a variety of seating to suit individual diners/snackers and different size groups.

The furniture is standard canteen but the Buttery is clean and well lit. One of the spaces, with vaults, has more subdued lighting and seemed today to be more popular than the others.

There’s a pretty massive selection of food on offer. At the lower end of the cost scale, there’s coffee, biscuits, cakes, sandwiches, rolls, paninis and so on. I didn’t really pay much attention to these, to be honest, although it’s hard to ignore the preponderance of signs for the Lavazza brand of coffee which must have a thing going on there.

For more substantial eats, there is a salad bar, with cautionary instructions …

… and with a reasonable selection of cold dishes; most, however, involving mayonnaise to a greater or lesser extent.

There’s also a fried food section,

… the size of the sausages providing brief but significant temptation. And a hot food section with the following items, the first once being beyond my budget unfortunately:

The idea of potatoes accompanied by potatoes didn’t really appeal to me although it was probably the slightly healthier option. However, my choice of the lamb casserole was confirmed when I saw the size of the portion being ladled on the plate of the customer in front of me and that the meat to sauce ratio looked pretty good.

Here’s my plate-full:

A lot more potatoes were destined for the plate but I stopped the server just in time.

So, what have we got here? A good number of potatoes, small, roasted in their skins. A ladle and a half full of french beans. And a truckload of casserole. A fair feed for my €4.85.

Let’s remember two things here. Firstly, this is a canteen rather than a bistro. The Buttery is catering for a variable number of hungry students, some staff members, some people like me drifting in because we happened to know that there’s cheap food available, and people such as the older woman beside me who comes in at least once a week and gets a cheap but substantial hot meal. Secondly, this large plate of food cost less than a medium size Lindt Easter bunny.

The casserole, which contained quite a few lamb pieces, carrot, onion, and red pepper, was VERY tomato-ey. But there was lots of it and it was hot. The potatoes were lovely: soft inside, with an almost crispy and slightly caramelised skin. The beans weren’t great to be honest. the serving comprised a mixture of beans that had been in the bain-marie for some time and some that had been more recently cooked. They were a bit soggy. Edible but soggy.

But hey, I’m not complaining. This was a hearty feed in the centre of town for €4.85 and, if you don’t like the sound of the casserole option, there’s lots of other things to choose from for your fiver.

The evidence:

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Filed under: Café style, Irish, Mixed, Various

Oxmantown: to be continued

Author: David

Jan 17

My fault. I was too late. It must have been about a quarter to two by the time I got to Oxmantown …

… a (principally) lunch place on Mary’s Abbey with a glowing reputation.

This is yesterday’s menu board, taken from their Facebook page …

… and I was hoping to grab a salad but they’d sold the last one a few minutes before I got there. So, I’ll have to go back another time.

No great penance to be honest. It’s a lovely place and the sandwich I had in place of the saladforafiver was a beautiful creation. It was pulled pork with gribiche and rocket in a Waterford blaa. Gribiche? I didn’t know that either but, good grief, it’s gorgeous and they make it in-house. Blaa has been in the news relatively recently, so you should know what it is. No? Here (explained better than I could). The pulled pork is advertised as having been roasted for 12 hours, and I can believe it. Juicy, tender. €5.50. A bit over the fiver. But I don’t begrudge them the extra 50c.

As I was getting ready to leave, I spotted Aoife Mc (who I’ve mentioned before) and who does all sorts of interesting food things: I Can Has Cook blog, the award-winning Forkful, and lots more besides. Aoife created one of my favourite recipes: Roasted Carrot and Pomegranate Couscous, super on its own or a truly delicious accompaniment to something like the Lamb Shawarma recipe in Jerusalem.

Right so. That’s it.

Saw this at Ormond Place, off Arran Street East. Nice.

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Filed under: Mixed, Salad, Sandwich

Bangers and Mash at Kiltipper

Author: David

Nov 15

At the risk of sounding like an oul’ fella (which, in actual fact, I am, I suppose), I remember Kiltipper Road (near Old Bawn) when it had a few cottages, a pitch and putt course, the post office sports club and a couple of travellers’ caravans. That was 30 odd years ago when I used to cycle/motorcycle/drive (it was, even then, a long-term relationship, you see) up it to visit my girlfriend (now my spouse).

Now it seems like it’s one big housing estate with, I guess, a fair amount of negative equity contained within its not so leafy avenues.

In the middle of it is Marlfield Mall, with a Eurospar, a Ladbrokes, a few shuttered premises and the Kiltipper Café Bar, my venue of choice for today. They had included eatforafiver.com in a tweet, you see, and said that they’d been doing lunches for a fiver for the last four years. So, I thought I’d give my usual city centre ramblings a rest and head up the hills to see what was going on.

When I found it (turn right at the roundabout half way up Kiltipper Road and keep your eyes peeled), it didn’t look promising. Utilitarian and a little bleak-looking.

Inside, however, I found a vibrant, warm, well-run, dynamic restaurant-cum-bar.

The place was heaving with young families, groups of women and some elderly people. A few older men sat at the bar with newspapers and pints but, for the most part, groups sat at tables enjoying lunch and a chat. Servers whisked around, taking orders, carrying plates of food, clearing and wiping tables, cleaning up spills. The place is pleasantly lit, with several TV screens showing a variety of channels, but none too loud to be obtrusive.

Whoever runs this place has a purpose and that seems to be to make Kiltipper Café Bar a social hub for the area. Their food offerings are cleverly packaged to suit a variety of tastes and pocket depths. They also have a decent range of vegetarian and gluten-free dishes. They serve breakfast, lunch and bar snacks throughout the day, have a carvery on Sunday and have themed nights, including this … (click = big)

Holy God! But probably great fun.

It’s a pub, yes, but the emphasis is very much on food, or drink accompanying food. And it seems to work, in large part thorugh a busy kitchen and the fastest moving group of servers I’ve seen for a long time. Despite their busy-ness, the servers were attentive, efficient and friendly.

There are two fiver offerings on the lunch menu: bangers and mash with a spring onion gravy and chicken and mash with a different gravy (sorry – I’ve forgotten its flavouring). I had seen the bangers and mash on their Facebook page and I went for it.

My food arrived soonish with a glass of water: three BIG pork sausages, three scoops of mashed spuds and a ladleful of gravy with some wilted chopped spring onion.

You know that I describe rather than critique the food on eatforafiver.com. I’m only spending a fiver after all and, although I absolutely love it when I get something super-tasty and complex, I’m pretty happy when I get a decent plateful of food. This was a good feed. I might have preferred the spuds to be a bit more buttery and the sausages a little less done but, hey, it was tasty, there was plenty of it, this is a pretty busy place and it cost a fiver.

Good stuff.

Dublin city is awash with niche eateries at the moment and there’s a real PR battle going on for the hearts and minds of the eating public. With all that going on, we can forget and underestimate the value of a suburban pub restaurant like Kiltipper. It’s not serving Michelin star food and it’s not pretending to be anything it’s not. It’s providing a warm cheery venue with lots of activity in a relatively featureless suburban environment. It’s feeding people a variety of affordable dishes and it’s doing pretty well by the looks of it. And those servers. They can move fast.

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Filed under: European, Irish, Mixed, Pub Food

Mingleopolis Stew

Author: David

Sep 27

(Note: The Mingle Marcade moved to Camden Street since this was written. I had a little wander around it just after it opened but it’s too soon to say what their food offerings will be. Il Siciliano, mentioned below, is staying in Thomas Street where the market will open again under new owners.)

A few weeks ago, I was thinking that maybe I was near the end of the fiver offerings in Dublin. Then along came Garwin Liu with some Talbot Street and Parnell Street suggestions, Dublin by Mouth with a Dark Horse in Blackrock, and a Fringe-related wander through Merchant’s Arch, leading to Monday’s South American adventure.

Today it was my intention to go back to Merchant’s Arch to try a salad box from Staple Foods but a chance glance at some old notes on my phone diverted my attention. Eighteen months ago, I tapped in ‘Ferocious Mingle Market’ and nothing else. I had a vague idea it was near Vicar Street but that was about it.

Googling it today led me to its Facebook page, its location and a thought that maybe it might be worth a visit to see if there might be foodforafiver therein.

There was. Lots.

The Ferocious Mingle Marcade (sic) (FMM) is at 72 Thomas Street, close to the junction with Francis Street, beside a bus stop.

You might miss it if you weren’t paying attention and it only opens from Thursday to Sunday.

I like markets. And I liked this one. It was quiet but I suspect it gets busier at the weekend. It’s got a Gothic sort of thing going on and has stalls selling jewellery, vintage clothes, incense, objets d’art, hats, art and more besides.

One of the stalls in the FMM

It’s dark(ish) and the music is mostly 70s rock/pop. Oh, I nearly forgot. It’s got a seating area with a cinema screen showing old black and white movies.

Food-wise, there’s Il Siciliano (selling a variety of traditional Sicilian delicacies, including Cannoli [on Sundays]), a vegetarian stall called Happy Food by the YogaHub (which may or may not do Broccoli Burgers) and the Mingleopolis. The first two will feature in future posts.

This was my choice today.

The menu …

The style …

The stew …

… served by Jade, a helpful and charming woman who, while I was eating, was making the stall spotless and who, after I had eaten, explained that the Mingleopolis was owned by the people who own the FMM itself.

The food, as you see, was simply but elegantly presented. The bread was freshly cut and that’s real butter on it. The tiny salt cellar was a nice touch.

The stew was lovely. Generous chunks of beef, potato, carrots, onion and swede in a rich peppery tasting sauce. It was a good helping, perfect for lunchtime. Actually, perfect for anytime. And it was nice and hot (steamy hot, that is), so I could take my time eating it.

Super value for €4.50. Really super value. I recommend it. Wholeheartedly.

I’ll re-visit the FMM because I do want to try the other two places I mentioned above. I may need to pay an extra visit on a Sunday to try the Cannoli, as an added extra.

(Sorry Alberto. I couldn’t resist.)

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Filed under: European, Mixed

ILAC Pie

Author: David

Aug 28

I thought I was heading for Bonza Pies but it turns out it’s changed its name to The Hampton’s Food Co.

It’s in the ILAC centre, beside the door that you’d go in to visit the library. The lane leading to it doesn’t have any signs indicating its name but I think it’s Coles Lane. If it isn’t, then it’s close to where Coles Lane used to be. Today, you leave Henry Street between Debenhams and something called MAC BT2.

Dublin in 1798: Coles Lane parallel to Moore Street.

Hampton’s (as I’m going to call it from now on) is expanding. It’s tucked in a corner beside the door, with a food preparation and serving area and a tiny dining area in in which they have managed to fit about six small tables and an assortment of chairs.

They are now constructing an additional dining area in the aisle.

I passed Bonza only once or twice previously and got the impression that it did pies only. Hamptons has a much broader menu including a variety of breakfast items, an interesting selection of salads, sandwiches with good names and 5 different types of pie.

Click for bigness

I’m sure that’s a good idea. I don’t think of pies as being a part of the Irish culinary culture, such as it is. I tend to associate them with England (in particular). Veal pie, pork pies, Cornish pasties, five and twenty blackbirds and the like. The Wikipedia entry on pies refers to them as portable meals: meat in an edible wrapper, really. We had spuds, I suppose.

The pies in Hampton’s are all under a fiver and I noticed that I could get a side salad with the mince meat pie for a fiver exactly. So that’s what I did. The helpful man behind the counter said that he’d go for the potato salad, which turned out to be not really potato salad at all. It was in fact potatoes mixed with slices of salami and he made it hot in a machine.

I paid, took a seat and my pie and potatoes arrived soon after. The pie had been in the machine as well and was hot. Very hot.

The potato and salami side dish was pretty good. Waxy spuds (which I like) and sturdy but mild tasting salami. I cut open the pie …

Juicy. Crisp pastry on the top and sides. Tomatoey mince. I tasted onion, stock, pepper and salt. It was a tiny bit too salty for me but I tend not to add salt to my cooking much so I’m conscious when it’s there. Good, though. Tasty. With the spuds, it was a filling and substantial lunch. Good value for a fiver.

While I was there, a few other customers came in, ordering soups, salads, wraps and a variety of coffees. Service was efficient and pleasant and people looked pretty satisfied. The ILAC centre is a busy, bustling place and I was surprised how quiet and peaceful Hampton’s was.

I liked it. I’d go again. Give it a try.

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Filed under: Mixed

Flavor on Camden Street

Author: David

May 10

I feel a lyrical wax coming on.

I’ve written about Camden Street before. I like it. Sometimes better than others. The best times were in the mid 1980s. But it’s still got character and variety and an extraordinary range of shops and services.

Flavor (yes, no u) is next to the Bank of Ireland, on the stretch from Pleasants Street to Camden Row or, in pub terms, from Devitt’s (which I will always think of as the Cusack Stand) and Ryan’s. It’s where Yum Yum used to be.

My attention was drawn to it the other day by a curious combination of a board outside advertising Tuna Melt for a fiver and the sight of four young woman at the window table tucking into enormous cooked breakfasts. Who could resist?

I have to confess that I wasn’t sure what a Tuna Melt was. I asked Ruth (who works with me and knows many useful things) and she told me it was a combination of tuna fish and melted cheese, most probably contained within some sort of bread or toast. I’ve had that before and I remember not being sure about it.

Flavor looks like this on the outside …

Inside, it’s quite green and deceptively spacious, seating maybe 36. It has some blank walls that cry out for something on them to soften the look a bit.

In addition to the board outside, there’s a huge blackboard inside (actually one and a half blackboards) with Flavor’s offerings …

You’ll be able to read it if you click on it

Sarah, who was welcoming, friendly (with all the customers), attentive, very helpful and very informative, told me that Flavor had been open for about two months. It’s open seven days a week, from breakfast time (this is a fudge – I can’t remember what time she said it opens) until about 4pm. She told me about the breakfast menu (several breakfast offerings cost a fiver or less) and the daily specials (costing a tenner for A LOT of food and a beverage). She also confirmed the composition of the Tuna Melt, more of which below. Every café/small restaurant should have a Sarah.

My Tuna Melt arrived and here it is …

Again, my poor photography on a phone camera does not do this justice. That’s a big plate and quite a substantial side salad.

As Sarah explained it, Flavor’s Tuna Melt isn’t just tuna and cheese. It also contains finely chopped peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. The cheese was tangy (finely grated and lightly melted) and the tuna plentiful. The toast (you can have a choice of brown or white: I chose white) was made with fresh bread and was lightly toasted so that it was exquisitely crunchy on the outside and soft inside. I can’t believe that I’m writing like this about a sandwich but, actually, this was GORGEOUS. The side salad was pretty good too. Fresh leaves, some red onion (could have been sliced a little thinner) and strips of roasted pepper. Tasty and filling. €4.95. Oh yeah.

I felt comfortable in Flavor and, encouraged by Sarah’s description of a ‘healthy’ muffin, I broke my own rule and ordered one, with an Americano. The coffee was good and the muffin delicious (cranberry and orange with lots of seeds to justify the ‘healthy’ description). Coffee and muffin cost just €2.95.

Stuffed, I paid, said goodbye to Sarah and left.

Flavor is one of those places I’d love to see do well. It’s unpretentious, serves good value decent filling food which is nicely presented, and has welcoming, friendly staff.

It could do with an internet presence just so as people know it exists.

If you’re in the Camden Street/ Wexford Street area, please give it a go and see what you think.

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Filed under: Café style, European, Mixed

Under the Tree for €2.70

Author: David

Mar 1

This’ll be a short one. I was planning to go to McThurkels on Tara Street, suggested on the Twitter machine by the most useful @publinie (worth a follow – it lists discount drinks/food offers and special events in Dublin pubs. Also to be found on the web, here.)

In fact I did go to McThurkels but, by the time I got there, the Friday Fiver deal was sold out. I’ll try it again in a few weeks. Nice looking pub, though. Just opposite the Irish Times building.

So, I was hungry and a tad disappointed. I spotted a Spar across the road, popped in, checked that they had food and a seating area and had a look at what was on offer.

Now, do bear in mind that Spar is a convenience store and not a restaurant. So apart from rolls and sandwiches and the overpriced offers from the Insomnia concession, it’s pretty much all fried or otherwise carbo-fat food. I’m not condemning or being sniffy about this. It’s just a fact.

For your fiver, there’s quite a choice: sausage rolls, wings, vegetarian lasagne, chips and chicken drumsticks. I chose the latter with chips. For my €2.70 I got two drumsticks, a shovel load of ‘chips’ (fried potato cubes), a big squirt of garlic mayo and a smaller squirt of sweet chili sauce.

The drumsticks were quite moist (I love that word) and coated in that salty crunchy substance that fried chicken tends to be coated in. Someone had put chili powder in it which was a nice surprise. They were quite meaty too. The spud cubes weren’t great: lukewarm and a bit soft. But there were lots of them and I polished them off.

Nothing much more to be said. Fuelled. For €2.70. Job done.

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Filed under: Chicken, Mixed

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