Venezuelan Taste Bomb

Posted by David

Sep 23

Ah, Venezuela, or the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to give it its proper name, home to the Angel Falls (the highest waterfall in the world), the late President Hugo Chavez and almost 29 million people. The place is huge.

El Arepazo at Merchant’s Arch, on the other hand, is tiny. So tiny, in fact, that most of my photos, which are pretty poor at the best of times, today are unusable. So, instead, I’m going to direct you to their Facebook page: here. (Note: this page doesn’t seem to exist anymore but El Arepazo is still very much in business.)

El Arepazo serves Venezuelan food: principally Arepas and Empanadas. EVERYTHING is a fiver or less. Did you get that? EVERYTHING.

Here’s the menu … (click makes BIG, which means that I don’t have to explain all the fillings)

The big lad is back from University in the north of England where, he learned today, he won at physiotherapy. He can now fix people with his magic hands and a moist sponge. To celebrate, I felt he deserved a slap up meal and that’s how we ended up blowing a tenner in El Arepazo.

The people behind the counter are chatty and friendly, and happy to talk about Venezuela and its food. The food is made to order (maybe not always, when it’s busy).

We both went for the Arepas Pabellón. The Arepa itself is made from a batter of cornflour and water. This is poured on a griddle to cook and ends up like a substantial doughy (but not bready) pancake. The Pabellón filling comprises shredded beef, black beans (not the Chinese ones), fried slices of plantain and white cheddar. The Arepa itself forms a pocket into which the filling is placed. The whole lot is put in a small paper bag.

I said the place is small. It is. There are five chairs but the Arepa is a take-away sort of food, so eating in is possibly unusual. By the way, El Arepazo is open from 11am to 9pm every day except Friday and Saturday nights when it stays open until 4am for some serious post session soakage.

Here’s our eating experience …

That last one is the older lad tucking in. Quite neatly. I made a mess with mine and had to finish it off with a fork and wipe the residue off my jacket with a tissue.

The sauces you see are a spicy tomato one, a creamy garlic one and a guacamole one.

Here’s what the Arepa looks like half eaten …

For something quite small, it’s amazingly filling and very tasty. We both felt pretty full after it.

When we arrived the place was full of young people at least some of whom I think may have been from South America. There was lots of chat and conviviality and the place has a nice friendly vibe about it.

I’m glad we went. The food is great value and I’d recommend it, if only to try Venezuelan food.

We saw this rather attractive street art on the way back.

2 Comments

Filed under: Venezuelan

Star Pizza Talbot Street Stuffing

Posted by David

Sep 13

Good grief. Look at all this food …

… for a fiver!

I have Garwin Liu to thank for this. He sent me a message through Facebook a few weeks ago, pointing me in the direction of that bit of Talbot Street near Connolly Station. There’s Star Pizza, the place responsible for filling my boots today and a few other places which I have on my list for later.

I’d forgotten Talbot Street was so long. In the distant past I worked for a few Christmases in Sheriff Street sorting office and I remember a damp-warm place with a lot of formica at that end of Talbot Street as the location of my first experience of a deep-fried egg. My post office service left me with a significant appreciation of the importance of wrapping parcels carefully with what, to some, might seem like an excess of Sellotape, and an olfactory memory of two-week old posted turkey.

It’s changed down there. A lot. There’s a hotel and small supermarkets. There’s The Lab, part of Dublin City Council’s quite sophisticated arts provision. There’s this …

And there’s Star Pizza …

… with its all day FIVER offer …

Where would you see the likes? (As it happens, across the road closer to the bridge – almost exactly the same offer.)

Star Pizza is quite spacious. I got there at about 1.45 and there must have been about 20 or so people in it, most, if not all, munching through their All Day Specials. There was a good buzz and people didn’t seem in a hurry to leave. It’s pretty clean and the guy behind the counter was patient (with a couple who were a little (!) indecisive about their choice of toppings).

I ordered. Pepperoni and anchovies. Diet Coke. Here’s what else you can have:

As ever, click to embiggen. Click again and it gets HUGE.

Soonish, I was presented with my box of pizza, bag of chips, can and my choice of dip (garlic mayo).

I’m not going to critique the food. It was pizza and chips. You’ll have seen a picture of it above. It was filling and tasty and there was a lot of it. And, for a fiver, I think it was amazing value.

So, to answer your unasked question, the Dublin Fringe Festival. I love it. I love that tickets are about a third of the price of mainstream theatre tickets. I love the variety of spaces you get to go to. I love the informality of it (even though I was brought up in a drama-related home, I still feel less than completely comfortable going to the Gate or the Abbey). I love the creativity and innovation of Fringe offerings. I love the risks taken by small theatre companies.

I’ve seen four shows in the last week. The one that had its greatest impact so far was Postscript which I saw last night. It was in the New Theatre, a lovely intimate venue – perfect for this particular play. Click on the link for a description of the play, if you’re interested. It was well-directed, nicely paced, beautifully acted and very moving. See it if you can.

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Filed under: Pizza

ILAC Pie

Posted by 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.

2 Comments

Filed under: Mixed

Stopped for Soup at the Soup Stop

Posted by David

Jun 14

Yeah. I know I don’t usually do soup in this blog but I’m doing one today. In any case, the Soup Stop (see their website and Facebook page) isn’t just a place that does soup: it’s actually a soup place that, for its size, does an astonishing range of good value soups.

Soup Stop is on Harcourt Road, specifically that bit of Harcourt Road between the turn for Ranelagh and the turn for Rathmines. It’s a stretch that has a Bagel Factory and an Abrakebabra, and used to house The Manhattan, a legendary post night club restaurant where you could get a decent bit of fried liver amongst other things. (I was never in The Manhattan because I was one of those people who was rarely let into night clubs: wrong shoes, wrong clothes, wrong hair, wrong face, earring in the wrong ear, and so on. Bitter much? Nah! Well, maybe.)

Soup Stop is tiny, but it’s mainly a take-away place. It does have a counter and a stool and so fulfils some of my blog criteria.

It’s been open for 4 months or so, according to Darragh, Soup Stop’s very welcoming and friendly owner (there he is, in the pic). It’s attractive, clean and bright and a lot of thought has been put into its branding: logo, tagline, signage, menu, bowls, bags, and even Darragh’s apron.

Soup is served in biodegradable cups or bowls that come in two sizes: 12oz and 16oz. For a while these cost €3.39 and €3.69 respectively. For that you get the soup, a topping, a roll and butter (or Flora), a plastic spoon and knife and a serviette. You’ll find their regular selection here and if you click on the tabs, you’ll find the toppings, bread choices and other offerings. There’s a weekly special soup (this week it was Chorizo) and on Friday, they do a Fish Chowder.

I went for the Chowder which is a little more expensive, at €4.99 for a 12oz bowl, but also includes the topping, bread and so on. Darragh also let me taste the beef and vegetable broth which is indeed a tasty creation, with a decent stock base and none of the aftertaste that you get from cheap packet-based soups. I woud guess that the other soups on offer are pretty good quality too.

The Chowder was good: thick (and not cornflour thick), with a good but delicate fish taste, discernible vegetables and small lumps of fish. I liked it. The roll was fresh and the butter was soft (there are few things more annoying than trying to spread a rock hard pat of butter with a plastic knife: *first world problems*).

Soup Stop is in a slightly awkward place. You can’t park anywhere near it so it’s dependent on local offices for custom. There are plenty of those but there’s also a lot of local food competition. I’d like to see it do well. Darragh is likely to augment his menu with the addition of a range of sandwiches.

If you happen to work or live in that area of town, give it a go. Darragh will give you a hearty welcome and you’re sure to find a soup to suit your mood.

By the way, if you happen to be a soup fetishist, have a look at the spouse’s soup blog: Minnie’s Soup Kitchen. It’s an enviable record of dedicated soup making (and bee-related ephemera).

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Filed under: Soup

Flavor on Camden Street

Posted by 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.

1 Comment

Filed under: Café style, European, Mixed

Bah! Stodge.

Posted by David

May 3

I don’t want to be unfair here to The Cedar Tree in St Andrew’s Street, Dublin because first, it’s a nice looking place (inside) and second, it’s got overwhelmingly positive reviews for its food on Tripadvisor and other sites. My lunch here today, however, was disappointing.

Thanks to a tip from Cici in a comment left on eatforafiver a few weeks ago, I decided to try it today at lunchtime. The lunch menu is posted outside …

The wrap choice is Shawarma Beef, Shawarma Chicken, Falafel and Kafta. I’d had enough meat this week so I decided before I went in to have the Falafel one.

The Cedar Tree is quite big, seating about 50-60 at a guess. Muted lighting, Middle-Eastern music, these …

… on the walls and mosaic inlaid tables contribute to a pleasant ambience. I got there at just after 1.30pm and the place was pretty full. Interestingly (to me, anyway) there were more women wearing hijabs and niqabs than I have ever seen in a restaurant before.

I was shown to a table and handed a laminated menu. On the menu the price shown for the wraps was €5.50. I asked about this, and was assured that they were actually €4.95.

I ordered and waited. On the menu, the Falafel Wrap was described as including ‘tomato, radishes, pickles, parsley and tahini sauce’. Sounded good.

It arrived.

I took it out of its wrapper and broke it open to look inside.

It was unusual in that the outside was crisp, as if it had been toasted after having been wrapped. This gave it a crunchy texture which was quite pleasant.

The falafel wraps I’ve had in the past have comprised falafels, the quite dense texture of which has been contrasted with the freshness of its accompaniments (usually vegetables of some sort) and the moist tanginess of a sauce. The overall effect has been one of reasonably balanced flavours and a variety of textures.

This wrap had neither, sad to say. It was stodgy. There’s no other word for it. I came across a faint taste of tahini in the first bite but didn’t taste it in the remainder of the wrap. I didn’t find much tomato and the tomato I did find didn’t taste of tomato. There were some pink slivers of something in it (radishes? pickles?) but they didn’t really taste of much either and they had certainly lost any crunchy sharpness that they might previously have had. Near the middle, I think I saw some parsley but I didn’t taste it. It was filling. But it was also stodgy. And disappointing.

But as I said at the start, I don’t want to be unfair to The Cedar Tree because of this one wrap. Maybe falafel wraps aren’t really their forte. The other items on the lunch menu look pretty good value and the place was pretty busy with (mainly) groups of diners all chatting and munching away. In other words, don’t write it off just because of my impression of the wrap.

Just around the corner, at the junction of Trinity Street and Dame Street is the shop that feeds my fountain pen habit: The Pen Corner. If you share my pen habit (or even if you don’t) have a look at the Yelp reviews of this place: here. If you’re looking for more pen (and who wouldn’t), take a look at this site: Pen Addict. (By the way, I can handle my pen use. I can use a biro whenever I want. I choose to use a fountain pen. Honestly.)

Lamy.

Mmmmm.

1 Comment

Filed under: Lebanese, Mediterranean

Mama’s Revenge is sweet

Posted by David

Apr 26

I love it when I walk out of an eatery satisfied. Today was one of those days.

I followed my own suggestion in my last posting and went to Mama’s Revenge (the link leads to their Facebook page), a small(ish) ‘burrito hut’ (that’s what it says outside) on South Leinster Street. To answer the obvious question, South Leinster Street is the continuation of Nassau Street, running from the junction with Kildare Street to Lincoln Place, opposite TCD’s railings.

Mama’s Revenge is on two levels: the ground floor comprises the kitchen, serving area and three two-place tables while downstairs there is a collection of different size tables in a sizeable room, seating about 25-30. It’s clean, bright and yellowy-orange.

Service at the counter is pleasant, efficient and helpful. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: being greeted with a smile and a reasonable level of attentiveness makes a big difference to the dining experience, at whatever level of expenditure. In saying this, I understand that servers are not paid huge amounts of money and that it’s not the easiest job in the world to be stuck on your feet all day, under significant amounts of pressure at certain times, trying to please people, some of whom are bound to be ~~unpleasant/rude~~ difficult. Still …

The menu options are laid out clearly on a board behind the serving area and there’s plenty of choice, even for a fiver.

Click to embiggen. Go back to return.

If you’re a student, there’s even more choice. They do ask you to show your student card, by the way, if you order one of the student offers.

I was there at about 1.30pm and there was a steady stream of customers, mostly ordering food to take away. I had a look downstairs when I was leaving and it was about a quarter full. Anna, from behind the counter, who I spoke to told me that it had been very busy between 11.30 and 12.30.

I ordered a chili con carne. A generous portion of chili con carne was spooned over a couple of spoonfuls of rice. Grated cheese and jalapeños were offered, both of which I accepted. I grabbed a spoon, paid over my fiver and found a seat by the window.

The rice was nicely cooked and firm. The chili was tasty, tomatoey, and meaty, with kidney beans and a moderate amount of chili heat. Extra heat was supplied by the jalapeños. The food was tasty and filling and, I felt, pretty good value for my fiver. My only criticism is that it wasn’t hot (temperature-wise). That doesn’t bother me much, to be honest. I’m not a fan of high temperature food but it would bother some people. I’m sure, however, that they would have heated it up a bit more had I asked.

Anna told me that Mama’s Revenge has been open in South Leinster Street for about a year and that, more recently, another branch had opened on Thomas Street, near the National College of Art and Design. It gets mad busy at lunchtime so, if you want a more leisurely Tex-Mex experience, Anna suggests that you come after 2pm.

It has a wall on which people have written things.

Apparently the wall in the Thomas Street branch is more arty, as one might expect.

I liked Mama’s Revenge. Good atmosphere, pleasant service, nice food and plenty of choice for your fiver. I’m going to try their other branch and I’ll return to this one too, maybe with a companion. I’d say it’s definitely worth a shot.

By the way, eatforafiver.com has almost doubled in value in the last three months. It’s now worth $22. Yay!

0 Comments

Filed under: Mexican, Tex-Mex

Just a few for later

Posted by David

Mar 29

No eatingforafiver today. But if you’re a bit short and looking for somewhere to nibbleforthatfiver, here’s a few suggestions:

Mama’s Revenge, 12 South Leinster Street (which is what Nassau Street turns in to when it gets closer to Lincoln Place). It’s ‘Tex-Mex’ and you can get a Value Burrito (no meat) for €4, Chili Con Carne with rice or nacho chips for €5 and, if you’re a student, a Basic Burrito for the same price.

The older lad told me about the next two:

Pablo Picanté (Clarendon Market). A bean and cheese burrito will set you back €4.50 and, if you’re a student, you can have a choice of burritos for a fiver. The student offer doesn’t seem to be available in their Baggot Street branch.

The bar in the Plaza Hotel, Tallaght, just beside the Square, is called McClafferty’s. Their online menu has a range of starters for €4.50 including chicken wings or coriander and seafood broth with pan fried prawns and string noodles.

I haven’t tried any of these yet but if you have, please feel free to post a comment. (I moderate the comments just to make sure that no spam gets through, so there’ll be a bit of a delay before any contributions appear.)

2 Comments

Filed under: Mexican, Pub Food

Tara Street Fiver Friday Feast

Posted by David

Mar 23

The older lad is over on a short visit. It’s been nice to have him around. He’s a fit lad and it’s always a pleasure to see him stuff his face with food (see below).

McThurkels or McTurcaill’s pub was the target for today. As I mentioned last time, they do a Friday Fiver Special which had, unfortunately, run out the last time I went there. This time, despite battling through pretty nasty weather, we arrived at just after 1pm. It’s on the corner of Tara Street and Townsend Street, just opposite the new Irish Times offices.

There’s a carvery set-up in the pub with a choice of joints, fish, chicken curry, vegetables and the Friday Fiver deal which, yesterday, was Italian Meatballs with Tagliatelle. Most of the other dishes seemed to be about or just under a tenner and I saw some very handsome and generous slices of meat being dished out so, overall, this is somewhere you might put on your list for a cheap but plentiful lunch in town.

The place was busy when we arrived so we joined the queue. McTurcaill’s is quite a big pub but it’s on different levels with several nooks and crannies so it would seem to be suitable both for a quiet pint and a session. There was at least one large television in evidence but the volume wasn’t excessive. Staff were helpful and empties were cleared away quickly.

We ordered. Food was served in pasta bowls. Generous helpings of tagliatelle and a good spoonful of meatballs and sauce each. We were offered some chips and, in the interests of research, we accepted the offer gratefully. We handed over our fivers and found a table.

These were generous portions indeed …

This was mine. Underneath all that tomato sauce lurked two and a bit BIG meatballs.

So, how did it taste? Good. The sauce was well flavoured and nicely seasoned with evidence of herbs, peppers and onion. It had none of that nasty aftertaste that one associates with cheap tinned tomatoes. The meatballs were lovely: again, nicely seasoned and flavoured. I’ve eaten plenty of meatballs in the past and I know that these ones were not just rolled up lumps of mince thrown into a sauce. There was some thought put into them.

The older lad stuffing his face

This was an eatforafiver experience that I’d put close to the top of the list. It’s limited to Fridays and you’d want to get there by 1 or so to make sure there’s some left. On other days, however, the food they put on for the Friday Specials is €7.50 and, even at that price, this is very good value. You can follow them on Twitter, by the way, at @McTurcaills.

The evidence

So, we left (full) and we were just investigating Yan’s Deli, a sushi place on Townsend Street that seems to have some interesting sub-fiver deals, when we both got soaked by a passing taxi driving through a puddle. Now, I’m not a suspicious person and I generally think well of people but I felt that this soaking could have been avoided by the driver without too much difficulty. The older lad evidently felt the same and he showed quite an extraordinary turn of pace (fuelled in part by the protein/carb combination just consumed) to try to catch up with the driver in question to convey this feeling to him. Unfortunately, or fortunately (maybe), he didn’t succeed.

4 Comments

Filed under: Italian, Pub Food

Under the Tree for €2.70

Posted by 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.

1 Comment

Filed under: Chicken, Mixed

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