Fine Dining ← WholeMeal

The Boathouse, Bangor 2

Nov

20

2012

We were visiting friends in Belfast a few weeks ago and decided to take advantage of our trip to try a restaurant I’d read about in The Irish Times a few months ago. The place is run by two Dutch guys, Joery Castel who’s head chef and his brother Jasper who is front of house. ...

Bon Appetit 8

Aug

17

2012

We’ve wanted to try Bon Appetit for a good while now and when I saw a voucher for €60 (at half price) on one of the groupon sites I decided to buy it and make a booking. We took a reservation at 9 o’clock on a Friday night and got the Dart out to Malahide ...

The Greenhouse

Jul

12

2012

Ever since it was announced that Mickael Viljanen would be moving to Dublin to cook in The Greenhouse I’ve really been looking forward to eating his food again; the meal I’d had in his previous restaurant, Gregans, was outstanding and given the reviews I’d been reading of the new venture, I didn’t expect to be ...

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud

Apr

30

2012

We’ve eaten in lots of Dublin’s best restaurants but one place we hadn’t been to was Patrick Guilbaud’s on Merrion Street. The main reason for me was the price of the tasting menu, which is more expensive than the one we had at Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital a few years back. When a menu costs ...

Dinner By Heston Blumenthal

Feb

24

2012

Given the amount of publicity surrounding it at the time, it probably hasn’t escaped your notice that Heston Blumenthal opened a new restaurant called Dinner in the opulent Mandarin Hotel last year. If you’re wondering why the official title seems a bit clunky there’s a good reason, apparently the hotel insisted on attaching Blumenthal’s name ...

Chapter One

Dec

6

2011

It’s been around four or five years since I last ate in Chapter One and then it was to avail of their excellent pre-theatre deal which is still running even though many in their place would be tempted to get rid of it upon gaining a Michelin star. The food was excellent on that occasion ...

Pearl Brasserie 2

Sep

12

2011

I found myself walking by Pearl Brasserie when I was in town doing some shopping and as I’d not eaten yet I decided to take the chance to have lunch there as I’d been meaning to visit for quite a while now. It seemed like I was the first customer of the day so getting ...

Gregans

Jun

10

2011

There’s been a lot of hype around Gregans Castle and head chef Mickael Viljanen and that will probably only increase now he has won the Best Chef in Ireland award at the Irish Restaurant Awards a few weeks ago. Myself and my wife recently made the trip down to Ballyvaughan after booking into the hotel ...

One Pico

Apr

18

2011

One Pico has been recommended to me by several friends but for some reason I’ve never managed to make it in to eat there. I found myself on the website a few weeks ago and noticed they were doing an excellent Sunday lunch deal of three courses for €29; I decided to ring up to ...