The grand dame of Fingal dining, the King Sitric in Howth, is no more. The old restaurant is now reduced to a breakfast bar for people staying in the King Sitric B&B. The ground floor which was East has now been rebranded as the King Sitric Seafood Bar, a casual dining spot with none of the linen tablecloths and silver cutlery of the mothership. Lovers of lobster and oysters will be gutted.
On another note, I missed the Dalkey Lobster festival last weekend. It looked wonderful.
I had some lovely evenings there. They had a great run. Aidan was a good man to cook fish. It was a bit dated in the end.
Went to bovinity. Good quality fare but pricey for a meal when you’ve to pay for all the sides separately.
The way of the world in a lot of steakhouses
Was in Shanahans recently (last night). Did a turn for a fella a few years ago and he gave me Shanahans vouchers in 2019. Forgot about them over Covid and came across them when I was clearing out a press last month so I booked in. 62 notes for a reasonable but not outstanding steak. I couldn’t finish it but by God I made them bag it up for me at those prices and I’m having a steak sandwich tonight. No chips with it so a tenner extra for those and a tenner for veg which were nice. So effectively 82 notes for a main course. I produced the vouchers with a flourish when the bill came. My gotcha moment. Like Barry Kelly brandishing a yellow to Jackie Tyrell back in the day.
Service was impeccable to be fair, proper professional waiters, which is rare enough these days.
Full enough for a Tuesday night and they weren’t all goons from professional services firms rimming clients.
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A tenner for chips? In all fairness, they should fuck off.
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It’s a massive portion as are their onion rings and would do two people
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I can attest to this and can also confirm that they were what you might call “nice” though by no means next nor near the best chips I have ever had, but it is still daylight robbery.
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A tenner for chips is indefensible. It sounds like one of those places that is more expensive than good anyway. I’m sure there’s loads of types who will pay for that. They got rightly filleted in that review a while back.
There’s nicer places to do that these days.
Was in Icehouse in Ballina Sunday. Like Fagan above, had precovid vouchers to use up.
Smashing building, lovely staff and bang average grub. Would never consider eating there again if hadn’t another voucher to use up.
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The gout wagons are circling
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The rooms down on the river front are class but yeah the food is only ok.
Ooooft
Was there in 2014, Starters €75, mains €90, and desserts €50.
The steak was nothing to write home about. The Butcher Grill in Ranelagh was far better.
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That’s a great spot. Nicest steak in Dublin. It’s Not cheap either.
Went to Bigfan Bao on Aungier st last night. A sort of Asian Tapas spot. Lovely food. Highlights were spicy crayfish dumplings and marinated chicken thighs with a crunchy peanutty batter and Sichuan Mayo. Very reasonably priced too. Myself and mrs barnes took a stroll down Georges st and Sth William st. A lovely balmy evening and a very relaxed atmosphere. I kept a close eye but couldn’t see any sign of junkies shooting up in doorways or lads doing ostentatious drug deals.
We finished up having 3 pints downstairs in The Stags Head listening to a half decent guitar man. A nice evening in the capital.
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They honoured vouchers from 2019? That’s sound enough.
I think the law requires them to do so now
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