Was in the hotel the wkd gone. We had the young fella with us so we didn’t go into the Pullman’s, had dinner in the Bar both nights. A brilliant two nights away. We stayed in the lodges and they’re absolutely top class.
Food in the bar was lovely aswell.
I see my favourite 1826 got a “Recommendation”. I think that’s a step below a star. They had a bib gourmand previously but lost it due to price increases.
We got my mother a trip there for her 70th, a kind of cooking school day or something. The sister got to go as the +1. They said it was a fantastic day out. No doggy bag brought back for muggins here though.
If that’s what The Old Spot also got then it’s not something I’d be too impressed with
Price?
And I only up the hill and you never called in 
Really, Christ there’s a high percentage chance I’m related to you so 
Based of your feeding patterns your mother hardly needed or appreciated a trip to a cookery school type place. I can imagine the greeting it would have gotten here years ago were a stunt like that pulled. They’d regret it.
You dodged a bullet there but then again you’re a lucky hoor….
I’m down again today. Last thing she said to me last night was “I presume I’ll stick you in the pot for tomorrow night”. Pic incoming later. I reckon as it’s Wednesday, it’ll be steak again. The auld lad likes steak once a week 
She loved the trip by the way. It was more a day of him demonstrating and them doing bits and pieces and then they all had a big meal there
It’s a grand wee outing. A similar venture to Neven’s in Blacklion entered the conversation before Christmas until wisdom prevailed on the basis that I’d be muttering and complaining about portion sizes etc….
An embarrassment I’d have been - apparently.
As I noted here before, my auld lad did a stint in digs up there with Neven’s grandparents when he was on border duty. The two of them have been talking of heading up for the past five years.
Video of rat in hotel bar prompts kitchen closure
CONOR POPE
Rodent activity in a kitchen, a bucket full of brown unidentifiable liquid in a bar and food past its use-by date were among the reasons Ireland’s food safety watchdog imposed temporary closure orders on four restaurants and shops last month.
The Food Safety Authorty of Ireland (FSAI) served orders on the kitchen area of the Shamrock Lodge on Seamus Ennis Road in Finglas, a small kitchen on the ground floor of the White Sands Hotel in Portmarnock, and Chillers Restaurant and Lounge on Fonthill Road, all in Dublin, as well as on O’Connell’s Foodstore in Bansha, Co Tipperary.
The White Sands Hotel was visited on foot of a complaint from a member of the public which included video footage of a rat in the bar. Inspectors said the complaint was verified while a report from the hotel’s pest control provider confirmed mice activity in the small kitchen ground floor on a specified date.
The order was imposed on January 7th and lifted on January 10th.
Inspectors who visited Chillers restaurant noted, among other things, an accumulation of grease deposit that had formed on the ceiling tiles above the utensil wash sink as well as dirt on the floors, walls ceilings and doors in ancillary areas off the main kitchen.
Layer of dirt
The report also highlighted a “a layer of dirt and food debris on the floor under the counters in the kitchen area [and an] an insufficient capability to clean equipment and utensils as the dishwasher was broken and there was no second utensil sink designated to facilitate cleaning.”
The report identified two microwaves beside the large chest freezer that “were dirty and covered in dried food residue’ and a “bucket full of brown unidentifiable liquid containing white pipes beneath the sink in the bar area”. It also found that a staff toilet could not be accessed for use and was dirty.
The order was imposed on January 5th and lifted on January 9th.
The ceiling and roof of the Shamrock Lodge was, inspectors said, in “very poor repair” with a big leak. There were four or five buckets on the floors and food preparation surfaces to catch the water dripping from above.
The order was imposed on January 15th and lifted on February 3rd.
O’Connell’s Foodstore was found to be selling food with use-by dates that had passed and had an order served on it connected with that.
FSAI chief executive Greg Dempsey highlighted the need for food businesses to implement a rigorous food safety management system. “Maintaining a clean premises is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is a basic legal requirement,” he said.
Taking your life in your hands every day now in Dublin. If they don’t get you one way they have alternate options. That weil’s disease is particularly nasty…
I’m curious as to what this might have been :-
a “bucket full of brown unidentifiable liquid containing white pipes beneath the sink in the bar area”
Slops?
Clearly a DIY device for catching mice. You balance the pipes over the bucket of beer slops and place one half of a Superquin sausage into the end. Mouse tips along until he capsizes into the bucket and drowns.
I’d imagine they could have identified that.
Sauce