Steak and craft beers

We needed to find a place for dinner after Sean and his brother spent the afternoon at Whiskey live and we settled on the newest spot on Dawson Street, Featherblade. 

The menu is simple but don't let that fool you. It can be hard to choose but whatever you choose I think you'll find that the food is delicious. The starters & dessert change weekly so keep an eye on social media!The only constant menu item is their namesake, Featherblade. 

As you can see from the menus we had a choice of two starters then Featherblade or Flank steak with a number of sides to choose from and three sauces then a choice of two desserts. 

Main menu

Drinks menu

Specials menu

To start I had a berry fizz cocktail. V nice way to start and then I had a glass of their wine special, Rioja, which went v nicely with the steak. 

Sean's little brother and myself both chose the sesame crusted salmon with avocado purée and Asian slaw to start. Very tasty, lovely tang from the Asian slaw dressing. 

Sean went for the crispy lamb and he let me try it - it was like a Bon Bon. V yum. 

For my main I chose the Featherblade cooked medium rare with Bearnaise sauce. The meat was tender, melt in the mouth yumminess. I liked the Bearnaise because it wasn't over powering. Sean's little brother ordered the same thing. 

Sean ordered the marinated flank steak with garlic & chilli sauce. 

We shared the roasted sweet potato, truffle mac n cheese and there was also an order for the courgette, kale & carrot salad which we let Sean eat by himself :) 

The mac n cheese... OMG creamy cheesy goodness - you could eat it by the bucketload :)

Sweet potato was charred and utterly delicious. I could've eaten far more of them - am sorry we didn't order more! :) 

Dessert I decided to be "brave" and try the beetroot and lavender panna cotta with lime shortbread. I know that doesn't sound like it should work but it did. It was bloody gorgeous.

His little brother ordered the sticky toffee pudding. He let me try some too. It was sooo good!

The steaks are €13 (I know, in Dublin right?), the staff are super nice, the seats are comfy thanks to the chunky cushions on the wooden bench type seats. 

The tables are a little close but given that we were there early on a Saturday evening that was no way an issue. 

I can't find fault as much as I'd like to. A perfect example of keeping it simple and doing it extremely well! Will definitely be back (if we manage to get a reservation!)

After there we walked to P. Macs and I had a couple glasses of Lindeman's Framboise. 

Next stop was Against the Grain on Wexford Street. They still had The Eternalist in the fridge so I went with a bottle of that. 

It was still early so we headed to Alfie Byrne's at the Conrad Hotel. Here I had Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout and some more of The Eternalist and also one glass of Green Spot. We also went through a lot of Tayto Snax :) 

Good beer, whiskey and chats was a really nice way to finish off our night!!! 

Waggly tails for top (hot) dogs and drinks

First stop of the evening was the Dingle Whiskey bar on Nassau Street. They've recently won Irish Whiskey bar of the year (Leinster) 

I didn't want to start the evening off with a whiskey so I chose one of their Fish Bowl cocktails - Bowler hat. 

Amazing selection here but only stayed for one as I had booked a table for Porndog on Montague Street via Twitter for anytime between 5:30 and 6:00 on Saturday evening. 

What a great attention grabbing name! 

To put it mildly I've been very excited to try Porndog since I found out Dublin was finally going to be getting a place specialising in hot dogs. 

It looks small when you walk in first and you can see into the kitchen but it's deceptive. There's plenty of seating over two floors.

We were brought upstairs and had a choice of seats. We chose one of the low seats in front of the bar. I was fascinated by the jars of pickle fermenting away on the bar. The barman informed me that they are for pickle back shots which are v popular in the USA but I wasn't brave enough to try one. 

The music was mainly 70s disco. My mum played a lot of this when I was growing up so I loved it. Great tuneage. I found all staff to be very friendly and attentive but not over the top. 

Here are the menus:

I went with white wine. A glass of Cave L'Ormarine Picquol. Olivia Pope on Scandal would be proud of the size of the glasses. Their pours are generous. Sean chose a 1L growler of their Pale Ale. 

We ordered the hummus plate to share for start. Warm Garlic brioche bread, pickled vegetables (purple cauliflower, carrot & strips of courgette (I think) and a lovely harissa spiked hummus dip. The brioche was really good as were the pickled vegetables.

For my main course I chose the Voodoo dog. OMFG wow. Southern Panko Fried Chicken sausage with sriracha mustard, micro greens, American cheese, smoked bacon pork crackling and house fermented pickle vegetables. Now if you were left alone you could easily get the hunch on but had to be polite so mainly ate it with a knife and fork. The dog was just awesome! The chicken was crispy and tender and had a lovely kick to it. 

We also ordered a side of sweet potato fries which are served with harissa yogurt, salted seeds and Parmesan cheese. Utterly delicious!

Sean ordered the Hot Diggity Dog which is a smoked and charred beef sausage, chilli beef brisket, guacamole, jalapeños, cheddar cheese, creme fraiche and fresh chillies.

I still had room for dessert so I chose the tempura fried candy bar bites. These are little bites of Mars, Snickers and Milky Way with just a little batter. The chocolate was a little messy. Little bites of heaven :)

As you can see they're serving up some seriously good looking delicious tasting food porn. 

I did not leave disappointed. Sean had reservations before we went but he really enjoyed it too. Will definitely be back!!! :) 

Was still early so headed around the corner to Against the Grain. I had heard rumours that they were going to have Founders' Rubaeus on tap but it wasn't on yet so instead I tried the new Galway Bay Brewery beer, The Eternalist. Matured in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels for almost two years with a hint of raspberry and it costs €8:50 a bottle. Was it worth it? Yes! I'm not actually a beer drinker but I really enjoyed it. 

Then stopped at P. Macs for some more tipples. I had a couple of glasses of Lindemans Framboise. Sean chose the Siren Craft Brew Broken Dreams which is very like a Founders' Breakfast Stout but sweeter. I even liked it :)

Lovely crisp October evening so we then strolled along Stephen's Green crunching through the leaves and ended up at Alfie Byrnes. Took me a while to choose what I wanted but eventually decided to have another Eternalist here - they only had a couple of bottles left! 

Not so sober brunch

A sort of date day started with brunch at Sober Lane D4.

Had booked a table for 1pm but thanks to decent (for a change!!!) public transport we arrived early. That was no issue as it wasn't that busy. I'm surprised it wasn't much busier!! 

We picked a table in one of their snugs. Lovely and private. 

Here's the brunch menu... Love the tongue in cheekiness of it!

I ordered mimosas - they're really good.

Sean had apple juice and a white peach Bellini. 

Food wise I ordered the classic chicken goujon bap. Didn't realise they came with homemade crisps (potato chips!) and I ordered a portion of sweet potato wedges.

Sean ordered the monster omelette served with tomato and sourdough toast.

Wasn't going to order anything else but ended up ordering a coffee and the have it your way waffles with strawberries, chocolate sauce & ice-cream. 

This place really ought to be busier. Well worth coming out of the city centre for. The food was delicious. The staff are laid back but attentive. Good tunes in the background and there's quite a cool vibe about the place.

I want to come back to try their evening menu. The black pudding and apple pizza that I noticed on their menu outside intrigues me. 

Will leave you with a photo of their bathroom doors :-) 

From there we walked back into the city centre. Lovely day for a wander! 

Went to P. Macs for one drink before heading home. 

I chose Lindemans Framboise & Sean had 8 degrees brewing Ochtoberfest. Lovely way to finish off the date :) 

Prosecco crisps

Yes they are real and sounds totally pretentious but you can now buy Winter berries & Prosecco hand cooked crisps (with edible gold stars and a touch of fizz!) at your local M&S.

They are part of the M&S Fizz & Sparkle collection.

I bought a bag last Friday to satisfy my curiosity. 

They're sweet yet salty (I'm going with swalty) so it satisfies both cravings at once... 

The edible stars got everywhere but if you're a fan of prosecco or sweet stuffs at all I'd suggest you try them :) 

Food filled Saturday

Sean's little brother came to stay with us this weekend. Sean and I done some wandering while he was getting his hair cut at The Butcher Barber. 

First stop was Fallon & Byrne. We got some venison haunch steaks, sweet potato and Irish rainbow carrots for our dinner on Sunday evening. We also picked up some Llewellyn's Apple cider vinegar. We had to because the bottle we got at the People's Park market met an unfortunate end :(? 

Then we had our usual stop at The Cupcake Bloke. 

Picked up some cupcakes for us - Oreo, Caramel Macchiato & a gluten free Banoffee.

Also got some lemon and carrot cake cupcakes and one of the Earl Grey, cranberry & orange tea bracks for Sean's parents.

After he was finished getting his hair did I brought him to try out Ugly Duckling in the Epicurean Food Hall. He ordered the Pittsburgh (BBQ pulled pork, coleslaw, tomato and fries on a bun) and I ordered my usual no tomato Prawn Po'Boy... Delicious as always. Sean's little brother had considered keeping some for Sean but he enjoyed it so much there was no left!! I think he was a fan :) 

Got home. Spent some time with the dog then got ready to head out for the evening.

First stop of the night was Oktoberfest Dublin. We got there early enough so thankfully we didn't have to queue too long to get in - about a 20 minute wait. 

The place was pretty busy. Queued about 10 minutes for drinks. Got 2L of erdinger and a German white wine. 

Total cost including the deposits for the glass steins was something like €40. As long as you keep hold of your token and the stein though you get your €5 per stein deposit back.

Not a bad atmosphere but am not entirely sure how traditional Love is in the air as music goes??? 

Like I say we got there early enough but it was already starting to get a bit messy. We didn't stay long and then headed to Brew Dock.  The signs that are upstairs gave me a giggle. 

Here I had a Founders Breakfast stout. Lovely strong coffee flavour. 

By the way to the lads playing Jenga near us I think we've only just recovered from the fright ;)

We had a table booked for Bull & Castle and, as it was a nice October evening, we decided to walk it. Certainly walked up an appetite!! Have been here before but didn't enjoy the experience. What a transformation since our last visit. 

The last time we we're here was on a cold & miserably wet evening. I found the restaurant to be very cold and the seats were hard. I'm so so glad we decided to come back. The restaurant has had a make over. We were seated in a booth. It felt so so cosy and the leather covered seats were so comfortable!! 

 

Here's the food menu... 

I ordered a half bottle of Sangiovese / Merlot red wine. 

We shared the breads n dips and the charcuterie board for starters. That hummus is immense!!! The pesto was really nice but for me the star was the white soda bread. 

For my main course I ordered the steak and seafood - a 6oz fillet steak cooked medium rare with some prawns. Lovely char on the steak from the type oven they use. Perfectly cooked and the prawns were delicious too. Fab Bearnaise sauce to dip them all in too! 

I am not a potato fan and I asked if I could swap the spring onion mash for the Mac n cheese. This was done without issue although the waiter wasn't sure it could be done. Very impressed! 

Sean and his brother ordered the porterhouse for two. This is a double cut t bone steak served up with chips, mashed potato, sautéed onions, sautéed mushrooms, maple roasted carrots and a selection of sauces. 

The Mac n cheese was creamy and had a lovely crust on top. Am sure it was calorific but so so worth it.

For dessert I ordered a French Martini cocktail. Lovely way to finish. 

Brilliant choice of whiskey, craft beer and cocktails. They're serving up great food that is well worth the price tag. Really loved the feel of the place this time. 

After there we walked to Beer Market as Sean was in search of a particular sour beer - Gods Speed. To my delight they had Founders' Rubaeus on tap but not the beer he was after so we only stayed for one and then headed to our last stop of the evening, Against the Grain. 

They had the beer Sean was looking for so they had two glasses of that each while I finished off my evening with a Macivors cider :)