A very bold week

Saturday to Saturday

Saturday started off with brunch at Taco Taco.

I had mimosas and the chicken and waffles which comes with amazing sweet potato fries and a delicious coleslaw which has a kick. The portion size was HUGE - it'd put American portions to shame! That doesn't mean I didn't demolish it because that is exactly what I did!! Ah-mazing.

Sean ordered white wine and he decided to be a veggie for the hour and chose the veggie breakfast. No photos of that. He did say it was all v well cooked.

We both had coffee which was v hot!!

The seats are like something out of a primary school. My only complaint is that the tables are really close together!!! We only had the table for an hour and most of that was spent eating so really it wasn’t an issue.

From there we went to the O’Brien’s Wine Fair in aid of the Jack & Jill Foundation. Lots of fun trying various different wines that I wouldn’t usually go for. Favourites were probably the Greek Gaia Agiorgitiko found at John Wilson’s (Wilson on Wines) table and also the Lingenfelder Scheurebe. 

After there it was a quick stop into Fallon & Byrne for coffee and some other items. Decided to try out The Barn coffee for a change. Was ok but definitely back to 3FE this week!

Then headed to The Cupcake Bloke. Just had to pick up some of their Tayto Cheese & Onion Chocolate Chip cookies. So glad I did – they’re surprisingly good.

Last stop that day was Peruke & Periwig for another glass of wine before heading home to the fire!

Tuesday we went to the cinema to see The Lady in the Van. Lots of junk food that day – popcorn, giant buttons & tangy minions jellies!!

Thursday I was in London for work. Started my morning off with a Butlers coffee and one of their chocolate flake sweets. As you do at 6 in the morning!! 

After the conference finished I checked out the Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street. The views over London are just incredible. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to eat there as the earliest table available was 10pm! 

That evening I had dinner at Rhubarb at London City Airport. I chose the pulled beef brisket roll. Was quite like roast beef on a roll. Delicious!

I bought these Fortnum & Mason sparkling shortbread in the airport shop – haven’t tried them yet!

I had one of these on the plane on the way home before I fell asleep :)

Then Friday. Fat Friday indeed. 

At lunchtime I picked up a box of the new Butlers Chocs Festive dessert menu chocolates. Yumminess!

Was out in Liffey Valley for shopping after work. 

Had dinner at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I chose the Cajun blue chicken burger and we shared some rosemary fries. The burger was great, the fries were so-so (But I should mention that I am not a fan of potatoes so that's actually praise!) 

On Saturday we headed to Avoca in Kilmacanogue to place our order for Christmas (yes, I did just mention the "c-word") meat at James Whelan Butchers. 

While we were there I noticed that Revolution Bakery had a pop up there. 

I couldn't leave without picking up some doughnuts. I chose four - classic jam, vanilla and raspberry, apple crumble and salt caramel and honeycomb. I ended up giving two away to Sean's brother so didn't get to try them but the ones I did try. OH DEAR GOD were they epic. The filling just oozed out of them and I really enjoyed them on Saturday evening. 

Then went into city centre to pick up some Christmas (Yes there's that word again) presents and do some normal shopping. My first stop of the day was Kaph to pick up new beans. I grabbed an Americano to take away.

After there I went to The Cupcake Bloke. No cupcakes this week (although I did try some of the apple and cinnamon and it was v good) but I did get more of the Tayto Cheese & Onion Chocolate Chip cookies. 

They had mince pies there this weekend and got a couple to try – I will probably be in trouble for saying this but definitely my favourite mince pie so far :)

For lunch I went to the Ugly Duckling with Sean and his parents. I had to go with my usual prawn po’boy. More of a kick to it than previous - definitely a firm favourite!

Sean went for the new curried chicken wrap. His mum had the sweet chilli chicken again (She really is a fan!) and his dad chose the steak sandwich. V happy bellies all round!!

Really bad week – got to get back on the Rice Krispie Squares now this week!! Booooooooo :(  

Grand (canal area) date night

One of my favourite views of Dublin is around Grand Canal.

Started off our evening at The Marker Hotel for a glass of wine. 

I chose a glass of Picpoul de Pinet.

From there we walked to Osteria Lucio - the tunnel restaurant on Clanwilliam Terrace. We had a great table that was perfectly situated to feel the vibrations from the trains passing nearby.

The last time we ate at the tunnel restaurant it was Pizza e Porchetta. Now it's Osteria Lucio and Ross Lewis from Chapter One is here. I do believe the mark has been raised (albeit from a pretty high threshold to begin with!) 

The staff are so nice and friendly! 

Here's their A la Carte dinner menu: 

We ordered a bottle of 6 Sei Corone Nero D'avola. It was a very nice and light red wine. 

So to the food. I ordered poached salmon for starters and Sean chose the poached egg.

The salmon is served with romanesco, pesto, horseradish emulsion and orange. It's served cold and all the flavours / textures really complimented each other.

  

The poached egg was served with brioche, oyster mushrooms, smoked paprika mayonnaise, prosciutto and vacca rossa foam. The egg was perfectly cooked. 

That was followed by the prosciutto and buffalo pizza which I asked to be a white pizza. They had no problem with that order. The pizza base was perfect. Light and crispy and the toppings were plentiful. The mozzarella was well melted,  the prosciutto was delicious as was the Parmesan. The rocket was as peppery as it should be. I tried it with a bit of their chilli oil which had a serious kick. A little slice of pizza heaven!!!

Sean chose the wild boar ragu taglioni. He loved it and said he'd have eaten an entire huge pot of it. 

For dessert I had Tiramisu. It was the nicest and lightest Tiramisu I have ever tried!!! I also had an Americano. They're serving up Imbibe Fair trade coffee. Really really good. 

Sean had the Affogato - vanilla gelato and an espresso. 

Can't tell you enough how good the food is there. 

Enjoyed a top date night immensely :) 

Stuff I've eaten in the last week

First mention is Beeftro on Balfe Street. Came here for lunch last Friday. I had the BBQ pulled chicken sandwich which is served with sweet potato fries. Had some white wine to kick off happy Friday! The staff are lovely and the food is fab. Will definitely be back to try beef :)

I stopped at The Cupcake Bloke on my way to Beeftro and picked up some of their Halloween cupcakes. Inchose spiced pumpkin, tombstone and ghostly chocolate - which clearly disappeared and a brack. The brack is delicious and made even nicer with just a little bit of butter. 

On Sunday we were in town for some Christmas presents shopping (I know!) and stopped at Coffee Angel on South Anne Street. I thought the coffee was only ok and to be honest we were kind of made to feel like we were disturbing the staff's Sunday. The macaroon was dry and far too flaky but the chocolate brownie was fab!!

This week I've been on jury duty. Thankfully I wasn't picked but I realised something. I'm very glad I don't work too close to the city centre - there's far too much temptation around! I don't think my waist or purse would be too healthy in the long run. 

On Monday I visited Love Supreme in Stonybatter for lunch before getting back to work. 

I had a lovely Americano and a pork, celery and fennel sausage roll. The sausage roll was still warm and just so tasty.

I got a second Americano to take away to enjoy in the November sunshine. 

When we were released on Tuesday I visited a Slice of Cake on Manor Place. I chose a dark chocolate orange slice - shortbread with chocolate orange. It was like eating a Terry's chocolate orange biscuit. I had a coffee here - they serve 3fe. Lovely spot but tends to get crowded.

I didn't get a coffee to take away. Instead I brought home slices of cake - coconut jam and a pomegranate and almond. 

After being let go early on Wednesday I made my way to Aungier Street to the new doughnut (donut) place, Aungier Danger. 

There's been a lot of hype around this spot and I wanted to check out the fuss. Luckily when I got there it was open (they're only open while they have stock) there wasn't much of a queue and they had plenty to choose from. Which caused an issue. I could decide so ended up getting a box of four to bring home - crime scene (red velvet with cream cheese), Banoffee autopsy, cherry gunshot and a jam five o. I think they use banana flavouring in the Banoffee. They were OK if a little denser than I'd like.

As I've a very sweet tooth my favourite was the very sugary crime scene. 

It's only takeaway so from there I walked to Krust bakery on Georges Street. Here I had an Oreo Cronut and a coffee. The Cronut was really fresh and the coffee was perfectly warming. 

On the last day of jury duty I visited The Pepperpot in Powerscourt Centre. 

As you can see I had a great seat overlooking the centre and it was really nice to sit back and listen to the piano - I think it's part of a lunchtime thing going on in Powerscourt. 

Here are the menus 

I ordered the roast pear, bacon and Montgomery cheese sandwich and an Americano. 

The sandwich - OMG! It was utterly delicious. I wouldn't have put bacon, cheese and pear together but wow does it work. The bread is thick but really fresh.  Amaze balls and I can see why that particular sandwich is a really popular menu item. 

The china wouldn't be out of place in my nanna's kitchen or on display on her dresser which I also really liked. Such a nice feel to this place and the staff are all so nice. Am only disappointed I didn't try here sooner!

So there's my highlights of my week. What about you?!