Tornare a Cirillos

Recently revisited Cirillos.

We booked a table for earlyish on a Friday evening.

Sometimes I am always a little worried when I love somewhere on the first visit and it lets me down on the repeat visit. I am really happy to be able to say that was not the case with Cirillos. The food is amazing. The staff are great and full of bants.

We had a lovely table in the corner. We had some prosecco with our starters.

For starters I had the arancini. Delicious balls of rice, mozzarella and tomato with a dipping sauce.

I chose a Nealo pizza for my main. A white pizza (pizza bianche) with ricotta, red onion, nduja and mozzarella. The nduja was deliciously spicy.

For dessert I chose the Tiramisu. I didn't want to share so Sean had to order his own!! Big slice but super light.

You can order pizza for collection. The food was so good I returned a couple of weeks later to collect some pizzas to have at home. And yeah I chose the Nealo again :)

Boston mini break - day one

Spent three days in Boson recently... Whirlwind trip really but it was FAB! 

Started off as most (every?) Irish person starts their holiday - with holiday pints! Except I chose prosecco to go with my sausage bagel :) 

They have US Pre Clearance at Dublin Airport. I think it's great except the self service kiosks. I tried to use them but ended up having to queue!  

Here was the view from my seat on approach to Boston on the Aer Lingus flight. Just wow!!

We stayed at the Hilton Downtown / Faneuil Hall. I loved all the vintage telephones I spotted around.

We had a wander along the waterfron then went for a drink at Atlantic Beer Garden which had fab views of Seaport.

For dinner we went to Crush Pizza on State Street. I thought this was like a Pizza Hut or something. It's way way better!!! 

You choose your pizza, it's made there and then and then in it goes to one of their 300 degree wood fired ovens. 

You have the option to build your own pizza - including white pizza but I ordered the bourbon BBQ chicken pizza. Loved the sauce and it was laden with toppings. They finish that pizza with tortilla strips and cilantro. 

Luckily I love both so I really enjoyed it. I had a cider with it as couldn't see any wine.

After there we had a wander around towards the old State House and then through Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market.

We had a drink at Tap Trailhouse. We got a seat at the open window and managed to be entertained by the open air concert nearby :) 

We walked back near North End. Do love all the lights at night.

Finished off the evening with a drink at Warehouse Bar & Grille. I chose to have super classy Underwood Pinot Gris which came in a can :) 

An impressive new kid in town

Booked Cirillos on Lr Baggot St for food after being to the Boston College / Georgia Tech game a few weeks back. 

We were told we'd have to give the table back within 1.5 hours which was no issue because the service is v efficient. They did manage to take in walkins but it seemed like it was getting v busy so if you're looking to go I'd suggest you book ahead or you can get takeout. 

I was super delighted to discover that I could order an actual white pizza without having to ask for a pizza with no tomato sauce (I don't like tomato sauce on my pizza so? Why is that such a big deal?!) 

Anyhow the three of us ordered the antipasti sharing plate. I loved the cheese and the bread. I didn't get to try the salami, pancetta or the veg but it all looked so so good. You snooze, you lose right? :) 

Shared a bottle of their house red wine which is currently a Sangiovese / Merlot and is v smooth. Kinda far too easy to drink! 

For my main I got a white pizza - Pupillos. That was topped with sweet salami, ricotta, mozzarella and black pepper. Yummo!! The crust was incredible. I'd be the size of a house but would happily eat that ALL day. 

Left room for dessert? Hells yes! I got their special - an extremely light five star tiramisu which I did actually reluctantly share because it was just AMAZING! 

Great food, wine and a little banter with the staff. Who, by the way, are fab. 

Will definitely be back soon. Even if it's just to get takeout :)

Holiday day one

Booked long weekend to Prague for first weekend in December. Arrived at the airport and had to go to the Aer Lingus checkin desk after I'd messed up using the app :(

Guy behind the desk could not have been any nicer!! Not only did he get us two seats together but he also checked in my carry on case for free!

Stopped at The Loop and was at the Armani counter. I was informed that the perfume I wanted (Armani Mania) has been discontinued. However I was in luck because they had a couple of bottles left in a drawer - yay!!

Went to the chocolate lounge for breakfast. Bagel with cream cheese and a glass of red wine overlooking some of the gates (am sure AV geeks would enjoy the view even when the weather is miserable!) the server got the bagel order wrong but sorted it pretty quickly!!

Then we had to walk to T1 for our gate. Sean's case was also checked in at no cost at this point! 

On board the plane I ordered the Mr Tayto crisp sandwich pack - just had to do it :) 

When we arrived in Prague we headed straight to the hotel on Wenceslas Square. It's been over 9 years since I was last here and it was great to return.

The hotel room

Just changed and headed straight out into the cool evening air!

Got a tram to Smichov to return to a restaurant I really enjoyed on previous visits - Pizzeria Corleone is cheap and cheerful! For starters we shared beetroot carpaccio with goats cheese and beef carpaccio with Parmesan and rocket. Both were v good!

For my main I ordered Quattro formaggi pizza - a white pizza on thin crust laden with cheese! Still a firm favourite even now.

Shared two bottles of wine and then had a look around the small Christmas market before taking the tram back towards Old Town Square. 

First stop tourist photos at Obecni Dum / Municipal House... So impressive! 

Walked through to Old Town Square / Staromestke Namesti. 

The Christmas market was hopping. 

Got some hot apple cider and wandered around the stalls.

Such a nice feeling around. Some of the buildings are just amazing too - my favourite is the Tyn Church, always reminds me of Harry Potter!

Then we found a table at one of the restaurants opposite the Astronomical clock / Prazsky Orloj - this is truly fantastic and still attracts massive crowds!

Next stop of the evening was Cacao Prague for dessert. Shared an utterly delicious caramel pecan cheesecake and we had an Americano each.

Last stop was Whiskeria in the powder tower on Jindrisska. Look at the size of their whisky list! Also spotted a bottle of Teeling amongst the immense selection! 

Had a Glenmorangie nectar d'or here. Lovely way to finish off the evening! 

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 :)