When a friend moved to Dublin for work and asked if we wanted to come visit, there was no other thought in our heads than to book flights and head to the beautiful and historic county.
We learned to pour the perfect pint,
went to some of the oldest bars in the world,
had plenty of beef and lamb stew, kissed the Blarney stone,
saw Newgrange, one of the oldest monuments in the world
and of course took in all that Downtown Dublin had to offer.
On St. Patty’s day (yes the celebrate it there like us, and yes it was way more awesome), we held up the white flag after 10 hours of drinking Guinness and waiting in 30 minute toilet lines to head inside and grab a seat to eat. We were told we had to visit Fade St. Social for the tapas and a modern take on Irish foods. We sat at a community dining table in the Gastro Bar section of the restaurant, as there were some different items on the menu that we wanted to try and were not exactly dressed or in an appropriate state of mind to sit in the cushy dining room. We ordered an embarrassing amount of tapas and soaked up St. Patty’s Day. Favorites were the fries, lobster roll and pork belly.
My favorite of course, was the Truffle pasta with charred white asparagus and fresh Parmesan. The noodles were hand rolled and thick. Thankfully, the Parmesan stuck to all sides of the firm noodles with a creamy white sauce. Even at tapas size, it was enough to help cure my next day hangover that was coming on.
Truffle pasta with charred white asparagus and Parmesan
On our last night in the cheery city, we didn’t want to venture far from home and walked over to the Crown Plaza. The hotel restaurant is surprisingly amazing and changes throughout the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We went for the breakfast buffet on the first day and were able to try an array of Irish breakfast items from:
- Scones
- Soda breads with Kerry Gold butter and jam
- Back rasher (the Irish version of our bacon. They call our bacon, streaky bacon)
- Black pudding (pork blood and oatmeal)
- White pudding (Similar to black, but without the blood, with pork meat and fat)
- Fried eggs
- Baked Beans
At night, the restaurant turns into Forchetta, the Irish take on Italian Cuisine. I only say this because certain ingredients were replaced by Irish items that you wouldn’t normally see in a true Italian restaurant. But as usual, The Scott’s couldn’t resist the thought of pasta, salads and breads.
We started with Pane all’ Aglio con Mozzarella or garlic bread topped with mozzarella. The presentation for the simple bread was the best that I’ve seen. We continued with the Rucola or an arugula salad with balsamic and Parmesan. We heard the Frittura di Calamari e Gamberi was a must try, so we did. It was worth being almost full before our entrees came.
In true, More Chz Plz fashion, I ordered a creamy pasta for my entree; Tagliatelle Speck Gorgonzola e Noci.
The ribbon pasta was thin and weaved its way back and forth through a pool of Gorgonzola cheese sauce, thick cuts of speck and walnuts. The small bowl was deceiving as I began to “forchetta” the pasta into my mouth. The opposing elements seemed to work together, with an earthy taste from the walnuts. The cheesy sauce was incredibly rich, but still didn’t stop me from adding Parmesan on top. For an Italian restaurant in Dublin, I left happy and full.
The trip was an overall amazing experience and I recommend to anyone who wants to get a feel for Europe in a less busy town. Everywhere we went, people were enamored because we were Americans (unlike some of our experiences in Italy). Since Dublin is capital, the city seemed a bit more expensive, but overall it was worth the spend.
More ChzPlz 