Antipasti and Wine at KC Peaches Wine Cave

Last night, Mr. S. and I decided to check out a great offer at KC Peaches Wine Cave: An antipasti platter plus 2 glasses of wine for 20 Euro. This offer is on every Wednesday and judging by the pictures on their Facebook page, it sounded like pretty good value for money.

On arrival, the place was not yet very busy, so we chose a table and were greeted by a very nice waitress (the service was lovely throughout!). When we asked for the deal, she gave us the option of red or white house wine, and we both went for white. It was delicious and crisp and turned out to go extremely well with the food.

Arriving next was lovely tomato bread and some butter served on a little slate. The bread tasted super fresh and had a great combination of tomato and herbs (we tasted rosemary and probably thyme). It was so delicious that we had eaten all of it by the time our antipasti arrived!

The antipasti platter was served on a wooden board with a slate inlay. The menu had informed us that it included Jamon Iberico chorizo, Jamon Iberico Cebo ham, Pâté, Smoked Gubbeen, Chulchoill goats log, Coolea extra mature and Hick’s bacon jam plum compote. The presentation was lovely and everything looked delicious!

It tasted delicious, too. In addition to the very tasty compote, there were crackers, olives, grapes, strawberries and walnuts, which all accompanied the cheeses and meats perfectly.

Being an antipasti platter, this is obviously not a full dinner for 2 people. However, it was fantastic value for money and a delightful experience.

Definitely recommendable for a hump day treat! :)

Grub & Jars on a random Tuesday

Random nights are the best. Sometimes it's just much more fun to go with the flow and see where you end up. Last Tuesday was one of these random nights for me, and during the course of it I discovered some delish new grub & jars that are worth sharing.

First, I was off to Probus Wines, who were lovely enough to have offered me a free Trooper beer for being the 666th person to like them on Facebook. My boyfriend (henceforth referred to as Mr. S.) gladly came along because we'd been to Probus Wines before and really enjoyed it.

Probus Wines is quite a unique place in Dublin. It is an Off-License with a license! This means that you can buy wines and hundreds of craft beers from their great selection to take away, or you can choose to stay around for a while, sit on one of the bar stools at barrel tables and enjoy your beers there, for a 20% surcharge on the price. It works out a lot cheaper than a normal pub and it is a really great concept!

My Trooper beer was quite nice, a solid ale. Nothing too special, but still enjoyable.

They also serve a great selection of food and you can tell that they care about the produce they use, which translates into the taste. This was the first time I tried the food there. We both went for the Daily Special, which was a Lamb Kebab in a crusty baguette with a mint yoghurt sauce. The lamb was very tasty and the mint yoghurt was refreshing and went perfectly with the lamb. The baguette was good enough to eat on its own! At only €7.95 this was amazing value for money and definitely set us up for some further beer sampling. :)

Next, we tried the beer they had on tap. I had never heard of it before, so it needed to be sampled! It was a Copper Ale from VG Noster Brewery in the Basque Country. Now this was something else! It was delicious. I think what'll give you the best idea is to get yourself in there asap and taste this lovely brew before it's all gone!

We also got to meet fellow craft beer enthusiast Alex (check out his blog here!) who used to work at Probus Wines and was helping out that night. He recommended the extremely tasty Kentucky IPA to Mr. S., which he enjoyed very much. We would have loved to stay longer, but it was time to gradually make our way home.

Next, we decided to pop into Kelly's Wine Cellar. It is in my neighbourhood and after walking past it many times, we had finally taken a look inside over the weekend and were delighted to discover a huge range of craft beers! So on Tuesday night, as we had already sampled some beers, we thought we might as well sample another few.

We took a good look around their "Craft Beer Corner" and the other shelves and fridges offering a huge collection of Irish and international craft beers. There was even a little book with info on the beers to help people decide! The beers are reasonably priced, too. There are 2 other off-licenses on the same road which also stock craft beers, but this one has by far the best collection and the best prices. It's always great to see an independent place like this getting it 100% right.

I decided to buy two beers I had been meaning to try for quite a while and which I was very happy to find in Kelly's: Mountain Man Green Bullet and Black's Kinsale Pale Ale. Both were so delicious, had it not been a school night, I would definitely have gone for a few more bottles of each! These two are great additions to the Irish craft beer world.

After all this, the night was still young, so we decided to visit another place we'd walked past a few times and had been meaning to check out for a while:
The Bram Stoker pub.

The reason we wanted to check out this place is because it's in the neighbourhood and it seemed like a place where one could have a relaxed drink with great sea views. We were not expecting to find many craft beers there. All this proved to be true. The sea views are great, and there was no craft beer to be seen in the place. I was quite surprised that they didn't at least offer one or two bottled options, which seems to be pretty normal these days. Especially because this is also a hotel and I'm sure the visitors would be interested in trying an Irish craft beer. I think it would be a great idea for them to stock at least one or two bottles.

When we got here, we found out that it happened to be "Cheap Ass Tuesday". This meant that all main courses (except steak) were only 5 Euro and all pints and long necks 4. Since we had already eaten the lovely food at Probus Wines, we shared a portion of chicken wings with hot sauce, blue cheese dip and celery sticks. The portion was generous and the wings were tasty. The sauce was just the right degree of hot and the blue cheese dip was delish. Other people were having the main courses and the portions looked big, like what you would usually expect to pay about 12-15 quid for. And if the chicken wings were anything to go by, I would expect the rest of the food to be tasty, too. Options included Fish & Chips, burgers, lasagne, nachos with beef chili and cheese, etc. We will definitely be going back here next Tuesday to avail of the great main course offer. Serious value for money!

When this random Tuesday came to an end, we were very happy to have discovered so many lovely new beers and food offers in just one night.
Cheers to randomness! :)

Sand Sculpture Exhibition in Dublin Castle

Some free culture is always good in my book, so I headed to Dublin Castle over the weekend to take a look at the free Sand Sculpture Exhibition that is on at the moment.




The sculptures were created by Duthain Dealbh, a group of three DIT graduate sculptors who have been working together around the world for 15 years.

The theme of this year's exhibition is "What can we be proud of / happy with, being Irish?".

I found it intriguing to look at each sculpture, guess what it is about, and then read the description which is posted beside them. So I'm not going to give too much away, in case you want to guess for yourself.
Just two very obvious hints - the Irish Mammy and the Claddagh Ring feature:

You have until the 27th of August to visit this exhibition. It's interesting and it's free, so pop by during lunch or over the weekend and see for yourself!

A little escape to Spain

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you will have heard about Las Tapas de Lola already. Pretty much every food blog, newspaper and magazine in Ireland has published reviews of it - and it's praise all round. There's a reason: they've brought authentic Spanish tapas to Dublin and eating there almost feels like a mini holiday.

From the minute I first spotted their tiled restaurant front that looks like it was lifted right out of Spain and planted on Wexford Street, I got very excited about this place. Would this be the real deal? There was only one way to find out.

I went with a friend a couple of weeks after they opened and even then they had to turn away anyone who hadn't booked a table, such was the hype about this place. And believe me, it more than lives up to the hype. The food is absolutely delicious and the quality of the produce is great. They also have a good wine list with several options by the glass, delicious homemade sangria, and some great beer options (more about that below). The atmosphere in the restaurant is lively and friendly, with guests of all ages, many of them Spanish. Always a good sign!

Before I post some pics, I'd like to mention how lovely the 2 owners are. The second time I went was with my boyfriend and we mentioned to the Spanish half of the owner duo, Anna, that we were going on holidays to Barcelona very soon. We had heard that she was from there, so we asked if she could recommend some good places to eat. Next thing we knew, she returned with a whole list of restaurants for us to check out! How nice is that? We went to every place on her list, and while some were closed for their August holidays, the ones we did get a chance to try were absolutely brilliant (blog post about Barcelona is in the making). Next time I go, I will definitely need to thank Anna for her great recommendations!

These little fish are called Chanquetes. They were given to us both times as a little taster. They come whole, and you eat the whole thing in one! Might sound unusual to some, but they're actually delicious!

Jamón iberico - often doesn't live up to the real thing here, but this one is just like in Spain!

Spinach & Chickpeas - I love this dish and the spinach in this one was super fresh and delicious!

The Calamari come with a lovely aioli. It's super garlicy and super delicious (don't say I didn't warn ye!)

This dish is definitely one of my favourite dishes I've tried there so far. It's a gratin of scallops and white fish. Heaven in a shell!

Definitely save some room in the dessert compartment for the crema catalana! It's perfect, and cracking it with the spoon is fun!

A very interesting alternative to wine is the Estrella Inedit. It's a beer that has been "crafted to go with haute cuisine". It is served in a big wine-style bottle, with a cooler and wine-style glasses. It's definitely worth a try and went very well with the food.

The Brew Dock

It's all in the detail!

Trying to figure out what my first blog post should be about, I thought it would be best to start with the place closest to my heart. The Brew Dock is not a fancy place. It is by no means in a swanky part of town. Some might even consider it a dive. But it has something that many other places are missing: heart & soul. And of course a great selection of craft beers! :)

Ever since it opened in early 2012, it has been my "local", even though I used to live across town! It is located on Amiens Street, literally 2 steps away from the Busaras Luas Stop and across the road from Connolly Station. The Brew Dock is part of the Galway Bay Brewery family of pubs and has 3 sister pubs in Dublin and 4 in Galway. Of course it is a craft beer pub, selling their own Galway Bay brews and a huge selection of international beers. There are about 20 taps, 2 casks, and of course the fridges with tons of bottled beers. There is always something interesting and new to try, even if you come there a lot. They also do great pub grub and their burgers are divine!

While that is all good and well, the best thing about this pub since the very start has been the staff. They are genuinely friendly and welcoming. They have a genuine interest in craft beers. They remember you and your preferences. Most of all, they really want to make you feel at home. They value regulars and show it, which has made us come back again and again, with friends, family, birthday parties, visitors, work colleagues, etc. in tow.

For inexplicable reasons, all my other pictures of the place are either of beers or of friends enjoying them, so they will not be of much help. Check out their website or their Facebook page and you'll get the idea. Or even better, pop in and check it out for yourself. You have no excuse, it is seconds from the Luas, bus stop, Dart and even Busaras! :) Sit at the bar, and if you're not sure what to have, chat to whoever is working, they are all lovely and helpful. Ask for a sample tray to try a few beers to help you make up your mind. Be amused by those poor unassuming souls coming in asking for Guinness or Heineken and having the shock of their lives when they are told there's none to be had. Enjoy!