Delicious down to the marrow
The menu has some wine-matching suggestions in small or large glasses, which seems like an excellent idea. I get a large glass of the French Semillion Chateau Haut Garriga (€9.35) and Liam’s match for the marrow is a Spanish crianza Bodgegas Ramon Bilbao (€7). We share a large New Zealand sauvignon blanc Stables for €10.
We also share the €6 chocolate fondue to finish. The tea light underneath warms a darkly bitter chocolate soup. There are fondue forks for skewering the house-made marshmallow, peanut butter fudge (oh my) and slices of fresh pineapple. The bits you dip are more than sweet enough to balance the chocolate. The drips you get on your clothes will require a boil wash treatment later. But, as they’ll tell you in Whitefriar St Church across the road, even the most enjoyable of sins comes with the burden of atonement.
Dinner for two with three glasses of wine came to €86.35.
Whitefriar Grill
16, Aungier Street, Dublin 2,
tel: 01-475 9003
Music: We went from pop to French accordion to jazz
Facilities: Unisex and self-contained
Food provenance: A commitment to fresh, locally sourced where possible.
Wheelchair access: Yes, but space very restricted
Coeliac options: None specified
SECOND HELPING . . .Months after the posse first made it cool I recently tried Jo Macken’s Crackbird on Dame St for lunch with a friend. Around the corner from where it first “popped up”, it’s in the old Fans Chinese restaurant which still has a late-night sweet-and-sour joint feel. But everything else is trademark stuff from the good ship Macken: the benches and stools, the friendly whip-smart staff and the fast food made better (the gingham napkins are gone, pocketed in their droves by shameless diners). We got a plate of breaded, fried pumpkin slices with a blue-cheese dip to start. Then we each had two semolina-crumbed chicken crunches (€4.95 each) with whipped feta and lemon dip – one of the best reasons to go to Crackbird. On the side, we got a zesty grated carrot and cranberry salad (€3.95). Two enormous lemonades in jam jars and a “cup of Jo” for 99 cents brought lunch for two to €27.69
Crackbird, 60 Dame St, Dublin 2
