Review of Tante Zoe's

Tante Zoe's

I was very excited to try Tante Zoe's in Dublin last weekend. I had heard lots of good things about it and have a love of Cajun food to boot. My friend went to university in New Orleans, so she was equally excited for a bite of "good home cookin!"

We had an 8:30 reservation and arrived promptly. The restaurant was very busy and had a nice vibe. We were shown to a small table which was a bit crowded, although it appeared most of the tables suffered from a similar fate. We perused the menu and were delighted to find lots of "Nawlins" favourites such as Gumbo, Jambalaya, Creole Shrimp and Maque Choux, although we both did notice the distinct lack of corn or spoon bread. I opted for fishcakes to start, followed by the Shrimp Creole. Heather went for the "Plantation Log" and followed up with a jambalaya. To drink, I had a Long Island Ice Tea and Heather had a Mojito, deciding to skip on our usual wine.

The drinks came first and the mojito was lovely, but the Long Island was not what I was used to at all. It was drinkable, but needed more sweetness. Our starters came fairly quickly and at first glance looked quite pleasant. The plantation log was tasty, but nothing spectacular and was served with some toasted baguette. The fishcakes came in a pool of sweet chilli sauce. That should have been our first clue! Traditional Cajun fish or crab cakes are always served with a spicy mayonnaise based remoulade. The cakes were quite nice, although I couldn't help but feel there was more potato than fish.

We asked the waiter to hold off for awhile before bringing the main courses, as the appetisers were quite filling, but alas they showed up almost immediately. The jambalaya looked all wrong. There were huge chunks of peppers and onions, which any chef should no do not belong. In fact, almost all traditional Cajun dishes start with a sofrito, or Holy Trinity, as they call it of peppers, onions and celery finely diced. This forms the base for the sauce. This was clearly not the case here. The Creole looked exactly the same, but with no rice. The Maque Choux looked the same too.

The Creole had a generous amount of large prawns, but it was so salty all I managed was a bite of half of one. It was served with a flavourless rice. Heather's jambalaya was bland and flavourless, something I never thought possible for Jambalaya. The Maque Choux was awful and not anything at all like the traditional dish should be.

Eventually the waiter noticed I wasn't eating. I told him it was too salty, and indeed it was, it was as if someone had accidentally dropped the salt shaker in the sauce! He kindly removed it from the bill, along with Heather's barely touched jambalaya. It seems apparent that they use this base sauce o stewed tomatoes, onions and peppers for all their "Creole" dishes. They then add the meat and rice for jambalayas or corn for the Maque Choux or in my case the prawns. It was truly awful. I had wondered when I observed other tables why so many people were opting for steaks. Now I knew. I honestly wanted to ask if I could go into the kitchen and show the chef how to make a jambalaya. It was just depressing. I also found it odd that a restaurant that's unique selling point is it's "Cajun-ness" did not import the proper Andouille sausage and instead substituted chorizo, but alas I fear if the quality of the food we got was anything to go by, they would not even know what it is.

We decided to skip dessert and paid for our starters and drinks, bitterly disappointed. I will certainly not be returning to Tante Zoe's, nor would I recommend anyone bother, especially anyone looking for authentic Cajun food. Having said all that, I must mention the waiter. He was extremely friendly, very efficient and seemed to genuinely want to help. His presence and decorum pushed the star rating up by one!

Rated 2/5 on Apr 29 2008

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Review of Marriott Johnstown House Restaurant

Marriott Johnstown House Restaurant,

N4,

Enfield,

Co. Meath,

Ireland

My parents were returning from Dublin and didn't want to veer off the main Sligo road, so we agreed to meet them for Sunday Lunch at the Johnstown House Marriott in Enfield. I had heard good things about it and it was a perfect place for them to stop, so I rang to book.

On their website it says there are three places to eat, the bar, a brasserie and the restaurant. When I rang I inquired which would be the most appropriate place to eat with children. The man booking said they only had one restaurant and the website was obviously wrong. I thought this strange for a corporate entity as big as Mariott, but I proceeded to make a booking for 1:30pm. He then asked if we could come earlier. Assuming he had a second booking for the table later in the afternoon, I said we could but that we were meeting people coming from Dublin and couldn't guarantee we'd be out of there any earlier. He told me there was another large (we were 4 adults and 2 kids) table coming in at 1:30 and he didn't want us to have to wait long. I should have known with that remark that we were in for a treat. When I told my husband and long time restaurant manager this he didn't like the sound of it at all. Said anyone who considers a six-top a big table might be a bit of an issue.

We drove to Enfield and found the hotel. Only you were not able to make a right turn into it which I thought was a bit odd. We had to proceed towards the town until we could turn around. The hotel itself is not exactly aesthetically pleasing. It consists of the old Johnstown House and lots of newer buildings built onto it.

The entrance is just a single door, which leads to a strange little office area, which in turn leads to reception. I couldn't help but wonder what sort of disabled access there was. I had enough trouble getting through with two kids!

We found my parents in the small and stuffy restaurant which could only be described as ostentatious. They were clinging to the "old manor" theme with everything they could. It was pretentious and unappealing. Mom and Dad had been waiting about 30 minutes and had yet to get their drinks. Hmmm.

The menu was standard Sunday lunch fare. The roast, a fish dish, a chicken dish and a vegetarian dish. An array of equally uninteresting starters accompanied it. Two courses was €28 with 3 coming in at €36. Bit pricey for what was on the menu, in my humble opinion. Kids menu also seemed pricey at €9 for chicken strips.

Having said that, the kids food came out first and one portion would easily have fed three of them! There were probably about three chicken fillets on the plate. They were moist, well flavoured and done in a lovely herb breading. The kids devoured them, but did not appreciate the rather awful looking vegetable concoction that appeared to be rather old turnip, courgette and some other unidentifiable cheap vegetables. The new potatoes were also bland and had obviously been stewing in a bain marie for some time. In terms of price and portion I think they would be better off serving half the portion and charging €5-6.

Dad had deep-fired brie and ate it all, deeming it to be fairly standard. Mom had smoked salmon and Paul and I had a chicken and duck terrine wrapped in ham. The terrine was actually quite refreshing and served with an apricot and cranberry dressing that was zingy and well matched. The duck consisted of a cm slice in the middle of the terrine, but all in all it was a nice appetiser.

Service at this point was weak, as we still had not received our drinks. When they finally arrived the diet and regular "cokes" we had ordered turned out to be Pepsi. Personally I cannot stand Pepsi and nothing makes me more angry than ordering a coke and not being told upfront that they don't have any. The head waiter was very nice and accommodating, but the other servers had language barriers.

Mom, Dad and I had the beef. We had asked previously how it was cooked, knowing it would likely be a large joint and were assured it would be medium rare. It was medium-well, but it was tender enough. It was served with a delightful combination of carmelised shallots and celeriac mash. A light peppercorn sauce tied the plate together, and all in all I thought it was quite tasty for a standard Sunday roast. The accompanying vegetables were the same as the children's and no one touched them. I'd say it was a mix of the daily vegetables they'd been serving all week. Wholly unacceptable and highly unappealing.

Paul lucked out with the tempura-battered hake. It was light and well-cooked and accompanied by a lovely lemon-braised cabbage and tomato relish. It was light, refreshing and extremely tasty.

We decided to skip on dessert, as we were all quite full and by this point the head waiter had disappeared and language issues were rife! We had tea and Paul had coffee which was served in very pretentious silver urns and china cups. We did see some desserts being served and the presentation was quite lovely.

All in all this was a mediocre experience. The food was fairly decent, with the exception of the vegetables. There is no excuse for serving trash like that. Fresh broccoli can be microwaved in three minutes, carrots and turnip can be cubed and kept well for some time. The unidentifiable combination they served was beyond belief.

Service was also mixed. As I stated the head waiter was very nice and accommodating when he was around, but the other servers, whilst they seemed pleasant and friendly, had trouble understanding simple requests.

The ambiance is miserable. The room was small, poorly lit and stuffy. It needs a serious renovation. I for one do not want to eat in what appears to be some dead Earl's drawing room. I found it overbearing, pretentious and a fairly obsolete style of dining. I didn't visit the toilets, but Mam did and had to call a manager's attention to them, which she said was quite disgraceful.

Would I go again? I don't think so. I can't help but feel we could have gotten better service with similar quality food and much better prices a mile or two down the road at Motherhubbards! :) We certainly wouldn't have been sweltering away in a stuffy out-dated room!

Rated 2/5 on Apr 21 2008

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Review of Hilton Hotel

Hilton Hotel,

Ennis Road,

Limerick,

Limerick,

Ireland

I stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Limerick city last week.

As far as Hilton's go it was very modern. The staff at check-in were extremely efficient and friendly. The room was spacious and tastefully decorated. The bathroom was huge with both a shower and large bath as well as some lovely Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries, which needless to say, I nicked!

I was slightly disapointed that the broadband cost €20 for 24 hours. That seemed a bit excessive, especially when some of their local competitors are offering it for free.

As any foodie would, I had a glance at their room service menu which was basic but decent. For room service I thought it was priced fairly reasonable. White wine in the mini bar was€7, but a 1/4 bottle from room service was €5.50. I was surprised then to find it more expensive at the bar later that evening. Bar staff were also very friendly.

Again at checkout the staff were extremely friendly and efficient. I had put a deposit down for incidentals and asked if I could have it back in cash as I was heading to the market and they were only too happy to oblige.

All in all a good stay. The room rate was only €79 for a King room and €5 for parking. My main reservation was the broadband.

Rated 4/5 on Apr 08 2008

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Review Tags: hotel, limerick, hilton

Review of The Auld Shebeen, Moate, Co. Offaly

The Auld Shebeen, Moate, Co. Offaly,

Main Street,

Moate,

Co Westmeath,

Ireland

Every now and again you come across somewhere with a menu that is exactly what you expect for your surroundings. You aren't expecting anything special and frankly wouldn't be surprised to be disapointed. I expected the Auld Shebeen in Moate to be standard to bad pub food and was pleasantly surprised to find this unique gem in the heart of the Midlands.

I've been twice now, the first time at my Dad's urging. I was dreading it and much preferred the look of a trendy cafe a few doors down. We had the two kids with us and were in for a long drive to Mayo. Dad went in and enquired about lunch, decided he liked what he saw and sat down.

The service was the first pleasant surprise. The owner came right over with a high chair for Ciara, gave us a huge variety of options for lunch for the girls and brought them orange without us even asking. I've said it before and I'll say it again, people who look after the kids, are savy business people, who know that if the kids are happy the parents are happy.

Dad and I both had chicken curry and we ordered the kids some sausages, vegetables and chips. A young lad kept coming to check on us and the kids, which was very nice. They gave me loads of ice in my drink, a bad habit I picked up in America, but a request that is almost always ignored. The kids food came out just before ours and Dad and I shared a lascivious glance at the chips. These were not any old chips. These were quality hand made chips. They were the kind of chips we'd grown up on.

Our curries came out shortly afterwards. They were absolutely lovely and full of vegetables. A really nice sauce, not your standard pub packaged curry at all. But the chips... we could not get past the chips. They were SO good!

We were passing through Moate again yesterday when the husband decided he wanted to try these so called "best chips in Ireland."

Once again the service was brilliant, they really took care of the kids. This time the girls split chicken goujons and chips, I had vegetarian spring rolls and himself went for the 1/4lb burger. The goujons were beautiful. Real chicken breast with a light fluffy coating. They were served with this amazing remoulade. Needless to say the girls weren't impressed with the sauce, but Paul and I were happy to take it off their plates! His burger was huge and certainly more than 1/4lb. He is very picky about burgers and frequently claims he hasn't ever had a decent burger in Ireland outside the house. He can no longer claim this. He lathered the bun in the remoulade and relished every bite! My spring rolls looked fairly standard but once I cut into it I saw differently. These were actually fresh! I don't know if they were made on site, but the asian greens were still crisp and well... green, unlike the mushy and off-colour frozen varieties.

And then there were the chips. Yep - truly - they must be the best chips in Ireland. I told the owner this and he didn't seem surprised!

Both outings our meal came to just under €30 for 2 kids, 2 adults and 4 drinks. If you're ever passing through the bottleneck that is Moate, stop in! The traffic might be moving again when you finish and you'll be well fed and well looked after! We'll certainly make this our cross country stopping point.

Rated 5/5 on Apr 08 2008

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Review Tags: food, restaurant, pub, eating out, dining, pub grub, offaly, moate

Review of The Garden Restaurant

The Garden Restaurant,

Breaffy House Hotel,

Breaffy,

Castlebar,

Co Mayo,

Ireland

"Beautiful premises, shame about the food and service."

My parents gave Paul and I a voucher for dinner at the Breaffy House hotel in Castlebar a few weeks ago. (It was a regift!;-)) We decided to make use of it as we both needed a night out.

We pulled into the estate and had high hopes, as it really was a beautiful hotel from the outside. On the inside, it was a bit shabby and desperately needed a lick of paint.

We made our way to the restaurant and waited to be seated. We had a reservation, but there did not seem to be any table arranged for us. The manager pulled a four top in half and sat us right on top of another couple, despite numerous spare tables being available.

The "menus" were handed to us. Said menus consisted of a stained, photocopied list of options. The starters consisted of egg mayonnaise, a bacon salad, soup of the day and something equally non-descript that I can't recall.

Main courses included gammon, roast chicken, roast beef and a fish dish. All served with vegetables and potatoes. Of course!

On looking around Paul commented that he felt like we were in an old folks home. It was that depressing. Wallpaper peeling off the walls, everything just a bit too dirty, including some gunk on our water jug.

Paul had the bacon salad and I had the egg mayonnaise. Both were edible, but nothing exciting. For main I had the gammon and Paul had the fish. His fish was overcooked and my gammon was half raw. Nobody came to see if we were all right for about half an hour, so we struggled through it. Now - it wasn't all bad, as there was this braised red cabbage that was to die for! It went beautifully with the cooked bits of gammon I was able to find.

Although dessert was included, we just wanted out. We informed the manager that we didn't want dessert and asked for the bill. We then informed four other people of the same fact. The manager again came over and asked for our dessert order. After waiting another half an hour we finally got the bill.

During this chaos I visited the ladies room, which was out of soap, only had one toilet with a seat, graffiti on the walls and was generally dirty. Thankfully I always carry anti-bacterial gel in my handbag, so I was able to take care of the hand situation, and warned himself to wait until we got home! If the womens was that bad, I could only imagine the mens.

Truly dismal. An embarrassment to the West. The place itself has such potential, it just needs a big investment in a clean up, competent chef and customer service training. The cabbage was the only thing that earned it the one star!

UPDATE: Appears my review was spot on, via Manuel, seems the place was shut down by the HSE and described as "filthy!"

Rated 1/5 on Dec 13 2007

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Review Tags: castlebar, eating out, hotel, mayo, restaurants

Review of Yaadgar

Yaadgar,

Esker Court,

William Street,

Tullamore,

Co Offaly,

Ireland

"Family friendly, interesting unique Indian food, attentive service, excellent prices - a good all round Indian!"

Paul and I had been to Yaadgar before for dinner. At the time we were very impressed as they had a special couples menu for just over $50 that included wine and a unique selection of Indian starters and main courses. Being completely guilty of always ordering the same thing (Chicken Biryani and Chicken Makhani) we decided to go for it as we had never tried some of the unique suggestions on offer.

When my Dad, brother and his girlfriend decided to come down for lunch earlier this week, it seemed a good choice as it would avoid the crowds and business of the cafes and allow the children to sit down without chaos.

They had a special lunch menu that consisted of a wrap/sandwich menu and a platter menu. The platter menu consisted of the usual Balti/Tikka Masala/Korma dishes, but they all included Naan and Pilaf rice as well as a small starter. The King Prawn was the most expensive at €9.50. Dad had the King Prawn Balti, the girls shared a Korma and Eoin, Heather and I were completely uninspiring and had the Chicken Tikka Masala.

The chicken dishes came out with almost tempura style Indian spiced chicken goujons and the prawn was similar with tempura prawns. There was a generous portion of rice on the plates. Then came the bowls of curries. Each had about 7-8 good sized pieces of meat / prawns in them. The naan bread however was the highlight. Simple divine - soft and pillowy but slightly crispy around the edges - with a lovely buttery note. Divine. There was debate as to whether or not this was the best Naan bread ever. I voted yes!

Service was good, very attentive and friendly. The kids were well catered for with a high chair for Ciara and juice boxes all around!

With soft drinks and five lunch meals the total came to around fifty euro, which for the amount of food was quite exceptional! I look forward to eating here again and to try out their Christmas couples menu!

Rated 5/5 on Dec 13 2007

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Review Tags: eating out, indian restaurant, restaurant, tullamore, yaadgar

Review of Aya

Aya,Clarendon Street, Dublin, 2, Ireland

Great location, tasty food, decent service - a nice post shopping stop!



Spent a day exploring Dublin yesterday and doing a bit of retail therapy, to aid as a distraction to my um... addiction!

After a heavy duty trip to Fallon and Byrne and some clothes shopping we felt hungry and ready to sit down. Given our great experience with Wagamama last time, along with the need for something cheap and cheerful, we decided to head there again. We found a line out the door. Neither of us were in the mood to wait, so we decided to head back to the car on Drury street and see what we found.

Heather mentioned a craving for Sushi and I remembered one of my craft buddies telling me about a sushi place behind Brown Thomas. As promised, we found Aya looking busy, but not crowded directly behind BT.

They have both a menu and a conveyor belt system allowing you to choose a table or to sit at the belt. We chose the later. There are two different options at the bar. There is a limited all you can eat (doesn't include the expensive plate) option for $29 for 55 minutes, or you can pick and choose for as long as you want and pay by the plate along with a €2 seat charge. I thought the seat charge was unnecessary, but didn't say anything.

Heather tried several types of sushi rolls, whereas I stuck with the selections without Nori, a texture I just can't abide by. We both loved a roll with mango, salmon and wasabi mayonaise. We tried a teriyaki tuna which was incredible. Heather had a smoked salmon and cream cheese roll which she loved and I adored all the different types of gyoza and the tiny pork spring rolls. She also thought the calamari was to die for, perfect texture, not rubbery at all!

Unlike my last experience with a conveyor belt system, all the food that should have been hot was hot, which made a big difference. Service was a little shaky as it seemed there were several people being trained, but they got there in the end and were extremely friendly in the process!

With about eight plates between us, some edamame on the side, one soft drink (I was driving) and one sapporo, it came to €46, a very reasonable amount for dinner in Dublin. They even wrapped up the remaining edamame to take with us.

I will definitely come back with Paul as he loves Sushi. The menu looked really interesting too and I think if I came back I would opt for a table and order from the menu.

Rated 4/5 on Oct 17 2007 by Deborah

Review Tags: dining, dublin, eating out, restaurant, sushi

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