Peploes Wine Bar

Peploes Wine Bar, St Stephens Green - Dublin 2

Dinner at Peploes was a rather last minute decision, the restaurant we wanted to go to not being open on a Sunday. No problems getting a booking though, albeit for an early seating at 7.15pm.

The atmosphere was very nice, down in the basement area so no hustle and bustle from the street outside. The decor is nice and there is a definate feel on entering that you are coming into a more upmarket restaurant than the prices might imply. My only criticism would be the the seats were a little too close together, I could hear all the ins and outs of the disagreement the couple next to us were having!

The wine menu is extensive, if a little French-orientated. It always irritates me when wine lists devote 6 pages to French regions then only 1 or 2 to the rest of the world. There are also a number of wines available by the glass, handy for when the food you are eating conflicts as ours did.

Onto the food. The menu is quite varied in both price and style, something for most tastes here although I did notice a complete lack of a chicken dish on the main courses.

For starters, we plumped for French onion soup and the grilled quail. The soup was nice, but nothing extraordinary. The quail was proclaimed to be delicious and was served on a bed of shredded beetroot which made for an interesting combination.

For mains I chose the chargrilled steak while Rob chose scallops. The steak was nicely cooked - I asked for medium and it came slightly rare of medium but was perfectly edible. The scallops were very bland, the accompanying sauce did nothing to enhance their flavour and they were rather chewy.

Dessert was a chocolate torte with honeycomb ice-cream and carrot cake with salted butter ice-cream. The chocolate torte was lovely, just the the right amount and set off well by the not-too-sweet ice-cream. The carrot cake was disappointing, it tasted like it had been prepared well in advance and left to go slightly stale in the kitchen. The salted butter ice-cream was an experiment that I personally didn't feel worked.

The bill came to a total of €109 including 2 glasses of wine and a coffee. I felt that this was actually quite a reasonable price for 2 people, particularly for the area.

Overall review - Reasonable food, excellent wine list. I probably wouldn't go back in a hurry but it's a good last minute option to have on a Sunday evening.

Taco Taco

Taco Taco, Epicurean Food Hall - Dublin 1.

I might as well start this blog with an establishment whose name was an inspiration. Taco Taco is a Mexican restaurant situated within the Epicurean Food Hall just along from the Ha'penny Bridge.

I absolutely love this restaurant. I have eaten here many times as it is very handy for where I live and fairly priced. The seating is in the main area of the food hall which means that it can get very busy at times, particularly on the weekends. The style of Taco Taco is probably best described as cheap and cheerful, you order at the counter and take a ticket and wait for your number to be called.

The variety of food is fairly standard Mexican fare. Burritos, nachos, tacos and enchiladas all feature along with some more unusual soups and filled rolls.

I have to say that I have never felt cheated on portion size in here - the burritos in particular are sizable enough to make a very generous lunch. This is Mexican food done in a simple and tasty way. I recommend the chorizo sausage burrito, crammed with chorizo sausage, refried beans, lettuce, salsa and cheese. It's also not the spiciest food in the world, fans of chilli would be wise to ask for additional jalepenos to give the heat desired.

Price range is very reasonable - €5.45 for a burrito.

Overall review - Well worth a visit, good food at reasonable prices.