A Vegetarian in Dublin...Follow my Steps!

With the imminent arrival of a friend from 'down the country' to visit 'the big smoke' I remembered she had recently returned to her vegetarian status. Incidentally another friend has ditched the veggie life after many years and plunged with gusto into a bacon wrapped burger in Damson Diner, blood dripping on the plate!

The friend expressed a desire to eat in Cornucopia, that Dublin vegetarian institution and I felt that it was a great place to eat for a casual lunch, but not quite up to scratch for an evening get-together and also, what about the meat eaters? (growwllll!)


Setting about this with gusto I thought I'd peruse a number of menus for Dublin restaurants to see what they offered the vegetarian. The results were interesting. Some offered just one option whilst others carried dedicated vegetarian menus. Some of the ethnic restaurants offered the widest choice and my research has brought me to many restaurants I haven't yet had a chance to visit and now look forward to exploring.

I started my research on www.boards.ie which helped me to start off with the twenty five restaurants below. I will state that this research is only based on what was advertised on the menu on the restaurants' websites and accept that many if not most will cater for the vegetarian on request or where possible will adjust a listed dish to exclude the fish/meat content. I have starred those that offer more than the average choice to the vegetarian diner-*=4-6 options(at least 2 starters+2 mains), **=7-9 options and ***= 10+options.  I look forward to more suggestions and comments from readers. 

Some Dublin Restaurants and their listed Vegetarian Options

**1. Darwins: 80 Aungier Street D2 http://www.darwins.ie/

A dedicated vegetarian menu with 3 starters and 4 main options + vegetarian option on early bird menu.

*2. Le Bon Crubeen : 81 Talbot Street D1 http://www.leboncrubeen.ie/

2 starters + 2 mains (1 main same as starter) + veg option on early bird.

*3. Pearl Brasserie: 20 Merrion St Upper D2 http://www.pearl-brasserie.com/accueil.htm

A dedicated vegetarian menu with 3 starters and 3 mains + veg option on early bird.

4. Fade Street Social: 6 Fade Street D2 http://www.fadestreetsocial.com/

*(Restaurant) 6 options under ‘vegetables and salads’ plus good selection of veg sides + veg option on early bird

**(Gastro Bar- tapas menu) 8+ options under ‘tapas from the garden’

 Fade Street Social

5. Bang: 11 Merrion Row D2 http://www.bangrestaurant.com/

1 starter and 1 main on á la carte + same options on early bird.

6. Hugos: 6 Merrion Row http://www.hugos.ie/

3 starters and 1 main + veg option on early bird.

***5. Govinda's: 4 Aungier Street D2,18  Merrion Row D2, 83 Middle Abbey Street D1 http://www.govindas.ie/

An institution in Dublin, the dedicated vegetarian  Krishna restaurant

 Govinda's

?6. Dunne and Crescenzi: 16 Frederick St D2 http://www.dunneandcrescenzi.com/

Options on  evening menu but full menu not on website.

***7. Rustic Stone: 17 Sth Gt Georges St D2 http://www.rusticstone.ie/

4 starters, several pastas, salads as mains and good choice sides

**‘Raw’ lunch menu with mains and veg shakes

**8. The Farm: 3 Dawson Street http://www.thefarmfood.ie/

3 starters + 5 mains

2 starters + 2 mains on early bird

 

Rustic Stone                                              The Farm

***9. Cornucopia: Wicklow St http://www.cornucopia.ie/

Need I say more?

***10. The Cedar Tree: 11 Sth Andrew St D2

A Lebanese restaurant, and possibly the only one left in Dublin without a website?

www.menupages.ie show menus with huge veg choice.

(interesting article here on Lebanese restos in Dublin http://comeheretome.com/2013/08/22/some-notes-on-the-history-of-lebanse-restaurants-in-dublin/ )

***11. The Chameleon: 1 Lwr Fownes St, Temple Bar D2 http://www.chameleonrestaurant.com/

Indonesian with dedicated vegetarian menu

 

The Cedar Tree                                         The Chameleon

*12. 101 Talbot: 100-102 Talbot St http://www.101talbot.ie/

3+ starters and 2 mains + same options on early bird.

***12. Monty’s of Kathmandu: 28 Eustace St D2 http://www.montys.ie/

Nepalese with wide choice of vegetarian dishes and dedicated vegetarian menu.

***13. El Bahia: 55 Clarendon St D2 http://www.elbahia.com/home.html

Moroccan with large range of choice for vegetarians
 
Monty's                                                      El Bahia

***14. Dada: 45 Sth William St D2 http://www.dadarestaurant.ie/

Also Moroccan with maybe less choice but still lots of vegetarian dishes

***15.Ciao Bella Roma: 24 Parliament St D2 http://www.ciaobellaroma.ie/

6 starters + 4 pasta mains, 8 pizzas
 
Dada                                          Ciao Bella Roma 

***16. Yamamori 71 Sth Gt Georges St D2, 38 Lwr Ormond Quay D1, 13 Sth Gt Georges St

http://www.yamamorinoodles.ie

Japanese - enormous variety and more choice than you know what to do with

***17. The Port House 64 Sth William St http://porthouse.ie/

Spanish tapas with appetisers, salads, cheeses + 4 pintxos (bar snacks)
 
Yamamori                                                     The Port House

*18. Odessa: 14 Dame Court D2 http://odessa.ie/

2 ‘sixers’ (€6 plates) 3 starters and 2 mains.

*19. L’Ecrivain: 109a Lower Baggot St http://www.lecrivain.com/index.html

Dedicated vegetarian menu (€60-choice of 2 starters and 2 mains.)

***20. Wagamama: South King St D2 http://www.wagamama.ie/

Fresh fast Asian food with lots for vegetarians.

**21. Jo’burger: 4 Castle Market http://www.joburger.ie/joburgertown

Big salads, nice sides + choice of two veggie burgers.

***22. Skinflint: Crane Lane http://www.joburger.ie/skinflint

Appetizers, 3 salads + 7 pizzas.
 
Wagamama                                                Skinflint

***23. Milano’s:  19 East Essex St D2, 38 Dawson St D2, 6 Excise Walk D1, Hanover Quay D2 http://www.milano.ie

Starters, salads, pastas +pizza

***24. Salamanca: 1 St Andrew St D2 http://www.salamanca.ie/

4 tapas starters, 9 veg tapas mains + nice side orders and bread

Salamanca 

*25. Olesya's Wine Bar 18 Exchequer St http://www.olesyaswinebar.com/index.html

2 starters and 1 main (vegetarians catered for on request stated on menu) + choice on 'nibbles and platters menu' and early bird.

  

Betty Crocker does Christmas!

This year Betty Crocker Cakes are putting their packet mixes forward as easy alternatives to the good old fashioned fruit Christmas cake. Not usually a fan of packet mixes, I will admit to having used Betty Crocker mixes in the past with great success. The pictures of Christmas versions of the cakes you can make using the packet mix are very enticing and I'm thinking it will make its way into my shopping basket sometime soon (but I don't need to tell anyone eh?!)

 This is the Christmas version of the classic Brownie. Double layered brownies-I guess they used a round cutter and stuck it with icing. The strawberry with a dob of cream cheese icing as Santa's hat going down the chimney is adorable!

 This is Carrot Cake pops-cute! Not a mix I would have thought of making for Christmas but it is one of my favourite cakes so why not? A bit fiddly for me to approach - but the idea of little bite size sticks of carrot cake just might tempt me to make the extra effort! Not sure what I'd stick them in tho' - the cake in the photo is just part of the decoration.

 Now this one is the business; a chocolate fudge cake with vanilla filling and choc fudge topping made into fab looking Chocolate Christmas cake- you'll have the family drooling over it. I'm not sure what the red blobs are- glacé cherries? (or glacier cherries as one of my acquaintances innocently calls them not knowing her mistake- ah sweet!) or they could be strawberries, but it looks great.

 Inside this, believe it or not is a lemon drizzle cake using a lemon cake mix. This also goes down as one of my favourite cakes (okay, I admit it, I love all cake) coated in vanilla buttercream and sprinkled with coconut flakes. Lemon cake is an inspired choice at Christmas with its lovely citrusy taste to cut through all that rich food.

 And who doesn't love red velvet cakes. Making the mix into fairy cakes (buns to you guys, cupcake to the Americans) is a lovely idea. The amount of icing looks a bit overwhelming but a tin of these would go down a treat in my house over Christmas.

Betty Crocker is supporting the ISPCC 'Holly Bake' which will be held in November and December - keep an eye out on ispcc.ie for more info. The Betty Crocker recipe page is actually very nice and deserves a peep http://www.bettycrocker.ie/Recipes .