I’m back today with blog post 3 of 4 for our Ireland trip. This post covers two more days on the trip, which includes the Coolock House, an Irish Walking Food Tour, the Farewell Dinner for Brian’s work and some fun extras. One of my favorite parts about Dublin was just how ‘walkable’ it was… you could walk the streets and see all kinds of different little shops, food places and even flower stands.
We took a bus out to the Coolock House and spent a lot of time there for Brian’s work. You can learn more about the Coolock House HERE. This took up the majority of this day and this was the only photo I took.
After we finished up at the Coolock House, they let us break for lunch. Since we only had an hour or so, we asked the hotel front desk for a recommendation and they told us to try Voila Cafe. It was a really cute cafe with cappuccinos, sandwiches and a variety of fresh salads. I got their BLT and found out that bacon in Ireland is very different than it is in the U.S. Unlike American bacon, Irish bacon is made from the back of the pig instead of the belly and is much leaner than streaky bacon. After lunch, we headed back for some more activities with Brian’s work.
After we wrapped up with Brian’s work, we headed to FIRE Steakhouse for a belated anniversary dinner. This restaurant definitely gave us an unforgettable dining experience! The victorian building has soaring 19th-century ceilings, stained glass windows and bronze sculptures… and used to be the residence for Lord Mayor of Dublin till 1715 (there is so much history to the place!). They offer outdoor dining on their fully enclosed, weatherproof and heated terrace overlooking the beautiful Lord Mayor’s Garden. They create their menus around locally sourced Irish produce and everything we ordered was delicious!
To start, we had the Wood-Fired Tiger Prawns (in the kitchen they have this HUGE wood fire stove). We had this cute ‘lemon slice’ dispenser that was fun to use to spritz lemon juice on our prawns. Then for dinner, I ordered… the scallops! Although, this place is really known for their steaks!
They brought out a little anniversary treat for us, which was thoughtful of them.
The next day, we had a Walking Irish Food Tour planned…whenever we go to a new city or country, we love to do a food tour! The first stop was at the Irish Potato Cake Company and we got to try 2 different potato pancakes, plus they gave us little shot glasses of Guinness and Moscato! What a way to kick off the first stop on the tour! This restaurant was SO cute, I wish I could share more photos, but this post is already too long! If you go to their website (it is linked above), you’ll find just such cute photos and menu items. I wish we had come back and dined here!
At our next stop, we saw Dublin’s Last Supper, which is a photographic mural by Irish artist John Byrne that was installed in Dublin’s Italian Quarter in 2004. The work features contemporary Dubliners as Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, reenacting The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci.
Next we stopped at a place called The Bakery and enjoyed a salmon sandwich on fresh prepared bread and a dessert (I can’t remember the name of it) that tasted like gingerbread.
Next up was some cheese sampling at the Piglet Wine Bar. This wine bar would be another great place to come back to, their wine list has ‘weird reds’ and ‘weird whites’, if you’re in the mood for something a little different. But, don’t worry… it also has ‘usual reds’ and ‘usual whites’. They have orange wines, which is something new I’ve tried recently. They have a lot of small plates you can pick from to mix and match and all of them sound original and fun.
This Wall of Fame that we walked past was REALLY cool.
We had one last food stop before dessert and it was at The Shack. We got a trio of stews with beef, lamb and pork along with some Irish bread. They let us order a drink with our meal and I enjoyed a delicious Falling Apple cider that I hope I can find in the U.S.
The last stop on the food tour was Murphy’s Ice Cream… we loved it so much that we came back later with some of Brian’s coworkers after a work dinner. Yum! My favorite flavor was their Irish Brown Bread… their Brown bread is supplied by McCambridge’s. Once they have the bread it goes into the oven with muscovado sugar for 8 hours to caramelize, only then is it ready for the ice cream. YUM!
We stopped in Butlers Chocolate Cafe for some hot cocoas (I landed up getting a PSL) and they were so good! We got 2 free pieces of chocolate with our drink and they had this huge selection to pick from. I wish we could have stopped back in before our trip was up to buy some chocolate to take back home, but maybe this gives me an excuse to come back to Ireland!
My outfit for the farewell dinner with Brian’s work.
At the farewell dinner we had an appetizer of quail (very interesting and new to me) and I wish I had taken a picture of the menu for the night, because I’m not exactly sure what the other item was on the plate. It wasn’t something familiar to me. Then for our main course we had steak (no picture) and last up was a plate with various desserts.
