Dinner in Downtown Dublin Ireland

Our search for a restaurant for dinner on a Saturday night in late September of last year continued after we left the more popular/’hip’ area in the Temple Bar section of Dublin.  No luck there with everything booked or with long lines.  We crossed the River Liffey to the north shore and kept looking for places that could serve us on this busy night. 

We came across The Lotts Café and Bar and decided to check it out.  This time we got lucky!  We were told that if we could be finished with our dinner by a given time, they could fit us in.  Since we had over an hour before we would have to be done eating, we readily agreed!

The interior of The Lotts is ornate and comfortable.  Our table was by the window so we could watch passerby’s as we dined.  We found it interesting that so many restaurants in both Scotland and Ireland were so cautious about ensuring that reservations were honored on time by not seating additional customers.  We are not so careful about the timing here in the USA…

When I saw this sign on this big mirror, I just had to follow the arrow and check out the smallest bar in Dublin!

My curiosity was rewarded… This bar, which is appropriately named “The Snug”, was so small that I actually felt uncomfortable taking this photo!  It was indeed tiny and busy too…

I took this photo just to show how ornate the main dining area bar is at the Lotts Café…with its mirrors, fancy back wall and chandeliers. 

This was an appetizer.  It’s the Bacon and Cabbage Potato Cakes…two crispy potato cakes with bacon mixed in and topped with a poached egg. (9E/$10.80 US) This is something that I’ve never seen in the USA so I had to give it a try… It was very tasty indeed but if it were me serving this dish, I’d put a poached egg on top of both potato cakes.

The first of the entrees was this Mixed Seafood Pasta. (13E/15.60 US) A mix of smoked haddock, cockles, mussels, prawns and squid are cooked in a creamy white sauce and served over fettuccine pasta.  It was very good…and it was also something that you don’t see in the USA.  I’ve never seen cockles on the menu stateside.

Note:

·         A cockle is a small, edible marine bivalve mollusk.  There are 250 species around the world.  The common cockle is widely distributed around the coastlines of Northern Europe with a range extending west to Ireland, north to the Barents Sea, then east to Norway and south as far as Senegal in Africa.

My selection was this Pork Chop entrée with champ mash and topped with an apple cider gravy. (12E/$14.40 US) It was pretty good although the pork chop was a bit overcooked.  That was partly offset via the moisture provided by the cider gravy.

Note:

·         Champ is an Irish dish made by combining mashed potatoes and chopped scallions with butter, milk, cheese and optionally, salt and pepper.  I learned from this experience that I much prefer colcannon, a traditional Irish dish that combines mashed potatoes with cabbage.

This was the chef’s special… (15E/$18.00) It wasn’t detailed on the receipt because it was a nightly special and then I neglected to write it down at the time, so I’m not positive what this entrée was.  However, I seem to remember that it was deep fried chicken cordon bleu with mashed potatoes and mushrooms…

Laurie decided to try the Spinach and Cream Cheese Fettuccine. (10E/$12.00 US) The fettuccine was served with a garlic and cream cheese sauce and Laurie really liked it!

As it turned out, we weren’t rushed at all even though the kitchen was a little slow on this busy night.  Another table turned over early and our replacement diners were seated elsewhere.  Better yet, we all were very happy with the service and the food!

I checked TripAdvisor when I wrote this posting and The Lotts Café and Bar has had 1,441 reviews…with 93% ranking the restaurant as excellent or very good.  Only 2% of the reviewers gave it a poor or terrible score!  We definitely lucked out in our desperate restaurant choice! 

The Lotts Café and Bar is located at 9 Lower Liffey Street in Dublin.  Phone: 353 18727669.  Website: http://thelottscafebar.com/.

When we finished our meal, we headed back to the trolley/tram stop for the ride to our hotel on the light rail system.  The tram was packed for most of the trip back.  The streets in the city center seemed safe enough and the only police officer I recall was working security for a store.  We chatted about the shoplifting problems in the USA and Ireland…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave