I found myself needing to eat something quick in town two days last week. Being strapped for time and fond of curries, I thought I’d try both times for something quick from a food court. Food courts used to mean a few depressing fast food stands (KFC, some weird baked potato place) circled around some plastic tables. While these food courts still exist in some shopping centres and airports, there are also much better options available.
Dublin has a great one on the corner of Liffey St and Abbey St – the Epicurean Food Hall, which has a great range of cuisines. I got a Thai curry from the large Asian stand that takes up nearly an entire wall of the hall, and which serves Indian, Chinese and Thai food. I didn’t have high expectations of the red vegetable curry that I ordered – it was only €6.90 – but it was suprisingly good. The sauce didn’t have the delicate flavours of really good Thai cooking, but it was perfectly decent, with a good chilli kick. Best of all, it was crammed full of fresh vegetables, cooked properly with a good crunchy bite. It wasn’t padded out with loads of chopped onion, a sneaky trick that some cheap takeaways use. The giant helping of rice cost an extra €1.25, making it €8.15 in total for a big hearty meal.
My other Dublin food court curry was from the Curry King in the Moore St Mall, an underground shopping centre accessible from Moore St and Parnell St. Curry King does Indian and Mauritian food, and I had a chicken balti for €7. The curry was heated up in the microwave, which made my expectations drop slightly, but it turned out to be pretty tasty for only €7.
It came with rice (no extra charge) and an excellently tasty helping of vegetables in a mustard seed sauce. The vegetables were the winner, in fact, and I’m going to have to figure out how to make them at home. The Moore St Mall is well worth checking out for curry fans – it’s got a number of interesting stands, including a Mauritian one that our own Rercy reviewed here before.
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