If there’s an uglier restaurant front in Dublin, you’ll find it on Dame Street
Sometimes, you just need to eat. In such circumstances, you might find yourself getting a deli roll in a convenience store; this is the taste of disappointment. I got a Spar roll for a hike on Sunday. It was multi-grain and everything, so I managed to delude myself that it would be tasty and healthy and not at all rank.
It was particularly rank. Oh, save your pity. Deep down I knew what I was doing. I deserved it. Luckily, my mates had made hang sandwiches for everyone, so I didn’t starve.
The deli roll is an option I usually avoid. There’s better fast food options, for when you just need to eat. They don’t have to be unhealthy. Wak Inn is one. Stir Crazy, a noodle bar on Dame Street, is another.
Stir Crazy on Dame Street competes with restaurants on the same strip for the title of Ireland’s ugliest restaurant front. The “Stir Crazy” font itself is aggressively unpleasant, yanked mercilessly from a basic template and slapped onto the bright orange shop front. It was enough to drive me away. Still, I was hungry, in town, and needed a quick bite.
It’s not so bad. I had the daily special, a chicken and veg noodle stir-fry with chilli and soy sauce, for €4.90. This was one of the cheaper items, with other meals ranging from the €6-8 mark. My food came in a takeaway box, and I ate it inside, where the design doesn’t make my eye jump out of my socket in protest. The food was tasty, filling, and packed full of vegetables. The chicken wasn’t the greatest quality – it was like that chicken you get in convenience store delis – but it was okay, and there was plenty of it.
Wak Inn, a short walk up the road, does the same kind of thing, only better and, last time I checked, cheaper. But this cheap fast food option is still a decent-ish bet if you’re passing by and need a quick fix. Hardly a ringing endorsement, but better than those manky deli rolls anyway.
