CheapEats.ie - a blog about food and value

6 Comments

  1. Have to agree – its a great restaurant and super value. I was there with a gang 2 weeks ago and we loved it so much we’re booking in again for later this month (this never happens, we usually try a place and move on)
    Next time you’re there-try the spiced okra (small plate) and the monkfish-they were both so good we ordered them twice!!

  2. I’m certainly not going to lament this state of affairs – I love trying just about everything on a menu, taking loads of pictures and sharing them via every possible medium, and many of my customers do the same. And, of course, that’s good for my business. But I have developed a few basic tactics aimed at avoiding the amnesia/self-loathing/bellyache that can come from sampling 23-odd dishes in one short, alcohol-laden evening. First, distinguish between traditional tapas or mezze, and a restaurant that merely serves small plates. Lebanese mezze, Cantonese dim sum and Basque pinchos have all evolved over years and are designed to make sense together. They’re normally quite simple or similar, or both, so are suited to having many as part of a meal. Less traditional small plates, however, are often complex main courses in miniature form, and few of us can stomach more than three of four of those.

  3. I went to Indie Dhaba with a group of eight people a few weeks back and thought the food was amazing. We went for the chefs tasting menu (€45.50 Per Person) and on the advice of a friend who’d been previously, we ordered six meals to share between eight. I would say you only need half that as we could barely eat our mains after all the preceding (eight!) taster dishes. We also made the mistake of sitting at the chefs table, right in front of the open kitchen, where we sweltered with the heat. Nothing really exciting happened in the kitchen so stick to the regular tables or be prepared to drink alot of beer! The bill with drinks came to €50 a head. Not bad value for a massive meal and four rounds of drinks.

  4. WHY HAS THIS PLACE GOT SUCH GOOD REVIEWS!!!

    I looked up the place and menu online, on the face of it, it looked very impressive.

    The drink arrived I had my taste and really didn’t taste any of the flavours described in the menu, I thought “maybe its just an off day for the bar man, never mind I’ll just drink it”.

    Before ordering the food I asked the waiter about the portions of the different types of dishes, so I ordered a dish or two from every section and what I thought would be more than we could eat.

    When the food arrived I was shocked to see were mini baby portions, especially the dish that was under the header “Large Dish” it had 2 crab cakes on it; 1 this was not a large portion and 2 this wasn’t the crab chops described on the menu. I enquired about the portions provided and I was told that Large Dish meant exactly that “On A Large Dish”…really!! I won’t comment as it’s not needed, then the waitress explained in a scripted fashion a description of Tapas and less food means more to try. I’ll explain that I love Spanish Tapas and I’ve had my fair share of crappy chains (La Tasca), great family owned places, and homemade equivelent; none of which had portions as small as these.

    The food descriptions painted a picture of something exotic, the flavours and look of the food after removing the stylish plate and garnish, was no better than the food you buy from somewhere like Iceland (In some cases look and in all cases the flavour). The dishes were all sweet, with no delicate flavours of indian spicies, the smells didn’t scream indian.

    I saw italian (oven style pizza described as naan with…), mexican style dip with mini popadom (not homemade), and British (Tomato Soup on chicken).

    In summary this place could have been amazing, if:
    1, the food matched the description
    2, the portions reflected the price
    3, they didn’t use the idea of street food and tapas as way of robbing you blind

  5. totally agree with Puck! I ordered the crab chop too, absolutely astonished by the mini portion which supposed
    to be a “large” dish, 13 euro for that? The lemonade is a winner. 62 euro for two, we had nothing!

  6. I agree with the last two reviewers. The menu has been changed and everything on the menu has increased in value while the portions have decreased in size. The most expensive thing on the menu when the place first started was the Chutney Sea Bass for 16.95. This was an amazing dish! Went there last month for lunch with a few friends and we ended up spending way more for such small portions of food. The Chutney Sea Bass is not even on the menu anymore. Although even with the increase in price the food is tasty. But can’t call it a cheap it (not that it was one to begin with) :/