I’ll keep this one brief. If you’re shopping in Dublin and need a good value lunch or dinner pitstop, check out Fallon and Byrne‘s food options. The pre-theatre deal is off until January, to be replaced by a much more expensive “Christmas menu”- it’s €38 instead of €28.81, plus a €5 supplement for the steak. [...]

I’d heard some pretty awful things about Buenos Aires Grill, the Argentinian restaurant off Aungier Street beside the Radisson Hotel. Multiple bad reports, including from people who’d eat pretty much anything and never complain, put me off ever going. When a friend chose it for his birthday dinner, I figured it couldn’t be as bad [...]

The ever-deadly Irish Times Value for Money feature by Conor Pope featured Nespresso machines this week.  I recently had the use of one, and think they’re an interesting topic for a discussion on ‘value’, as the whole concept strikes me as one of the most wasteful things I’ve ever seen, ever. The three biggest issues [...]

Tesco has been fined €600 for charging more for goods at the tills than the price displayed at the shelves. But much like you or I would be oblivious to a one cent piece at the back of a drawer of odds and ends, Tesco won’t miss this €600. Ireland’s largest retailer was convicted for breaches [...]

Our pal Rosemary MacCabe, Irish Times journalist and fashion blogger, is looking for your advice. Thanks for the post Rosemary! Hi there! Seeing as I’ve stopped writing my own blog, I thought I’d send you a wee rant from an experience I had recently, because I genuinely want to know what people would think. So what [...]

Sunday’s newspapers overflowed with big loud supermarket ads, each proclaiming they were cheaper and better and had more magical powers than their rivals. Tesco shouted loudest, with almost every other page harping on about “1000 price cuts”. But these cuts, suggests Consumer Association of Ireland chief Dermot Jewell, are merely “smoke and mirrors… the illusion [...]

Sneaky Tesco at it again. From our regular reader Nanazolie: I’ve noticed a large yellow sticker that says “special offer” under the Milkybar and Aero large chocolate bars in my local Tesco. The bars are €1.99. They were €1.59 a few weeks ago. What is special about the price other than it’s gone up? Once [...]

My pregnant friend Elaine misses beer. A lot. So she’s on the non-alcoholic variety, Paulaner and Beck’s being the tipples of choice. Last Thursday, I joined her and lovely husband Kieran for dinner at Cortina’s in Dundrum. Why, she asked, was a bottle of non-alcoholic Paulener, which has no excise duty to be paid, still [...]

Spotted yesterday in Fresh, that overpriced convenience shop on Camden Street. This is possibly the most misleading “offer” I’ve seen in quite some time. One litre of Dawn orange juice is priced at €2.98 in Tesco and €3.05 in Superquinn. In May 2010,  it was €2.98 in Dunnes. So what’s so special about it being [...]

This week, I’m continuing my hunt for Dublin’s best burger. A few weeks ago, I decided to give Bobo’s on Wexford Street yet another chance. I think of Bobo’s as the errant, prison-bound little brother I never had. Oh, he’s a bad ‘un, they tell me, but I really want him to succeed. I know [...]