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Paolo's Reviews |
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Siam Thai
Anyway, last year I wrote about a visit to the Dundrum shopping centre and I complained that for all its monstrous size, it had a shortage of restaurants. Well a new one has arrived there, nestled up against Harvey Nicks in the central plaza and it’s called Siam Thai. You’re getting it both ways in that name, since Thailand was once called Siam, where the king danced and sang with Anna. 2008-04-12  |
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Ballykealey Manor Hotel.
I found that happy combination this week when I went with John Boorman to Ballykealey Manor Hotel. In the past when I’ve gone out with John we haven’t always been lucky, so when I told him we were going to dine in the south of County Carlow he didn’t exactly jump for joy. ‘How long will it take to get there?’ he asked. ‘Oh, about forty minutes,’ I lied. Actually my sat nav had predicted a journey time of 75 minutes, but it can be very pessimistic I told myself. 2008-03-08 |
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La Banca.
When it comes to Italian food I’m a stickler. It could be a genetic thing, maybe a cultural prejudice, or perhaps nothing more than culinary bigotry. But whatever it is I like Italian food to be genuine and authentic. And that means sticking to the recipe if you’re going to make a classic dish, using the right ingredients and cooking the dish as it’s supposed to be cooked. As personal prejudices go, it’s not outrageous. In fact, as an expectation, it’s quite reasonable. 2008-03-01 |
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Eatery 120.
It was a midweek night when I went to dinner with Gill Hall. I’d heard about a newish restaurant in Ranelagh called ‘Eaterie 120’ and I’d cleverly deduced it could be found at 120 Ranelagh. Gill phoned up and was told we cold have a table at 8.30, which suited us fine. Arriving at 8.30 we were met by a sign saying ‘Please wait to be seated’. We stood in a hallway and did just that, we waited. And then waited a bit more. And then a bit more. The floor staff seemed to be inordinately busy, but eventually a very pleasant waitress showed us to waiting area outside, in a alley alongside the restaurant that had been tiled in the style of the Paris Metro. 2008-02-25 |
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Go Nice young man.
There are names that are evocative, they conjure up images and emotions just by saying them. ‘Riviera’ is one of them. When you hear that name you start to think of sunshine, flash cars, hedonistic rich people and the blue Mediterranean Sea. To be specific the Riviera takes in the French Côte d’Azur, the Italian Ligurian coast and the Principality of Monaco. 2008-02-16 |
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Shelby's Brasserie
For a town of now quite a large population it’s never seemed to me to have had many good restaurants. Over the years that I’ve been reviewing I’ve seen quite a few come and go, some good, some not so good. It seems on the face of it that Bray is not the easiest place to run a successful restaurant. 2008-02-09 |
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Ivan’s Oyster Bar and Grill
The main road end of the pier where Beshoff’s has always been, has now been completely re-vamped. The shop has now become a very smart seafood emporium, nicely laid out and containing an oyster bar, a fresh fish counter, organic vegetables, wines and gourmet foods. Right next door they’ve built a brand new restaurant named Ivan’s after a Beshoff forebear. 2008-02-02 |
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The Mill at Lyons.
One of the great success stories over the past two decades has been Ryanair, now one of the world’s biggest carriers. It perfectly reflected the new zeitgeist - brash, aggressive and ruthlessly efficient. Its founder Dr. Tony Ryan sadly died towards the end of last year but he has left an extraordinary legacy, not just with Ryanair, but also with his final project, the Village at Lyons. I was lucky enough to meet him on a couple of occasions and found him charming and gracious. His charisma was evident, and it’s no surprise that he inspired people. He was a man with vision, a rare quality. 2008-01-26 |
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Bodega Wine and Tapas Bar.
When I was a young man I used to spend a lot of time in Spain. If I were to add up all the months I spent there it wouldn’t be far short of two years. Most of those months were spent in Catalunya, the region centred on Barcelona, where I earned a crust by busking with a Danish pal. We spent the summers travelling up and down the Costa Dorada and the Costa Brava working our brand of musical magic on the seafront restaurant diners. We moved from town to town because there was only so much of our music people were prepared to listen to. It worked well, because every two weeks a whole new group of holidaymakers arrived who hadn’t heard us before. 2008-01-19 |
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Hartleys Restaurant.
The fine cut granite building that houses Hartley’s is from an era when travellers were accorded respect by architects. It was part of the railway station, and like all Victorian stations it was built to make the traveller feel important. Think of St. Pancras, King’s Cross, Paris’ Gare du Nord, Rome’s Termini, New York’s Grand Central and you see a pattern. Then compare it to today’s airports that are designed to make travellers feel like cattle, walking through zigzag crushes, removing shoes and belts and undergoing whatever new humiliations the airport authorities have dreamt up in the name of ‘security’. Frankly this is one case where I prefer the old to the new. 2008-01-12 |
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