“I do, however, have one tradition that will persist this year and it doesn’t put in or out on anyone else – Chinese food on Christmas Eve.”

“When it comes to comfort food, however, one category exerts a gravitational pull for me – deep fried things.” We are here to talk fish and chips.

If you’re pining for a flavour of the before life, but would rather experience it from the shelter of your own crib, you have some excellent options.

“At the time of writing, I feel that we are faced with two very real existential threats, two malign forces fighting it out to wrack my nights with spittle-flecked convulsions.”

When news of Allta’s impending opening began to filter through last Summer you could almost hear the sound of many thighs being rhythmically rubbed by Dublin’s gastro-locusts, such were the levels of anticipation.

“There is a lot of potential here but the flavour profiles of too many of the dishes seem curiously polite, when I had been expecting full-throated profanity.”

The notion of Dim Sum originates in the tea-houses of the Silk Road and reaches back over centuries. It’s also something that you can enjoy right here in Dublin. 

“With this kind of food, palate fatigue begins to insinuate itself quite early on, the barrage of relentless refinement becomes wearing.”

Circa is a tasteful, sophisticated restaurant, hitting all the right notes.

“Apparently, brunch has been supplanted, as a thing to talk about in ‘food circles’, by the ‘Sunday Roast’.”

“This is as close to the experience of eating in Barcelona’s Boqueria market as you’ll find in dank Dublin”

If you want everything under the (rising) sun and you’re really not too fussy then this might be the place for you.

A destination restaurant in The Liberties. Whatever next?

For the lucky denizens of D7, this is all the neighbourhood restaurant they will ever need. This is a North Star to follow.

It is my fervent hope that January will bring somewhere good enough to sustain my interest over a thousand words, or awful enough to sustain yours.

There is some solid cooking happening here, but not quite enough consistency to justify the enthusiasm of the pricing.

This joint is operating exactly as it was conceived – a round of three card monty to separate the Irish oiks from their silly queenless currency.

I like the feeling that potentially calamitous choices are just maddeningly out of reach. What if I were to pull that lever? Would a tsunami of Hop House 13 roar down James St…?