Patrick Russell

🍕 CHECK OUT @getcharlies 🤤

A new pizza spot in #Belfast that you gotta check out. On our recent visit, we made a beeline for it as our first stop and boy oh boy @piguypizza’s new adventure did not disappoint at all!

📍 Charlie’s, 306-310 Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 2GE

Belfast Pizza | New Opening Belfast | Pizza Slice Shop Belfast Less

This week’s @sundaytimesireland restaurant review: LASAIR, the reimagined (and relocated) @finnlough_dining in Fermanagh 🔥

In an unusual prompt from us in these pages, we heartily recommend making the most of a trip to @finnlough and spending two hours before dinner at the Elements spa trail, which we think is one of the best experiences of its kind in Ireland and both the self-guided, private spa trail (punctuated by different bothies in the forest) and the restaurant are open to non-residents to experience, so if your budget doesn’t extend to bubble domes and sleeping under the stars you can still experience some of the best aspects of this lakeside resort

We write “[Lasair, meaning flame or spark as Gaeilge] has a female-led kitchen overseen by the South African chef Kristin Reagon @kristins_creation, complemented by the Swedish restaurant manager @marion.falk running the floor, and Reagon’s eclectic, globe-traversing menu jumps from Japan to France, Korea to the Middle East, India to Africa, organised by tastes — salty, floral, bitter, acidic, umami and sweet — with each section offering a selection of smaller dishes to share. There is no set formula; choose your own dining adventure and design a makeshift tasting menu tailored to your preferences.”

We find the spark of something incredibly special in this resort restaurant, that if fanned in the right direction and tamed skilfully could well blaze a trail in the Irish food industry…

Read the entire review on TheTimes app or website or pick up a paper in print today 🗞️ Less

This week’s @sundaytimesireland restaurant review: @klawcafe in #TempleBar; where the Sunday session offers a set menu soundtracked by Chappel Roan, Harry Styles, Haim and 49th and Main 🦪🐠

We lament the loss of @dublinklaw on Crown Alley in the review, which is where we first tried oysters a decade ago and now we guzzle them pretty much weekly and @russellalford_ has one tattooed on his arm. “When @niallsabongi pushes you, you trust it’s for your own good,” we write.

We were also in two minds about covering Sundays at Seafood Cafe as “like the tide, Sabongi comes and goes, not afraid of giving things a go (as we recount his crabshack, poké concept and the Saltwater Grocery plus his newer food truck @saltybuoytruck)… He tries a lot of things: sometimes they rush in with the swash and stick; other times they retreat quietly with the backwash. We couldn’t be sure this new element was going to stick, but if last Sunday is anything to go by this might just be the ultimate making of this restaurant,” we surmise.

Read the full review in today’s paper or access via thetimes.com or The Times app 🗞️ Less

“@mae_restaurant is marvellous,” we couldn’t conjure up a more simple and spot on sentence to surmise what @grainneokeefe @julien_chaig and team are doing as the concluding line of this week’s @sundaytimesireland restaurant review…

We write about predicting a star to be bestowed upon this Ballsbridge fine dining bistro for the last number of years that never seemed to transpire but we’re not even sure Michelin recognition is even the goal or gauntlet here — this entirely unique couple of square metres can barely be compared to anything else and is really only judged against itself

Four years in it feels like Mae has properly reclined and relaxed into this minuscule space it calls home and we find a fairly faultless menu and an accessibly-priced wine pairing when we chanced a last minute Saturday evening table recently

Full review in today’s edition in print and on both the Times app and thetimes.com for subscribers 📝 Less

@volpeneradublin neighbourhood menu, what value (€38pp), what flavour, what finesse…

When we reviewed this restaurant in September 2023 for the ST it took us about two hours to get there from Drogheda. It was in an awkward area for us to make our way to, but knew we wanted to cover it as it felt important and special. Now, fast forward 18 months and this neighbourhood restaurant is now kiiinda in our neighbourhood (okay, 15 minutes drive might be a stretch) but how lucky anyone is to have @barry_sun_ & @darrendarcy78 and team on their doorstep

What more excuse do you need for a midweek table (Wed & Thurs weekly, 5pm-6:45pm) when these are the kind of dishes on offer? Stunningly prepared dinky oysters, nutty sourdough with wild garlic pesto, a spectacularly elegant take on tomato soup with a sliver of anchovy and lettuce on top with focaccia croutons, the most tender, succulent and lavishly glazed beef short ribs… and that wine list by the glass line-up? Epic. The best €38 we have both spent in a LONG time

Fantastic to catch up with @katiavaladeau 🥳 Less

This week’s @sundaytimesireland restaurant review: red hot at 30 and the epitome of a traditional Irish cafe that keeps itself contemporary — @ruacaferua in Castlebar, Co. Mayo 💫

We write in today’s paper (and on the new-look Times app 👀) “Cafés like Rua don’t endure into their fourth decade by chance or luck. Theirs is a simple operation — classic, traditional, timeless and familiar but with just enough contemporary edge, colour and quirkiness to keep things interesting.

A menu loyal to local produce brings together global flavours seamlessly with something here to sate everyone, from young to old… including one of the best, most grown-up kids’ menu that we have seen in the entire country and one of the most perfect iterations of carrot cake we have ever encountered.” Less

➡️ Swipe for a patisserie surprise 😮

We have found the most unbeatable pastry filling: a slice of lasagne 🔥

When in Fermanagh, @folk_espresso__boulangerie is a must — you might remember we covered here as a @sundaytimesireland review last November and found it practically perfect and faultless 💫

Scroll back on our page for the reel we posted at the time for more info and visuals Less

INVITE | come with us to try the viral burger, the Big Matt, @hawksmoordublin, paired to a delectable gin martini from @boatyarddistillery in Fermanagh, who produce a specific gin exclusively for Hawksmoor (and both businesses are also B-Corp certified, too)

Would you pay €23 for The Big Matt? Double dry aged beef patties, American cheese, shredduce, onions, special sauce, sesame seed buns?

Available as a lunchtime special six days a week (not available Sundays) at the beautiful branch on Dame St ✌🏻

#hawksmoor #bigmac #dublinfood #dublinfoodie #burger Less

@foretdublin was one of our favourite meals of 2024 (and one of the highest scores and biggest praise of the year in our Sunday Times column) so we’ve been planning a return trip for the last four months and last weekend it finally came around — honestly Forêt is knock out, Dublin is all the richer for having it, and here’s a snapshot of the dishes from last week

1. Duck leg, lentils, sauce à l’orange
2. Chicken au vin jaune, riz à la Paysanne
3. Cod beignet, sauce tartare
4. DIRTY gin martini — a shock order to literally no one 😂
5. Peep the menu 👀
6. Saucisson sec
7. Chicken liver parfait, pear chutney
8. @mushroombutcher vol au vent
9. Île flottante, blood orange
10. Croissant bread pudding, calvados caramel, custard

And because we can’t help ourselves, some snapshots from November…

11. White anchovy, ratte potato, fresh cheese
12. Oeuf mayonnaise, celeriac rémoulade
13. Steak tartare
14. 🍷
15. 🥂
16. 🍻

#dublinfood #dublinrestaurants #dublinfoodie #dublin Less

This week’s review: welcoming back @thepigsear, which shut last July to make way for @lotus_eaters_restaurant but rightfully returns to Nassau St just in time for #StPatricksDay —

We write in today’s paper (and no paywall this weekend on the entire @sundaytimesireland website and app archive, fill yer boots!): “We cannot think of anywhere better in the city for tourists — and locals — to get to grips with Irish food heritage, served with deference to tradition but elevated all the same, one floor up in one of Dublin’s best dining room locations, overlooking the cricket grounds of Trinity College.“

The playlist is so important in restaurants; it remarks the vibe and soundtracks the scene - regular readers will likely have noticed we quite often take note of what’s on the speaker punctuating the meal. This time it’s an all star Irish, no skip line-up:

✔️Mandinka — Sinéad O’Connor
✔️Lisdoonvarna — Christy Moore
✔️Where’s Me Jumper — Sultans of Ping
✔️N17 — The Saw Doctors
✔️Summer in Dublin — Bagatelle
✔️Big Sur — The Thrills

Even Mickey Joe Harte’s We’ve Got The World Tonight gets a spin. Thin Lizzy soundtracks our starters… the boys are back in town, indeed. Less