Ireland (Winter 2023) - Dublin (Day 2)
JK Cafe
The first stop of the day was to fuel up in the morning. There are only a handful of classic foods here in Ireland to try. Guinness should probably considered the national dish. That said, I guess the Irish breakfast is one of the traditional must try’s if you are here.
The order above is the “half” breakfast. I think the full breakfast is like double everything on that plate except for the bread which is a crap ton of food.
This was a very convenient stop on the way to Trinity College from where we were staying.
River Liffey Bridges
Here are just a few examples of the bridges across the River Liffey.
The Liffey basically splits Dublin in half and has a bunch of bridges across it. Some of them can handle vehicles and some are just for walking across. Each one is unique and they span from small classic pedestrian bridges to ultra modern looking structures.
Trinity College
This is one of the tours that we booked in Dublin. The college itself was very lively with students everywhere and there were several graduations going on so there was a festive mood around the campus.
I found that I was the only one walking under the small bell tower in the middle of the quad. I later learned it was bad luck for students to walk underneath it - glad my academic days are over.
The tour took you around the grounds and gave you some of the colorful history of the college. It ends at the museum where you see the Book of Kells and the Long Room.
You actually don’t get to see much of the Book of Kells. This 8th century religious manuscript is housed in protective glass and only two pages are displayed at any given time. You also cannot take photos of it.
The museum leading to it is where you get to see the replica pages and it goes to explain the book, origins, and provides a history of the times.
The Long Room is the famous library on the grounds. It is presently getting some restoration and archiving work so not all of the books are on display. It still smells like old books and you get the enough of the effect even though a lot of the shelves are empty.
When we were in there they had this globe art display on one end of the hall which looked pretty cool but that is not a permanent fixture in the hall.
Also on display in the Long Room is the Brian Boru’s harp which is one of the oldest harps in Ireland and what the Guinness logo is modeled after.
Grafton Street
After touring the college, we wandered around Dublin south of the river to initiate the proper drinking portion of the day. We strolled along Grafton Street which was crowded with people doing their pre-Christmas shopping.
Cafe En Seine
I figured if we were going to have our first Irish coffee, it should be a fancy Irish coffee. This place did not disappoint.
It was also a great place to wait out the light rain that started to fall in the afternoon. This was a classy airy drinking establishment. It’s a bit on the pricey side as you would expect from a place like this. It was empty when we arrived but filled up quickly with the lunch crowd.
There is a small library like seating area at the front by the door and in the center and back are high ceiling bar and dining areas.
The Irish coffees came in fancy stemmed goblets instead of the usual mug glass.
Kehoe
Kehoe was an old school bar. Even the bartenders were old. Very busy in the middle of the day and was packed with locals despite being close to a touristy shopping district.
We found some seats in the back where we chatted it up with an older couple. They live outside Dublin but take the train into town every once in a while to hit their favorite pubs and this was one of them.
They also had an upstairs area with a bar that was closed but I guess they open it when it’s busier.
Hairy Lemon
The Hairy Lemon is now famous for being where they filmed the movie “The Commitments.” Hence it has a bit of a touristy feel to it. This is where I tried Beamish for the first time to take a break from non-stop Guinness.
The bar is pretty big on the inside so it is set up well to handle crowds (there were actually many times this trip where we couldn’t get into some pubs because they were too busy - the Irish really do like to go out).
They also had their own whiskey at the Hairy Lemon as well which I sampled.
The internet said that this place was a great place to try “coddle” which is another classic Irish dish. It’s basically a stew made of leftover bits of sausage and vegetables and such. From looking at examples of coddle, I decided my life can still be complete without sampling coddle.
Stags Head
This looked like a good spot to try one of the other “famous” Irish dishes - Guinness Stew. It’s basically just beef stew that somehow incorporates the stout but it was fairly good. Downing that along with the mashed potatoes and fries on the side was a good way to coat the stomach for the remainder of the day.
As I mentioned previously about the fries being too thick here in Ireland, I must say I wasn’t crazy about the bread either. They were usually some brown dry slabs but I guess if you put enough butter on them anything is palatable. They could learn a thing or two from the French about bread.
The Stags Head had a classy feel about it with the stone counter and table tops. I would bet that this gets pretty busy with the after work crowd.
L Mulligan Grocer
In the evening we explored the Stonybatter neighborhood going north from the river. The first pub we popped into was a small local establishment that was just packed. So we went a little further and found this place.
Mulligan’s turned out to be excellent. They had craft beers available (non-Guinness brands) and most importantly had a good whiskey selection and a whiskey menu (Yay). I sampled a local whiskey by the Liberties distillery called Copper Alley.
The food looked pretty good here as well but we had already eaten earlier.
Kavanagh’s
Also in the Stonybatter area further up north on the road, this was the most fun stop of the night because we got to banter a while with the locals here.
This was one of the places where they helped me confirm that the Guinness tastes the same here as elsewhere. One set of locals actually now lived in Germany but were back visiting and this was their local pub when they lived in Dublin (and yes - Guinness tastes the same in Germany as well).
It was also fun to hear the owner and one of the soccer watching regulars talking smack back and forth all night.
Of course having a dog there was a highlight. Bailey was the owner’s dog and hung out with us all night.
It was also the owner the directed us to the next stop to get a spice bag.
Canton City
We came here on the way back to the hotel for a late night snack and specifically we were searching for a spice bag or spice box.
This food is one of those wonderful things that happens when a place like Ireland brings in immigrants and foods collide. Irish cuisine is not on the top of my favorite food lists but who isn’t up for some french fries? Well, combine that with savory and spicy Chinese or Thai food and you get a spice bag.
So instead of rice or noodles, you have your fries smothered with fried meat and veggies. In this case, it was fried chicken bits with a side of curry sauce.
We started opening the box in the small waiting area to start snacking on it but the lady kicked us out - they really are take out only!