Cafe Bar Deli

JL, D, C and me were at Cafe Bar Deli, Grafton St, last week to grab a quick meal. Their menu isn't bad but a tad bit pricey for what it is. JL and C got pizzas which tasted great but were a bit too bland and homely-looking for my liking. Referring to the four, sad-looking basil leaves atop his pizza C remarked "The leaves flew in", which is exactly what it looked like. D loved his Caesar Salad but it was too small and my Feta cheese, broccoli, and chickpea salad was OK but bland. But salads are supposed to be bland right? Cos I've had their Spaghetti with ricotta before and it rocked. Maybe I was just in a foul mood. Since everyone was still hungry and I have a perennial sweet tooth we got the Brownies and the Nut Sundae with fudge sauce. Two of the three different ice-cream flavours on it were good (Caramel and Vanilla, not a fan of choc icecream) but the crumbly biscuit base really ruined it. Plus the glass started to leak halfway through and the spoon is just too long to hold right. OK so I'm just blaming the poor dessert for my slobiness. Really Cafe Bar Deli isn't all that bad, I'll stick to my favourite Spaghetti with ricotta next time though.

The Annual Coffee Awards

Best Flavoured Coffee: Starbucks Caramel Macchiatto
Best Latte: Il Caffe di Napoli
Best Soya Milk Latte: Tie between Cafe Java and West Coast Coffee
Best Chai Latte: Insomnia
Best Cappuccino: Cafe Ole

I Love Nandos!

I love Nandos. If there was one in Ireland, you'd always find me there, tucking into the spiciest, yummiest, crispiest chicken ever. I never saw the fascination, there's one hugely popular in Karachi too and dad brought us to the one in Manchester and I was like why not just get an Indian instead? But Nando's chicken rocks. It tastes different to Indian grilled/roasted chicken dishes, like Chicken Tandoori. It is much spicier and hotter as it's prepared a totally different way using Peri-Peri, the Portuguese (African) chili pepper also known as the African bird's eye.Nando's use it in all its sauces and marinades for their roast chicken dishes.

As far as I'm concerned nothing is hot enough if it doesn't leave your eyes misty and the tip of your tongue tingling minutes later after the food has passed your palate, and Nando's Extra-Hot chicken checks all the right boxes. But for the chili-sensitive among you their meals range from the Extra Hot variety to the completely mild Lemon and Herb. But I guess I am not surprised why it's so popular with the Pak and Indian diaspora.

Most of all their peri-peri sauces are to die for: Extra Hot, Garlic, and Wild Herb. If the bottles weren't so huge, I'd have slid one under my sweater. (Er, just joking, you can buy their sauces from their restaurants too)

Now when are they opening one in Dublin? Can Irish taste-buds handle the fire?

Malaysian Chicken

Never had much hankering for Malaysian food, especially since I'd been to Kuala Lumpur years ago and avoided all sorts of cloying and aromatic Malay meals. Hot, sticky weather and rich, fragrant foods, do not a good stomach make. But I was in Ranelagh and starving and was getting sick of burritos so dropped into this little eatery called Nectar. Really cool interior with mirrors and plush white booths, with young hot mums and young hot urbanites as their clientele. Slightly pricey for lunch, but then hey you're in Ranelagh right? Best of all was their exotic menu which is a great change for lunch. Apart from the usual wraps and sandwiches, they do a curious mix of Mexican, Asian and European food. From Piri Piri Chicken pasta, to Vegetarian Chilli to the Malaysian Chicken and Jasmine rice that I got. The portion was just right, the chicken tender, the sauce/curry sweet enough and the rice was the best part. Not bad at €9, presented and garnished beautifully and bolstered with some really attentive service. I went post 2pm but I'm guessing it gets busy between 12 and 2. They also do juices and smoothies. Worth checking out if you're in the neighbourhood.

The Noodle Story

Ok so I'm never going to Yamamori again. The reason we chose Yamamori was to have a goodbye dinner for S who was heading off for a year to Japan to work, so we thought why not, fits the occasion perfectly. However S couldn't make it and it was just the six of us and chopsticks. I was in the mood for some udon noodle soup, but I couldn't have any because not only does the Yamamori menu suffer from a dearth of vegetarian options, but let's say you decide to settle for chicken, a lot of their dishes (esp the soups) are all pork-based!


So there I was, stuck with not much. I could have gone for the veggie box that R got, but I can't stand Tofu (rubbery texture, tastes of nothing) and I was not in the mood for over-priced salmon. I wanted noodles, in some shape or form, so I decided to get the same as last time: stir- fried egg noodles with chicken. Not bad but nothing special. LR got a steak with stir-fried vegetables and MM and MR got the ginger chicken and K got the Udon noodle soup. No-one else complained so I'm gonna hazard a guess and consider myself picky.



Didn't have room for dessert but who can resist a brownie? Unfortunately it was dry and crumbly, very unlike a brownie. Nice whipped cream though. Great location, cool atmosphere and food isn't bad but if you're as picky as me, look elsewhere, as everything contains either seafood (can't do prawns) or some pork based ingredient or tofu (if going for the vegetarian option)