Gruel (Dame Street)

Dame Street is not a great one for food, but this is my third visit here and again I am not disappointed. Fresh, simple and tasty, this no-frills diner serves up good home cooking at reasonable prices. Just remember to check your chair before sitting down as it seems to be policy that they are rickety to the point of collapse (my last two have been held together my mere staples). Also, credit/debit cards are not accepted so bring cash. 8/10.

Dunboyne Castle Hotel

Brian Ferry is playing over the PA, the wine is corked and the dinner is cold. I look out towards the twinkling lights of the adjacent housing estate. Still, things could be worse and indeed my calm is probably due to the deep tissue massage and sauna I had earlier in the spa. For €200 per person you can have the midweek special (3 spa treatments, lunch, dinner and breakfast) which seems pretty good to me.

The restaurant is huge, flanked on one side by a heavy granite wall. There are maybe a dozen people in here, at least three different waiting staff and its quite a trek over to the kitchen from this table but not so far that our food should be so cool and lifeless. I've got a fillet steak (with onion strings) and she's got seared scallops (on wee potato mash beds). You know to look at the meals that they've been sitting waiting for transport out here for five or ten minutes. The steak has lost that succulent glossiness that is usual for freshly cooked fare although it remains very tender if a little dry. The scallops are similar, perhaps the whole lot has been under a lamp. The sides (baby potatoes, carrots and cauliflower in some herb butter) are hardly dramatic and a few of the spuds are undercooked.

All that said, it’s the wine that really bothers me, my glass of 'Rhone has a distinct odour (that smell you get from dishes which have been washed together with eggy partners - I know its an odd description) and her Valpolicella is corked although it has taken us too long to agree this to send it back. Perhaps its because we were served the wine by the head waiter that I doubted myself, surely he gave them a sniff before bringing them over here? Had we been paying the full price for the dinner it would have cost us €112 which would have been excessive given our experience, but perhaps were unlucky. We won't go back for the food, but the spa is worth a look. 5/10.

Saba (Clarendon Street)

This new Thai/Vietnamese restaurant from the Diep le Shaker axis features an impressive, airy dining room with an attractive framed photo display of over laden Asian motorcycles on one wall. There was quite a crowd for 6pm on a Thursday and our bench style table was occupied at the other end by some south-side yankee wannabes at the beginning of the evening, replaced by genuine yankees later on. We had the mixed starter plate between two, tempura carrot and baby sweetcorn (more of this later), spring rolls, satay chicken on a stick and two interesting items served in leaves which were excellent (beef and smoked fish).

Mains were monkfish green curry (unmarinaded monkfish was a little plain, maybe could have been a bit greener overall, red chillis, bell peppers, baby sweetcorn, pea aubergines, green beans all featured) and a Saba signature dish of soft-shell crabs in a fragrant stir-fried concoction (galangal and other rooty things). The crabs were great, if a little greasy, but the stir fry base was too coarse and made for quite a chew.

Significantly the same vegetables as the curry were all present. You might expect a canteen like Wagamama to use this type of "generic ingredient medley" for reasons of efficiency but in a restaurant purporting to have a royal chef it seems a little unimaginative. Both dishes came with steamed rice, one bowl of which was overcooked and had become a gluey lump in the middle. It was all washed down with a beer and a glass of 'Rhone. €59.

6/10 - The walk over to Diep le Shaker is worth it.