Flaming success
For a great date, or a business lunch, you’ll be hard-pressed to beat one of Dublin’s hottest options, Hellfire, on Westmoreland Street.
Headed up by executive chef Roberto Rapisardi, who has cooked all over Europe, it’s bringing warm feelings to cold Dubliners with its unique style of flame-fired cooking, combining a charcoal oven and the best of locally-sourced produce.
With meat and poultry supplied by Ray Collier Butchers of Howth, pork is free range and chicken is not just free range but “slow grown”, it promises. Galician Blond Beef (Rubia Gallega) comes direct from Spain with fresh seafood netted from Kish Fish at Howth Harbour.
Vegetables are locally grown but Italian ingredients are sourced directly from Italy including fresh buffalo mozzarella, tomato pelati and organic flour. An 18 oz 45-day aged Galician Blond steak will set you back €89 and is designed for two to share, but there’s no law that says you have to. hellfire.ie
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Dean hotel on a roll
Hard to believe it’s nearly a decade since the Dean Dublin opened its doors on Dublin’s Harcourt Street. With 51 bedrooms, Sophie’s Rooftop Restaurant, and dedicated events space, it quickly became one of Dublin’s coolest spaces.
Building on its success, last April saw owners Press Up Group open the 101-room Dean Galway, just off Eyre Square, and the 112-room Dean Cork, in December 2022, on Horgan’s Quay right in the centre of the city. With plans afoot for Dean hotels in Birmingham and Belfast, the group has obviously hit on a recipe for success.
Meanwhile, back at base, the Dean Dublin has got a fancy new extension with the opening of the Dean Townhouse. A Georgian building has been completely transformed to create a gorgeous townhouse which will add a further 49 bedrooms, bringing the Dean Dublin to a total of 100 bedrooms.
Alongside nicely designed bedrooms, the Dean Townhouse opens with a new cocktail bar and lounge known as the Townhouse Bar, an outdoor courtyard, and the Marshall Room, a dedicated event space catering up to 150 guests seated, or 180 standing. Event bookers form an orderly queue. thedean.ie
When KFC means Korean Fried Chicken
Lovers of Korean food can enjoy a double helping now that Sofie Rooney and Garett Fitzgerald have opened a second Chimac restaurant in Terenure. They opened their first, on Aungier Street, in 2019. Both restaurants specialise in that super tasty Korean combo, fried chicken and beer. The name itself is a portmanteau of what is pretty much a Korean national pastime. The “chi” stands for chicken and “mac” comes from maekju, the Korean word for beer. Cheers to that. chimac.ie
Space Jaru takes shape
Talking of Korean food, it has also been a busy time for Korean chef Gunmoo Kim, the chef who came to Ireland in 2011 with little more than an abiding love of James Joyce to guide him, courtesy of his schoolteacher mother, who was a fan.
Despite having no English to speak of, or with, he started out as a pot-wash before enrolling in culinary entrepreneurship at TU Dublin, back when it was DIT. He went on to develop and retail his own award-winning range of kimchi, a traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, before setting up Jaru Mart, which home delivers fab Korean food nationwide from its commercial kitchen base in Rathfarnham.
In January he launched Space Jaru on Meath Street, where you can dine in, or out, depending on how you look at it. It’s open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday with a wonderful range of small plates, barbecue bowls and, of course, fried chicken. jaru.ie