All bank holidays (by law) should consist of maximum fun times and good food. Otherwise, it’s just a weekend with an extra day. Or something. I spent mine ingesting all the food I could lay my hands on, from the moment sweet freedom arrived. Before we continue, I’d like to bring the following to your attention; this post mainly consists of food, pictures of me, and striped clothing. It is also long. You have been warned.
It all started on a Friday evening, as all good bank holidays do. My cronies and I went for dinner at Empire Bar, Swords.
There we are, having a jolly old time! Well, us in cocktail form. Cocktails at Empire are 2 for €10, Sunday to Friday until 10pm. Tom Collins (pictured) are included in the offer, as well as strawberry daiquiris, cosmos and whiskey sours. We changed to whiskey sours after these. I feel men don’t enjoy fancy glassware as much as they should.
I had the Barbary duck breast with potato rosti and spinach. A good portion and nicely priced. I skipped the rhubarb though. Nasty stuff.
My pal Darren had the rib eye. That’s a load of garlic butter on top! (Excuse the picture quality, I only had my phone on hand and it’s dark in there) He left nothing on his plate, so I figure it was good. I can’t remember what anyone else had but their plates were cleared too. I only photographed Darren’s food as he was sitting right beside me. I can be lazy like that. The staff are incredibly nice and didn’t chastise me when I asked could we make room for a last minute diner.
Also…if you order dessert, you can choose what you want from one of those super cool trolleys! Neat. For their website click here, and here for the menu. Empire is a late bar, and you can make dinner reservations online.
After a late night on Friday, Saturday moved at a slow mo pace. I headed into the city in the afternoon to do a couple of things (after lots of coffee, of course) and had a Taco Taco date. Taco Taco is a pop up restaurant at Dame Court. It’s at Odessa, who have now moved upstairs. I went twice last week because the food is so great. If you’re in Dublin, I suggest you visit immediately. For dinner or for brunch. They do an excellent job on both.
My current favourite – shrimp popcorn tacos with Tajin lime and chilli seasoning and coleslaw.
Jamaican jerk chicken tacos with avocado salsa, red pepper mayo, chorizo and shaved coconut. It’s a little blurry, I know. My pictures suffer when I shake with excitement.
And these are also good – poutine fries. Fries in black pepper sauce with bacon and mozzarella. On the brunch side of things, I recommend the crab cakes, and a champion fizz (elderflower, lime, bitters, prosecco.)
Saturday weather was very much all over the place, so city strolls were interrupted by plenty of heavy rain showers. To stay dry (I didn’t bring an umbrella – a rookie mistake) we sought shelter in the Hard Rock Cafe on Fleet Street.
Here’s me, being me. Probably looking at cat gifs or Cats of Instagram. Cats in bowties are such a hoot!
And now we arrive at Sunday. And so the weekend (and eating) continues. Sunday became a family day. We set off for Skerries and booked a table for Blue Bar on the way in the car on OpenTable. Super handy. I’m glad we did as the place was jammed with people…which is never surprising for Blue Bar. Skerries is a grand auld spot. Everyone was having the craic in the sun, with sunglasses and smiles on their faces. Don’t let my pictures or those rays fool you though; it was FREEZING! But no one was about to let the icy wind wreck their bank holiday buzz.
We arrived earlier than expected so we headed to the cocktail bar for a pre dinner cocktail. My sister and I were inspired by J.D. from Scrubs and ordered some appletinis.
“Even though I’m a man, I don’t drink beer. I prefer appletinis, they make me feel fancy.” – Doctor John Dorian, M.D.
Food! We had wings to share.
A couple of Fully Montys were ordered (Bacon cheese burger with onion rings, coleslaw and fries)
And I had a platter of lobster, crab meat and prawns. It was wonderful. I love when lobster is ready to go. The first time I ever had lobster was at Appetite, Valencia. Neither of us knew what to do and I remember bits of shell flying everywhere. I think our neighbouring table was cool about it. Good memories.
Monday came and so did the rain. As did candles. Lots and lots of candles. It was dull, dark and cold. What do you do in such a climate? Why, throw a barbecue of course!
With salads at the ready and the meats marinated, Misty and I caught up on some light reading before our guests arrived. She likes the fashion pages. FASHUN.
Long after we destroyed the table, there was no sign of the rain stopping. So we did what any fun-loving gang would do, and whipped out Pictionary.
Such enthusiasm!
Drawing an octopus. I got this.
My Mother’s ‘koala bear.’
After such an impressive display of artistry and just as the bank holiday weekend came to a close, the sun came out!
I hope you had a nice long weekend.
♥ ♥ ♥